Call For Help – I recall Ep. 368

(which hasn’t been officially released as of yet)

About 34 minutes into it I was featured (or at least my name) on the show when Amber was demonstrating a cool XUL-based (however I think it was more AJAX-based judging from its appearance) app and I introduced Amber to it so that’s why my name showed up in the auto-complete for the text field. I think it might have been a sort of simple messaging service of something. It was probably more innovative than than otherwise I don’t think it would’ve been featured on the show.

The Show Intro

Very MTV.ca-ish, if you’ve seen their random clips in between commercials. It was a giant bulletin board of cut-out photos of people (many who are prominent in the tech world – I do recall Michael Arrington), and some of the photo cut-outs, oddly enough, behaved like video (at a low frame rate, probably around 16fps, giving it a cool stop-frame effect), as if it were animate, and interacting with other animate and inanimate photos. This probably sounds like something out of Harry Potter with the living pictures and all, but I swear this idea was conceived last night in my dream.

That makes for 2 tech-related dreams in a row. What next, I wonder?

I was in a classroom; my classmates included Miaka, Kevin Rose, Alex Albrecht, and possibly others. It felt more like an elementary school class, possibly because our teacher was Stephanie Cundari, who was my second and third grade teacher at Parkland Public School. We were looking at what appeared to be a student-compiled newspaper, which featured stories from Digg.com. It was a bit different from a conventional newspaper, although it looked quite the same physically. One special difference was that I was that I was able to scroll through the content of a panel by merely running my finger over the panel in the direction I wanted to scroll in, sort of like an <iframe> on a tablet. There was one main story though, that wasn’t in the newspaper but was on the front page of Digg about [Something...Digg...buying someone or something else.] It would’ve been posted in the deals section. Either way, it was a pretty big story. I went to look it up on a laptop…things start to get blurry… but that’s not the end of the dream yet. It seems Ms. Cundari wanted to make sandwiches for the class: she brought rye bread, corned beef, citen x (possibly some sort of cheese), and smoked salmon. She started making and distributing them, going down the class list. I did not want any because (a) I’m a vegetarian and I don’t eat meat, (b) I’m currently going through my vegan phase so nothing she brought would really be adequate for me, and (c) I wasn’t really that hungry anyways. So, I went off the the side of the room while she called names for sandwiches [while i subconsciously hoped to wake up before she called me or not be called at all.]

The reason Kevin and Alex were in my dream is probably because I was spending a whole lotta time on Digg last night, and, as the hosts of Diggnation, it is only natural that they appeared in my dream (BTW, I have a tendency to subconsciously associate things I spend lots of time with (for instance, video games, programming, or in this case, Digg) into my everyday lifestyle — sometimes it’s a bit freaky. Once I was playing Grand Theft Auto 3 non-stop for about a week, and when I went out, I started seeing the cars that existed in the game on the roads. It was happening for a while and then it started to get weird, so that’s when I went cold turkey on video games. I just hope I don’t have to do the same with Digg … actually I doubt it. Just because I had a dream about it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a bad thing. I’ll probably just continue to browse it as I normally would. However I have been known to be slightly psychic, or as Tickle.com calls it, “Precognition.” This one time, while reading The Simpsons and Philosophy, I had read an article discussing morality and what the different characters would do if they found a wallet on the street, and the next day at school what other am I to stumble across but a wallet in a trash can (for the record, it was a small garbage can, about a foot in height, and it (the wallet) was sitting on top of the pile of junk, which was rather shallow, just so you guys don’t think I’m some sort of garbage digger or something ). Upon seeing the wallet, my mind immediately flashed back to the Simpsons article and what each of the characters would have done. In the end I ended up doing the right thing and turning in the wallet to the main office, however I must confess that I did look to see how much money was in the wallet out of temptation. There was no cash, only a bunch of change. But even if there was, I don’t think I would have taken it. Would it have been tempting? Yes. But it’s also morally wrong. It would have put up quite a bit of a fight, but in the end justice prevailed).

woah, that was a strange dream… i dreamt. Andrew was there, and he was angry at me, because I didn’t submit my S1P1 project, and it’s like I was getting kicked out of the course or something, or at least that’s what it felt like. Very strange, and then I recall Philip was there (different scene), I believe he was also displeased with me. He was standing at the front of the class, and from his bag he pulled out a bottle of wine, saying to the class, “Do you know what this does? …It makes you forget.” And then the image blurs and I wake up.

Very strange… I haven’t had an odd dream like that in ages (of course I rarely log my dreams either, and, as most people would agree, they usually forget about their dreams the moment something else happens). “It makes you forget,” wow. I haven’t been drinking lately so I don’t think it has anything to do with that… Maybe I want to forget about something.. hmm i dunno i can’t really think about anthing right now (…maybe I’ve already forgotten ) As Kelsey Grammer’s character Frasier Crane once said on the tv sitcom Frasier, “Dreams are but a by-product of the subconsious.”

Perhaps it’s a message, saying I should stop procrastinating and get my work done. I know, I know that I should’ve completed this a long time ago, but , I dunno, it seems i’ve yet to complete it. But I plan to complete it, asap. i’m just so easily distracted, is all. you know what i’ve gotta do then? I’ve gotta get rid of all those things that may take away my attention from my main focus. it’s just one of those things that keeps seeming to happen everytime. The only time I probably get something actually done is minutes before it’s due. I guess pressure movitates me. and now it’s weeks past the deadline and I’m still not done it. WHAT is WRONG WITH ME? DO I NOT HAVE THE ABILITY TO STAY FOCUSED ON ONE BLOODLY THING AT ONE BLOODY TIME?? I MEAN, MY TIME MANAGEMENT SKILLS ARE REALLY FUCKED UP. I need to heal myself. Yoga sounds good (however I’ve never done it, and I don’t think contorting my body into odd positions will help). Meditation. Strict meditation. With Eastern music cleansing my mind with it’s delicate, magical notes. Why don’t I own any Eastern music? I must get some. I need to go on a trip to India. I’ve been planning one since last June however I’ve never been there yet. I so want to go. Hey, reading week is coming up and I’ve got some free time (well, I was hoping so, but I’ve probably got some work to do. I could just take it with me. After All, I enjoy doing web design. But the key is Balance, not too much or too little of anything. From what it seems like, some would say (and have) that I’m doing a bit too much slacking these days. It’s throwing my whole disciplinary self(?) off. So, in order to repair this, I think I’ve got to repopulate my immense amount of free time. Just always fill my schedule up with something so I’ve always got something to do, not forgetting to pencil in relaxation and healing time, of course. I’m a big fan of GTD, however I never seem to be able to do so most of the time (oh, the irony). For some good GTD tips, visit Merlin Mann’s personal productivity site 43folders.com. He’s got some great tips in there.

But now, I think it’s obvious what I’ve gotta get done now. I’ve gotta shower, then get straight to work on my S1p1. It’s not even that much to do. I don’t know why I’ve been putting it off for so long. But today will be the day when I finally complete it and it will haunt me no more! Now, off to work and onto the road of Getting Things Done!