I was sick in the first place. Nasty flu combined with a sore throat took one week from my life. I am now back at the university where I won't learn at all seemingly. Because of the trip to Japan I cannot start my semester here. I am not afarid of boredom however for I have AIESEC to fill my suddenly acquired free time.
I am about to set sail to the Lake Balaton again to AIESEC Winter National Conference. It'll be four days long. (And there is no net there, consequently no updates either.)
I'm planning to move the whole site to a new service provider because this one can only be payed via postal transfer. Of course I cannot pay from Japan so I need a service provider that can be payed via credit cards preferably online. I am thinking about StartLogic.
The new look is online and I hope everyone likes it. I was trying to be a little darker this time, that's why the horror theme. It goes very well with the Rules are Rules story, doesn't it? The redesign is not finished yet, along with some of the pages that are still incomplete. Feel free to express your opinion at the shoutbox though!
I was busy lately as I've foreseen it. I was asked for favors by my family and AIESEC didn't stop either even though most of the members are having exams. I am also trying to finish some of my paused projects - one of them is the page redesign. I had problems with my Internet access - again - and now it seems I will get ADSL 512/128 for free. Meaning no installation costs are to be paid.
Shock of the day was a phone call from the Japanese embassy telling me that I've been selected by the Japaneese Government for a five year scholarship to study at one of the universities of Japan. I am to leave Hungary at that start of April and I will reside in Tokyo. I have mixed feelings about this, and I am very unsure of this whole thing and myself. This is not a weekend trip to the moutains after all...
Weee! And Yesss! Etc. I passed my macroeconomics exam, so guess what, I am free for the rest of January.
Browsing the net I found some interesting spots and things I want to rememebr and I came up with the idea of listing them here as this is a pretty lasting place to note things.
1) Whenever I have the money I must buy Gene Wolfe: The Knight - preferably in Enlish - and then read it - preferably at nights as fast as I can.
2) Whenever I have the money I must buy Neil Gaiman: Coraline and read it only at nights. As it is supposed to be dark. My expectations of this book is to be a like Ragnar's Rules are Rules - in a longer version. Or better for Neil seems to be a very promising writer I definately have to read something from.
3) Whenever I have the money I must buy a Chieftec BX-03B-B-B Chassis for my computer. Experts told me that the random freezing of Windows is likely to be connected to the poor quality of the power supply in my current chassis. Therefore I bought an Award-Winner Coolink AP-350X power supply to get rid of these lockups as fast as possible. However I fell in love with this cahssis in the shop... you cannot put a power supply this good into a cheap bad quality chassis, can you? ;)
Ok, book titles recorded for eternity, I am released form the burden of remembering at last. Let's see what more is on the agenda for me?
I am still working on a translation which needs to be finished, the author is to be contacted to get his permission to show the translation to you.
I need to continue my work on this website. For one the Journal needs to be upgraded and the journal entries from the previous version of sesam.hu are to be archived as well. I also want to finish the portfolio page. And there is this new feeling in me... I can't say I am completely satisfied with sesam.hu as it is now. At the moment I want something darker, more elaborate, more colorful (dark colours ;) ) and better designed. Luckily this feeling is combined with some free time so - unless image editing takes all my enthusiasm (I am bad in it) - you might experience some BIG changes around here.
For the having fun part I can't wait to play Broken Sword 3. It is on my computer for a while now but I didn't even dare to start it not to be immersed in it in a way that completely cancels any chance of studying. But now... mwhahahaha! :)
My longest-term project is to produce some written... output of my ideas constantly swirling around me in a form of a short story or novel. I have always wanted to do something like this, I have never done anything like this before and I cannot tell if it ever comes to reality. But it is possible.
For now I also have some AIESEC work to do, I need to reinstall my computer (which is definately NOT fun) and some other minor things.
Maybe I am not _that_ free like I thought previously.
I've been trying my best to study lately. I'd better pass my macroeconomics exam this time because I really don't want to spend my whole January studying again. However it is not that easy to make myself do what I have to as my previous - grammar school - experiences made me used to having excellent test results without a hard time studying.
I have many things to do once freed from the burden of studies. I can't wait to see The Return of the King in the cinema and I need to fix my computer as well. However new it is apparently the computer case - or more precisely the power supply - is malfunctioning and that is why my Windows freezes completely on random occasions. Meaning I have to buy a new case... I'll look into the problem tomorrow - after the examination took place.
I allowed only little fun for myself these days one of which was watching Underworld. It is a movie that surprised me at many points. For one it was completely shot in Hungary and there are even Hungarian actors and actresses in it - though they never speak. Naturally half of the crew is also Hungarian. And guess what, this movie hasn't been shown in Hungary yet at all! If it weren't for the Internet I wouldn't have even heard about it. It gained almost no publicity around here despite of the impressive proportion of Hungarian work in it. I don't know if it would ever be in Hungarian cinemas.
I spent one half of the last day of the year cleaning. ("Kreacher is cleaning.") :) I collected my strength and tidied my dormitory room. Now everything is so clean I don't dare to sit anywhere...
Now it's time to set off and meet my friends for we are having a real AIESEC party tonight to say farewell to 2003. See you next year! ;)
First of all I ask you to cross your fingers tomorrow 12:00 CET for I am having an exam in macroeconomy that time. ATM I am studying I just took a short break to post. I can't really concentrate for long periods I am much better when I study and then do somehting else.
Yesterday I took the time to read Ragnar's journal. Maybe it is better to read a journal on a daily basis but firstly I cannot be sure he posts and secondly I don't always have the time to check. So I sort of digest-read his journal about once a month. It is always interesting though. I pretty much look forward to his New Year post. Last year I very much enjoyed reading about his oaths.
I have plans for some longer posts about specific topics but they won't happen until the exam period is over. I also owe some posts from the past which can happen in January as well due to my increased free time. (No lectures and - if I pass - no exams either.)
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was published in Hungarian lately. It has a cool dark blue cover. Hunagrian editins have different covers form the English ones. The publisher does not copy-and-translate the cover and I think it is good. All the previous Hungarian covers have been beautiful and book V's is no exception. As for the text it was weird to read it in my mother tounge as I always read HP books in English and I am more used to them in English by now. The translation met my - very high - expectations. Everything was in order and everything matched the previous books. The translator was wise enough to put in an extra sentence to the 'meeting with Cho under the mistletoe' scene explaining the British/American custom that you are free to be kissed when standing under a hung mistletoe. What I didn't like were the fonts. The general fonts were ok, though not as beautiful as the English version's but the in-text labels, newspaper excerpts and pinned notes were printed in pretty ugly ones.
Needless to say one can meet HP readers almost everywhere. I generally amuse people by telling them I already read the book at least five times. ;) I still think this is the best HP book so far. I agree Ragnar that the story of book III is more cunning and twisted but what makes book V an excellent one is the moral side. It has so much emotion in it and deals with so important questions of life in a very wise and gripping way that is second to none. Hermione's simple but all-too-true observations are great. I loved the character of Luna Lovegood and the end-scene with Harry when Luna tells him her stuff is always stolen during the year. The Weasly twins' way of seeing life I also admired. Simply I think this book is excellent because it draws our attention to things we might overlook during our rushy life. Things that are really important. And all this it does by telling a tale. A tale which is - by the way - marvelously told.
Did you know the longest night of the year - 21 December - is called the winter solstice? I didn't but I read it in a journal. That's what journals are out there for in the first place: picking up information you've never ever dreamed of to learn.
From time to time many ask me why I am writing a journal. Well apparently people like reading stuff like that. Just think of the soap operas, TV shows and the tons of 'human interest' magazines people watch and read eagerly every day. Human interest, even the word explains everything, we are hard-coded to be curious about other people. The more insight you gain to someone else's life - let it be a real or an imaginary but beliveable person - the better. And apparently I like writing. If I had the skills I'd write for a living. That is something I think I'd be happy with.
Christmas is associated with love. However the last three Christmases I tend to associate with 1) burning curiosity 2) incurable envy. Why? Because of the Lord of the Rings movies and the tons of people who are lucky enough to live in a so-called 'western' or 'developed' country and therefore able to watch them much earlier than I. many are already talking about italready and they will hit Hungarian cinemas on January 5... I have yet to figure out the point of this delayed screening all over the world. I believe we have the technology to release a movie to every single cinema in the world simultaneously.
Don't ask. I've been extremely busy. (I am extremely busy right now as well, it's just a sudden constellation of stars that allowed me to post. :P)
Exams are coming along with Christmas. Sadly I am doomed to spend most of the time learning. On the other hand I am supposed to have an all-free January if I pass everything for the first try - which is what I plan of course.
This is what I've been talking about. It is friday night now and no changes have been made to sesam.hu although I announced them. No worries though if my exams are successful I'll have all January to do what I want. ;)
Santa Claus brought me a book I was longing for for a long time now. (If you are curious why Santa Claus comes on 6 December you are supposedly not Hunagrian. If requested I explain everything via email, just ask. :) ) Anyway I got The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco. I will need to put up with much temptation not to read it instead of my macroeconomy book...
Finally I am at home. I mean really home not in the dormitory. Pity it won't last long: duty calls. This weekend is a JobNeked event as well where I am an organising Commitee President. Meaning I am supposed to attend the event which requires me to be in Budapest not here at home. Basicly.
While I am here I plan to improve some things I am planning for a while now. (Here I have to admit that hinting such things in my Journal isn't exactly the best omen mildly speaking. Whatever I let slip here is doomed to be postponed at least a month by unforseeable unbreachable obstacles for sure. C'est la vie.)
I am always amazed by Kőbánya-Kispest train station... I don't use it too often because it is the last stop within Budapest and therefore the train is always very crowded there. It is much better boarding the train earlier. Anyway it is closer to my dormitory and today I had no choice. Kőbánya is most likely one of the most derelict train stations in Hungary. It looks as if it would collapse every second. My favourite parts are the stairs. Imagine two stairs next to each other completely alike. One of them is blocked by a chain and a big warning sign: Caution! Do not use these stairs! They are dangerous! So people use the other one which is exactly the same to every little bit. I am glad I am still here and not terribly wounded under a pile of broken and collapsed concrete stairs... ;)