You don’t have a Soul. You are a Soul. You have a body.

C.S. Lewis

I’ve decided to save more time for myself and take up drawing, painting, photography and writing again. I know I have a lot to catch up with and so many things to learn till I at least acquire some decent basic skills, but I’m pretty determined to do it.

I don’t want to look back and regret neglecting some of the things I wanted to do. No, not like this, not as long as I’m still able to do something about it.

Obsessive song of the day (an older obsession I had a few years ago, actually): The DreamSide – Above, Below, Around.

Categories: Art/Culture
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When in need of something new, simply changing the music player may do the trick. It did for me, at least.

I’ve been a Winamp user since… ever (actually, read here version 2.something). Not for any particular reason, aside from the looks, since I’m quite a n00b when it comes to advanced audio options, settings and what not. Everyone was using it, it was/is one of the best players (if not the best) available, easy to use, fit for almost any taste and, if not, a skin or a plugin might have solved the problem.

A few days ago I wanted to listen to a cue/mp3 album and – to my surprise – it didn’t work. I had the necessary plugin installed in Winamp and it went just fine with other such files, the .cue file was written okay according to all the standards, everything looked right as it should be. But no, Winamp refused to play it. I tried every suggested way to solve it till I eventually got bored, got the latest foobar2000 version and installed it.

As expected (yes, I know it is a very powerful music player :P), everything worked smooth and I could play my file without any problem. “But, alas, I hate the way it looks and it doesn’t have skins.” And that’s where I always stop. I never liked the way it looks, I know it’s simple, efficient, goes with the Windows theme looks and all that, but it wasn’t enough. Well, this time, I decided that the looks point will be the one where it all starts.

Since I knew the appearance could be changed and turned into something quite pretty, I started googling for ways to do this. If anyone decides to follow the same path, I’d spare you the digging part and direct you to a few sites that brightened my day. The most useful to me was a Foobar2000 0.9 Manual – while it’s not really complete or thoroughly advanced, it’s a perfect place for a beginner to start, since it has very clear and easy to understand instructions. The second and by far the one I’d recommend to anyone if I were to choose only one of them is the Foobar2000 Wiki. And for those who prefer getting their information from forums as well as a lot of user resources and tips, there’s always the Foobar2000 Forum.

After a few hours of reading this and that, installing, trying all sorts of plugins and skin/button combinations and cursing several Windows visual styles (because I like 99% of those I use, but there’s always one or two little yet annoying things that I don’t like about them) and realising how eyecandy yet horrible Windows Vista will look, I finally managed to get myself a sexy foobar2000, able to play anything I wanted and look good enough so that I wouldn’t screech each time I saw it.

So what exactly did I use to make it look like that? Let’s see: the Windows visual style is JJ.Ying’s WinAjuda and the extra components I downloaded for Foobar2000 are the libpng library, Columns UI and eejadx’s small buttons set.

Yes, it took more than just a click click next next yes ok process and it may not go with anybody’s tastes and comodity, but it was well worth my time.

Categories: Sci/Tech
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The secret of success is sincerity. Once you can fake that you’ve got it made.

Jean Giraudoux

Gotta love that.

More on the author on Wikipedia.

Courtesy of DarkWidow.

Categories: Art/Culture
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Work: If you are an employee, the period between the 17th and 27th is fortunate. In this period you’ll be able to make new important acquaintances.

I had some awful work days; zero enthusiasm – a thing which reflected in my activity; received a fair amount of criticism for that (I know, the fault is mine), I’m still waiting for the new acquaintances and I sent an e-mail requiring a bigger break because of all the “moving to Bucharest” fuss, although it was more or less close to a resignation.

At least ten friends told me not to quit, at least other ten didn’t express that clearly but did tell me to stop a bit and think things over, some other ten only made jokes about it and offered no help otherwise and only two really supported me with my decision. Oh but wait, I don’t have that many friends. Acquaintances.

And, after all those years of silent mourning, I finally managed to write another poem that I like and that I won’t erase after the first lecture. That felt, “mildly” put, divine. Pen and paper. So is my curse finally gone now?

Which reminds me… I saw a new playground today, but it was not meant for me, although the tricky sign posted at the entrance did manage to lure me inside. I don’t like it. It needs – perhaps – a few more swings, slides, some colourful pencils (maybe like those which had four or five colours all combined), some more paper and an origami guide. And one extra minor detail: some children who haven’t forgotten how to laugh.

Categories: Thoughts
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Alternative time lanes.

The wind kept moving the swing, as she stood there.

The song played on and on, always the same, yet always new.

She could see a new face formed by and hidden among the leaves each time the tunes started to repeat. And the trees were laughing, chatting, gossiping or arguing with the wind. Why did he allow her to see those secrets? They’d hate to know that their faces may become just another dull thing to study, like the clouds and the stars ended up. The wind simply kept laughing in return. She was standing there, smiling and staring at them. And she had sand in her shoes. But she didn’t want to hear the crickets this time.

So leave the playground to the wraiths at night, don’t chase them away anymore. They need it to recall their memories and tame their insanity.

Obsessive song of the …night: Shpongle – Once Upon the Sea of Blissful Awareness

Categories: Nonsense
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