Apparently it's been going through some tough times with the ownership and illness but what's bad for one is good for another and we bumped into a fantastic little roadside cafe 50 meters down the road.  We had a sit down in the front garden and ate our lunches and grabbed a couple of drinks.  I think the landlady's name was Jean and she was an absolute star.

After Danby Whisk it was more of the same.  Flat, flat, flat.  The most memorable part was the very scary crossing of the A19 towards the end of the walking day.

We arrived at Park House B&B to find it empty apart from us.  Our legs were aching from using the same muscle groups all day long so it was nice to eat, chill out, go to bed and look forward to getting onto the Cleveland Way the next day.

Tomorrow is Week 7!

5 more weeks and I'm done with FYP. I really cannot wait to finish FYP. Its really torturing to stay in school for 9 and a 1/2 hrs doing nothing! I really dont know how to express the boring-ness in FYP man. Anyway, rather than doing nothing and slacking all the way through out, I'm going to do something useful. Try to come out with something in our project. Because, ultimately we students lose out if we dont score well not those 'don't know how to do' lecturers and supervisors. (:

Ok, time for a visit on the balcony for a smoke. Tonight the renovations of the hallway continues. Tomorrow: BACK TO WORK and you will be spared from too many blog posts... I do have a life you know. Even if it didn't feel like it for the last 2 days....

Toxic cloud passes, residents allowed home

An Airborne Toxic Event has occurred in Pennsylvania. Annoying Postmodernism literature is back in vogue. Fuck!

Seriously, that book was really, really, REALLY unreadable. And I know there are probably a TON of 'White Noise' fans out there. Sorry :(

What is the most insidious recent web trend? Rounded corners. What started as a kind of joke and an impressive hack to differentiate websites is now the stifling, boring norm.

Rounded corners are boring. If you add them to your website they make it look just like all the other websites in the world. If you create an image hack to implement rounded corners so they work on IE then you are actually mad. You are actually forcing users to download at least two images for the privilege of looking just the same as everyone else.

Currently the most exciting web design is Twistori which is an exercise in retro colours but take a close look at it.

Where are the underlined words to show me I can click on things? How can it create an entirely different ways to read text using font size alone? What is it doing?! I think, I think... it might be, the future.

I also quite like the look of GitHub, look at those panels, look at that negative space. Even the tab bar is square.

Tab bars are at the end of their lives too, there are too many and they look too alike. What you want to do is take that tab bar and turn it into massive words that are clickable. That would be awesome.

At least for a few years.

I have also been busy drowning in college applications, hours of homework, dance classes, volunteering, clubs, saving the world, you know, the reg.  Come March, I am donezo with all of this stuff.  Actually, probably until AP exams because I couldn't imagine the thought of slacking off before then (because I'm such a great kid ;]).

As most of you have noticed, this economy is just going FANTABULOUS and I predicate breadlines within several years, but for now you're just going to suck it up, save what you can, and realize that this is one of the worst times to live.  Yeah, so it's early in the "game", but it's heartbreaking to listen to the radio and know that someday I may not have this comfortable home and blessed lifestyle.  When I heard that the Dow dropped 700 points, I realized that I am one of the luckiest girls in the world and that I have to give back somehow, someway, so expect something about that soon.  So to save money I have:

A. Put my AmEx card through the shredder

B. Putting cash into the bank and hoarding change like an old lady

C. Not bought clothes.  It's difficult.  It's actually stressful not to buy clothes because I'm so paranoid that someone will just come up to me and be like,"Oh but you wore that swing jacket 3 weeks and 4 days ago.  That's dirty." (I'm not that shallow, just self-conscious).  But I have become very DIY savvy within the past couple of weeks or so.

D. Been going to the library.  Don't buy books!  This probably seems obvious but it helps PLUS you're not buying wasted paper.  And even better, you can CARPOOL to the library.  Is that too ABC Family?

E. Packed my lunches.  An apple, a small sandwich, and my reusable water bottle = much healthier than the french fries and cookies offered in the cafeteria.

I promise that I'll post when I have time, but I am very busy with school/work/volunteer/dance/applications/breathing.  Maybe some little posts and then one big one?  I don't know.

This is a very boring blog. And now that we've hacked it, we have to admit, we're a little disappointed to find that you don't even have any articles pending review. As intrepid explorers of the Blogosphere, we're actually kind of miffed not to find more in here after we went to so much trouble. We just hacked your blogrollee St. Alex of the Knife, too, and that was a much more rewarding experience all around. In fact, you might be surprised by everything he's up to in there.

What gives, man? Er, man? What the heck are you, anyway?

Yours very truly,
Nancy and Elmer Kowallahachet

She is such a typical asian parent. They don't like to compliment...really. Or they don't think to. I cleaned yeaterday! Yes I did! The patio all shiny ^-^;; And my brother's room, I even swept under the bed XD;;

Then again maybe I did that all to get my brother a PS3, but the rooms were noticabley cleaner, so I dunno why my mom comes home... looks at me. Tells me to clean today. Then leaves. That really got to me >.<

But I'm done complaining. Imma just go home. Clean my butt off (ha~ actually I bet my butt would actually be dirty since imma be like sitting on the floor sorting stuff) and then i'll just go shopping saturday. I'll actually tell my mom imma go shopping. Perhaps I'll just go in the noon time and come back later on before 6-ish. Not so bad. I wanna find a dress and some cosplay stuff XD that! And! I'm dying to get out! Whaa >.<

Sorry for the rant. I'm at school. Bored!

--Kimiko--

in the design class, got some advice from the lecturer....should change place to study...limkokwing university does not reach a satisfactory level for me...even for the lecturers...

maybe should choose Taylor, SEGI or UCSI for my year one in architectural science...anyone who can give some opinion can reply....

i dyed my hair red. i missed this color. i am also considering on going on a yogurt diet. i have a gut, that i need to get rid of. i've been on this diet for 4 or 5 days. bmth's new album is amazing btw.

sincerely, alexis.

In magic communities, both here in the Philippines and throughout the world, contradicting idealisms abound.

Filipino magicians are as predisposed to make grand statements as magicians of other nationalities. Not much wrong with that, if they can back up their claims with suitable corresponding actions.

I can find many examples of this phenomenon. Allow me to start with the intriguing similarities of magic acts.  Intriguing because magicians, even those who mouth platitudes of their being original thinkers, often perform the same magic tricks that many other magicians are doing.

The problem (if it can be called that) even afflicts magic dealers.  I remember many years ago, Hank Lee's enticed buyers with an enchanting ad copy. It said, "With thousands of tricks in our inventory, you don't have to perform the same magic other magicians are performing," or words to that effect.

Yet, when you browse their catalog, except for a few dozen specialty tricks and exclusive props, they sell exactly the same items found in the inventory of their competitors.

The similar-trick contagion spreads across all levels of proficiency among magic performers.  I cannot speak of the situation in other countries. Here in the Philippines, specially in the Metro Manila area where the market for magic entertainment is small, the similarities of tricks in magic acts are so pronounced they are obvious even to my near-sighted mother-in-law watching magicians a half block away.

For this matter, I can't help suspecting that beginning, intermediate and even professional Pinoy magicians have developed an inclination to perform the same magic tricks. The reason? They think being similar is the right path to the freezer (they want to appear cool). Indeed many of them end their careers inside the freezer, where they are seldom heard of again after their frosty performances.

Here are the tricks that Filipino magicians should weed out from their acts if they want to attain distinction and uniqueness.

1. Appearing Cane
2. Disappearing Cane
3. Appearing Candle
4. Disappearing Candle
5. Appearing Doves (a la Lance Burton)
6. Disappearing Doves (a la Jason Byrne)
7. Needle Thru Balloon
8. Talking Mask
9. Floating Table
10. Snowstorm in China
11. Throw Streamers
12. Balloon Swallowing
13. Linking Rings
14. Zombie Ball

The list is by no means complete. But the tricks that made it there should be in sufficient number to prove my point. That is, if I have a point to start with.

After saying all this, I must confess I am one of the magicians guilty of the sins I enumerated above.

However, my guilt doesn't prevent me from contemplating this enigma.  If there are thousands of tricks out there, why do magicians perform the same few tricks?

If you have the answer, please enlighten me.

Or is the answer a secret?

In future articles, I will try to break the DNA code of magical clones.

Stay magical,

Leodini

www.leodini.com

The person in charged informed me that my account will be activated in 2 weeks time because they have to liaise with TMNet. Aihz.. boring ler!

I am just too used to online and luckily recently my family purchased that astro on demand channel. If not, I will be damned boring although I have few other english series to watch (uncomplete).

I do hope that I will get my internet connection by next week!

I find Austria quite boring, and the small city of Villach takes boring to whole new level. With a population of roughly 60 000 and situated on the Drau river, Villach is an important traffic knot on the A2 highway southwards. And that's all folks! Literally.

Life in Villach stops at 1830. And I mean everything. Buses too. Restaurants too. You can find (3 or 4?!?) restaurants that are open until 2300 if you try hard.

On the other hand, there are some nice views in and around the city:

here's one from the City Center around 21:00:

OK, one more crazy panorama (156 cm @ 300 dpi) :

If you liked this post, be sure to SUBSCRIBE to the blog (either by EMAIL or by RSS) because there are always more pictures coming soon!

Brangeloonies gather around the altar of Saint Angie to witness this phenomenon!  The greatest mother of all time has triumphed over us once again with her superior breastfeeding abilities and should be worshiped for her epic feats.  Michael Phelps handed over all of his gold medals to her upon viewing these photos.  A bunch of "private" photos of Angelina Jolie breastfeeding one of the Holy Twins were captured by none other than Robert Redford Brad Pitt and his oh-so-natural hair plugs and were flown in on the wings of doves to the editor of W Magazine for their November issue.   Somewhere Jennifer Aniston is frantically calling Nicole Kidman to get the hook up on a pillow baby donor.

Who am I kidding?  If someone published some grainy Bigfoot photos of Barnesy taking a piss, I'd  have them all enlarged and stapled to the ceiling over my bed so I can imagine his Lemonade of Love raining down on me while I sleep.  And no I have never dated John Mayer!

Source

Except when the intellectual inspiration runs dry... and today is one of those days. The day when you forgot your car key. The day when you uploaded the wrong file. The day when toner runs out when you were printing.

So I skipped class and had a good refreshing lunch with Cat today. It's the good break I needed. Although the mid semester crunch is definitely still here.

Then I realized it wasn't just me, but it is a bad day for everyone, when I step into my adviser "Energizer Bunny" Novoselac's office. For people who don't know, Dr. N is known for his energy and fast walking... I often thinks he has an IV of Monster or Redbull under his shirt that he is so upbeat all the time.

But today, even the hyper Dr. N looks down, tiredness from lack of sleep he said... a surprising sight I thought I will never see. It is one of those days....

At least tomorrow I will get to race some go-carts :) more on that later.

at the mean time, this is the funny for the day:

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="410" caption="Little Big Planet"][/caption]

First of all, that carpet is HORRIBLE. Who the hell thought it would be a good idea to have red shag on the floor? I was distracted the entire time.

Secondly, how overwhelmed was Tom Brokaw? I love him because he was the anchor that got me through Sept. 11, but during this debate he was more comic relief than moderator. He made me giggle because I've never seen him so flustered.

Thirdly, this was supposed to be McCain's strong suit.  It was being advertised as a "watch out, Obama" type of event.  McCain had even proposed to have more of these and Obama refused.  I think Barry did John a favor. Not only was McCain surly and boring, but he was negative when we need a leader that's going to inspire us. I mean, everything is in the shitter, I don't think Americans can handle another President that is too self-absorbed to be encouraging and too out of touch to be realistic.

As far as McCain's plan for buying up the mortgages... it's a disaster. It's also another step towards socialism. I've forgotten which party is the commie one.

It's no surprise to me a lot of the polls are declaring this one a victory for Obama.  If McCain couldn't wow us at what supposed to be his strongest event, then I'm pretty sure he's S.O.L.

Feel free to disagree with me, cause I know you will!! ;)

Please remember that this is a blog on magic entertainment that I, Leodini, a Filipino magician, maintains to feed magicians' hunger for information, particularly as regards Philippine magic and techniques on entertaining Pinoy audiences.

Though this site does not cater mainly to believers or skeptics and everything in between, I will be publishing articles relevant to Bro. Carmelo's so-called miracles.  (Please pardon the term. I have to use "so-called until I'm convinced the petal images are not produced by trickery.  How to convince me is a subject of future articles). Readers from both sides of the fence of skepticism and faith, and even those who straddle the middle, can send me relevant articles.  I will publish them subject to my editorial discretion.  I will edit some for clarity or for style, but never for content.

You can also leave comments, if you wish, or email me relevant articles and reactions.  Let's see how this new tack develops.

Allow me to publish a "bueno mano" article, as we Pinoys usually say, submitted by an engineer who has recently attended one of Bro. Carmelo's missionary works. Actually he composed a message testifying to the miracles he witnessed performed by Bro. Carmelo.

Thank you for your skepticism. As an engineer I am also a skeptic. My family and I were lucky to have attended one of his services in Salinas, CA.  We were not planning to go there on October 4 because my eldest and I were running the half-marathon in San Jose the next day. We went to Salinas to visit my brother, who was leaving for PI on October 7.

During the service, Brother Cortez dispelled any doubts by having volunteer attendees prepare the mineral water and rose petals into a bowl. During the healing a different volunteer was holding the bowl while Bro. Cortez moved from one person to another. There were five of us in my family. All of us received different images---two different images of Mother Theresa, two different images of the Divine Mercy, and one of San Rafael the Angel.

For me that wasn't the miracle. The true miracle was that I was able to finish the half-marathon pain free. As a background, I could not even train for the race, because I thought my right leg had a stress fracture. I had a doctor’s appointment this Friday to have it x-rayed. During the race the leg was pain free.

Below are the links to the race and the miracle petals.

Half-marathon
http://www.flickr.com/photos/allaurente/sets/72157607772616072/

Petals
http://www.flickr.com/photos/allaurente/sets/72157607748466761/

In closing, Leodini, I really wanted to prove the petals were fake. I just could not find anything wrong with them. The petals were blank in the beginning. Brother Cortez’ had nothing in his hands or fingers during the service, and he had the backing of the Archbishop in the Philippines, Parish Priest in Salinas, and the Archbishop on Monterey County.

I will not be surprised if years from now, Brother Cortez could lose his healing gift. God could take it away. Then at that time, he could be boneheaded and try to do magical tricks to make it look real just to continue the service. Because people do donate generously in the service and the sin of greed could take over. At that point, any miracle that he may have done in the past, even if they were genuine miracles, would be considered fake. As far as my limited scientific, technical engineering mind is, the petals he gave us on October 4 were true miracles.

This is not the first miracle I have seen, so it would not break my faith if it were fake. I had seen the incorruptible dead bodies of saints inside the Vatican. The Buddhists claim that they also have the same phenomenon. But if you looked closely, the Buddhist incorruptibles have signs of decay similar to those preserved in ice. The Catholic incorruptibles are preserved as if they just died today.

Of course, I have no comments as to what the letter writer really witnessed.  I was not there when he experienced the "miracle".

I hope one of the attendees can send me some video footage of the miracles at work, so we can evaluate it intelligently.

For the meantime, stay magical,

Leodini

www.leodini.com

Once upon a time, the musty mix of odours: 'fresh smoke billowing over stale'; 'beery air underpinned by auld-lad sweat and whiskey breath' and 'six month old crisps mashed into mouldy carpet', would have meant one thing to me...
BORRRRRRRRRRING (but maybe a fanta and bag of crisps to last the first three minutes at least).

It's mid-to-late teens when that scent's meaning becomes inverted.
By age twenty, passing a public house evokes the complete opposite to the familiar childhood reaction, and lungfulls on the way to an evening class are savoured in fondness until class is dismissed.

The smell itself has changed a great deal since the smoking ban, but I doubt that will make any difference to the kids of today. They still feel the same stop-running-around-and-sit-down-and-be-quiet frustration now which pub-stink provokes (with or without smoke) and will still feel the same elated anticipation in years to come, when the odour is associated with more fun than they ever had indoors, getting that same smokeless, but musty booze whiff.