Things I Love Friday - Billy

Sanne Schaap is a person. I don't know much about them, but they obviously know some computer programming, and enjoy simplicity. Schaap has a website called Sheep Friends, where you can download some of the applications he's made.  The main one I love is the music player, Billy. It's described as a lightweight, no nonsense audio player that allows you to quickly play an entire directory of mp3 files. And that's exactly what it does.
Billy is tiny - about half a MB, or there's the run-only version (no setup), which is even smaller. It loads all your mp3s in next to no time. If you want to find something, just start typing. There are keyboard shortcuts for everything. And it's super minimal.

It's been my preferred player for the last five or so years, and I'm always harping on about how much better it is than iTunes. Billy can't burn or write CDs - it does mp3s, and it does them very well.

Things I Love Friday - my bike, Sally

The bike I ride was given to me by my granddad. I'm not sure where he got it from, but it's a Legnano, an Italian brand, and it's pretty awesome. Given how awesome it is, I was pretty stupid to repaint it white (before I learnt of its heritage). I dubbed the bike Sally - you can read of our biggest adventure here.
For the last wee while, Sally had been left a little deflated, as it were. I was using my flatmate Melinda's bike, but finally got around to patching a puncture, and I've fallen in love with Sally all over again. She and I zip along like a rocket

Things I Love Friday - Cabinet magazine

So, of the few TILFs I've actually done, two have been about magazines, which would make it seem like I have a short attention span. BUT - Cabinet is amazing, and it's been absolutely consuming my life in the best way for the last few weeks.
It's a quarterly from Brooklyn, and is so engrossing to read. Their stories cover a huge range, and it's the kind of magazine you'd read cover-to-cover, simply because everything is fascinating; even if you didn't think it would be. In the last couple of days, I've read stories about amatuer spectroscopy, a history of fire-escapes, plaice, Pampas architecture, strange attractors (!), and an account of how Soviet nuclear tests were detected by a cautious US. Seriously.
The writing is so engaging. Also, each edition comes with a postcard and a bookmark. Check out your local library.

Things I Love Friday - emotional colouration

I couldn't really think of a good title for this post (and I was probably going for a blog-title pun), so I'll just try and describe it.
Simply, I guess it's just how whatever way you're feeling inside really alters how you see the world outside. It's pretty noticeable once you have a think about it, and seems to manifest itself most gloriously when you're in a good mood.
When you're feeling great and really aware of it, everything around you seems better. Colours seem brighter, girls look prettier, the air is clearer and smells sweeter. It's the best thing, just an escalation of goodness until you feel like you'll pop.
I know that it's the same when you're feeling crummy, and it's pretty easy to get in to a bad loop of seeing how crummy things seem. If you're feeling down, I hope you're able to feel better. Remember, it's the good little things that make everything else worth while.
Feel free to send me an email if you'd like to talk about anything - superchai @ gmail dot com

Things I Love Friday - night smells

If you don't know what this is, prepare to learn, and love. Night smells are the smells that you experience at night, not surprisingly. They seem to have a special, rich quality - the air itself is alive, clean and crisp.

I went for a walk last night and smelt lavender, fried food, and a smelly bush, among others.

Try and experience it tonight - it's best when the air is cool and calm.

Things I Love Friday - my satchel

I bought this satchel from a garage sale in the first month I lived in Christchurch. The guy was a bit crazy, and the sale had been going for a week. He wanted 20c for the satchel, and it was exactly what I was looking for! It fits school books, a drink bottle, my lunch, receipts, and miscellaneous things found on the side of the road. As soon as I got it, I wrote 'vegan' on the back in marker, and put a blackspot on the front. I also chucked a few stickers on it - RDU, Proud SAFE Supporter etc.

I try and take it everywhere with me, and it's so incredibly handy to have. I can imagine it makes a statement with what's written on the back - but it's started a few conversations, good and bad.

Things I Love Friday - Adbusters

Hello, this is a new feature on TCoMLfY. Each week I'm going to talk about something that I really love, or is an important part of my life.

First up is Adbusters - a magazine based in Canada. It writes about things like consumption and advertising, and the detrimental effects they have on our minds and environment. All sorts of topics are covered, and every issue has articles and art which are inspiring/enlightening/disturbing/profound. It is the only magazine I can really bare to read - almost everything else seems dead and devoid of content.

I started reading Adbusters in 2003. It was my first year out of high-school, and I liked reading the journals at Massey University. Realistically, the magazine changed my life in a very short amount of time. I was in the right frame of mind for a paradigm shift, and I began to look at how I interacted with people around me, the media, the environment, my self.

I'd highly recommend you try and find some copies. Borders sell it, and most libraries (public and university) seem to have a good collection