Sweet tweet

So..I love twitter. Unlike a whole bunch of twitter fans, I didn't really take much to it in the beginning. What was the point, I thought. You have a status message on Facebook, you have e-mail. You have SO many blogs, so many social networking sites. Why yet another one that allows you to say something, in, heck, only so many characters?

Well, it all boils down to simplicity. And that's something I know I crave. Facebook changes, all the time. There are now SO many applications (don't get me wrong, I love them). But sometimes, it sort of takes away from the need to say certain things, get certain answers, be in a certain place. That's something you'll get only on twitter. It's simple. It's smart. It's lightning fast. It's the easiest way to quickly and continuously say something. If we were all on twitter, we wouldn't really need anything else to actually keep up with each other's lives on a daily basis. It's as simple as that.

What was extra amazing was that one of my tweets were "What GMAT books do I buy? Help." And by the next day, The Princeton Review was following me on twitter! Ditto for this company I'm going to be working for soon, they're following me on twitter too! It's a nice, simple, elegant interface.

Facebook and twitter have now both become about different things, in my opinion. Facebook is great for people who have time on their hands, but twitter is effective for those who can't be bothered with who won how Texas Hold 'em or who thinks you're the most dateable on your friends list. We need these things to keep in touch with people and know what they're upto, and somewhere down the line, other applications have lost focussed sight of that. Twitter hasn't, yet. Which is why you should use it if you still don't, and why I hope it stays that way.

The Jackalope Philosophies

After the rain comes the sunshine, they say. I've always loved both equally, but you've gotta admit- sunshine makes you feel happier doesn't it? No? Well, it certainly makes me feel that way. Not the sickening heat, but a clear, happy day.

Today started off badly..I had this unsettling feeling in my stomach when I tried installing a new version of kubuntu myself. I'd had feisty fawn for god alone knows how long, and the repositories were all so old that they'd developed fungus, I'm guessing. Nothing worked. The time had come. Out with the old, and let's usher in the new, I said to myself. The problem, however, is that I've never been any good as an usher.

Thankfully, linux-lifesaver came, and saved the day. I'm talking about none other than Punnu, who is DEFINITELY going to be the reason I will spend money on a steak at Millers, real soon. The poor (and very smart) boy managed to fix some things, but Alas! (don't you just LOVE words like Alas? Alas!) The Jaunty Jackalope managed to crash quite a few times. I don't know who looked more crestfallen then- me, or him.

But if at first you don't succeed, try, try, one more time before you nearly shoot yourself. Right? Or something to that effect. I tried one more time, and Lo Behold! (Man, you've got to love exclamatory expressions.) It worked! As you read, I am working on a somewhat stable 9.04, and firefox is working and qmake is working and it is all joy everywhere and I hope it lasts.

However, poor sutta's comp crashed after this. What saying makes for this now? Hmm...Life is a rollercoaster? It was quite a thump, really. I felt really guilty because just then I was thinking..Man, her comp has a good music collection- must take! Sigh!

Anyway, at the end of what has been a jaunty day, I can only smile, because my rusted guitar didn't give punnu tetanus, we sang, I bought a Prince squash racquet after MUCH running around, I didn't buy Vijayanthi shoes (gag moi) and at the end of the day...


I ain't happy, I'm feeling glad
I got sunshine, in a bag
I'm useless,but not for long
The future is coming on
I ain't happy, I'm feeling glad
I got sunshine, in a bag
I'm useless, but not for long
The future is coming on
It's coming on
It's coming on
It's coming on

You've got to love Clint Eastwood.

When weather pervades your inbox

Google really knows how to do it all. I've always been a weather person, and I never felt like talking about the weather was restricted to conversations that are dull and lifeless. I feel like the weather is very much a part of our everyday life..it changes our moods, affect how we look, what we wear, what we eat, and pretty much everything. For instance, when I went to bombay, my hair was icky and frizzy, my skin felt better, I didn't feel like wearing clothes that weren't cotton and I kept drinking juice and was generally more upbeat, but I also felt more unclean. Back in bangalore, a whole load of things changed.

When gmail introduced their themes for the inbox, I was happy but I never really gave it much interest..I just picked something called "desk" with the hope that it would make me feel professional. Today, for the first time, I actually checked out the themes they have..and they're awesome! I particularly like "tree", because it changes based on the weather in your city! That's really fun, actually...because you can identify your surroundings with it. Funky! I liked "pebbles" and "graffiti" and "planets" and "ninja" and..the list goes on. Needless to say, google's done it again. I'm yet to meet someone that doesn't like google.
It's just hard, because they come up with stuff that no one can really have any objection to.

Google is awesome, because the weather pervaded my inbox, because gmail is easy and uncluttered and simple, because my one google id works for so many applications, because I don't go a single day without using their search engine (what did people do for everyday queries before google? who did they ask?), because I can check out a book before I buy it without getting out of the house, because I can find directions to anyplace, anytime, and because of so many other reasons.

What's your favourite theme?

The secret to Charlie's envied existence

Linux Lies.

Linux also rocks. It rocks so right, It starts lying to you. Most people who like it and use it might take great offense to what I say, but its meant to be a compliment, really. Really. Stick it out, you'll see what I mean.

So, where was I? Yeah..a year back, I didn't have charlie. Charlie (wilson? I think not) is the only dude who always gets to sit on my lap. Don't get any ideas, you. Charlie is my laptop. Hmm, what are you thinking? It could constitute any of the following, and I have a corresponding thought wave for each...

• You go- “charlie? Lame name”

• I go- “Yuh, huh..its my laptop. I happen to think it suits him. Meet him and you'll see what I mean. Totally. “

• You go- “Does this have anything to do with Charlie's Angels?” (Yeah, I have actually been asked this. Gag moi.)

• I go- “Sure, why not? Especially since I don't give two hoots about the charlie in that movie. The angels were supremely well turned out though. See, I love drew barrymore. There's just this impish joy in her manner...ooh, Digression alert! Anyway, Charlie is just a name. This is supposed to be naming-spree some-happy-ness-creating thing for me. Don't question it being inspired by some cool dude or a perfume company, for that matter. If I wanted that, I'd have gone with either “Batman” or “George Clooney” or “Davidoff”.

• You go - “Man, only girls name their laptops”.

• I go- “Lets not even get into boys naming things, shall we? yes, I am a child. yes, I name my laptop. And no, I don't care that it appears silly. yes, I know what I'm saying. And yup, the reason why its charlie is the same reason why most girls would like male dogs. You figure that one out for yourself.”

• You go- “Oh. Ok, he's named charlie. Get to the point.”

• I go- “Ok, ok, I will. Just some more babble. Please. Pretty-witty Please.”

• You go- “Oh nice! Neat name!”

• I go- “High five! Now we're talking!”

So, charlie is charlie.

Anyway, I installed kubuntu on charlie (okay, okay..punnu did it..I really am way too..technologically challenged to even try) and I'm loving it. But like i said, linux it so beautiful, it lies to you. It makes you think that everything else could be that clean, neat, well turned out, networked. Life isn't like that, though. Life's a bunch of pipsqueaks. Like..you need to gain control of something but you can't? Can't you just go..sudo yada yada yada and BOOM! You're the dude who just about over-rides any permission issues that crop up behind your back. Look out, monster files...I shall defeat your worthless existence for I am superuser pro! *Evil, evil, oh so terribly evil smirk*

Sigh. Too bad you can't use sudo to do anything in life.

Ditto with everything else. Why search for menus when you can type out what you want, and get everything to help? I wish i could just type out “That purple shirt i ironed that day” and actually get help options. But no, life's a bunch of windows systems..you open up things and search and search. The search option can't find it, and nope, no one's gonna help you. Suffer, bitch!

Sigh.

Not to mention the cool effects. I want people to pop in and out like that, goodies to stream in like that, light and day to mix. But the days go on and the effects are rain. I do love lightning though. It is the coolest nature effect ever. And sunsets. And rain.

Okay, so the effects I'm talking about basically mean I want a zippy life.

But with engineering in VTU...ahem...zippy? Life? whaaa?? (No, you must be punished for even thinking such things. Idiot.)

Also, linux makes you believe life can be just that simple. No viruses. No leeches. Only things that you want will enter your life....the charm to ward off all evil has worked! Even if evil finds its way in, it'll never survive.

if only life were like that. Evil goes away, without protection, or treatment or what-not.

A whole load of things, kubuntu does. (Don't be fooled- You have to work long and hard with it to get it to work nice and good for you). But its so worth it.

Charlie, you lucky guy, you. Envy is the name of this game.

oldest inbox

you know how, in those black and white movies, people would open up an old steamer trunk filled with half-white, torn envelopes, the pages sprinkled with yellow dust and the nostalgia of a different time left to be opened at will? I have that too. Only, it is called gmail.

For most people of my generation(what is WRONG with me..I cannot believe I said that), getting a gmail account equalled either a hot-shot-geek status, or it meant that you knew someone who was a cool-hot-shot-geek who sent you an invite. Cool and hot in the same term, you ask? I know. Good times. *cackle*

I was lucky enough to know such a person, (lucky me!) and that's how I ended up with a gmail id way before most of my other friends. Punnu, who did send me the invite..said it was one of the last few he wanted to send out. Incidentally, he didn't immediately send one to Aditi when she asked for one( which made her want to hit him) and ultimately I don't know who sent her the invite. But all this unnecessary melodrama just goes to show how coveted gmail was. No shit!

The cool-hot (gag moi) thing about gmail then, was the unlimited storage and counting! What I didn't realise then, was that years later I could open up the Oldest inbox and click on parts of my life that I'd forgotten even existed.
Try it. I did, (this whole idea was inspired by punnu, of course) and I unleashed several good things, several horrors and I cannot begin to describe how lame and ridiculously funny I find my previous self to be.

Disclaimer: I am not 50 years old, as the nature of this nostalgic post might suggest. I am merely coming to terms with the dramatic change in my persona.

So, anyway....(the growing old thing is a subject of much hysteria, I'll save that for later)..things that my oldest inbox made me realise...

1) I, can you believe it, I, me, used to use short forms.
*GASP.*
It's true.
The one thing I truly hate and have detested (for a very long time) are cheesy short forms...I never really went overboard with it but I actually have used "ya". "gal", "u", "c", and a whole lot more at some point.
My take one short forms (and most of you will disagree with me)- things like btw, brb are fine...but "da", "kewl" and the incomprehensible line of things like "xcln" for excellent, "2rw" for tomorrow and "frstrd" for frustrated do two things- one, they piss off the person (a.k.a, me) trying to get what you're trying to say, and two- they actually make the msg look creepy. Its true. Um, hmm.
I'm glad I was never that weird, though.

2) I was way more adorable.
I took effort and time in typing all these super nice mails to everyone, kept in touch, sent mails to my closest friends telling them EVERY Little thing..about my bad hair cut, about my good days, about growing up pains. I'm just in awe of the person I used to be. Don't get me wrong, I still think I'm pretty awesome but back then- I was that and more. We all sent each other mails even giving advice..long long mails...SO Much fun to read now..partially because its funny to check out how smart you thought you were back then.

It's true. Judging by my inbox(and many people will agree)- as you grow older, it is only a matter of time before you are doomed to the laziness that prevents you from bothering. And of course, we have facebook. I know for a fact that I won't be reading facebook wall messages or superpokes 5 years from now with half as much interest. Facebook inbox messages, maybe.

3)I was also really lame.
This, (based on subject matter in my mails) doesn't really require more explanation.Cough, cough.

4)I didn't know how funny I was.
Okay, so its a “what were you thinking, you little oaf??” kinda funny, but hey, who's really reading?

5)I've changed a LOT.
Boy, this is cool. You've just got to try it. It is sort of like reading a diary.
A conversational one. If you've got saved up conversations on online messengers, those will do pretty well too.

I know, i know. Not quite the steamer trunk, eh? But mails keep you going “what the...” for quite a bit, guaranteed. I can't even remember the reasons why most of them were even sent. The worst are those questionaires where you fill up stuff about yourself like, “what colour are you wearing” and “chocolate or vanilla, summer or winter”..and everyone used to come up with what we thought were such smart alec answers to those things. Ha! Kids, I tell you.

They never get old:)

YouClick!

A lot of recent events have prompted me to think that the most GOSH-DARN-AWESOME thing about today's technology is not that you can keep in touch with people in atlanta, not that you can type out those boring reports and be professional even with the handwriting of a 3 year old, not that music is now (illegally) free..(although that is a HUGE perk!) not that you no longer depend fully on that DVD store down the road that has movies made 2 years ago, but that now, finally, and indefinitely, the POWER is in YOUR HANDS. The power to do just about anything. The power to change the face of journalism, the power to change someone's reputation, the power to impress, amuse, confuse, influence, and convince.

Confused? As an example...My friend chacks made an audio clip of him singing some song, "Jaya Nagaraj Tara"....and this work of pure genius enthralled me so well, I don't think I've ever been THAT entertained with a one minute (or less) audio clip. Now, this medicine (and By that I mean laughing that hard will definitely cure anything) wouldn't have been released if it weren't for the wonders of today's technology. For one, he'd have probably recorded it, and it would've stayed with him. But now, that clip was retrieved, and put up on my friend's blog! And its out there! The truth is out there! The truth can also spread like wildfire ( I can include a link to it, someone else can do the same thing...but I'm not going to do that because I might get slaughtered.)

The same goes for a lot of other things. Someone sings funny? Or dances funny? The wonders of bluetooth enable everyone to share the fun. A crazy Prank call? Its now on your phone. These are all things that we can keep and amuse ourselves with anytime. Another friend of mine recorded this guy's bathroom singing..(Yeah..You're not safe even in that private domain!) and..well..let's just say the music brought tears to our eyes..(If you know what I mean.)

Going beyond personal amusement (Which of course, is the most fun way of enjoying the POWER of it all...), the Impact of technology today means journalism is no longer single-handedly in the hands of media giants. Everyone now has the right to report, record, capture moments as they see it, and given that Journalism deals with such an unpredictable world, this is a benefit that everyone can see. Pictures were captured by people's cellphones during events like earthquakes, the recent assassination of Benazir Bhutto, Bomb Blasts, The tsunami..and these pictures were the ones that eventually made it to the headlines. These people just happened to be there...and sudddenly..they had the power to report. They had the power to tell their story. They had that power to make a difference.

Photography and Impromptu video making is no longer reserved for the experts. Anyone can get into it..I've seen people who don't even possess a professional camera take stunning pictures with their cellphones. I know people who make stunning music just by using mixing software. Youtube became a sensation because suddenly, everyone had the power. Everyone could put up what they wanted, noone was restricted to the views of others anymore.

I missed the 'We the people' episode on TV, and I got to watch the entire thing online. That kind of power was un-imaginable before. Its fabulous-everything can now go according to your time, your requirements. You get to decide. Its all about you. Don't get a certain show aired in your country anymore? You'll get it online, no problem. You don't have freedom of speech in the media in your country? You blog, and tell the world what you think. The number of pakistani writers expressing their angst online during the time of the country's emergency recently was astonishing. No one can curb that power anymore. You might have to face dire consequences if its on print (see my earlier post titled "Petty Poetic License") but if you want the right to information that is legal,all you have to is reach out and grab it. That is power like none other.

Obviously, with the Yin comes the Yang, and here comes the downside. Everyone has the power. The upside IS the downside. Record Labels no longer make the money they used to with their music. Anyone can put up anything, and credibility is definitely compromised. In India, a few years ago, The DPS school video(No prizes for knowing about that!) messed up the lives of the students involved in it. But people need to get smart. People need to try and be aware of who is recording what. People need to understand that with that kind of power, all you can do, is make sure it doesn't fall into the hands of people it shouldn't be with. Its not easy, but it has to be done. Everyone's recognized that the power is now with the people. I'm glad Radiohead and Madonna considered the internet a prime factor when it came to releasing new albums. It just doesn't work the way it used to.

What I'm trying to say through this entire essay-like post( I promise I'll try and restrict these...sometimes I can't help myself) , is that...don't misuse that power ( Why mess things up for yourself?), but don't shy away from it. Its now our world. Record, write, Participate. Because you actually can. You can actually get things going your way. In a strange way, we all possess the power that makes us the heroes of this generation ( Yeah, yeah..I know..I like being this dramatic!)..so..no sense in wasting it. And...P.S- if you do have some videos or clips that MUST be watched or heard...Let me know...

Britney Spears......

Ha! I did that just to catch your attention. But really, if Al Gore wants Greater attention paid to his global warming campaign, he should just rope in Britney spears. If you can't beat em, join em. Right? Right.

The times-are-a-changing! Taare Zameen Par is THE movie. Really, it moves you to tears. It does have moments of relief thrown in, though. Neat Music Score , has that element of freshness and on the whole, a very well made flick. Aamir Khan must be grinning all the way home, to the bank, singing in the shower, whatever. So must the boy, Darsheel. And no reason why they shouldn't folks! This movie single handedly increases your respect for Aamir Khan by many, many notches. Finally, more people are looking at learning disorders in a new light. And that = progress! Step One!

The new Tata Nano promises to be kind to your pocket! Step Two, I say. We can either be sceptical or Happy. But really, there are so many times when I've seen four people holding on for dear life on a bike in India and wondered why I couldn't do anything about it. Mr Ratan Tata, however, saw the same scene and DID decide to do something about it- Thumbs up, really! My only worry is that the car doesn't have power steering, something that I (selfish spoilt brat, I Know) really need. I mean..I can't swerve round and round and round just to park. I'd be the killing machine to look out for on the roads then, for sure.

I couldn't watch We the People, But Blogs being taken that seriously here is definitely step Three!! *Squeals of joy!* Indian Bloggers need to be taken even more seriously. I mean, do we just know it all or what? ( My modesty helps, I'm sure. lol.)

The MacBook Air is out! DREAMY! Its making headlines everywhere...now if only I had a cushy job with the money to buy myself one. Sigh! I mean, check out the details! Don't get me wrong, though. Charlie is the man! (charlie is my laptop. He's the most Patient, Loving Laptop I know. Gives me NO trouble at all.) Rock Solid Dependable. Aww, he's all jealous of MacBook Air.

Its holiday time and the combination of the sunset out my window and my Cuppa in my hand? Step 5. Engineering students have a weird schedule, which means I'm oh-so-relaxed right now. Definitely a Plus!!

Times-are-a-changing! Now if only my hits would actually go up, I'd be ecstatic. It helps that I put up a hit-meter DAYS after I started Blogging. Oh well.

*Slurp*....Cheers!!