all things me

Human Brain Cloud.

It’s so easy to keep adding words there instead of doing something mandatory, like writing an essay on localisation — due tomorrow.

While we were sitting on the subway, a colleague of mine said I should throw a house-warming party when I finally get to move into my new apartment. A really good idea, but I have a problem: I’ve never been to a house-warming party!

What do people do at a house-warming party?
What should I serve? (I’m not going to serve alcohol.)
Do I need to have seats for everyone or are people prepared to stand around?

And most importantly: Should I hide my alien collection?

I think I should at least have a sofa and kitchen table + chairs before I invite anyone, but I don’t know how long it’ll take for me to find them! Also, I would hate to see my brand new sofa ruined by food or drink. (Or am I being too obsessive?)

I’m thinking I’d have it on a Thursday or so. Friday nights most people want to go out and get drunk because they don’t have work the next day; and my house-warming party wouldn’t be the best place to spend a Friday night…

Luckily, I have more than 6 months to think this one, too, through.

(What’s up with that misaligned window?)

I’ve decided I want a splash of colour on my (to-be) brand new white walls. I haven’t yet decided if it’s going to be one wall in one colour or some sort of pattern.

I’d like it to be a pattern but the next hard question is, what pattern? I don’t want any nature themed patterns — flowers, leaves, trees. Boring and, not to mention, in fashion!

I could do something like the pattern in Jafer’s living room which looks really nice, but I suppose if I did something like that I’d have to do the whole foyer + living room+ kitchen area because it’s all one big space. It might not look good if there was a continuous pattern that was restricted to one wall — but my patience might run out if I took on decorating the whole room.

Of course, it would be nice if I had a favourite game, book or movie which could serve as inspiration, but I don’t think I’d like to have Sam Fisher peeking from behind the couch.

I could do something silly in the bedroom, like an alien or something computer-themed. I did think I’d frame some of the alien posters for the bedroom, though. Painting there would lose the purpose.

A coloured wall behind the bookcase could be nice if I bought a bookcase that shows through — and if I put the bookshelf on the short wall in the living-room. Or how would it look if I had flying books on one wall? Or a bookmark peeking from behind the bookcase!

I’ll have to visit a paint store where they have all kinds of stencils. Maybe I’ll get an inspiration there.

Update, October 8
Here are some colour palettes I’ve stumbled across/sampled:
– Black, grey, brown, and bright red at ColorCombos.com
– “Rojo” at ColorHunter.com
– Purples

I signed up for COLOURlovers, because I wanted to save a combo I picked. (Of course, I could’ve just saved the hex codes… But maybe it’s good to have the plans in one place.)

(The image looked better in the theme with a purple background but I’ll leave it be. This is an old post anyway.

I have miscellaneous recipes all over the place: saved from the net, cut out from a magazine, written down on a tissue.

So, I had an idea: I should start collecting them in a cookbook. But what is my first thought how to implement this? WordPress on a USB stick!

I didn’t think of a plain old notebook, binder or a card index. Nope, not I. I was already checking out USB sticks when I decided that maybe I’ll just make it a local installation of WordPress for now.

But I think it’s going to be great! WordPress 2.3, which should be released tomorrow, is going to have tags. Categories and tags will make for excellent browsing. Categories for appetisers, main meals (maybe divided into vegetable, meat, fish, soups, special e.g. Christmas), desserts (this might need subcategories, too), and drinks (coffee, fruit drinks… all non-alcoholic of course). Tags for the ingredients. So, whether I need a certain type of food or feel like a certain ingredient, it should be easy to find inspiration. A search box finds the ingredients of course, but sometimes it’s easier to pick from a limited list.

My recipe collection isn’t extensive yet but I think it’ll have to be unless I want to eat spaghetti bolognese (let alone tv dinners!) every single weekend…