Matisyahu .:. King without a crown

The whole of last week, I couldnt get this song out of my head...I dunno y....it just is....And I kno I wud hav nvr come across it without procrastinatin' on youtube and myspace....go figure.. . frum no luv 2 much luv

Working it out: From bomb pile to tray style 17/19

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Originally uploaded by Chasing SandCastles.

I took a lil break from the break-neck speed of working on my thesis. I took sometime out on Sunday to just chill, watch some DVDs, visit the folks and just plainly doing things that I overlookd cos I was too busy studyin.
One thing I wanted to tackl was bettr organzing all this semesters work. And I thought of this nifty idea of placing all my uni needs in a tray. So far its been pretty handy. All the things I need are organized in one spot, and divided furthr into the trays diffrent levels. Alot more handier than scatterd all over the entranceway to my bed.

Patting bak,
Chase.

Measuring blog usage 16/9

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Originally uploaded by Chasing SandCastles.

I spent some free time on Saturday browsing the net for cool apps that statistically measure the usage of a blog. I went about doing this by just trauling thru blogs, seeing if they had counter meters, clicking on them, and by doing so getting directed to the meter developer's site. (as pictured)

Technorati Celebrati 15/9

I found some time, and decided to check out the fuss on technorati.

It was simple. to work thru the steps. I began by choosing a blog I wantd to claim, in this instance, it is the one u r currently reading.

Then, I had to fill in a profile for my blog for the technorati database. N-I-O-C-E!

And after all the steps to verify ur blog, u get a code to cut'n'paste into the template of ur blog, and that where the fun really begins.

It creates a sorta 'word search engine' within ur blog, so u can keyword relevant words within a blog. Making a god-send option to blog users, as it helps to quickly judge the relevance of ur blog in terms of a user's search.

Another cool factor is, my blog gets links to technorati's main database of blogs and if a search for words in done within technorati, it will offer my blog as a recomendation if the users kewords/terms have been written in my blog. bRILLANT!

Hopefully this option well make my blog more accessible to the mass and on the flip side, as a blogger, make my search of finding other bloggers with similiar interests, that little more within reach.,
as the saying goes, 'No man is an island... . . '

Moving one from the ol bear. 15/9

Picture0080
Originally uploaded by Chasing SandCastles.

Took a break at Penno Plaza today, The changeds it up. I dun really like the new look. all malls are beginning to look the same. I like the plaza's old look. It was so Penrith.

While at the Plaza, in JB hi fi, I came across BB2, I can finally look at it and not feel a small tinge of sadness, of what my life wat hav been like, if Disneytoon Australia didnt close down and I would hav still been working there.

Time to move one.,

Chase.

Workin hard .:. or .:. Hardly workin 15/9

I took these pix wen visiting my friend in the the design building's video editing suite....S-W-E-E-T!

Alot of UWS Communications students have been busy on projects for TV Sydney (CHANNEL 31)

75 Weekly pix 2 blog 15/9

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Originally uploaded by Chasing SandCastles.

Here's a happi snap of my set collection for this week. Last week generated the most weekly pix ever. 75!!!

Im so far behind,

Time to chase

Chase ;-p

Churning up del.icio.us findings 14/9

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Originally uploaded by Chasing SandCastles.

Just a random shot of how relevant my delicios bookmark searches have proven, generating in many 'open in new tab' action. Yum-m-meh!!!

Quiet Study. . . Out-of-Order? 11/9

Picture0075
Originally uploaded by Chasing SandCastles.

I took this pix in my lib on Monday on my mobile. Pretty gewd quality aye!?

The only prob was that saving pix on my fone and saving some on my digi cam can get really confusing wen reorganizing it for other things, chronology wise.

But since I left my digi cam at home. I really didnt hav a choice, eventuating in a blog entry that jutts out, out of order.

Stepping bak and relax. .. . 13/9

I went to bed at 1 am yesterdai, which is pretty gewd considerin. I stayd at my mums that night, as I usually bum a ride to Uni from a friend on mine that lives not to far from her.
Most Wednesdays I spend in the library, on the traul from new books in the design section that I can turn to from some inspiration whn my inspiration in at a low.
I found a book on V-magazine, it look stylishly bulky and the cover was hot, it literally was jutting out of the isle for me to snatch and read. And it was so worth it. I was rewarding to read up on all these other artists and designers. Seeing all the hav accomplished, which makes me believe in all the things that I to can accomplish.

Its nice to spare some time where its not all about urself and ur message/objectives about ur own work. its nice to stops and 'smell the roses' live outside the box of my thesis and realize the world is still beauty and constantly blooming.

With a new revigouration, I attempted to transfer my pix from my camera to flickr. As the copms at uni r faster, and the rooms are air-connd. Besides, I had been delaying it for a while now, other aspects of my Uni work keep popping up and need to be addressed, that I had fallen more than a week behind of my 'Week that was' postings.

It was a long productive day, I left uni at around six. Time to go home for sure.

Chase.

I STILL DO NOT KNO HOW I SURVIVED TUESDAI 12/9

I still hadnt succeded in fixing up my sleeping habits and as tuesday approachd I was really worried. Everynite had me waking up at 5 pm and sleeping at 9am. 'Why not just wake up early the day b4 uni and fix ur pattrn then' u ask? Its easier said then done, 4 some1 like me. I feel like a completely diffrent person in the morn, I can hear the alarm blare at 11 am, but, like a zombie I smak it off, and continue to sumbler. Not mattr how much I try to convince myself, 4 me (or the monster I am at that time) sleep seems so much more important.
And so Tuesday finally came, but my sleep had not. it was 6 am on a tuesday and I spent the whole nite, unable to sleep, browsing the nite. I was wide awake, I tried to nap, but for me, i was as energized as a normal person would b at 2pm.
So I took a chance. It would b safer to drive to uni now, at 6.40 am while Im not too drowsy and sleep in the car until my consultation meeting, then take the journey at 9.30 on the M4 for 40 mins wen I would normally go to bed.
So I left, it was a quite morning, light traffic, but I cud slowly feel my lids slightly droppd, and drving, mushd between 2 trucks at either end, I startd to fall asleep.
I woke up in time, palms sweaty and all. I started to panic. After being already in 2 car accidents, I had always been traumatized wenevr I drove a car, and with my car acting up, esp when being on the freeway I was more nervous then ever.

WAKE-UP MOTHRFUKR!

I encourgaed my self, turned my ipod on, which was hookd to my cd/radio on and began to sing on the top of my lungs. I playd all these stupd, catchy pop songs, think 'aint nothing gunna break my stride, last one standing, me against the music to keep me up. I can feel myself slipping, so I sang even harder, to evn more cornier, taky songs, for I hav nevr heard a case of some1 falling asleep on the wheel, mid karaeoke session.

I made it luckyly. it was about 7.30 and there was no1 in the car park. the was a sharp chill in the air, as the sun shone in the white morning haze. In my sleep-deprived logic, I thought of going to the library and waiting there until my meeting, but as I made my way to the entrance I discoverd, like most libraries at 7.30 in the morning it was still closed.

The air's chill grazed my bare arms, as in the rush to get to uni, all I had on was a t-shirt. and I luckily found that the entrance doors to the building I was having my meeting was open. I haunted the halls of the building like a ghost, as I was deciding where I should wait, for the 3 and 1/2 hours until my meeting. and then my tired body caught up to me. 'Wat was I doing?' my mind askd me. I was a mess, I can feel the heat within me from how xhaustd I was, my eyes, were like pools of sores, my throat was dry from all that in car yelling, and to make mattrs worse I felt hungry but didnt want to eat, and the chair I was slumping in was terribly uncomfortable and highly visible.

'Back to the car! Back to the car!' the echoes in my mind demands, and lo and behold I was in the motions of going to it. Shivering in this morning cold....I felt more sick, opend the boot of my car, and grabbed a jacket that would prove way to thick in the late-morning heat, and squished in the coffin of my car's back seat. My body was too long for the back seat as I lay myself down to rest. For the next hour I tossd and turned, uncomfortable and unable to sleep. All I felt, was my growing awareness of the strength of the sun's rays on my overheated body, and the cars slowly building up in the car park.

I played with my fone's alarms activated its 5 alarms waking me up in 10 minute intervals leading up to 10.30. I lay there, just lying, eyes closed, brain thinking about nothing, about the heat, about my numb legs, the weight of my head on bicep as a pillow. 2 hours went by, and I felt a little bettr.

It was about 10 wen I peerd out of my car window to see the day before me. The carpark filld out quite nicely, and my hair was tousled underneather the hood of my jacket. 'To the library, the car is like a greenhouse now' said the voice in my mind. And agreeing with it I move locale to the library. I sat in the computr section of the library. connecting my usb to the comp, seeing yesterdai's working illuminating bak to me from the screen. No thoughts. no words, nothing. The power I had on making sense of my work, eluded me at this moment. evn speech felt difficult. I was here, but at the same time I was powerless. A victim of insomina, my creative pool was completely draind, evn more normal everyday functionality was almost non-existent.

And then he came, he found me.

the other honour's student happend to come to the library. He was nice, he was chatty. I was so embaressed. Nothing I made made sense, and my tiredness made me sem aloof. I tired god-dammit to make conversation, but it is really hard to do, wen I kept 4geting all the questions I ask him. He finally left, for his meeting was b4 mine, and as he did, I slumpd in my chair, exhaustd by my effort.

Like I clown b4 an act, I once again paintd a presentable face for my supervisor as our 11 finally arrived. I tried not to say to much, so I wuldnt look to senile, but some errors in judgement came. I tried to approach this meeting by coming off as 'wanting to her wat u think, as u r more knowing and experience then I aim, guide me plz' which I was. The good thing about this approach is u can sort of take a back seat and not hold the floor for conversation too much. the meeting went well, except for the parts where I calld her the name of my other supervisor. I can xplain it, wen I dun hav sleep I do stupid things with simple things, like names, I wold hav lookd to just hide away today, but I made a commitment to turn up. So I did the best I could do, with how I was at the time.

Aftr the meeting I went bak to the library to see if I can crash their before attempting to drive, so I dont crash on the road. I found a study room with two chairs, and placed them together like a bed, and lay on it. It hurt my back and I barely fit, but I manage to lay there for a while, with eyes shut for about an hour.

Feeling abit rested I decided to head back, I got my 2nd wind and confident enough to drive. it was about 2 pm so the traffic should be light, and it sorta way. I made it safely. Got some drive through from maccas (as I deserved a treat for todays tricks) and dined in the comfort of my room. the room was cool and deem. A light breeze had made the room feel like an oasis from the heat outside, and my curtains blockd out any harsh light. I was watching 'She's the man' b4 I left for Uni and I didnt finish it. So, with Maccas in toe, I watchd it, ate, and felt happy I surived today.

Thank-U God!

Chase.

Its tragic.. . wen hilightin' in considrd a hilite. . ..11/9

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Originally uploaded by Chasing SandCastles.

The rest of me monday involved just relooking at my readings by hi-lighting my important points so I seem more learn'ed wen I speak to my supervisors 2morz, nothing really interesting, more tragic really.

Reinstallin . .. not always an ezy process 11/9/06

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Originally uploaded by Chasing SandCastles.

I think computrs h8 me, ad slowly but surely thing beautiful burnin in the chest, is quite reciprecated. Good-news tho, my loung comp is operational. the tower is still in skeleton form, but everything inside is connected, functional and fast.
The only thing left is to reinstall the java, and programs, and apps all over again, and this is where the hatred comes in. I never have a some, seamless installation process,the middle of the journey always contains frustration, aggravation, re-reading instructions, and retrying process. :-(
But atleast the flip-side of it is/was I 9 out of 10 get it done.

Becoming a Deviant: Step 4

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Originally uploaded by Chasing SandCastles.

As requested by a membr of deviant, I am creating a step-by-step tutorial in how I tackle an illustration. Check-out the progress on my Deviantart page.

del.icio.us.:.makin tracks 4 tracing SandCastles

I was on a roll, after that myspace networking win, that the vampire in me wanted more!!!
So I went to delicious and tagged all my pages into its data, with the longest tag list known to.....me.
I hope this will make is easier for ppl to find me in the wastes of cyberspace, not that it really mattrs, Im just happy doin this for 4, Im not so sure I could handl the pressure of a readership ;-p

Awl in the name of Academia,
Chase

Making a home in Myspace.

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Originally uploaded by Chasing SandCastles.

So far Ive uploaded a profile pic, written in a lil bout myself, fill in my likes, dislikes, wat im about. Chosn a song to play *Yay* and opened the lines for networking. All and all.. . . Not bad :-)

Myspace.:.Finding Mysound

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Originally uploaded by Chasing SandCastles.

As I browsed thru Myspace, every1 had killer songs playing on their site. ....I wanted one! Every1 was so distinctive, and it really help paint a picture, audioly about who and wat they stand for. For a long time I digged Jenna Jamesons song on Neyo - Sexy Love duets. That it sparked an interests within my to search for more of Neyo's songs. And also visiting other ppls sites, got me in contact with some indie bands I dig now like The fray's -Cable cars (I listen to that as well as Matisyahu alot of alot when I blogg, dun kno y....hehehe. it just is.) and bak to Ozzie Idol, Lisa Mitchell samples her own songs, which really adds depth and meaning to her space. So I wanted something distinctly different from all the sites I saw, and something me, something my own, or atleast as own as sampling some one elses' work can get. And I found it in Utada Hikaru's song - Kremlin Dusk. I've always been a fan of hers, esp. when she appraoches pop a little bit left of the middle.

Myspace: Im so shameless

I've had this account open for a couple of weeks and all I hav to sho for it is a couple of friends (some guys that auto-adds new users and a porn star)
I have rarely visitd it, aftr my intial traumatizing experience in the begining, aswell as blogger, flickr, delicious and deviant keeping my more busy with more relevant functions to the type of user-groups and user interactions I am looking 4.
To open open my friend pool base, I decided to fill in the 'network category' for my space, and spruce it up a littl.

Myspace: Jamie or not Jamie. .. .That is the Question

Ive had troubles with myspace from the start,mayb that can xplain my reluctance to display an id on it. It started when I wantd to change my permenant url, so I opend an account with a different email, then forgot which account I linkd to my blog, and which email I used to verify my as a user. It was confusing, a real case of mistakn identity that caused me many hours of frustration and confusion. I was a user with 3 dirrent urls for wat seemd to b the same myspace acount. In the end I kamikazed my accounts to try to figure out which account was linkd to my preferd url. In the end I was doing things all wrong. All this time I had used the wrong email login, and wen I finally figured this out, aftr all the pain, I finally found a way to use my desired url as my primary url, and link it to a myspace account which I could edit without confusion. Confusing, trust me, u dont want me to try to explain it again. In the words of one of my trusted friends, as a default to an agruement that he doesnt hav the finesse to win....'Dont worry about it...It just is, OK, it just is.'
Also, for a stupid impluse reaction, I decided to add Jamie from this yr's Big Bro as a friend on Myspace, and to my surpise he accepted. Or atleast a person pretending to b Jamie did. As I soon discoverd there are heaps of ppl online, on myspace pretending to b some1 else. I guess it is up to u whether to believe them or not.
Another way to narrow down the real Jamie, is to find the one with the most friends, as, by logic, this should b the real one, and, after correcting the errors and misgivings in my account, once again out of impulse, I 'friend-listd' him.

Tragically urz,
Chase.

Slide...Slide...Dip...Shake....Move-it-awl-around!

I h8 my myspace page, its like that one scratch on a good paint job, or that one misdemenour on ur permenant record. That is wat me myspace means to me. But I can fix that, and I try to, with the help of Slide.com
Ur page is a reflection of who u r. And I do not have the time to decorate my page with visuals and graphics that will take me ages to create. But I do have photos, heaps of them that I take per week that I keep in Flickr. and I do have artwork that I submit and put in deviant. And Slide offers templates on displaying ur work in a more creative and enjoyable way, by incorporating the ablitly to enter in html code into the page. S-W-E-E-T!
So this is how I am approaching decorating my myspace page, to best reflect the virtual ID I want for Chasing SandCastles. There are only about 1 or two styles that I really like, the rest r a littl tacky. Also, the 'get photo from' option is a littl confusing. I am not able to successful gain access to my different accounts thru this option. I therefore work around this computr illetracy by, going to Flickr, opening up the foto and then dragging it to my desktop. From there I upload the fotos on my desktop into slide.

Why do the long way around things always seem the easier option? Why can't they make the process of accessing different site more easier?? How come they cant make html codes more compatible wen pasting it in pages???

In time my dear, in time.

N.i.i. strikes again! (episo 3 - idle in the bog pond

Sleep! Sleep! Sleep! is wat I need, But I just Can't! Can't! Can't! I tried watching some friends on Dvd to mayb lul some shut-eye but that didnt work and then I remembrd about Ozzie Idol being online, and after having a void in the absence of Big Brothr in me life in these wee hrs in the morning, I decided to check it out.
Ozzie Idol arent showing their thursday - behind the scenes show this yr, I think cos they got this Backstage Idol thing on Big pond. Every1 seems to be jumping on this Web tv band wagon of late, alot of ad banners these days now have video playing in them, and msn has new video on the IM main window for a while now.
It took my about 45 minutes to finally get acces to Backstage Idol, for any1 with probs getting in, view in in Internet Explorer and NOT firefox. For some shit reason it doesnt work, but all the other vids on big pond (bog pond) do, just to piss and annoy you.
When I finally got 'reception' to backstage Idol, I was pretty dissappointed. As I was looking for a substitute for their thursday show, it was truly wasnt it. This web incarnation seems to follow the characteristics of web tv, which is short (each episode is about 1-5 minutes), loose/ go-with-the-flow content and low budget. No where near as entertaining s the 1 hr. idol thursday show of yore. Wat evr is the opposite to the 'touchdown' that Mark Holden gives, this would be it....this is truly 'Goo-goo-ga-ga, shama-langa-do-do'. watevr! Ive wasting enougf time rambling about it that I think I can even start 2 smell shit.

Chase.

Net-induced insomnia strikes again! (episo 2 - In the wee hrs of the witchin hr, I found a magical talking fish)

During my nightly insominacal escapades of browsing thru blogs, I found a babel fish option, which I discovered can translate ur blog into different languages. And I told myself (not outloud off course cos that'll b crazy) that I gots to get me one of dat!
So I clickd the box and it sent my to bable fish's website. I opend an account, accesed the html code, and put in my template, and after a few attempts of recutting'n'paste the code, I was finally successful.
I dun understand cutting'n'pasting codes, sumtimes it works and sometimes it doesnt. its in the limbo between cutting text and pasting it, it somehow changes and causes an error in the blog and germinates in an incomplete/errord post. I dunno I must b missin something, but at times, this process surely isnt user friendly.
And to make mattr just a littl bit worse, the babel fish kikd me wen I was down, by only successfuly translating my page in chinese, Why, God and his computer programmr only kno. As I trialed'nd'errored the other languages again and again, and after about 1 and a half hours or going around in virtual circles I caved.

Slippin deepin into a net-induced sleeeping disorder,
Chase.

Net-induced insomnia strikes again! (episo 1 - Intstalling blog clock/uninstalling body clock)

As many a time b4, too much addictive net surfing, causes me to stay on online for prolonged hours of the the nite/early morning that it resets my body's circadian rhythm of my pattern of sleep, basically making me nocturnal.

This time it included, finding an app that installs a clock on ur blog, and it took my 2 hours to finally get the correct code in my template. I just get so hookd to being online, esp wen Im doing a task, wen I begin a task I want to finish it b4 Im done, and I convince myself, u've already devoted 'so-and-so' amount of time to it, u mite as well go all the way!?

So, considering that I got home from bowling at 12, went to bed by 1, found the clock app by 2, installed the clock by 4, and after that, it normally takes me another 3 hours of staring in space to fall asleep. I went to bed, at the sunny time of 7 am. to the birds tweetingly greeting a new morn.

At the time, I was like, FUCK THE BIRDS!

Crankingly urz,
Chase.

Friday Nite Bowlin'

del.icio.us - fingr clickn gewd

After installing delicious, I find it hard that I lived without it.. .i was like reading a betime book without the aid of a bedside lamp, for this social bookmark app truly illuminates.
I work on so many computrs throughtout the week, mayb about 4/5 average, at all diffternt places. I mostly work on a lap-top at home, and I usually find interesting sites b4 bed (AND NO IM NOT TALKIN' ABOUT PORN!) and I bookmark them on my browser. And then, when working in the library I'd be like, "I wish I had my bookmark list rite now, cos I wanna cross reference a reference" But noooo-o-o-o, I cudnt, becos I didnt kno about delicious.

TO ALL NON-HEAVY NET USERS! INSTALL DELICIOUS, ITS S-O-O WORK IT!

Now, I can access all my booksmarks, anywhere through my delicious pg. its got a useful and relevant 'open-tagging' sorting option, so I guess the notion that 'only data used by other users' rings true. But 'open-tagging' is a littl general, as already the tagging system is getting a lil more regulated (only subtley) by giving u the options of 'recommended tags, popular tags, etc.

I'm at the point that I just tag pages according to the rec. tags, and Im would presume othr ppl out there r like me and cannot b bothrd, and that would make 2 more ppl adding to this folksonomy's inclarity and ambiguity.

I can tag pgs too by simply clicking the tag icon in the tool bar, that is, if delicious is installed on the browser I am working on at the time. But besides my home comps' browsers I havent run to one that has it installd. Not in any libraries, in any computr labs, in any cafe's, not evn in any of my friends houses.

SO WATS GOIN ON DUDES' GET A WIGGLE-ON?!

Or I guess, I'd just have to spread the word, by installin in myself on every browser I come in contact with, like the contagious disease I kno I can be....on 2nd thought....I cant b bothrd ;-p

Chase.

del.icio.us.ly fun

Delicious,Delicious,Delicious! is something that keeps popping up wen reading/viewing online about Web 2.0. What is really is, and how it would benefit me, I would only kno by trying it out myself.
So I set out to install delicious on my firefox browser. No easy task for the averge Net user....somehow, in the process I installed all these different search engines to my browser, and not being xtremely computr literate, didnt really kno how to close my browser to update it, I thought I did....But delicious never reinstalled. After restarting my comp did I finially have my delicious icon and tag in my toolbar, and after getting the gest of things, I only have one word to say..........d-e-l-i-c-i-o-u-s!