tormentosa.org

Not ready to rumble

2008-08-26T12:01:25Z

As a result of taking seven courses at school, two jobs and having partially burned our kitchen, I’m feeling quite desperate at the moment. I was very excited about beginning my last year at school, so I went on and singed up for six courses plus an exam. Alright? No, since I burned our kitchen Sunday a week ago, I wasn’t all aware of what’s going on at school since I was mostly focused into painting and fixing the kitchen again. It turns out that now I’m without a group for four of my subjects. I’m sure I’m gonna find somebody to work with, but I’d rather work with people I know, or work alone. In the meantime I’m group-less and tomorrow we have a practical assignment. I hope I find someone as I’m feeling as an outsider again and it ain’t good.

With my job at H&M I’m quite OK. It’s almost the perfect job sometimes, as you never have to do anything outside your shift. It’s only about tidying clothes away, hanging them up, help customers or taking the cashier’s stand. Although tiresome, it’s OK, cause I also get discounts and get to work with fashion, which I love.

My job at the fitness center chain however involves making new classes every three months. We’ve started a new season last Monday and I still haven’t got any new program besides the one for Pilates+Ball. I’m gonna be leading six difference classes this season (six months) and I’ve got lots of choreographies to come up with. I’ve got to lead dance-step (or step level 3) today and I haven’t finished the choreography yet. How lazy is that? I came home earlier to finish it yet I’m blogging. I must finish 4 more programs before Sunday. Damn it!

I’m already a bit behind school. I wanted to start reading last week, but the thing with the kitchen took almost all my free time. Besides, most books weren’t available yet and I had to order some of them from Amazon UK which takes sometime too. I need to do some freshening up but I’m not lost yet. I also committed to write a review about Expression Engine which I haven’t finished yet. I think it has to be ready by the 29th, so I’m not gonna be sleeping that much the next few days. As you can see, I’m quite anxious and unease right now.

Necessary shopping

2008-08-18T14:13:59Z

For a person who is very fond of shopping, deciding where the line between necessary and unnecessary lies is a bit difficult. Sometimes shopping becomes a therapy, sometimes it’s just an obsession. When you find something you like, for instance a pair of jeans, and you already have over 50 jeans, is then buying it an act of greediness, self indulgence, or simply necessary cause it makes you feel better?

For me, anything that makes me feel better could become necessary, but greediness isn’t a quality I’m very fond of. So I came up with a list of things that I find REALLY necessary. If I ever come across an item I’d like to buy, I’ll have to check with my list and see if it’s there. I’ll ask myself then: “Do I really need this item?”, “What can I use it with/for?”, “Am I gonna have any chances/occasions to wear it?”...this has already saved me from using money in several things I don’t need. My carelessness towards money, even though I work hard to earn, shouldn’t be an excuse to continue buying.

Then only body lotion, toothpaste, shampoo, lip balm, mobile phone and contract, handkerchiefs, socks and undies, running shoes (preferably Nike Shox), toothbrush and eyewash are necessary things whilst shoes, jeans, perfume, make-up and other shit are not.

What is what you can’t live without. What do you find necessary?

Top 5 worst songs of the moment

2008-08-11T09:11:10Z

I’ve landed a job at HM this summer and while we are at work the radio is on the whole damn time. This radio station sucks so badly that they only play hit lists and they repeat the same songs over and over and even over again, just like the same old bad Van Damme’s movies. The following songs specially are aired repeatedly and I hate, hate, HATE them!

Until June / Sleepless
This song sucks big time. The singer sounds like a mix between Brian Adams and Rod Stewart, and when was that ever good? The lyrics aren’t anything new and the chorus, well, don’t get me started on that one. This song does make me sleepless! :(

Duffy / Mercy
Not that bad at first, but after hearing it a thousand times a day, every single day, you end up begging for mercy yourself. Her voice is quite annoying, so are the lyrics. Her name reminds me of a duck, don’t know why.

Amy Winehouse / Rehab
This one is been going on for a long time, and I as the singer must say No, no and no! Maybe the song is great, but I’ve never liked it, and I certainly can’t put up with listening to it several times a day either.

Jason Mraz / I’m yours
The song’s rhythm makes Mraz voice annoying as hell. “Listen to the music of the moment people dance and sing, we’re just one big family”. What? I haven’t heard such a stupid line in a long time. No matter how much he sings he’s mine, I don’t want him!

Seal / Amazing
While I do like Seal a lot, and I think his voice in one of the best and most beautiful there is, hearing this song over and over gets me on the nerves!

While I’m sure these songs aren’t so bad (except Sleepless by Until June), having to listen to them several times a day every day makes them unbearable and hate material. Are there any songs of the moment you hate so much too?

EE pages the easy way

2008-08-04T09:56:36Z

I recently came across Alex’s article about how to make pages with Expression Engine. Without criticizing Alex’s article, I do think there’s a much easier way to make pages with EE than what Alex suggested in his article. I think his work about to make pages with EE comes from him being a former Wordpress user, hence his tutorial.

Now the tutorial. If you’re familiar with EE’s control panel, you’ll know that your main site/weblog is controlled by the Weblog Template called site.

-Go to the tab called Templates.
-There you’ll see a list with all your weblog templates, i.e. *site, search, includes, etc.
-Click on *site.
-Click on New Template.
-Fill out the form with the template name, for instance “about”.
-Check if your page is going to be a Web Page, a RSS Page, a CSS stylesheet, etc.
-Then you can choose whether you want to duplicate an existing template (EE uses the term template to designate page), create a blank one or import one.
-Hit Submit.
-There you have your new page.
-Now you’re back to Templates>*site.
-Click the new page you just created. Let’s assume it’s a blank Web Page.
-Fill out the page with your about information as if it was a html file.
-Add the code shown below at the top of the page and hit Update or Update and Finished.

{assign_variable:my_weblog="default_site"}
{assign_variable:my_template_group="site"}

-Now you’ve got yourself a web page.
-Here’s an example of how this page’s code would look (I’m showing you my 404 page, for example).

{assign_variable:my_weblog="default_site"}
{assign_variable:my_template_group="site"}
{embed="includes/top"}
404: It seems the page you're looking for isn't available at the moment.
{embed="includes/bottom"}

It’s really easy to make new pages and sections to your site without having to make new EE Weblog Templates for each new page you want, i.e. about, domain, links, articles, etc.
If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to comment or send me an .

Killing the bear

2008-08-03T15:49:17Z

This has been pissing me off quite a lot lately. Why do we have to kill animals, otherwise living in their own natural environment to ensure our entertainment and feelings of security? I read in newspapers that more often than not hunters kill bears and wolves when they get “too close” to tour goers. Is it fair that bears, wolves and other animals which are struggling not to get extinct get shot at so a few people camping won’t feel unsafe?

Of course you could tell me that these animals are able to kill people, but it is their fault? They were there since times began, and it’s us invading their territory. Shouldn’t be people staying away instead? I find it terribly unfair hunters get permission to kill them, cause I don’t think the old excuse of ”they’re going to die anyway, since there’s not enough food for all of them” applies. Nature is wise, and it’s not our right nor our job to do nature’s job.

These animals should be protected. They are part of our landscape and natural environment, and we should preserve the little left we have. Instead, we’re killing them knowing there are very few of them left. Is the right of a tour goer, or someone going camping more important than the right to live these animals should have?

Are we humans really so high above other species that we can kill them as soon as they become too uncomfortable?

I confess…

2008-07-30T11:35:38Z

That I run faster when I’m running past people and then return to a slower tempo when nobody watches.
That I secretly daydream of a deceased Lost 4th season character.
That I’m a shopping addict.
That I’m borderline obsessive with cleanliness and tidiness.
That I use the same bra several times.
That I sometimes forget to put on deodorant.
That I can be very nasty when eating on my own at home.
That I’ve always wanted to be as tough, strong and muscular as Linda Hamilton in Terminator 2.
That I pick my nose…
That I eat whenever I see food and for the fun of it.
That I scored 44% on a “how geek are you” test.
That I fell asleep during the three movies of the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
That it can take hours to shower after I worked out.
That I babble when I get nervous, specially when speaking another language.
That I never eat up the bread of my sandwich.
That I use ridiculous arguments to win discussions.
That I sing opera when showering alone at home.
That I exaggerate when I’m feeling sick.

Start from scratch

2008-07-30T09:54:02Z

Due to coding and database problems I had to delete everything from both the database and the host and start off from scratch. Luckily, I had saved a copy of most pages, stylesheets and images. I hade only made a backup of the last entry, so I don’t have any of the old ones.

I hope this time the coding does work and doesn’t not strike on me again.