The Beauty of Pipe Smoking

In today's crazed fast food, disposable society many small things have been lost; one of them includes what some consider to be a nasty habit that humanity picked up in the last five hundred years or so: smoking. For centuries the staple and most normal way of enjoying tobacco was through the use of some sort of pipe; it wasn't until the mid 19th Century that cigarettes became the dominant force behind the tobacco industry; and nowadays cigarettes dominate the scenes. It is only a select few that have taken the time to actually look into what many call "The Gentle Art of Smoking" and revere the briar pipe as the means to achieve this Art. I was lucky enough to be introduced to pipe tobacco in my late teens, and acquired my first pipe around the age of 19 (I still have this pipe and I cherish it with all my heart), thus I did not find the idea of pipe smoking to be archaic or outdated; it is simply a misunderstood artform, something that has been slowly lost through the blatant advance of our mass media civilization and culture.

Cigarettes are today asociated with stress and bad habits, a quick five minute comforter for a stressful life; pipe tobacco and pipe smoking on the other hand bring with them a plethora of small rituals and a culture of their own. The process of pipe smoking is not as simple as just flicking a cigarette onto your lip and lighting it; there is much more to it. There are several steps to take: preparing the pipe, packing the tobacco, lighting, relighting and enjoying the different brands, cuts and mixtures that the different types of pipe tobacco can offer. There's sweet Virginia tobacco, spicy Latakia, surprising Perique, and a myriad more of different blends.

For those of you who smoke and feel that its time to give up cigarettes, but feel that going cold turkey is going to drive you insane, I suggest that you turn your attention to pipe smoking since it offers another alternative. You'll feel more relaxed, you'll actually enjoy the different tastes, and with time can turn your smoking into a deeply personal and reflecting experience.

A Month of Change and Sore Muscles

Well, I haven't written anything here in quite some time now. Almost a month and a week (five weeks to round it up). What has happened is nothing much in terms of life-changing events, basically I have comfortably settled myself into the routine of a healthy, non-smoking, sport-inclined university law student.

I started my classes with no hitches and also rejoined my old rugby team in order to feel the burn and the fitness. Nothing like getting back to the gym and running my heart out in order to feel better. The only downside, is that my hamstrings haven't stopped hurting for the past three weeks. At least the pain's subsided meaning that it's slowly healing up.

On the way too…

So I've found it to always be fun to write somewhere unexpected. In this case, I've popped out my laptop in the middle of my connecting flight and am now cruising at a very nice altitude. Obviously I cannot connect to the net so I'll probably be able to post this in a couple of hours or even some time later. The great thing is that I can let my ideas run free here whilst not worrying about having to post this right away. Hopefully this will become more integrated in the future, and I have to make a point of taking my laptop to class more often. I think that my new backpack will allow for such an eventuality and will help me get in touch right away with everything I need.

I'm already integrated into the Google lifestyle (hopefully I'll be able to purchase a G1 and become truly integrated) and see no real problem with it.

So my next step is to try and set up a wireless connection for my printer, which is already reaching its eighth year of use (a record really for such an overused printer), though in actual fact I should be considering getting myself a new one, they aren't that expensive and come completely with a USB connection. Or maybe I should give my modded rig a new 1.5 TB hard drive (again not very expensive).

Well I'm about to land…we'll see how that goes.

Sins (the debauchery continues)

Again this is not a confession, but simply a follow-up on my previous post about Sins of a Solar Empire. And I can see why they called it one of the best games of 2008. It's epic, it's full-scaled, it really has it all. The one thing it does lack is a single player campaign that encompasses all three factions. But in any case nothing can compare to getting your first capital ship, renaming it and then going out to kick some very serious butt. For the time being I'm sticking the TEC since its the more simple and rounded faction to play with. Later on I will examine the Advent and the alien Venteri (I think I may have misspelled that).

Hunting for a new Phone

Every couple of years a special moment is presented to me: the purchasing of a new cellular telephone. Now any normal customer and shopper will of course jump at the opportunity of getting the first phone they deem to be cool and hip and totally adequate to their needs. I on the other hand are a more picky shopper. I first conduct a recon run to my provider's main shop, to see what phones they have on sale, and then conduct a thorough sweep of what I deem to be appropriate phones for my needs and wants (right now my focus is mainly on media with simple Wi-Fi and internet access). After having done this I go back home and begin poring over the countless reviews and comparisons for the phones I'm interested in and thus conduct a thorough research of my next phone.

For the time being it's slim pickings and I'm hoping that I can get an iPhone for less than the retail price. That would be a major score.

Sins

It's not what you think. I'm not going to start confessing my sins with intimate detail, it's simply that I got my hands on a copy of "Sins of a Solar Empire" and now I want to play it and see why it was deemed to be one of the best games of 2008.

How to Play Prussia

So I joined up in a new game on my old geopol watering hole; it's the fourth reincarnation of The Boundless World (known as TBW amongst us). This time around the setting is in Europe in the 1980's and the alternative history primer is quite a good one. I've come to realize that the strength and endurance of these games is not solely on the player's input, it also has a lot to do with how far the moderator is going to take it. I mean, we had an incredible run with TBW 2 which lasted approximately a good fifty two game years! That is to say around two years real time. I'm proud to say that I joined that game around midway through and found myself sucked in by the scheming and planning, as well as the outlandish stories you could write about your nation.

In the meantime whilst most people in the forum wait for the coming of the next great game, I've found myself joining a couple of offshoots: Age of Imperialism (9th version) which lasted a bit and was a good run, Pale Blue Dot, Legacy of the World and even a spin-off TBW game entitled Infinite Futures (which again didn't last very long). The games I find myself playing now are this new incarnation (as Prussia) and the slowly-developing Boundless Imperialism in which I've been playing Argentina for the past twenty game years and am cradling it into the next South American superpower. Hopefully the game won't stall and I'll be able to conduct all of my schemes into their full capacity.

Bookmarked Beyond Belief

In my continued explorations on how to run my browser better, and become increasingly Googled in the process, I've been fiddling around with my bookmarks bar and have streamlined the process of opening several web pages at once with just one effortless click. Should shave off valuable seconds on my web browsing time I must admit.

Googled Out

I've been perusing most of Google's free swag and I must say that it's worth it. Having everything centralized could really help me. Though I have to admit that there is nothing more painstakingly annoying than having to manually sort through my infernally long list of contacts. But then again, if I get through it then it's much easier to get through everything. Listing, filtering, labeling, archiving...it's all quite clear cut and easy to do. Life soon enough will be indexed via Google. I must gather more followers to convert to this great system.

The End is Near...

Nope not an apocalyptic thrift about the End of Days or the Coming of the Antichrist. Simply put, I have an exam tomorrow (my first of four actually) and I'm quaking in my academic boots. I sometimes wish I wasn't blessed with a confidence that severely outstrips my intellectual capacity. I can't accept inwardly that I am not humble, that everything will turn out for the best because it is destined to be so. One has to make things happen; and things have flown past me and I never had the audacity or courage to actually reach out and catch them. I've been too comfortable in my present situation to actually make a difference or mark some change. I am part of the problem in this world and nothing I say or do for the foreseeable future will make any sort of difference. I am procrastination, I am generation blog, I am the world's bleak future.