oinksy!

I want this:



Is the fur (hair?) soft, or is it bristly? I want to hold this little pig as I fall asleep.

fire extinguisher!

Sitting in my Mountain View townhouse with Azer.

Me: "The townhouse complex just sent an email. You need to put the fire extinguisher out onto the front steps on Saturday morning. They're going to inspect it."

Azer: "I'll do it right now. Where is it?"

Me: "On the balcony." [walking over to balcony, looking all over it without finding the fire extinguisher]

Azer: "Is it in a closet?"

Me: "Yeah, we should probably know where the fire extinguisher is, in case of a real fire."

Azer: "I bet the townhouse complex isn't actually doing anything to the fire extinguisher. This whole thing is just so that everyone will find their fire extinguisher."

Me: [lol]

interesting Soviet Union house

The architecture of this house is really interesting:



It's from this Guardian article about architecture in the Soviet Union.

what makes people into fascinating characters?

There are some people who fascinate me. They could be a movie character. One is my personal trainer Megan, who always has an interesting dating story or work dilemma. Another is my Seattle friend Wenarto, who throws elaborate dinner parties where he conscripts the guests to act in his youtube videos.

I was mulling over what makes these people so fascinating.

There's a guideline to writing fiction, wherein you ought to devise characters with strong motives. One book said, "If your character's only desire is to drink some water, make that desire very strong. Make him parched, and craving water as though his life depends on it."

The examples I gave both have strong passions. Megan is humorously opinionated about every area of her life. Wenarto lives to sing opera in youtube videos, and cook feasts of capon.

Is that the primary factor? Perhaps it is also because these individuals are not self-conscious. They rarely get embarrassed, and proudly own up to all their foibles.

chinese commercial about IM

I like the scene where you see the mom's QQ instant messager friend list, and it only has 1 contact (her son).