Bits and Pieces
TV Dinners
My sister arrived home yesterday evening to find two bodies in the TV room, each holding a bowl in hand, eyes on the big screen.
My niece had started it. She piled her bowl of rice with mussels and tofu and headed back to watch the movie that’d been interrupted for dinner. I was more “civilised”, eating at the table. But eventually, my rice bowl and I joined her and hers in the TV room.
So what was so interesting on TV that we just had to watch it? Nothing earth-shaking, no Astro premiere. Just a movie about a pinkish animal in the city. A movie about a pig, some chimpanzees, lots of dogs and cats, and an orang utan named Thelonius.
Babe: Pig in the City.
It was funny and touching, our movie of the moment, captivating two humans enough to eat our dinners in front of the TV instead of at the table.
Welcome to the 21st Century
Our computers at work have been ram’d up, each with an additional 512MB to the original 128MB. You read it right - 128MB. Soooo slow, sometimes I would almost fall asleep watching for something to move on the computer screen.
I have also recently switched to 1024 x 768 screen resolution. I’d tried once before but my multi-focaled eyes protested so much, I bowed down to their demands and went back to 800 x 600 without any fight.
Not this time, though. I have to stick to the 1024 x 768, else I cannot do my work. We are developing the latest version of our corporate web site, a version “best viewed at 1024 x 768 resolution”. It was either that or lots of horizontal scrolling to the right to read the whole page.
This time, it’s my eyes that have bowed to my demands. Good for them. Good for me. You can see so much more at 1024 x 768. Well, maybe not first thing in the morning, eyes still gummy from sleep.
Expanding my JI Collection
To my meagre Janis Ian collection (one cassette, and three CDs, one of it a double CD), I have added three more, plus two books, and two DVDs.
No, I didn’t get them from any local record or book shop. And no, I didn’t have anyone coming back from the States to ask them to bring the items back for me. I ordered them directly from her web site’s merchandise page, specifying shipping by International Mail. The alternative was much too expensive, costing even more than the total cost of the three CDs, two books and two DVDs!
I was so worried the package would be lost in the mail. But that’s just me, a worry-wart, cuz it arrived safely. I did have to go to the General Post Office to collect it. It’s years since I’ve been to the GPO. Even had to ask if it was still in the same place. What do I know? I don’t deal with snail mail much anymore, except for bills and whatnots.
Specifics of the package contents?
CDs - Between the Lines, Breaking Silence, and Hunger
Books - Who Really Cares, a new re-release of Janis’ 1969 book of adolescent poetry with photos and additional poems, and Stars: Stories Based on the Songs of Janis Ian
DVDs - Janis Ian Live at Club Cafe and JanisMania 2004
Oh yes, every one of them signed by her.
