Circadian Shift

Life is so strange when you don't know
How can you tell where you're going to
You can't be sure of any situation
Something could change and then you won't know

2004 was a crazy year for me.

Things started on an up note, both personally and "professionally". Then, about four weeks in, all hell broke loose. Two or three weeks after that, it got worse. Then it was up-down-up-down all freaking year, then really down again in the fall. Now, as the year closes out, things are up again, if a little uncertain...

Here's a tune that I posted on Circadian Shift: The Outpost back at the beginning of 2003:

• "Destination Unknown" by Missing Persons (MP3; 3,392 KB)

Besides being a somewhat appropriate tune to post at this time of year, it's also a darned fine piece of early 80's California (Pop) New Wave. For more information about the band, this Wikipedia entry has a lot of good info.

Happy New Year, everyone. Here's looking forward to a better 2005.

A few year-end job-related things crossing my radar:

• Over at The Occupational Adventure, Curt mirrors a list of tips for conducting a year-end review of your accomplishments and disappointments, and for setting goals for the upcoming year
• Saleprocessdiva links to a study on Why New Year’s Resolutions Fail which offers pointers to help achieve your goals
• The Monster Blog has a list of four job-related resolutions for you to work on in the new year
• also from Monster is this list of Top-10 lists of things work-related
• Worthwhile offers some resolutions for health and wellness that will go far in helping you maintain your sanity when things get rough

Have gotten a few hits coming in using the search term "tsunami". Sorry, I don't have what you're looking for.

Boing Boing has been serving as the nexus for blogosphere coverage for what's been going on in Southeast Asia. Try this post as a starting point -- much clicking to be done from there.

MetaFilter also has a few posts of interest, here, here, and here.

Take care, everyone.

You've seen it linked to on MeFi and Boing Boing and a bazillion other blogs... Oh, you haven't? Well, here 'tis.

Scared of Santa photo gallery: Nothing says Happy Holidays like a photo of sweet little toddlers screaming at Santa.

If you're hell-bent on killing several hours by staring at a computer monitor, what better way to do it than by playing a good ol' fashioned video game.

(Screenshot taken from Moby Games.)

DX-Ball is/was a popular late 90's version of the Atari classic Breakout. There seems to be something very satisfying about bouncing a little ball around the screen and making stuff break up or blow up.

You can download the game from the author's website, but you'll have to screen down and hunt for it a wee bit to find it. I've mirrored the file here:

• DX-Ball "Classic", version 1.09 with speed/highscore/sound bugs fixed (EXE file, 820 kb) (Windows 95, 98, or NT 4.0 -- runs OK on 2000 and XP as well)

There is also a DX-Ball 2 available for free download, which boasts updated graphics, etc., but I don't really like it as much -- some of the graphic effects are inconsistent, and the sound doesn't sync up properly with the action onscreen. Also, it has a limited number of game levels (the idea is that you're supposed to buy more).

True DX-Ball enthusiasts will also find this list of cheats and hints useful for enhancing game play.

Still alive. Been doing some other... stuff... yeah.

Should there be any doubt lingering in anyone's mind, winter is here.

That was the weather reading around 3pm this afternoon. For our American friends, -15 Celsius is +5 Fahrenheit, and -28 Celsius is -18.4 Fahrenheit. However you want to measure it: BRRRRRRRRRRR!

Of course, it is one of those twisted jokes of nature that, whenever it's that damn cold, it's also marvelously sunny. My light-starved eyeballs and I were compelled to venture outside.

Venturing out, in this case, basically meant a quick-march to the Lettieri coffee shop at Bloor & Bathurst, wherein I snapped these pics of my fellow frozen citizens from the comfort of an indoor window seat with a nice warm cup of coffee:

And tomorrow promises to be equally frigid. Yippee.

Will try to get my shit together and post some more...

scenestars has the utterly gorgeous track "Who Knows Where the Time Goes" by Sandy Denny available as an MP3 download.

I heard it for the first time on CBC Radio (DNTO, maybe?) a few years ago, and while it may be 60s folk-rock, its spare production and simple beauty make it, er, timeless. Definitely worth several listens.

Went surfing around through some of the various Netlabel collections hosted at the Internet Archive and downloaded a bunch of EP-length releases, including the following:

• Ali Khan's Chakra EP
• Salami Tactics by Joko13
• Lullatone's Music for Apartments
• Mental Chat by Aura Fresh

It's all glitch-y, bleep-y, minimal electronic stuff, and the four releases together fill up an 80 minute audio CD nicely. Not a bad set if you're looking for some new background noise.

More retro music goodness...

silence is a rhythm too has three tracks from Magazine, including another late night listening favourite, "The Light Pours Out of Me".

Go get 'em...