13:07
The weekend went by quickly as I acquired a serious addiction to Metropolis Street Racer. I would never have guessed I could spend 7 hours in a row playing a "typical" console driving game. My left thumb is still sore from wagglng the analog stick on the Dreamcast controller so extensively for a few days.
On saturday I discovered something interesting. It is incredibly uplifting to get a message from a friend, telling he/she doesn't have anything particular in mind and just wanted to say hello. Somehow that makes me feel that person is really a friend instead of somebody being a pal to you to get something out of it.
I've known many people who are all friendly with me just to get something out of it, and failing miserably to hide it. Like the guy that called me up a few months ago. I hadn't seen or heard from this dude in 1.5 years, and suddenly he's phoning me up out of the blue trying to make chitchat. Sigh. After a while of pointless chatter I asked him straight why he had called. Surprisingly, he wanted to borrow a bunch of CDs.
I don't mind if you only contact me when you have something to gain, but don't bother pretending you're my good pal just to borrow some damn records! What is this, kinderkarten? Sheesh.
But I was indeed very glad to receive such a "pointless" message from one of my real friends. Sometimes having nothing to say but saying it anyway can be such a great gesture.
Work side is looking much better today. I told my boss the progress of this project is slow because the inspiration shortage I whined about in my day logs last week. Maybe because of his own history with graphics design, he understood this and told me the deadline can be extended if necessary.
Maybe I should give this guy more credit. He seems to indeed have some common sense left after all. But I'm still going to give 110% to get this thing finished by new year's eve.
* the sound of cracking knuckles *
19:59
While visiting the mall on my way home I witnessed a strange sight. An approximately 13-year-old boy was walking along with a bald head, wearing a black bomber jacket with the Finnish flag on its sleeve along with other usual nazi gear. These kind of assholes aren't a rare sighting in our country, unfortunately. But this particular white power puppet was walking along with an older guy - probably his father - who looked exactly like a beatnik. Watching this dynamic duo walking buy was simultaneously amusing, puzzling and downright scary.
I also spotted a girl I was in the same class with shopping with her baby. This kind of thing always makes me feel old.