http://www.ariyam.com and babblings! Sat, 12 Jul 2008 01:27:27 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en My friend Anja (I'm just going to use her name and hope she doesn't mind) said something that kind of threw me off-balance the other day. She began by relating how "surprised she is that there isn't more general misogyny in the world." Apparently, she has this sort of antipathy ... http://www.ariyam.com/2008/06/27/a-misogynist-woman/ Oh man, if this is what my back feels like at 25, I can’t imagine what it will feel like at 75! Yesterday morning, I woke up in agony grasping my back and making geezer-like guttural squawks of pain—to no one in particular. However, the pain was slight enough to ... http://www.ariyam.com/2008/05/03/the-enigmatic-body/ (This is the last despondent political post of the year, I promise.) Is it me, or has this been the longest presidential campaign season ever? What’s worse, it’s just the primaries! We’re only preparing for the real thing. It’s primer! The heavy white ugly gelatinous stuff you cover you house with ... http://www.ariyam.com/2008/04/26/okay-nobody-cares-anymore-or-should/ Have you ever told anyone before that you're choosing NOT to vote in the presidential election? I imagine you have. And I can guess the response you've gotten, the almost involuntarily emetic regurgitation of that same cliqued expression, "If you don't vote, you can't complain!". To me, that is just ... http://www.ariyam.com/2008/02/09/rock-the-no-thank-you-vote/ I sometimes talk/write like what I've recently been exposed to. When in the company of London folk, I can't help but talk London-esque -- over-pronouncing every syllable, resorting to olden juvenile forms of censure, words like "Mikey", "Lick". Such the same with the Scottish, when I visit the ol'RiRi. ... http://www.ariyam.com/2008/01/24/txt-msg-speak-lol/ After several months of programming -- and several months of NOT programming -- I've finally finished a new programming project, codename: Melodie. There are still a few tiny rough edges in the program (as in any program, see MS Vista) but at this point, the application is functional enough for ... http://www.ariyam.com/2008/01/17/melodie/ I am so underread. (And only someone underread would even dare use an expression as 'underread'.) It’s true, I don’t know a lick of contemporary literature. Except for the names you can’t escape, like Dan Brown, Rowling, or Tolkien, the rest of the authors’ names stir no recall to ... http://www.ariyam.com/2008/01/16/100-book-new-year-goal/ Desert of Sorrows A Strange Desert, Wretched and ill foreboding, A land of Barren plains. Yet ‘fore hope went dry, Steady rhythm resounded, And upon me a Rider came. "To where's the sun?", I asked, "And its lesser lantern pair? Or that speckled net of wonder Sprawling endless through the air? To what score Dynasty age Has the Blight claimed rule? Royal famines, ... http://www.ariyam.com/2008/01/03/desert-of-sorrows/ For a while now, “hopefuls” for the 2008 presidential election, have been, well, “hopeless”. They have been nothing more to me than peripheral annoyance. Like that buzzing fly that keeps flapping in your ears, and after every shoo and slap of the hand, comes right back tauntingly to the same ... http://www.ariyam.com/2007/11/11/ron-paul-disguised-as-a-politician/ It is the most wonderful time of the year. (Now, re-read that last sentence chirping that tireless melody -- yes, you know which one.) Christmas doesn't come in December -- silly rabbit -- it comes in November (now). Daylight's savings autumn edition is -- bar none (a phrase I'll never understand ... http://www.ariyam.com/2007/11/05/daylights-savings-day/ Two men, one old, one older, Sat together, fierce in thoughts, Yet mutely lashing each n'other. The one had pinned his mare, To the very chambers of his stable. The other slyly skimped perimeter, Advancing slowly towards the center. And then, at last, a rash decision, A luckless, preventable blunder, And the Monarch was all but crumbled, Till Gulla, the ... http://www.ariyam.com/2007/09/23/the-afternoon-coup/ Today, after work, on Payday-Friday, a hazy, mid-summer afternoon, I went with my friend Chris to a place in Rhode Island called Twin Rivers: a newer slightly less trashy---still white trashy---RI casino. I don’t gamble, nor do I ever go to casinos (neither does Chris) however, today is Chris’s birthday, ... http://www.ariyam.com/2007/07/10/glazed-over-glitz-at-the-casino/ After arriving last week from a family trip to the snail-looking state of Virigina, I've come to a conclusion: there is absolutely nothing to see in Virginia. True, there are some mountains. True, even some grass, and a couple of trees. But other than the foliage, your not looking at much. ... http://www.ariyam.com/2007/07/09/back-from-virginia/ I’m Asian, dorky, and male. All those things combined might suggest that I would want an Iphone. However, truth be told, I do not. I don’t know when or why, but I’ve lost all interest in new technology. I was sad when Firefox automatically updated me to the latest version of ... http://www.ariyam.com/2007/07/02/old-technologuy/ I was thinking about work the other day. Not about my particular job per se, but more generally, the concept, the institution. Now please, hear me out. I know this already sounds like the preamble to some pot-head’s Friday night epiphany, but really, hear me out. It seems like from our ... http://www.ariyam.com/2007/06/29/work-sleep-you-time/ A good person is like a good elephant. Its character, its humility, its willing and most loyal service, are all more than enough reasons to forgive---and overlook---the mountain of dung they invariably leave behind. http://www.ariyam.com/2007/06/23/elephants/ SANJAY: Excuse me. I know you. You were in my creative writing class. RACHAEL: Really? SANJAY: Yeah, yeah. I uh. Yeah. RACHAEL: aside: weirdo SANJAY: Well, I only went to the first class or so. (awkward silence) SANJAY: I had to drop the class. It was the workload. I just couldn’t balance 3 courses, a full-time ... http://www.ariyam.com/2007/06/14/scene1-sanjay-runs-into-rachael/ PROVIDENCE -- Yesterday, at around 4:23P EST, a highly irregular Tornado formed in the Downtown Art District of Providence, Rhode Island. A concentrated mixture of low pressure, along with high winds and rain, created a 300 foot tall funnel-shaped cone that reportedly originated at the corner of Washington Street and ... http://www.ariyam.com/2007/05/17/tornado-devastates-providence-ri/ ain't it beautiful, ain't it grand, using 'ain't', despite teacher's reprimand. ain't, ain't, ain't ain't you, ain't me, basking in impunity. red-ink white out, papers do decay, no more indelible stains, that ain't be washed-away. ain't gonna do it, ain't gonna follow traffic sane, why? when we got here an empty, unexplored, break-down lane. http://www.ariyam.com/2007/05/14/aint-it-grand/ What good is good advice and sage suggestions? What real good are the quips, the puns, and the familiar sayings? They're uncovered everywhere, serendipitously present, over-present; they're unsought out, and truly random in occurrence. Over and over, you hear them, and nod affirmatively. Predictable responses: "wow, so true, so right ... http://www.ariyam.com/2007/05/08/moving-ant-hills/