Garbage Time

*'Garbage Time' is a phrase used in basketball, which is used to describe the time towards the end of a game when the margin between the teams is so great, the remaining minutes in the game are inconsequential. Some players use this time to 'stuff' their stat sheets, scoring easy points while the opposing defences slack off.*


I haven't properly blogged in a long time, and I lay the blame firmly on my absolutely cursed luck with regards to the Internet. At work the Internet is restricted, and when I stay in Colombo at my uncle's, I can't come online often because he doesn't even have a connection, so I have to go across the street to his in-laws to check mail. Someone say awkward.

To solve this dilemma, I go and get a dongle, setup a package, and I’m all set for wireless Internet. Only problem is that despite having a Dialog tower literally 200m away from my house, I don’t get a good enough signal to even watch Youtube, thanks to some heavy foliage around our house. In fact all I get is the laboriously slow EDGE signal which means you're more likely to be hit in the head by a flying water buffalo than have a Skype conversation with someone.

Hence, I've decided to put together some random snippets of my rather happening life over the last month or so, just to fill in till I get back to my normal writing. I was very tempted to write an election related post, but I'm sure the blogosphere is already 'ringing' (pinging?) with arguments both praising and denouncing the results, so I'll just leave it to them and settle for more trivial topics.



The Demon Cat


During one of our back-to-back-to-back parties which we've had over the last couple of weeks (to keep with tradition of course), we had an unexpected guest in the form of a jet black straight-outta-Harry-Potter cat. While a few people fed the cat some scraps from dinner (and certain others planned on getting it drunk) there were others who were extremely freaked out by this slinking bearer of bad luck. We were almost done convincing these people that superstitions of the sort were totally ridiculous when the cat, which had upto that point been playfully rubbing itself against people's ankles like any normal house cat, decided to turn 'jungle cat' and promptly bit someone.

Several cries of murder later, we took the guy to the hospital and what ensued was a thorough anti-rabies course that would convince most animal lovers to change their mind instantly. However, despite finding out later that the cat had only bitten him because he had unknowingly stepped on it in the dark, the only conclusion that was reached after this incident was that the cat was possessed. I kid you not, 'possessed'! Apparently paranormal activity was quite common in our housing scheme, with several inhabitants adding their own bits to the already rather elaborate 'ghost stories' and some even refusing to stay in certain houses which were considered more 'haunted' than the rest.

Morale of the story: animal cruelty only applies if the victim is not related to the spirit world; else please make sure you have some ectoplasm nearby. Else, well, 'who you gonna call'?

Facebook Drama

The problem with social networking is that it inevitably emulates the issues and problems of real-world society. St.Fallen wrote a very interesting post regarding a conversation that he encountered on Facebook, but what I observed was on a slightly different line. One of the strangest things that I've noticed about Facebook is it's privacy settings. It seems like every month they introduce more settings to control who sees what on your profile, or how public your information really is.

But doesn't that go against the very principle of a social networking site? Isn't the sole purpose of such a site to, well, 'socialize'?

By creating these little groups on Facebook, we only encourage the type of internet misdemeanours that we hear about all the time. You see, if we didn't have any of these security settings and groupings, we'd be forced to upload pictures and information that we were actually ok with sharing. What has happened now is a culture where we upload things that not everyone should be seeing, yet we hide behind the security settings and barriers of Facebook to protect us from the consequences of our disclosure. Yet, more often than not, something goes wrong somewhere and those scandalous pictures of you and that random boy you were grinding with turn up on in your boyfriend's inbox. Surprise, surprise, boo hoo, hate to say I told you so.

Loo Logistics

There should be rules and regulations to prevent that awkward exchange of greeting when you bump into someone in the loo. Too often I run into a colleague just as he's zipping up or I'm - err - zipping down. Then we're forced to either nod and make some sound of acknowledgement, or we just ignore them completely which is just awkward. Then there's the moment when we're both at the sink washing up and trying to make polite conversation, yet have you noticed how strange any conversation is when you're having it in a bathroom?

He: Hey there.

Me: Hi.

He: So, [says something work related]

[sound of flush in the background]

Me: Err, yeah, I'll get right on it. ["I just got work delegated to me in the toilet. Kill me now."]

or

Me: Hi.

He: Hey man!! What's going on? How are you?? [Holds out hand to shake]

Me: ...

[silence]

[sound of flush in the background]

[He silently withrdraws hand]

[Things are never the same again]

I could go on and on.

Hence I hereby decree: for the sake of male friendships around the world, there shall be no communication, no words exchanged, no eye contact or contact of any kind between parties in or around a 10metre radius of a men's bathroom.

The Darkside has spoken!