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Oh noes! Geocities is closing down!

Uzyn Twitter

I was a little shocked when Uzyn twittered that Geocities was closing down towards the end of the year. I dont use Geocities for some while now, but it still has a deep sense of nostalgia to me, being one of the first host for my website.

Rinaz in Jurong Institute
Ahem. I looked very cute back in school, don’t I? :p

The year was 1997. I was starting out with pre-university then and I was just mucking around with my retro packard bell with the 14.4kbps modem. First it was email, then bbs, then Mirc and then building websites was the in thing to do.

Holy crap! I can't believe I found this!
Not the same model, but it looked something like this

My first website didnt look very good – blinking gifs and midi was very popular back then. There were times when situation like aligning things and missing images confused the heck out of me. But Geocities was what helped me learn and appreciate the codes and the steps to make a workable website.

Today, its so much easier, you don’t need to know HTML, or even need WYSIWYG editors like Dreamweaver for a functional site – its all about click publishing nowadays.

But back in the heydays, before there was facebook, friendster, even eCircles (anyone remember that?) Geocities was totally one of the pioneer in social networking (even before the word social networking came about)

At the time, Geocities had a number of neighbourhoods that you could choose. If you were interested in settling in, you click on an empty plot to settle in. I chose to live in Wellesly. And there was a link where you could explore your neighbour’s webpage and if you liked what you see, you could drop a message on their guestbook.

Geocities in 1997

It was all very web 1.0. Communication wasn’t as sophisticated, the designs was typically rudimentary. Regardless, it brought about fond memories.

It was only when Yahoo aquisited Geocities, and the annoying and obnoxious advertisements began to be too much was when I jumped ship to other hosts.

Its a pity that Geocities was not able to reinvent itself. Personally, I think that there is a lot of potential if they changed their direction instead of just shutting it down like they did for Yahoo Gallery and Yahoo Auctions.

Geocities in 2009

Bah

Sidenote : It will be Singapore day soon. I feel torn that I cannot go.

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Rinaz the pirate

To make a long story short, my eyes felt irritated last weekend and there was a white spot that formed in my cornea.

A visit to the ophthalmologist says that it was a Corneal Abscess and that it was probably my contact lenses that was giving me problems. I was given 5 different types of medication. 3 of them were eyedrops that I had to use every waking hour.

Stupid medication for my eyes

It was rather fastidious. One of them in particular, gave me a strange bitter taste in my tongue when I drop it in my eye. It was so unpleasant that even nutella tasted bitter. And I’m increasingly photophobic with the medication.

Piraty Pirate

In the end, the Lab Analysis came back and reported that there wasn’t anything wrong with my contact lenses. But they threw them away anyways.

And now I’m wearing an eye bandage. All I need now to complete the look is a parrot.

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Feels like Hari Raya

There is a festive mood all around. Everywhere you go, there would be little symbols to show that a holiday was coming such as after my aerobics, I heard people wishing each other, “auguri”.

Lindt Gold Bunnies - Samsung Innov8
Shot with Samsung Innov8

In supermarkets there will be huge crates of really big chocolate eggs and chocolate bunnies and there were throngs of people rushing to buy chocolate eggs.

Cart and I got the chocolate eggs that our niece and nephew wanted as well as cute little chocolate bunnies for ourselves.

Lindt Gold Bunnies - Samsung Innov8
I didnt have the heart to eat these cute bunnies.

The next morning, we got ready to go to Cart’s sister’s house. I passed my chocolate bunnies to the kids and was pleasantly surprised to get a chocolate egg of my own!

Rinaz first easter egg
I dont have the heart to eat this one either

I was a little amused to see the kids smashing the chocolate eggs excitedly to find the ‘sorpresa’ inside. One of them was this superman toy (with an impaired hearing bunny)

Easter

We were joined with Cart’s parents for an easter morning meal together.

Easter

And we had a relaxing day, watching the kid’s antics, chatting with each other. I felt very comfortable that I was getting better at speaking Italian. Its not perfect, but its a starting step.

Lion in a tree

Just change ‘Auguri’ to ‘Selamat Hari Raya’ and the chocolate eggs to ketupat and of course with the family meal together, it feels somewhat like Hari Raya.

Rinaz as a Lion

Now I’m totally excited to make a hari raya celebrations and invite my in-laws in September. And totally wear a baju kurong even if Cart refuses to wear it 😛

Sidenote : Razor burn = pain

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Earthquake in Abruzzo

Last Monday at 3.30am – I was fast asleep when I was awakened by a movement. It felt as if someone was shaking the bed. I turned to Cart beside me and we were both confused. Whats going on? Was it an earthquake?

The shaking lasted for about 20 seconds. And despite how tired I felt, I was alarmed and needed to do something. I immediately switched on my netbook to check if there were any reports.

Rome earthquake twitter

There were a number of people on twitter reporting their encounter. After some while, I went back to bed.

It was only in the morning when listening to the radio when I realised that there was a huge earthquake in Abruzzo, about 80 kilometers from Rome.

Its heartbreaking just to hear about it.

Even now, after the incident, we still get aftershocks. On Tuesday, Cart’s mum said that there was a rumble that the chandelier was shaking. And yesterday, there was another rumble. If the people in Rome could feel it, just imagine how strong it would be over in Abruzzo.

I’ve never experienced an earthquake before. Its quite frightening.

Related link

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Tony Gelateria – Ever eaten Spaghetti Ice Cream before?

The first time that I went to Tony’s was with Cart and Jerrick last month during his visit here. He asked, where would be a good place for a gelato and Cart suggested that we head to Tony’s.

One taste and I think that I have probably found the best gelataria in Rome!

Jerrick points to Tony Gelateria, Rome, Italy

Tony’s Gelateria is located in the rather quiet and idyllic neighbourhood of Largo Missiroli Alberto.

Getting here would not be much of a problem on a scooter but like most part of Rome, it could be a little daunting for cars to find a parking place. Else you could use the public transportation via ATAC.

Nevertheless, it’s easy to spot the gelateria from the large signboard.

Tony Gelateria, Rome, Italy

Though the exterior looked rather simple, the bustling of activity from people coming in and out the gelateria belies its popularity.

Upon entering the gelateria, the first thing that you would see is the blue signboard in front of you which lists the types of gelato along with the price. The prices here are reasonable, ranging from €1.30 to €3 for their cones or containers.

Menu of Tony Gelateria, Rome, Italy

When you have decided on which kind to get, head to the cashier to make your order and payment, where you be given a slip of paper. You then pass the paper to the person behind the ice cream counter for them to start preparing.

One of the popular type of ice cream here is the coni (or cone) and you could have 2 – 3 gusti or flavours on your cone, according to the size of your cone.

Man passes a cone at Tony Gelateria, Rome, Italy

There are a number of varieties to choose from ranging from traditional flavours like strawberries, frutti di bosco to the interesting creations like puffi.

But one thing to keep in mind is that, try to complement the ice cream in its own family. I made the mistake of having Banana (sweet), hazelnut (sweet) and lemon (sour) and the flavours didnt mesh at all!

Hard lesson to be learnt.

But for me personally, the pistacchio and nocciola there is a must try. Both of the flavour is robust without it being overwhelmingly sweet.

In gelateria in Italy, the server will usually ask you, “crema?”. And if you say yes, there will be a dollop of fresh cream on top of your ice cream.

Jerrick and rinaz at Tony Gelateria, Rome, Italy

Cart and I ordered the spaghetti some while back. It was a rather fascinating process. The person behind the counter will scoop some vanilla ice cream into a utensil that looks very similar to a potato masher and squeeze it in a bowl.

Making Spaghetti Ice cream at Tony Gelateria, Rome, Italy

She then added cherry syrup on top. In other gelateria, they may serve it with strawberry sauce and white chocolate shavings on top. Either way, it’s still good.

Spaghetti ice cream at Tony Gelateria, Rome, Italy

Isn’t my spaghetti pretty? The next time we go to Tony, I’d like to try the Uova al Tegame (fried egg) next!

Tony Gelateria
Largo Missiroli Alberto, 13
00151 Roma


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When is the first floor not the first floor?

Recently, Cart help me to register for fitness classes at a sports centre that was near our home. The place wasn’t anything special. It looked extremely dated but I was really excited as I was raring to start exercising again after a hiatus of about 3 months since the madness of the wedding last year.

I like this picture

The next day, I went there alone. I started to ask the lady at the counter in faltering Italian, “Excuse me, where is this?” while pointing to the registration paper.

And she replied, “Prima Piano, e poi sinistra“.

I understood that she said it was first floor and then to turn to the left. So I thanked her and continued walking on the ground floor where eventually, I saw a class full of little girls doing ballet.

Ah, this could be the place! It was almost time for my exercise class. Surely the ballet class will end soon. But when 10 minutes passed and no one left, I knew something was wrong. So I called Cart up on the phone and asked him what was going on?

He asked me to pass the phone to the lady at the counter and at length told me to go one staircase up where I finally found the right room.

In Singapore, first floor would be considered as ground floor and the next level would be 2 and 3 consecutively.

Floors in Singapore

While in Italy, the ground floor is considered as level 0 while the next would be 1 and 2 consecutively.

No wonder I was lost! Just five minutes in the building, and I got confused. For sure, I would never make it through the Amazing race.