Giggly

Ok, you MUST go and read my long-lost pal John’s review of the Ben and Jen trainwreck Gigli. John also makes some very good fonts that I once used on this site, which was how I first made his acquaintance, oh, about five years ago. His site, now including spiffy blog, joins the sidebar today!

Still Here

I’m sorry. I’ve been back more than a week and haven’t even said very much about my trip. The truth is, I’m really busy at work, and still dog-tired from all the travelling. I’m working on getting the photos together and you should see those by this weekend.

In other news, last Monday (yes, the day after I got home), I got together with about 15 old friends, some of whom I hadn’t seen in many years. I spent many formative years in the 1980s as part of a very close-knit church youth group, and some of us have recently come together again. The reason is that this July marked the 20th anniversary of the death of one of our friends in a traffic accident. Robyn was just 17, and practically glowed with energy and faith and potential. I still wonder what she would have been doing now had she lived. But as I wrote in an email to the group:

Over the years, I’ve wondered where Robyn would have ended up, how she would have changed, grown, possibly moved away, married, had kids. It’s strange how she can be just frozen in time like that. And I think the worst thing about that is that we kind of canonized her. Robyn was
a wonderful human being. But the thing about human beings is that they’re
never perfect. Part of the tragedy of her short life is that she’s kind of
one-dimensional to us from this perspective.

I’m not trying to belittle what [has been said]. In fact, for me, that makes the tragedy all the more real. What unrealized potential was Robyn unable to fulfill? And it makes me think about myself. I’m here, and I have the chance to grow and change and, yes, make terrible mistakes, too. But I’m so blessed to be given a new start every day.

When I think of Robyn, that’s what I think about, mostly.

So yeah, that’s what I’ve been thinking about. And just so this post isn’t all sombre, here’s a picture of unrealized potential. When I saw this, I really wasn’t sure that it was me (I’m the skinny one on the left, by the way):

This is me at 17 [image]

Food Chain

One of my favourite games from a few years ago is finally available for OS X (and Windows!). Food Chain is one of the most innovative and entertaining games I’ve seen anywhere. Paying the $15 shareware fee was a no-brainer for me. I’m sure it will be for you, too.

Attention Non-Blogging Friends

If you’ve ever wanted to set up your own weblog, but are intimidated by acronyms like XHTML and CSS and PHP and by computers and the web in general, then you’re in luck. TypePad is nearing completion, with the preview release becoming available just yesterday. It’s made by the same smart and friendly folks who make Movable Type, which powers the weblog you’re reading right now, and they’ve made it affordable and easy-to-use, with three levels of complexity and customization.

I’m sure you could be up and running in about 15 minutes. Go and check it out!