As I Xi It

Well, with the last few days of 2008 left, I thought it’d be appropriate to write a retrospective blog post. I don’t particularly like writing these things since they make me feel a little sad having to think about the good times and bad over the last twelve months.

Like most years, this has been a rather interesting year. This was the year that Xiao and I managed to finally visit Anja and her cows!! It was a great weekend spent in Cologne/Bonn where were did some of the touristy things and met Anja’s cows. It wasn’t all plain sailing travel-wise since when Jac, Kamil, Vincent and I travelled all the way to Wales in search of puffins were only turned away because the sea was too choppy. I guess there’s always next year.

Another interesting thing of note this year was the arrival of Cici, my black and white tuxedo patterned male cat with a girly name! He settled in fairly quickly and really has become of the family. In his spare time he enjoys catching birds, sleeping, eating, watching bad Chinese soaps with my parents in the evenings and attention seeking, especially when I’m on the computer and am actually doing something constructive!!

In terms of blogging, I’ve switched from a photoblog to a more conventional blog. I prefer the current style since I reckon it’s more visually interesting. I’ve also become more willing to experiment with the various bits of WordPress and have found some very useful plug-ins which I wished I’d found sooner!

This year I also became reacquainted with customizing the themes/visual styles for my computer(s). The last time I did anything of the sort was briefly back in 1999 when I was using Windows ’98 SE. Now all my computers have desktops to match their purpose.  Also this year, I added a netbook to my family of computers. Not really a necessity, but I like its portability and its a surprisingly capable machine despite its miniaturisation.

Work-wise it has been fairly sedate. Research and writing a series of reports. Then there was a bit of a lull period and then I found out I’d been booted off!! Economic recession and jobless. Great. It didn’t last long though, I managed to find a PhD which should engage me intellectually for the next couple of years. That has lead to the greatest change for me this year – leaving leafy South Kensington where I’ve become so familiar with for the past four years for the hustle and bustle of Bloomsbury for the next three years. A part of me doesn’t really want to go, I was quite comfortable where I was. I suppose change is good once in a while.

As an individual, I’m not entirely sure if I’ve grown. I might have, but its been so subtle that I haven’t realised. It’s often difficult to be objective about one self.

Photography-wise I haven’t shot as much as I had in previous years, but I belive that I’ve got some pretty good images. It might finally be time for me to select my panel of photos for my LRPS. Gosh, I’ve been saying that for the past two/three years, I might finally get round to it in 2009! With that note, I’ll leave you with a series of 12 photos from the last 12 months.

Today I’ve been testing out Google Chrome and it’s pretty quick. Way quicker than Firefox. Nice and lightweight, perfect for my netbook. 

It’s neat, simple and does the business. 

There’s not much else to say really.

Christmas is over for another year. Can’t say that its been particuarly exciting.

I feel like writing a blog post, but I don’t know whatelse to say.

To all who read this – Merry Christmas and Happy Non-Denominational Holidays from XiYuOnline.com

I find that as I get older, Christmases become less and less exciting. About as unexciting as birthdays. I don’t like festivities. There’s too much forced jolly-ness.

People shouldn’t just wait for Christmas to be nice to each other. Life’s too short to be reserving good will wishing only around Christmas time.

I’ll leave you with this screen shot off the TfL site. It’s not something you see every day in London  even though it sometimes feels like it.

What better time to test the long shutter speed capabilities of my Canon Powershot A590 than Christmas when I can snap one of my neighbour’s gaudy festive lights. This picture grossly underestimates the lumenosity of the ligts. I can see the refections off the houses opposite. I’m surprised that no one has complained to the residents association.

I ordered myself the Sony Microvault Tiny 4GB. They weren’t kidding when they said it was tiny, it’s a lot smaller that I expected and disappears into the back pocket of my Moleskine. It comes with this girly looking pastel pinky-purple silicone thing to protect it. Can’t say that it’s the fastest USB drive out there, but it does the business. I seem to have so many of these USB things of varying capacities, not entirely sure what to do with this one. It’s too slow to run Linux off it.

It seems the most popular photography subject at the moment is the cat. He’s taken to having a snooze on the bed in the spare room. He just struts around like he owns the place.

Looks like Cici is quite fond of my overpriced diary with elaborate felt covering. He kinda engulfs the whole thing when he’s sitting on it. I hope he doesn’t leave it smelling of kitty poo. Eeewww.