überEllis.com

Seemingly random thinking took me back to a day when I couldn't have been more than seven years old. Saturday morning. Up early as any excited child would be. My sister and I went to what had to be the biggest mall in the country at the time. Walking around to look at sparkly new things. To smell the preparation of menu items from around the world. To be hypnotized by a rainbow of ice-cream flavours amongst the bustle of individuals with unique purposes. Nothing quite got my attention like the toy-store, however, and it was at the window of that very one that convinced me to let go of her hand..

I pointed at the items in the orchestrated display. Still talking, I turned around - only to see a sea of unfamiliarity. Fearless I trusted that she would be around soon, so I entered the store to get a closer look.

Colours and sounds. Big boxes of treasure. Small packages of entertainment. But even the toy-store had limited aisles and soon enough, I got bored. A whole mall to explore - so why wait here?

It must have been hours.

The interesting stores were running out and I've seen enough. Even to a young me, the richness of this mecca ran out of potential. I wanted to go home and started searching for my sister. Clearly she wasn't interested in the cool stuff, so I entered the grown-up stores one, by one. So many people, very few alone.

The popular clothing stores yielded no results.

The restaurants had many patrons, none of them my sister.

The fountains churned merrily, yet not in a familiar voice.

A lot of walking and nothing really captivating lead me back to where I started. No sign of her.

With sager eyes, when I glance back, it was a pure miracle to happenstance around the corner that lead into the arms of my sibling. I don't think I've ever felt happier while getting the teary-eyed scolding of a lifetime. It was obvious the wavering yells weren't really in anger.

It may seem sad to need to belong somewhere. I think it's worse if it's not where you are.

Restarting the quotes page I sadly lost during the incident.

• <Vertice>i got my wii
  Vertice disconnected
• <MaXimus> mac before mom except after pork
• <AE> Table layouts in HTML is the web-equivalent of killing trees
• <Vertice> i always write db_queery for some reason....
• <AE> (on lesbians) Funny how a real one can ruin a perfectly good fantasy
• <MaXimus> (on hippies and violence) ...until you take their stash. Then you'll see some violence.
  <AE> Yeah. Don't get your hippie out of joint
• <Irrational> Do you know where the flat earth society is based?
  <MaXimus> Clearly not close to the edge..
• <Irrational> You can't claim "Mein Kampf" was written badly. Hitler wan't an author.
  <AE>He was a dictator
• <Lailoken> (while discussing the pro's and cons of ice-cream in a bowl vs. in a cone) ...and you're on the beach and you're crying and there's nobody around..

Hi all, and welcome back me! Yes, I've been away spending some time down at the coast, locking myself into my room for some serious gaming and/or media. R & R the way it was meant to be *beam*

Yep...the coast *reminisce*. A long, long drive away from home. This year - done in a Porsche, no less. Literally flying down, arriving with a windscreen testament of exactly how juicy Karoo butterflies can get and a shirt testament of how much perspiration a body can produce in ten hours (due to an unfortunate turn of events, the airconditioner was less than operational, and said Karoo is unforgiving).

I know I left without any greetings, and I do apologize - so without further ado:

Yep! I've not been completely idle, and y'all can look forward to many more doodles in the following couple of weeks - I've been stocking up! ;)

What good is a new year's post, without ye olde cheezy resolution type message? Pretty good, I'd say - and against better knowledge and risking mockery by bloggers everywhere, I'd like to finish up with mine..

This year, I want to aim towards improving my art, experiment with colour again, work on some larger pieces and maybe do something lasting.

Wishing you all, a prosperous one!

It's a sad day for one of my best friends, saying farewell to his mother.

I've not known how difficult it could be until I lost my father earlier this year - so difficult, that I couldn't even bring myself to blog about it either.

Lailoken: Let me know if there's anything I can help with. I know it's hard to ask, but believe me, it's worth it. My thoughts are with you.

Yep folks, I'm a dad *hands out cigars*
Spike Benedict (working middle name) arrived on Saturday and has been every bit the handfull I hoped he would be. :)

It was either get the shot, or rescue the socks...I got the shot

But none the wiser, I'm afraid (I guess wisdom plateaus this close to perfection ;) ).

It was a beautiful day - weather as if it was ordered (I even went for my annual dip in the ocean today). Good food a plenty (pork, of course), with presents to boot (I now have everything I've wanted concerning Webers).

A warm and special thanks to everyone who sent regards - this year warranted a record high, I dare confess - some from people I haven't even seen in ages, and even one from very very far away.

Buy mostly, the thanks goes to my family - You guys rock, and never fail to make me feel special.

Now I only have one year left to come up with some goals I've wanted to achieve before the big three oh... :\

Two hours and R 700 later, I resemble something of a cross between Frank Zappa and J.D. (That's "Dr. John Dorian", and not "Just Dog").

I was the embodiment of confidence more or less up to 30 minutes before the appointment. One's mind wanders as it would during the inevitable (first of many...not quite sure what's up with that) hair wash, and panic and doubt changed to a deep sadness...I am unsure of the exact reasons. Probably an end of an era? Who knows..

I'm happy to announce, the choice of Salon was indeed perfect. My hairdresser resembled a beer-swilling rugby fanatic. Large and hairy. Not exactly what one expects, I know, but he set my mind at ease in mere minutes. He was confident and clearly on top of his game. He listened to what I had in mind, and gave honest, professional feedback. I wish I could've sneaked a photograph of the burly man concentrating intently on my hairdo. A true Kodak moment.

Family was mostly unimpressed at first glance..Everyone expected a very dramatic change, and I still resemble me, I guess. I feel confident and comfortable. There's a lot of attention, while most seem like they intentionally try not to discuss my hair. The next few days will have the first impressions of some friends...some who has only known me with long hair. So a better overall impression will probably reveal itself soon. Stay tuned ;)

Well...that remains to be seen. You might wonder what my feelings are towards such a bold, possibly life-changing decision. Honestly, I've not really considered a larger scheme-of-things impact of such an event, until Maximus brought it up a couple of days ago. Part of me fails to see the reality of the situation. I guess I've always known this day will come sooner or later, and that part of me is proud I've lasted this long.

The other part of me? Let's just say he's more intrigued by the potential learning and growth that's inevitable with a drastic change of this nature. That very part of me is also thinking...the sooner, the better, Here's to tomorrow, in more than one way! ;)

Soon I'll be leaving for my annual visit to Glentana to spend Christmas with my family. I'm literally counting the days (my powerbook has a little countdown timer on the desktop...*swoon* I love my mac :D ).Three weeks of unadulterated doing-nothing...Nwotbliss

Back in my hard-rocker/metalhead/goth days, I had much resentment for this season. Lots of unnecessary deaths in what is supposed to be a holy time, commercialized into a frantic shopping nightmare.

Only recently have I realized that there's more to the season that meets the eye. All that negativity was centered around me, I've never noticed the effect on others.

There's a special glint in my mother's eyes, while she's preparing the dinner table. My father has a certain tenderness in his voice all day long. The lunch is filled with conversation and laughter from parents and siblings alike.

If someone is not at that table on that one day of the year, there's a certain sadness around it - and what effort does it take from me to spread so much joy? One day in a mad mall is a small price to pay.

Here's wishing y'all a merry festive season and ample presents (it is, after all, a wonderful perk).

As some of y'all know, \\b0rris met an untimely end one foul power failure more than 6 weeks ago. I've diagnosed and re-diagnosed and replaced pieces but to no avail...and it's not without a heavy heart, that I'll have to say goodbye to him..

There will be a small ceremony this weekend.

\\father does not seem too distraught, as he will be getting a huge upgrade from what \\b0rris bequeths - whether or not I'll be able to do all of that on my own, remains to be seen...which brings me to the resounding question; How much of the original box needs to be replaced before it constitutes getting a new name?

All philosophies aside, I want you all to please welcome \\cl4uss, my new pride and joy *hands out cigars* (It's a boy!) :D

\\ce4sar??
Submitted by irrational on Sat, 2004/08/14 - 10:03pm.
As in ceasarion. This was probably the most difficult birth of a new machine EVER!
A small list of things that went wrong - some things twice.

• Wrong PSU and CPU. Outdated BIOS. Missing drives.
• Failed Windows installation. Failed BIOS flash. Memory running at wrong speed.
• And it took roughly 8-9 hours to get the machine to the point of playing a game.

Then a new cpu and PSU later everything seems fine - so far.

Lets hope \\cl4uss grows out of his difficult stage quickly! 8).

Et tu Irrational?
Submitted by MordracK on Mon, 2004/08/16 - 9:43am.
I'm glad to announce that no further anomolies have been recorded. Prince of Persia runs like a dream, The Simpsons, Hit and Run have not even been prepared for running at such a high-res, and Doom continues to scare the begeebies out of me :)

As many a young parent would agree...the time the infant spent in the incubator, only strengthens the bond between father and child (so much so, that my house still resembles something out of a post-apocolypse movie)

Thanks again for all your efforts (oh...and welcome to ÜberEllis).

PS.: If you log in, the comment gets published immediately and requires no moderation. ;)