Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?

Happy New year! I thought now would be a good time to make a comeback. Writing again was on the back of my mind for so many months.

I turned 21 three days back! I had a lovely birthday. Me and my friends made so many crazy but embarrassing videos, I'd rather not go into details.

I think my biggest joy in the past few days was that I was able to play an old video game again. The title should give you a hint.
Back in 7th standard to used to lurk in the CD-ROM section of Crossword trying to find a game which I would enjoy playing more than twice and which was also moderately priced. I came across "Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?"
I used to play it on my then shiny PC which had Windows 98. And ever since the world switched over to XP, I've faced a series of failed attempts to play it again.
There are various versions of the same game. I'm talking about one where 'The Chief' is an African-American. I also like the pun names like Dinah Might.
So anyway, The game only works on Win95 or 98. Also on Classic Mac. But its not possible to play this on the newer Macs even with Rosetta unless you follow this method. But I found it too tedious just for one game.

So this is the procedure in XP -
1. Start>Run>msconfig. Disable all the startup tasks. Restart the machine. So, you can perform a clean install.
2. Change display settings to 800x600 and 16-bit colour.
3. Load in the cd (or image). In explorer, search for *.exe. You will get around 13 files. Change the compatibility for these individually to the following-

• Run in 256 colours
• Run in compatibility mode for Windows 95 or 98

4. Uninstall any current version of Quicktime. The newer versions are too advanced for the game to work on it.
5. Install the game and also Quicktime which comes along with the game.
6. Go to Control Panel>Quicktime (or Q32)>Video Settings. Change the setting in Optimization to Bitmap Drawing (BMP).

And voila! The game should work now.

Occasionally, I do have a problem where the game works fine except for some videos. But restarting or clearing all background tasks solves this.

Bright shiny/flashy lights

NEW LAYOUT!! This is the quickest layout I've made yet. Under an hour.

Usually it takes me more time to get an idea for the header. This time I prefer to keep it simple. Sometimes less is more. ;p

And, I also failed to mention this in my last post: I'M NINETEEN.
Yes, 4th of Jan was my birthday. I don't feel nineteen. I wasn't even excited like I usually am. It was a very low-key birthday. I called my closest friends at home in the evening. But most of the day I spent at home lazying about; me and my mom driving each other nuts. :)

Next day I went to see I Am Legend. Frankly, the movie didn't measure up to all the hype around it. It had too much of Resident Evil in it. But Will Smith was superb as always.
Anyway, we went to get tickets at Inox and were asked for proof that we were above 18. Some of us had come without licenses. So we just hanging there, deciding what to do next. I was a bit taken aback by how generous some strangers were, offering to buy us tickets. But we went to separate counters and managed to get tickets anyway. Next task was to avoid getting caught if they checked it before entering the theatre. But we managed to slip by that too. All the confusion and madness was far more memorable than the movie itself. In fact, my friend was so bored with it that despite of being an ardent Will Smith fan she spent most of the movie playing Quadra-Pop on my cellphone. 80 bucks well spent. :)

After that we got lost in the Cantonment area but made it back home safely.

My mother recently had an article published at this site: For Indian Women
I found some of the other stories a good read too.

My broken wings

I've been keeping away from blogger for some time now. Loads has happened but I just didn't feel inclined to posting it.

To a certain someone,

I'm trying very hard to like you. I really do. But everytime I come close to doing that you go ahead and make me hate you again. Please change. I can't keep dealing with your pettiness. It's annoying and gets on my nerves.

No love,
Me.


This week has exploded with birthdays. Couple of my college friends, my mom and dad.

I also had all submissions this week. I stayed up from 9 to 4:30 yesterday and completed my entire PL file from scratch. Keeping me company was my TV of course. I saw two movies - John Tucker Must Die and Teaching Ms Tingle. Then I saw a Bundesliga match, Dormund won. That was followed by Powerpuff girls, Scooby Doo and Johnny Bravo. Yes, go ahead and laugh. :)

I've been listening to the Trinity Blood soundtrack. I love Dress, Requiem. I <3 J-rock.

I'm finally updating my music library on Record Nerd.
http://www.recordnerd.com/lists/zephyr/

There is nothing left to prove

Aditi's birthday was a blast. There was a bit of tension among as we continue our rare meetings with bickerings and all. Even an occasion as a birthday wasn't spared from our sour moods.
Anyway, we hung out at her place in the morning and later ordered food. Then we took third helpings of a very creamy blackforest cake.
Later on we went to LUSH. The name is a bit of an irony I guess. Compared to the other clubs, it isn't so great. But we enjoyed there too. You see, the place doesn't matter, we just need to be together. ;)

After that, we went back to Aditi's house and took a stroll around her house. Had SPDP which was very very spicy.
That was my Sunday. From 9 to 9 I was out. Now that my midsems are approaching my dad is scolding and nagging me at every opportunity he gets. I'm amazed how he never gets tired of it.

We're also keeping a intra-college talent hunt. It'll help us to pick out people for Firodiya and Purshottam.

Now I have 3 write-ups to complete and there's no good movie on. I'll have to find something else to amuse me.

Bad start for a new year

It's obligatory to post mundane stuff, especially after going through killer exams. They were horrible. Much more difficult than I thought they would be. I am truly an idiot for underestimating things to such an extent. I think I'll pass in all. No wait, I HOPE I'll pass. The hell with first year Engineering.

How was my new year? Terrible. I was up working on complex numbers and watching Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith in between. Ha.
And how was my birthday (on 4th Jan)? Equally depressing. There's not much to say when you have to spend the day doing chemistry and 3 hours trying to attempt a very harrowing paper. You come back home and there's no one to keep you company except friends who call (which I appreciate to the core. I love my friends!). Your birthday cake arrives at 10pm when there's no enthusiasm left. Yes, it was a fabulous day. A prefect 18th birthday.
I know I'm probably a bitch to even consider these petty things, but I can't help it.

I think I've changed over these 2-3 years in so many ways. I (sort of) know who I am and I love it. I think I was insecure and unsure of myself. I always needed approval of what I was doing just to have a clean conscious.
I'm much more independent now. I don't feel the need to rely or stick to people or even take sides. I just do what I feel is right.
My pessimism hasn't changed though. For every possible situation I only think of countless possible ways in which it can go wrong and fall apart. This has helped me in preventing some very disastrous things but I'm afraid that it might become my permanent mindset to think negative all the time. That's not healthy, is it?
I think I have a lot more trouble containing rage now. I don't turn the house upside down but I think it shows on my face when I'm angry or upset or I just start swearing more easily.
In certain ways I've taken a step backwards. I don't talk too openly now. I'm much more reserved now. It takes time for me to get used to people. I'm cautious about the friends I make. But it's made me more aware and self reliant. Is that good or bad? Maybe I should just stop contemplating and just let it be.
I think I've stopped expecting too much from people because it hurts so much when they don't reach that expectation. I never really blamed anyone else for this. I now it's entirely about the way I choose to see things. I've become more forgiving. I don't really hold grudges anymore. I just don't have the will to put up with that kind of hatred.