13th December, 2013

If this blog were a bookshelf, I would be buried in its dust.
I wonder if it counts as intentional oversight or if my laziness has just transcended to a whole new level.

I spent the whole day revisiting my old PS2 games and Scrabble game with the mother.

I wish I could put into words how lost all this makes me feel. In my never-ending search for meaning in everything, I have only been shown further confusion.

I cannot even think of a title for this post.
100% rant, is all this is.
Perhaps some unease thrown into it.

My reading list on blogger had more than 20 blogs frequently updated. Bursting with stories.
Apart from a couple, the others are defunct.
I blame Twitter, really.
Words have more meaning and power than is felt and expressed by 140 characters.


I have no words left for tonight. Like I said, the bookshelf had to be tidied.





-
V

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Now Reading  :  http://www.theverge.com/2013/12/6/5126856/whats-in-your-bag-katie-drummond
Now Listening : Dreams Money Can Buy - Drake , Feel Good - Emil Berliner
Now Feeling : The onset of a sneeze.

Have Some KitKat

Another update on the phone front. 

I have highly anticipated the release of Android 4.4 KitKat but to my slight frustration, phones like the Moto X got their OTA before my Nexus 4, which I think was a little unfair. 

But all that aside, its here, and it is beautiful. The changes appear to be subtle but are pretty immense once you're trying to settle into the ecosystem. That calm blue colour highlighting associated with Android since ICS all the way to JellyBean 4.3 is replaced with this super cool, straight out of sci-fi white.

The dialler app is one trippy motherfucker right now and its also got its own TrueCaller like implementation, so it searches for business' numbers if you're calling any.

That being said, my favourite feature, by far of the 4.4 update, is how the lockscreen shows full size album art of whatever is playing..

But the main feature of 4.4 that I have been drooling over since the pre-release photo of the Nexus 5 were the transparent navigation an notification bars.

Although, as I learned today, the swipe left on the homescreen to launch Google Now and the transparent bars are exclusive to the Nexus 5. 

I have a feeling this feature will probably roll out on future iterations and even if thats not true its only going to take Nova Prime a little while to get it. (In case you didn't know, you can sign up for a Nova Launcher Beta, install the .apk file over your existing Nova Launcher to take advantage of the transparent bars feature )

Now you may notice that my screen shot shows transparent notification and navigation bars. What is this sorcery, you might ask.


Well, take your lazy fingers to Google and search for an article that Android Police wrote about how they too were disappointed that the transparency is a Nexus 5 exclusive.
So they did something pretty impressive. They took out the Google Experience Laucher (thats what the stock launcher is called on the N5) and basically installed that apk on any other device running KitKat.

So far, the only compatibility issues are a non-centered Google search bar and I think that happens only on Nexus 7s

Feel free to leave a line, if you need some help

-

V

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Now Listening : Retrograde - James Blake
Now Reading : The Design of the UNIX Operating System - Maurice J Bach

Now Feeling : A little annoyed

Android Homescreen Update (29/8/13)

I've lost track of what I've written, what I've meant to write and what, I shall probably, never write.
I think mere sentiment is what keeps me from abandoning the blog. And this.


In my opinion, I think I've gone more minimal than the last time.

Lockscreen :

Swipe to the left for Google Keep and what you see by default is a widget called Dash Clock. Brilliant stuff.


Homescreens:

I've never really liked the wallpaper to scroll along with my homescreen and that is why you will find that I have not used the whole image for the wallpaper.

I fell in love with these icons which come as a pack along with some minimalist wallpapers in an app Stark Icon Pack.
Just so beautiful.
Almost all the apps I have seem to have a replacement icon in this app, and if that's not saying something then I don't know what is.

Also, I seem to have found the perfect dock icons so I haven't really changed anything there. You'll find that an icon for opening the app drawer is missing. But these icons seem to look better as a line of 4, so I decided to do away with it and use a Nova Launcher Prime gesture for it. Swiping up anywhere on the screen opens the app drawer. And this is something I first saw implemented in Adnan's phone.

The 2nd homescreen is also merely the same. I have found the perfect 4 folders to classify my most used apps in. And to not flip out on the symmetry I had to remove an icon in the 2nd dock.
So I decided to let go of the People shortcut seeing as how Android 4.3 allows T9 access via the dialler to contacts.

I'm still of 2 minds on the wallpaper. Because I think the icons steal the show and I don't really know if the wallpaper lives up to that.

No major app additions except maybe Mighty Text which is an inaccessible app on the phone and pairs with a Chrome extension on your browser so I can type and view texts on the computer. It also happens to flash useful information like when someone is calling or the battery percentage as of the last refresh.
Very handy.


As ever, questions and any queries are welcome.



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Now Reading :  The Ocean at the End of the Lane - Neil Gaiman
Now Listening : Third Eye - Tool
Now Feeling : Distant

Sun and Clouds

Okay, here goes.
This is going to be an unconventional post.
Usually with my desktop wallpapers, I take a screenshot and post it on Facebook. And the caption would carry any extra details, if required.
But creating an Android homescreen, as I've learnt, requires more effort and the beauty is better understood only upon further explanation.
Im currently working on a new homescreen so I figured I'd give the current one a decent goodbye. And also keep the blog alive.
Speaking of goodbyes, the merc leaves tomorrow. I shall miss that car.


Lockscreen :

Home screens :

The lock screen is pretty simple actually. What you see is what you get.
Time and date widget made using Minimalistic Text.


The home screen gets slightly more elaborate.
Im running Nova Prime and its a 5x4 grid and a 7 icon dock.
The clock is a widget called BobClock and I think it looks brillaint. There are 2 more single icon widgets to display the weather and remaining battery percentage.
"Write It Down" is a horizontal widget again that opens Google Keep.

All the dock icons except the nexus logo (which is the icon replacement for the app drawer) have a gesture to open a different app.
Swiping up on the phone opens the camera.
Text messages and Whatsapp
Chrome and Facebook app
Play Music and Gallery

The second screen illustrates this need for a homescreen that contains all the apps I frequently use and I seldom open the app drawer.
4 folders to classify my frequent apps and 4 individual apps that I felt add an aesthetic appeal and don't really fall into a category.

The dock also has 2 rows and the 2nd row as shown in the 2nd screen houses some more frequently used apps and their positions are also based on their frequency of use.
I usually check my mail one-handed and the left corner is easy to reach with my right hand.
Maps are accessed when the phone is being handled with both hands and falls to the right.
And when I open Play Store Im usually seated very comfortably with the phone in landscape mode and the center is easiest to access.

Swiping down from anywhere on any screen opens the notifications pane and that really saves some time from having to drag it down from the top every time.

Being my first attempt at a home screen, things do seem a little crude now but I think its a fair attempt.

Drop me a line if you require the particulars of any app or want any other details/assistance.


Later.



-
V

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Now Reading : Anansi Boys - Neil Gaiman
Now Listening : Chained - Yves V 

On Holiday !

If I wrote a book made of just many many paragraphs of maybe 4to5 lines and named it interludes without beginnings would it make good table conversation?

Would you agree that the above isn't the greatest opening line ?
Would you stay, if you disagreed instead?

Or would my answers be answered by a question?

I don't tweet. And what I have to say is too long for a status and I hate saturating thoughts to 160 characters.
Words need more freedom.

Unless their absence provided for more.

I'm listening to Flashing Lights by Kanye West and its astonishing where a song can take you.
I'm bobbing my head in a dimly lit hostel room and also simultaneously chasing down a cab from ruwi to home.

All of this logic and sense in connection thrown upon you in a world full of opposite things.

And as for the title, as Billy Joe Armstrong cries out in Holiday, what could be a better war cry ? Than to ensure holiday. For one or for the other.

I shall leave you be now.

-
V

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Now reading : And The Mountains Echoed - Khaled Hosseini
Now listening to : Holiday - Green Day

Where We Go After The Fall

Im praying you find this. Like I prayed I'd one day find you. 
I've always wondered what I'd say if I saw you again. If you'd remember me. If you'd remember us. 
I like to hope you would. 
But I also know it'll never happen. 
There's a man I met in China who told me he lights a lamp everyday in front of a photo of his dead wife. That he strikes a bell like any Buddhist does for a God. 
But he wanted me to know that he didn't worship her like he did when she was alive. But that he's grateful she's watching over him. 
I wish I'd known then what to say. 
Something impressive like I could've if you'd been sitting beside me. 

I wish we'd been to Bali. With a couple of journals and souls open to nearly anything. Maybe rented a motorcycle and seen more sunsets than we could have been bothered to count. 
Do you remember that conversation we had about how someone remembers somebody. As a smell, as a taste, as a sight, as a sound or whatever they may fathom. 
I always thought I was a sight oriented person. They eyes to your nose, if I may. 
But maybe we skipped something important. What if you love(d) the person you were remembering? Do the counts increase? 
I certainly do wish I had bottled perfumes of how you smelled on some days. But Im sure I can do without them. 
I think its the small things I hold on to most dearly. That favourite shoe. Your terrible spelling. Your choice of food at that place we'd usually end up at. 
The marks of a dog-eared page on forgotten novels. Those small sticky notes on my laptop screen every morning. 
Droplets of water flowing from you to me from a night in the rain. 

I wish I could ask you now, what you'd like for dinner. I wish I could bring icecream home tonight and not find it tomorrow.
I wish I could roll one, for two tonight. 

I wish you too would be startled by the sound of our son crying now. 

I like to believe that out of all the people in the world, you'd know best that words sometimes don't suffice. 
But there's a diaper that needs changing now. 

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I wrote this out of slight boredom. But I think Im happy with the result. 

The context of the story is left to the reader, ultimately. She could have gone somewhere close and the writer could have over-reacted. Or she could have gone somewhere so far, she possibly couldn't reply if she wanted to. 

I wish I could write a reply to this eventually, to complete the conversation. But its often hard to write as a woman. Or atleast through the words of a woman whose reply would be worth reading. 

Im on a week's (maybe longer) break at Muscat. I think that should be update enough haha

-
V
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Now Listening : Futures - Zero 7 and Nights Introlude - Nightmares on Wax
Now Reading : Nothing 
Now Feeling : Disconnected

Officer, My House Is On Fire

Normal things do not happen. 

Maybe you've never heard that sentence before because you weren't really wanting to. But now, you have. And whether you believe in it or not, it has affected you. Like a grain in the beach or a pimple on a teenager, it may be inconsequential, but it is indeed a difference. 

I spend 8 hours a day in a cubicle helping someone fix their electronic devices over the phone. 

I could write scandals on what people microwave. 

And vacuum cleaners really do find all the "dirt".

I've never seen shooting stars. But even if I did, I doubt I'd remember them. 

These are not the first words I spoke to the man now in my house. But they were the words I wanted to scream. 

I noticed he wore an impeccably clean suit. And I've never seen shoes that shined as much as his did. 
And his smile. Like he wasn't even there. 

"Please repeat exactly what you told the police, ma'am", he said. 

And I did. I told him that I got back from the grocers. And my hall was missing its TV. That photo of the scenery that I've never liked was torn. 

There was a fire but the sprinklers weren't on. 

It smelt like freshly popped popcorn and if my house weren't on fire, I'd have found some butter. 

But, there you go, my house was on fire.

I'm not crazy, you know. I thought I was, and I take a pill every night to make sure the tantrums don't happen. The result is that my mind processes emotions with a lag. 

Like an old computer game. 

It took a while for the shock to kick in and see that there was what would classify as an UFO inside my house. 

"Can I ask you a personal question, officer?"

"That's already a personal question, ma'am. But yes, you may."

"Have you wondered if everything is just a joke? That we are the end results of someone's poor sense of humour?"

I remember running down to call the landlord and then dialed 911. But I come back to my house to find it like I should have found it any other day, when I'm back from the grocers. 

I've never upturned my house. I've never moved and I've never packed. But that day I rummaged through my house like a man with a full bladder outside a pay-per-use toilet. (Yes, they exist)

The policeman only asked if I was regularly taking my pills. 

Even anger kicks in late. That's a good thing, most of the time. 

Suddenly, the policeman gets a call, and he takes a long meaningful look at me. The look a goat would give you before you slaughter it. I shall never understand what it meant. 

But I never heard from him again, and here you are. 

He took a sip of the mint tea that I don't remember making and said, 

" I do not like repeating myself so listen hard. And listen well. There are things in our existence, things smaller than your paycheck and larger than my imagination that exist side by side with us. Sometimes as the beggar you see who never ages. Sometimes as the mall employee who always knows where what is. 

Some times as a protector. And sometimes, not. 

It is my genuine desire to stroke your face, take you somewhere fancy and celebrate you for the crazy person that you're not. But alas, I don't have the clearance. 

You will not remember me after this. Neither will you remember the Incident. I'm only a cleanup, making sure you told no one else. 

I wish you well and hope that you always wait a second before you open a door."

**********************************

I close the door but I know not who visited. 

I wonder, though, if there's some popcorn in the house. 

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I'd like to think that you've missed seeing my words on your screen. And I shall further go on to apologize that I've begun writing more but I lose opinion on what to post here. 

I wrote this story as a small reminder that our belief or disbelief doesn't affect a phenomenon's existence.

It may continue to exist or it may have never existed at all. 

If you hands find themselves holding a book called Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman, read a story called Closing Time. You may like it.

And how the hell is it half past March already?

-

V

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Now Reading : Fragile Things - Neil Gaiman

Now Listening : Jeena Isi Ka Naam Hai - Anari

The 4th Movement (Glitch Mob Remix) - Krazy Baldhead

Now Feeling : Bored.