If Jesus comes to take your hand, I won’t let go

… If Jesus comes to take your hand, I won’t let go.

I can completely relate to this.

If you do not already know the line is from the song Run Wild by New Order.

This song actually makes sense compared to most of their other songs. And it is a love song of all things. How bizarre. Other memorable quotes from this song include

… And we’re not like all those stupid people who can’t decide which book to read unless the paper sows deceit (the Seed).

and

… I’m gonna live ’til I die. I’m gonna live to get high.

I’m not sure I agree with the last quote (which are the closing lines of the song). If he means a natural high then, yes. But knowing their track record I doubt they mean that but rather the more common form of high. So one has to ask who really are the stupid people.

Just how many blogs does one person need?

I have four blogs.

I don’t know why I have four blogs. Actually I do know. I have a blog for different interests. But now I think that defeats the purpose of a blog.

A blog is supposed to be a for expression of an individual. By having separate blogs for everything I have effectively made the blog impersonal.

To have four blogs also means when I write something on one blog I am seemingly neglecting my other blogs. Put another way my other blogs seems to be not moving along.

In short then I have come to the conclusion that a person only needs one blog. Any more and you are spreading your efforts everywhere.

The question now is should I use one of my present blogs or start afresh with a new blog.

We are creatures of habit

Virtually (and physically) we are creatures of habit.

The illusion may be we are popular or that we have information at our fingertips the truth is we don’t stray far from the same people, places and things we are most familiar with. Online, I too visit only half a dozen or so places regularly. It is easier than “freestyle” net-surfing. It is only when we need some more information that we stray into new web territory. And even then we do not stay long in these new places. Once in a while we may find a new site which appeals to us and trust as a source of information and entertainment. But by and large we stick to the same old places … like brand loyalty.

That’s life. I am certain other creatures too are creatures of habit.

LibraryThing and the redundant barcode scanner

A while back I wrote about how good it was to use a barcode scanner to add books to LibraryThing. But now that I have finished cataloguing all my books the scanner has become somewhat redundant. From this experience I now recommend you either:

1. get a cheap barcode scanner like CueCat, or;
2. make sure you have a use for the scanner afterwards (like starting a lending library for an extensive reading course)

Even though I have continued to buy and add new books to my library I have found it easier now to enter them manually. The occasional purchase does not warrant the amount of effort it takes to plug the scanner in to the computer when typing the ISBN in is not as tedious as doing this for, say, 1,500-plus books.

Conquering Gout

So for two years since I found out I had gout I had been taking medicine to keep my uric acid levels down.

But after my mid-life check-up (something most Japanese people do when the healthcare tells them to do) I had decided enough is enough. I don’t subscribe to the idea that one needs medicine to be healthy. It is rather a healthy diet and lifestyle that keeps does it.

As an experiment I had decided to stop taking my medicine to see what would happen. After all it is the worst would be pain which I have experienced before and it wasn’t that bad.

But after nearly three months nothing happened.

In fact I was feeling better. I changed my diet slightly – less egg intake in the morning – and kept up my alcohol-free life. So there was nothing to it.

The last time I had gout was probably due to a short but concentrated period of high purine intake plus the fact I was slightly (about 5 kg) overweight.

So – for me – eggs and alcohol were the no-no. That’s it. Otherwise I am eating and doing what you want, and enjoy life with my partner and kids.

About a boy and his vocabulary

Just finished reading Nick Hornby’s About A Boy. First book I’ve read of his. And I haven’t seen the movie with Hugh Grant. The character Will is exactly like Hugh Grant’s usual on-screen persona – a bit dim and daft.

I was a good read as novels are concerned. It was a page turner. I kept wanting to finish it, a feeling I hadn’t had of any book in a long while. Hornby’s use of hapax legomenon adjectives made me aware that a word need not be recycled to be effective. It only needs to be salient.

In between these words were large blocks of readily recognisable meaningful text. It is as though there exist only these unknown lone words and the chucks which are not these words. Perhaps this is what it is – a contrast – or difference – between the words and known vocabulary which make them salient. It is the anomaly factor which makes them “visible” to the reader-learner.

Admittedly, I don’t remember a single one of those words even though I had only finished reading the book yesterday (over a course of a week). But they are stuck there. I feel as though I will recall having come across it in the future but won’t quite be able to put my finger on where I had seen it. It is this feeling I am interested in, because it has implications for Vocabulary Acquisition.

Like subliminal messages these already half-forgotten (or is it half-remembered) words will haunt me later in life. This much I know.

“Chess! I hate Chess!”

Actually I love the game. The post title is a line from a movie. More importantly, it reminds me of my childhood when so-called school friends often quoted it.

I love chess but I hate the quote.

I’ve playing a lot of chess online lately. I found a site that runs like good old fashioned correspondence chess rather than like a live board like Yahoo. So I can play several games at a time with time to move very couple of days or so. This suits me fine having kids and all. You do not want to rush a move while my wife or kids are screaming for your attention. It’s the surest way to lose.

I also found by playing five or six games simultaneously helps keep me focused and improve my game. I can build more experience this way more quickly. And it is nice to be able to choose who you play instead of losing games to low rating but strong players who just started their identity which also then means losing big scores unnecessarily.

And I am keen on rating, I am keen on it as a way to show me where I am in my game. There is definitely something to be said about measuring ability however imperfect it may be. As long as you know this then you will not be a slave to ratings.

Another thing I have learned lately also is that never give up on a situation. No matter how dire the position may be it only takes one slip from your opponent to turn the game around or at least salvage a draw. By panicking and crying over spilt milk only makes things worse. One tends to make even bigger blunders from there on.

So just remember, it really isn’t over until the fat lady sings.