It was a good birthday… I got some good gifts. Spore Creature Creator, Firefox 3, and a new Macbook Pro. Although I have been a mac user for about 10 years now, I’ve never had a Mac Laptop. I’m really impressed. There are so many little touches about this computer that make it really awesome. The multitouch, a feature I thought would just be a novelty, is actually a great feature that I have already gotten into using a lot. The backlit is keyboard is just, well, fucking awesome. The screen is beautiful and even with my vision issues is great to look at for a REALLY long time. The only thing that’s going to make me happier about Mac Laptops i when I can reach out and touch this screen, or use my wacom pen on it. I’ve only used it in the house, but .mac and Back to My Mac are awesome. I set both computers up to work with Back to My Mac (took about 10 seconds) then I went in and set up the syncing. Suddenly the Address Book, Preferences, and even my Dock were set up the same on both computers. What really freaked me out is when I opened NetNewsWire on the laptop and all of my subscriptions were there waiting for me. There have actually been several instances where I opened something new, and all of my info was already in there. I didn’t initially set it to sync my docks, so from downstairs on my laptop I used Screen Sharing to open my Mac Pro upstairs and set up Dock Syncing there. Then I set it up down here, and in few minutes everything matched. I can’t wait to leave the house tomorrow and see if Back to My Mac works at the coffee shop.
So the Spore Creature Creator is pretty awesome too. Above is my little buddy the Argus. I called him that because of his all seeing eye… but I guess that’s kind of silly since the Argus has 1,000s of eyes. Oh well.
I’m sitting back at the moment enjoying a Whiskey and Diet Coke with fresh cherries… ummm. It’s sacreligious to put a mixer in Maker’s Mark, I know, but I like it. I’m sure I’ll stay up a while with my new toy… but it’s goodnight to you.
Winding down my birthday
Well I went to the eye doctor again yesterday to figure out why I’ve got this gyroscope effect in my eye, and I was right. It is indeed the gas bubble dissipating and floating to the top of my eye. The only negative to the visit (other than the fact that getting any information from my eye doctor is like pulling shark teeth) is that there is some blood floating around in the fluid that is beginning to refill in my eye. My eye doctor seems to think that this is no big deal and that it will all get better soon. At this point in our visit I almost stood up and said, “Isn’t that what you told me a year ago before the 9 laser surgeries?” What motivation do I have to believe this asshole? None, really. He has been assuring me that everything will get better soon for a really long time, and it’s only gotten worse.
But after being competely pissed off all evening, I woke up this afternoon bustling with some sort of creativity. I didn’t do any of the school stuff that I needed to do, but I did shoot some time-lapse videos with my mom’s Coolpix S1. Just typical, wow look at the clouds in the sky, time-lapse at the moment. But more interesting should come soon.
I also uploaded the pictures that I took at Insomkneeacks on Tuesday of the band Who By Fire. Some of these pictures are really dark / terrible, but the lead singers girlfriend wanted them all so I put them all up. I’m using the new Collections feature in Flickr and stuck them in my Live Music collection. I’ve been adding a bunch of old stuff to my flickr page and you can find old Rana photos and Leroy Justice photos New Years Eve 2003. That was about 2 days after I got my D 100 and some of the pictures are really bad, but it’s amazing how good subject matter can give you really good material even when you suck.
goodnight.
You know those toys you can buy that are little gyroscope like balls. It’s a plastic ball filled with water and another ball that’s slightly smaller than the first. Usually the outside ball is clear and the smaller one has an eyeball printed on it. If you hold it between your fingers and rotate your hand the ball inside the ball stays level, kind of like a gyroscope. Well I’ve got that crazy shit going on inside my real eye right now. There’s a line that runs horizontally through the center of my eye, below the line everything is blurry but I can see there is something there, above the line everything is blurry and kind of orange and I can’t tell what I’m looking at. When I turn my head from left to right or forward to back, the line stays level with the horizon. Kinda like a bubble level. It’s very strange. I think what is going is that above the line is the gas bubble that was put in my eye, below the line is the fluid that my body is replacing the bubble with. They look different because the refraction index of the two substances is different. It’s definitely a very strange sensation. I have an appointment at the eye doctor tomorrow, hopefully this doesn’t all mean I’m dying 
It’s pretty amazing how absolutely fucking useless I have been recently. I guess part of it’s because of the surgery. It’s kind of hard to do anything with one eye. I went to the store yesterday and was completely disoriented and confused walking around. But that’s all really an excuse. I think it all boils down to me being lazy because I’m depressed. It’s strange, it’s like a viscious cycle or some sort of self-fulfilling prophecy. I’m depressed and bored because I have no job and nothing to do, but I haven’t really spent any time looking for a job because I’m depressed. I guess that I just have to stop the bitching, open up my good eye, and start looking for something to do.
I’m sittin’ here in front of my mom’s crappy work laptop writing a blog post with one eye. I finally had my vitrectomy on Thursday. I literally let the doctor STICK A NEEDLE IN MY EYE! They suck out all of the vitreous fluid and then through the needle they use a laser to seal up all the busted blood vessels and clean out all the bad ones. Apparently there was more damage in my eye than expected so they had to place a gas bubble in my eye that took up 95 percent of my eye. So effectively I am looking through a gas bubble instead of my eyes natural vitreous. The refractive index of the gas is different than that of the eyes vitreous, so I can’t see for shit. I came home Thursday with a really lame metal eye patch, they wouldn’t give me a black pirate one, that I still have to sleep in.
You would think that after all the time that I’ve been sick I would become kind of a pro at being sick, but no, I suck at it. I’m a horrible patient. I must be driving my mother absolutely insane. I’ve become such a whiney little bitch!
So I’m sitting here in jeans a t-shirt and a sport coat, about to walk out the door to go to my 10 year high school reunion. That seems kind of ridiculous to me… not the t-shirt and sport coat, the fact that I’ve been out of high school for 10 years. It should be interesting… instead of sitting around and getting drunk illegaly with people I don’t really like, I get to sit around and get drunk legally with people I don’t really like. Actually, it might be kind of fun. I just wish I had something more interesting to say than: “Yeah, I’m in grad school for Visual Effects… and I live with my Mom!” At least I’m not divorced with 3 kids.
Watch this video and discover what it sounds like to be inside of a freshly opened can of Diet Coke.
http://www.pixelcorps.tv/macbreak133
107-Year-Old Bulb States the Case for Leaving Lights On [Livermore Light Bulb]: “The LA Times has written a sweet little feature about Livermore Fire House’s lightbulb that has been burning for 107 years without a break—unless you count the 22 minutes it took to transport the bulb from Fire Department HQ to Station No. 6 in 1979. That’s almost a million hours’ worth of low-wattage, you know. Unofficial keeper of the bulb, retired firefighter Tom Bramell reckons its longevity is down to old-fashioned craftsmanship. ‘I believe the bulb has stayed alive so many years because the makers gave it a perfect seal, so no air gets inside the bulb to help disintegrate the carbon filament. This bulb operates in a vacuum and it doesn’t burn hot. That’s the secret.’”
(Via Gizmodo.)
So I came upon a really interesting video on youtube today.
That’s some pretty hardcore shit. I’m not a believer… and I’m sure I never will be, but I just could not do this. Maybe it’s because I was raised Unitarian and can’t deal with stepping on others toes, but I just couldn’t do it. Anyway, lemme know what you think.
So I’m back in Louisiana. It comes with some serious mixed emotion. I’m happy to be home, REALLY happy to see my dog again, and am generally feeling better (although a tad less healthy with no hills to climb daily.) But I can’t help but feel an intense sense of failure at coming back home… again.
