Wednesday, November 22, 2006

I posted earlier about something being amiss in IE7; perhaps all that was really missing was familiarity? Without quite realizing it, I seem to have more or less migrated to IE7, with Firefox sitting sadly unused. I don't know that there's any particular reason for me to have gone with IE7, but I remember that when the final release came out, I thought it would be best to "test it out", as it were. Sadly for Firefox, the "testing" process continues...

The funny thing is, I still think the UI could be better! Is it just that I was using Firefox for the tabs alone!?! Hmm...now to wait until Firefox 3 comes out.

Sunday, November 05, 2006

Alas, I do not have handy the piece that inspired this response. Not that I would have shared it anyway.



Maybe I'm just getting jealous, is that it? I don't remember being so witty, so knowledgeable, so mired in irony and whimsy at your age, when the opportunities for biting satire were so ripe. I suppose it's customary for me to start talking about how strange it is that I should be beginning a "When I was your age" rant, but I actually don't think it strange in the least; I almost welcome it! A sign of maturity, no doubt - certainly miles above the cynicism that passes for realism these days, eh?

This didn't come out of the blue, you know; I suppose it has been building up slowly with the smallest of things, but it finally struck me when you mentioned the K________ in those detached, amusing, and I think ultimately insincere terms. It is obvious enough that an event of such ostentation would leave a deep impression in my mind, but I am struggling to think of any reason why I should feel particularly stung by your comments. After all, I only participated the one time, and uncermoniously exited, but not before saving myself from a humiliating last place, well before my time was due (it was all rigged, of course).

But what were those days? For starters, moments when he was always present, scene to some of our greatest fights, including the one that nearly ended our friendship altogether. But it was also that place that I remember missing when I first left, those two days spent as a member of the audience, hoping that one day I too would be part of the main event with people cheering everytime I got a question right.

Maybe it's all about him, maybe I think that by mocking the event, you are mocking one of his many achievements, and one of my strongest memories. You don't have to tell me you don't mean it, of course. I know you don't mean to come across any particular way, so don't be taken too aback by all this. Lord knows I've been guilty of offhand comments in my time, and I've brushed off all attempts to correct these comments as being overly serious. And heck, you don't even know the man - I would be impressed indeed if you showed the tact to avoid insulting some fantastical friend of an anonymous reader.

Like I said, I'm probably just jealous that it took me so long to gain the ability to view certain things with a requisite level of irony, but maybe I'm more than a little upset that you thought this required anything more than nostalgia. But you know, I also have little doubt that, despite how you choose to gently mock it now, there will be a day in the not too distant future when it will come back to you equally gently, without saying a word, but almostly tacitly asking you whether you believe your head or your heart.

Or darn it all, maybe I am just getting old.