Dear friends,

1. If fate handed us different circumstances, I'd propose to you already…if, in those circumstances, you hadn't proposed first.
2. You are everything your namesake promised, and quite a lot more…if you were your namesake, I'd propose to you too!
3. I'm very well surprised by how much you've grown in all the years I've known you.
4. May we have lots more deep and meaningful conversations, whether in this life or some future one.
5. I wish we'd be more compatible with each other.
6. I'm still too scared of you. (Shit, this applies to at least three people I know. Go Chris!)
7. I wish you'd respect my space a lot more than you seem to do. I'm too polite to block you, but god knows how often I've been tempted to.
8. Thanks for rescuing a good friend of mine; I owe you much.
9. Life has changed so much for you, but please never forget who you are!
10. I love you so much, and yet so little…I wish I didn't have to hold back so much.

Snarfed from yesmum. This will be interesting: I have 75 real people on my LJ friends list (including deleted users), so it's 1 in 7.5!

Another meme from Special K!

Reply to this post, and I'll tell you one reason why I like/love/adore you. Then put this in your own journal, and spread the love.

Poll #521002 Type stuff
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 3

What personality type have you?

What personality type would you say I have?

Optional comment

There are fairly decent type descriptions at Best-Fit Type, The Personality Page, TypeLogic, or the like, if you like an idea of what the various types are about. (The fields are wide enough for you to type ‘Don't know’ should that apply to you.)

( Why I've put up this poll )

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In other news, I'd like to wish Ruth a kick-arse birthday. :-D

Okay, so I'm opening a can of worms here, but what the hell, this journal needs a bit of excitement.

I've been reading the thread on speed radar detectors, and there's a debate going on about whether speeders are killers, or simply cash generators. Definite food for thought.

I dare say that slow drivers cause as many hazards than speeders. I'm talking about the ones who stubbornly drive 80 in a 100 zone (these are in km/h, for readers from Imperial-unit-using countries :-P), regardless of traffic condition. These are just as bad as those who drive 120 in a 100 zone, regardless of traffic condition.

Now, because I'm a sort-of speeder (and sort of proud of it), I'm going to go off into rant mode already. :-P

( Come hear me roar! :-) )

Originally I published this entry as a contest, asking people who they think my most recent secret crush is. But I thought it'd be more fun if people wrote a little something about their own secret crushes. That'll get the gossip juices going!

Go on, don't be shy…. ;-)

In ten minutes or so, the recipient of the permanent account should have received it. If LiveJournal does its job, that is. :-P

Normally I'd have said nothing of the sort until after the event, because that would blow the surprise. But it seems like she'd be out drinking all night long (it ought to be 11-odd where she is), and I am a bit bored at the mo, so I thought I'd type something.

( Not enough of a giveaway? )

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And in other news, I'd like to wish Special K a very special birthday!

…ah, not so fast! I thought it'd be interesting to see whom my readers would have chosen, and whom they think I chose in the end. Just out of curiosity. :-P

Poll #509479 Permanent account poll followup
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 8

If you were the one choosing, whom would you?

Whom do you think I chose?

Optional comment

We currently have nominations for (in chronological order):

• Kari, because her 21st birthday is coming up!
• Chris (I presume some other account of mine, since hedgee is already a perm), because perms are expensive!
• Daniel, because he posts practically every day, and he deserves to have more LJ pics!
• Zeb, because she's a lovely Aucklander whom [the poster] thinks I need to get to know, and that I will love her!
• Vicki, because she's very stressed about exams!
• Jen, because I love her and she loves an Aussie, and she can't afford to buy her own!
• Elanor, because she's got another mouth to feed soon, and she deserves it!

So there we have it. I kinda rephrased things a bit, for fear that they would identify who the posters are. I'm sure you'll all figure out who's who anyway. :-)

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So I still can't decide. If I could afford three, I'd get one for each of Charlie's Angels. ;-) (I'm not referring to the characters from the TV series or the films…I'm talking about three very dear online friends of mine.)

The LJ perm account sale is coming up in a day or so. I can only afford to buy one; for whom shall I get it? Have your say!

Poll #507351 For whom should I get a permanent account?
Open to: Friends, detailed results viewable to: None, participants: 7

Username

Reason (optional but helps!)

(This isn't a democracy. The better the reason, the more likely I'd take the vote seriously. :-))

Also, another cool meme from Special K! (Who else?)

( Sheep? )

What's with sites that ask people to type in their email address twice? It's not like a password field, where presumably you're typing something you can't see, and it's not like people will enter it twice manually…sane people will type it once and cut/paste the second time.

(Of course, if I designed sites for myself, there would also only be one password field. But that's because I cut and paste my passwords, rather than enter by hand. :-))

Some people were asking about that article in Sunday Magazine. Well, I must say, I haven't read it yet; the shops I usually frequent were shut yesterday (Easter Sunday and all), and silly me forgot to think about checking out dairies, service stations, &c. Most of those places have already returned the copies they had, so no luck.

My journalist is very helpfully sending me a couple of copies. I look forward to reading them. And maybe I'll write something more here, once I do. :-)

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Geez, I haven't updated in three months, have I? I must admit, I'm not much for self-disclosing; I mean, a lot has happened, but I wonder how much of it is both interesting and public enough to talk about.

I'm currently working in a computery, non-teaching role; I've been working there for the last couple of months. It's not too bad, though I must remember not to burn myself out, nor lose sight of my own career aspirations. (I do plan to stay there at least till the end of the year though, if all goes well.)

I'm also saving up for a trip to North America, hopefully for November this year. I'm not going to jinx myself by saying anything more about it, though.

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My personal life is something of a non-event, probably because in the last couple of weeks, someone very important to me somehow…disappeared? I mean to write and ask, but at a complete loss as to what to say. (There is exactly one person on my LJ friends list who knows what I'm on about. Everyone else can feel free to stay in the dark. :-P)

Still, I'm glad that Vicki did manage to drag me out of my geek cave of unsociability a few times during that period. That was all good. :-)

For those of you who know Bradley, I also attended his post-wedding thingy that his sister very helpfully organised. It was good to see some long-lost faces again.

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There is also someone (different) who I see on various infrequent occasions. And that is all I will say, so that I don't jinx myself any more than I need to.

That aside, that is almost the whole sum extent of my life in the last three months. Except for one little last thing.

I still miss Nic very very much, and it seems I've missed her for a whole lifetime and some more, so I hope to fix that, at least temporarily, come November. I don't know if she reads this (or my email for that matter), but I hope she's doing well, meanwhile. It may be quite a while before I write here again….

Wow, I just discovered that my last public non-Meetup post was back in August. Has it really been this long?

Well then. August would have been the time of my third and last practicum. I did not talk about it at all in my study journal, and neither will I talk about it here. I leave you to come to your own conclusions.

What else? After making it to graduation last Wednesday, and bumping into a whole heap of students who didn't, I am quite very glad to have finished my diploma. I know, I got C- for a couple of papers, but I also got A+, A, and A-. (The last one was disappointing to me, actually; I was expecting an A.) So overall, I was quite happy with my study results. Not that grades actually mean anything.

The other big thing of note is that one of my best friends has left Auckland. This would have been infinitely sad for me were it not for my ceaseless denial of it. So there, she's still around! :-P

This year, study has made me a hermit, but I intend to break that somewhat. If you want to catch up or something, do get in touch! (Or, of course, you could come to the Meetup and let me keep my role as an organiser. :-P)

What else…I've made a whole new bunch of online friends, who live at a certain other journaling site, a site for which I may be doing some substantial (but voluntary) coding work. So I don't really read LJ that much anymore. You probably know that anyway, and/or don't give a shit. So meh. :-P

dsavage, if you are reading this (not that I expect so, but you never know), I will be writing your reply straight away. I am getting forgetful in my old age. (I am serious—teachers' college seemed to have aged me a great deal.)

You know, about LJ Meetups. Since Meetup.com has been hassling me for lack of activity, I thought I'd quickly organise one for people who're staying in town (or travelling to Auckland, even) these holidays. Go on, you know you want to get out a bit. :-)

[2004-12-24] The location is at Denny's in town, to coincide with suzyd's birthday event. So yes, it'll be even more of an LJ Meetup than before. :-)

I have an assignment due today, and shouldn't be writing this (and in fact I haven't been reading my friends list for a couple of months—sorry!), but seeing as the LJ Meetup is coming up so soon, I'd better keep people updated on this.

This month's LJ Meetup is on next Tuesday (the 26th), as usual, but at 7.15 pm instead of the usual 8 pm time. It'll be held at Frasers Cafe, corner of Mt Eden Rd and Stokes Rd. If you go to ACE (as I do), it's really close to campus.

As usual, feel free to RSVP here or at the LJ Meetup site. Encourage your friends to come!

At the moment, I'm very busily trying to polish off my first batch of assignments before diving into the second batch. (And yes, I apologise for not having as much of a chance to catch up with my friends list as I wish.) But once the second batch is done, I have something completely different to look forward to, something I'd like to plan for while it's still on my mind.

Yep, that's right, October LJ meetup. If you live in Auckland and like to meet up with other Aucklanders who are keen on this sort of thing, feel free to check out the Auckland LJ Meetup site and sign up! The more the merrier. :-)

I'm trying to decide on when the Meetup should be. Normally, it's the fourth Tuesday of the month, but for this month, that would be the day immediately following Labour Day, and I'm not sure if people are keen on meeting on their first day back. So if you're thinking about coming, I'd love to hear from you on this matter.

And while you're at it, feel free to suggest a place as well. I'd rather it not be Starbucks this time…I'm thinking either Mexican Cafe or Open Late Cafe, but feel free to suggest something.

Let me know what you think! :-)

Next meetup is at 8 pm, Tue 28 Sep, at downtown Starbucks. See: http://livejournal.meetup.com/19/.

I'd love to see you there, so feel free to comment here (or at the above site) whether you can come, whom you'd like to bring, &c.

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In the past, few people wanted to commit themselves to turning up to a LiveJournal Meetup, because they only wanted to turn up if enough others will also be. This meant that few (if any) confirmed their attendance, and so the meetup gets cancelled.

As of this month, the Meetup system became a lot more flexible, with no set minimum number of confirmations. All that's required for a meetup to happen is for the organiser to arrange it. This is, of course, a bonus, because people who want to conditionally attend can tell the organiser so.

With this new system, I believe that having successful meetups is easier than before. And that's why I stepped up to become the organiser for Auckland LiveJournal Meetup.

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With this in mind, I'd like to make a serious go at making LiveJournal Meetups in Auckland a happening thing again. So, if you know other Aucklanders, feel free to send them here as well (any LJ user can comment on this post without being screened), and I hope it'll work this time! :-)

If you know my birthday, please don't tell it to others without checking with me first. I don't like this information to be generally known, although I understand that a really persistent person can discover it anyway.

You might be wondering why; after all, it's such a harmless piece of information. Well, the official line I give is that I don't want to encourage people to send me birthday presents, so I prefer that people just considered my birthday to have never existed.

( But it's not that simple, is it? )

It seems that Woosh now has a transparent proxy (Via: 1.1 cache02 (NetCache NetApp/5.5R5)). Hmm. Chris no like transparent proxies. If I can be bothered, I might start setting up a Squid cache on Spillville and tunnel through that. (I don't object to web caching; I just object to using web caches that I don't control.)

Added bonus: web traffic fully compressed, even if the web site doesn't support compression. If the data transfer rate between my home network and Spillville is good, this would make web browsing even faster.

Curious though: how does their transparent proxy masquerade the HTTP requests to have the client's IP address (rather than the proxy's)? My web server logs contain the IP address of my Woosh connection, and I can even connect back to the FTP port there and access my FTP server, so it doesn't seem like a NAT arrangement where the proxy is on the same public IP address as my connection.

After witnessing in writing, for the first time ever, the most egregious misspelling of my name, I thought I might throw a question to my dear readers. Same prizes as last time.

What is my first name really short for?

First correct answer wins; I'll accept homophonic equivalents.

You glimmer brightly
Catching my eye in a flash
I turn, smile, wave back

Yet for all the intensity in the world
We're each distinctly shy, somehow afraid
To bask in mutual intimate warmth
Lest it flickers out just as fiercely

Are we just one-upping each other in a game
Where the only winning is not playing?
Distance can be so comforting again
Knowing you never have to feel the heat

As distant as dreams
If I reach out with my feelings
Will you touch back
Like two cats stretching in the sun
Teasing each other?

( Alternative ending )