bananas on toast

I’ve been doing a little bit of Windows customizing lately and I thought I would share my results. I customized this mostly using StyleXP and Desktop Sidebar and the wallpaper is from Digital Blasphemy (but you need to be a member). I think it looks pretty cool. I’d love to write a lot right now, but I am busily coding up the biggest script I have ever written, so I am in concentrate-on-coding mode and not concentrate-on-writing mode.

Well I did some fiddling around in Photoshop and Paintshop and made some simple wallpapers. Mostly because I wanted to be able to use my own wallpaper that I made, but secondly because my deviantART gallery was looking rather bare. I am not sure which I should submit and which I should leave alone, so if you particularly like any of them, let me know and I might submit it. Please remember, however, that I am *not* a graphic artist or anything of the likes, I am just a hack, so be kind.

I also made Decay as a 1600 x 1200 shot; it’s a bigger file size and a longer download, but for large desktops it will look much better.

I am really enjoying deviantART at the moment, it’s a terrific community. In fact, if any artists, writers or poets come across this, they should seriously consider signing up, it’s a lot of fun. It’s a terrific place to submit your art and get feedback from other artists regarding them.

Anyway, it’s 2am and I think I need to get some sleep. My sleep patterns have been horrendous lately and it’s been tough getting anything done because of it. Tomorrow I will be putting in MANY hours on my Mathematics assignment and as such I might not get to write for about a week. Stay cool people and keep on rocking! \m/

I just went to my University website and downloaded assignment specifications for my first Internet Security unit. I began reading and noticed a certain part that said “4 to 5 pages.” This confused me at first, until I realized that I was being asked to write an essay. Wooooo hoooooo! I have written 1 essay since I left high school and it was only 500 words, which was mildly boring. This essay is going to be something that I can really sink my teeth into and really show off my writing skills a little.

Here is the question:
“Write an essay on a recent computer security threat that has been reported in the media and/or in Computer Science literature.”

How cool is that question, huh? It rawks! Hard! \m/

I am going to do some looking around Slashdot and stuff to try and find an attack that is particularly good. If any knows of a good one that has a lot of information available, give me a link. That would be cool! :)

On my last computer I had way too many hardware issues to run Linux successfully, it just became a nightmare. I had a Matrox Parhelia which just caused nightmares in trying to get the second monitor to work, not to mention the fact there is very little support for the Soundblaster Audigy. The point to this story is that I am back in Linux and couldn’t be happier. I am currently running Red Hat 9.0 with an unmodified kernel (not quit that experienced yet), but I am learning a lot. It feels good not to have to look at Windows too often and also provides me with a good platform for my programming.

I have also made a lot of updates to my Deviant Art Portfolio, which has been a lot of fun. I’ve moved my sketch album over to there and I might close it down so that I don’t need to have both. The drawing I did of “Boo” from Megatokyo got a few good reviews, so I also added my lesser drawings. They are pretty bad, but it’s all stuff I would like feedback on.

Right now I don’t know what projects are going ahead and what ones aren’t. I think that I need to take a day to sit down and prioritize them all and decide which ones to keep and which ones to scrap. All of my projects mean so much to me, I think I would die if I had to delete any of them, but sometimes these things happen.

Okay, well I have just had an epiphany and it goes like this. The real beauty behind web comics is they way they are released, right? You get a small installment every day (or two or three) and it becomes very easy to read. Recently I began writing a story, that I honestly think could really become something. The whole thing needs a rework, but after the rework it should be quite good. I think what I might do, is release it on a weblog as I write it. I’ll just write a bit on Monday / Wednesday / Friday rotation and release it very similar to the web comic Megatokyo.

It won’t have illustrations, it will just be a piece-by-piece novel. At the end of it, I will probably rework it again and either self-publish it, publish it over Café Press or (and I highly doubt it) some company might want to publish it.

If anyone thinks that they could be possibly bored enough to read it, please let me know. If I get no interest it might never start, but if there is some interest it might become a worthwhile adventure.

I was speaking to my friend Jason this morning and he informed me that he opened an account at Deviant Art. Deviant Art, for those who may not know, is an art community where any old Jo(e) can share their artwork with other like minded people. Well I thought to myself, “I’ve been wanting a place to show off my picture of the heavens for a long time now, this is my chance”. So I signed up.

I’d love it if you guys checked my stuff out, even though right now I only have a very small amount of stuff on my account. I am tossing up whether to submit my megatokyo art, but the picture of the sky I took is definitely worth a look. Go on and sign up and leave a few comments. Don’t forget to look around, find yourself a wallpaper and leave some comments for some other artists.

She sat with wet salty cheeks as he caressed her hair gently. It felt like the end of the world and that nothing would repair the destruction. Her blond hair caught the light and shimmered in the corner of his eye. He could feel her sadness coming from her skin as he brushed her face gently. She sobbed gently for hours as he held her in his arms. How can it be so, could they honestly cancel 2 Guys and a Girl reruns? Oh, the drama.

I just logged onto www.kbnp.com and started listening to some (well, I have to be honest) pretty uninteresting guy called Gabriel Wisdom (5pm – 6pm PST). He speaks rather slowly and monotone and I can hardly concentrate to actually find out what he is talking about. You’re probably wondering why I am listening an American radio station, especially one who calls itself “The Money Station,” but it’s because Wil Wheaton is going to be doing a talk show in about an hour. His talk back is going to be about, “acting, screaming Japanese girls, writing, screaming German girls, blogging, wedded bliss, belligerent Klingon fans, improv at ACME, Star Trek, open source and more”. Sounds fun! Should be a good listen.

Well, the show is starting, I’ll be back in an hour when it’s all done. Miss me!

Alright, I’m back. Didn’t seem like an hour did it? lol

Wil spoke about the Creative Commons licensing system and wow, he just made a really good point. He said that the best part about this licensing system is that artists can get together, share work, inspire each other, but still be protected. Noting makes me angrier than people who want to sue every person who quotes them in the wrong way. Personally I think so many people and corporations take licensing way too seriously. I am a hacker at heart, so I am of the strong belief that all information should be free and available to all.

Unfortunately my question didn’t get answered that I sent in via AOL, but I didn’t expect it to. It wasn’t exactly an interesting question, plus I imagine they probably received hundreds of messages and I sent mine late into the show. With any luck Wil still got to read it, because it had a comment in there about how grateful I am that my site got a mention in to O’Reilly press release for Dancing Barefoot (yes, I am gonna stop mentioning that from now on).

Well, Wil also read from his book, which was fantastic. One of the worst parts of living in Australia is that I can’t get to any conventions to see things like that live, so it was a very good replacement.

Well I missed out on the last hour, because I had to fix the car. I think I might grab a bitpass (anyone who listened will find that funny) and download it, because it was pretty cool and quite funny.

</scary_wwdn_fan>

Wow, this CD definitely needs reviewing. It is one of the best albums I have had the pleasure of listening to in a long, long time. It’s called “Sunrise Over Sea” and it’s by The John Butler Trio, an Australian band who originated (I think) from Western Australia, which is about 3,000km away from where I live. Last year, when I saw Powderfinger in concert, they were one of the two support bands. I said it then, and I’ll say it again now, I would have paid the same price just to see John Butler and his band play, they were awesome!

Well I recently scored their new CD and I’ve been listening to it non-stop and a few songs in particular have really caught my attention. While at the concert, John announced he was singing a song that he wrote for his daughter (Track 2: Peaches & Cream [6:47]) and it was honestly the sweetest song. It really stuck with me, because he played a longer version of the song (almost 10 minutes I would guess) and he got really emotional about the song, it was very, very cool.

I don’t care where you live, what kind of music you like, who you are; everyone can get something from this CD. John Butler and his band are some of the most talented musicians around at this moment. John Butler plays numerous different styles including, rock, blues, folk (on the Banjo!) and it is just an awesome listen.

Amazon don’t have a cover picture or else it would be in the “What I’m Listening To” section on the left, but here is a link to buy the CD from Amazon dot com. Do it, you won’t be disappointed, however If you are disappointed, Mitch Malone and Bananas on Toast hold no responsibility for your purchase. I give this album 3� spuds out of 4.

Note: What do you think of the record logo I am using for the music category? I think it’s wicked, I took a photo of my mum’s Kiss record, which is pretty cool that my mum listened to Kiss. haha

Can’t you just feel the love when you look at this picture? Josh took it while I was doing my maths assignment, hence the reason I look so damned angry and frustrated. It’s due tomorrow and not quite finished yet. Eek!

Holy crap! I am so lost for words it’s not funny. I was just surfing around Wil Wheaton’s Weblog, like I always do, and catching up for the past few days. I’ve been busy with Uni that I’ve missed a few entries, so I scrolled down to the last entry I remember reading and start reading up. I got to the last entry and I begin feeling tired and decide I might just read it some other time.

The force took hold and spoke in a soft whisper, ‘keep reading, young Mitch.’

I love it when the force talks to me, so who am I to argue? I begin the article and I feel a flush of excitement. Wow, Wil’s book has been printed again and it just makes Just A Geek that little bit closer! I can’t wait to get my hands on his second book, I know it will rock already. I read, skipping through paragraphs until I saw something that looks familiar.

“Hey, didn’t I write something just that?” I say to myself.

‘Yes, you did,’ replies the force.

“Heh, no way!” I tell the force who is content on arguing with me.

‘Yes, you did, look down the bottom!’

“Hey, it says here that this article was written by some guy named Mitch Malone, don’t I know him?” I say, obviously stunned out of my whits.

‘Yes, you do, quite well in fact.’

I sit. I stare. I read 4 more times before I come even CLOSE to believing it. I hit refresh and scroll back down. I rub my eyes, I wash my face and it just doesn’t budge.

“It’s still there,” I say to the force.

‘Yes it is, dumb dumb,’ replies a now sarcastic force. ‘Now be happy about this, that’s an order!’

I am so excited that some of my writing was reproduced on Wil Wheaton’s Weblog. I am honestly more excited about this than I was the first time I… Never mind. I’m excited okay, that’s all that matters! Well, part of me is excited and part of me can’t help but dump on it and say, “big deal!”

Lately I have been feeling a drain on my weblog. I enjoy writing in it, but it just feels hopeless lately. While I really only write it for myself, it would be nice to occasionally get a comment from someone who isn’t a friend or family telling me that they enjoy my writing. I just feel like it’s a waste of time and I should be putting more effort into other parts of my life.

Having my name appear on Wil’s weblog is huge for me. It was Wil Wheaton dot Net that first inspired me to open my own weblog and start writing. Right now, I do not consider myself to be a ‘writer,’ but someday I would like to be able to say that I am – and it’s Wil’s writing that has inspired me to write in the first place. I guess I just sound like a stupid fan, but I really can’t describe the high that I am on after reading his weblog. It feels good.

Note: I just realise that the link back to my weblog was wrong. Kinda feels like a kick in the guts, but still happy.

I am so hungover right now. Last night I was invited to a mates 21st and I think I had one too many shandys. Either that or I woke up with someone else’s head, because this one is seriously hurting.

I hardly know the guys who were throwing the party, but it didn’t matter. They were just heaps easy going and were glad to say hey to me, which was good. Since leaving College and moving back home to study I haven’t really had many friends around town, so it was cool that they bothered with me last night. Although, somehow I wish they hadn’t now, my head is so sore.

A few of the guys there play in a local band called Lik-Wid who are pretty cool. Zoo FM plays some of their songs and I honestly don’t mind their sound at all.

Last night at the party, one of the guys invited me to come to his place and learn how to use his decks and learn some DJ’ing stuff. Ryan, who offered to teach me, is a real legend and he is heaps good for a laugh. With any luck, Dean and I will be going to his place this week and getting some lessons.

I wrote this weblog entry on Monday and I have been tossing up whether to post it or not. Not to mention I needed to speak to mum about it and make sure she was okay with it. I have decided to post it and I have dated it back to Monday.

Holy fucking shit. I know I don’t swear often in my weblog, but today it is warranted. I woke up this morning and I found out that mum had an accident at work. She was cleaning out a bin and there was a needle sticking through the rubbish bag and it stuck into her. I am so terrified for her, because they have no clue of the origins of the needle.

They ran blood tests and she should get her results in about 10 days, but some results (like HIV) will take up to 6 months to get back to her. She is so worried and although she is trying to be strong I can see what an effect it is having on her.

The hospital told her there is about a 99% chance that she won’t catch anything and the needle probably isn’t infected with anything, but you can’t help but worry. 1% is a huge chance in the scheme of things and I think I would be a lot more worried than mum is.

My family has been so lucky with our health. No one in my immediate family has gotten majorly sick ever and I guess I have kind of taken that for granted. The thought of my mum being seriously ill, makes me sick to my stomach. In fact, whenever I walk down stairs and see the Hepatitis C pamphlet that the hospital gave her just in case, it makes my stomach turn with worry.

Hang in there mum, we’re here for ya! :-)

I’ve been meaning to write this entry for a few days now, since I picked up my laptop. It is such an unreal laptop, far better than any other I’ve seen before. It’s not the top model, but it’s the best one I’ve ever laid my filthy hands on.

So I took it home, put it on the couch, but before unwrapping it too fast I realized that it was a damned sexy looking box. That is a good sign right? I mean, if the box is impressive, the contents must be cool! So I grabbed my camera and too a photo. Check it out.

Next I threw open the top flap and that “new car smell” came flowing out at me. I know it’s not a car, but the smell is the same. It smelled nice and it smelled new and I knew it was mine. I have been waiting for the for 6 months now, ever since I got ripped off on ebay trying to get my laptop.

After this I was gonna take a few more shots, but then I lost my patience. I think that unwrapping it from here on took only a few minutes. I pulled it from the box and snapped one last shot before I booted it up. Man it looked cool. It is a cool bluey purple type color and it is just soooo sexy! …and shiny!

I threw back the display hinge and sat it for one last pic just before pressing the power button. It has the clearest display I have ever seen on a laptop and hopefully if I can stop myself from sneezing on this monitor, it might stay looking good.

The laptop is great and I’ve owned it for a few days. Neverwinter Nights plays heaps well on it. It is honestly a terrific computer. I am stoked that I finally got it.

Today I went out to Eathan’s place in Guerie, a small town of about 500 people that is 20 minutes from where I live. He had recently decided to get rid of some of his Star Trek Novels and his Star Trek Fact Files, and offered for me to take them off his hands. And who am I to say no to one of my oldest and best friends? I am only too happy to become their custodian.

It was awesome being there, but odd also. I haven’t been in that house or that town, for any amount of time since I was a kid. Everything there seemed smaller and somehow I felt bigger. We walked around our old haunts and places I remember from my childhood and it all seemed quite the same. Geurie, it would seem, is very slow to change. The two car yards were closed down and so was the old antique store, but most of it seemed very familiar. In fact, the shop was still being run by the same family who used to let me sit on the counter and give me lollies as a child, even if they didn’t remember me.

Eathan’s sister, Tahnee, got home from school and things just felt more different than before. I think she was the biggest change, because I have barely seen her at all since we were both heaps young. She used to be a tiny, skinny, young girl, but now she has grown into quite a young lady. I remember her being very quiet around me when we were both younger, but boy has that changed. She was a lot louder, full of laughs and talking about BOYS! Goodness, last I remember if I said to her “so who is your boyfriend?” she probably would have cried, but now she just throws a smart comment straight back at me (and probably shuts me down too).

I guess I’d really like to thank Eathan for the terrific gift he gave me today. There are good gifts, there are great gifts and then there are gifts that really come from the heart. Todays gift was the latter of the three, and it means a lot to me that he has given me something that meant so much to him for so long. Thanks mate! :)

Yesterday was the 29th of February, which really means two things. One, is that the dumbest month just got a little less dumb and almost half way normal, i.e. it’s a leap year. Number two, a leap year also means that it is an Olympic year, which kicks ass. The only bad thing about an Olympic year is that I really need to concentrate so that I don’t fail Uni, because Olympics really get me excited.

Today being the 1st of March also means one dreaded thing, Uni starts today. I’ve just logged onto the UNE website and had a quick read over all my units and I can say that this semester will be challenging. I am just gonna keep my head down and work hard, I really want some good marks this semester, so I am gonna make it happen.