1. Before you start cooking, prepare the following: 500g of chicken breasts cut into thin slices, 2 tablespoons of  garlic finely chopped (substitute with 1 tsp of garlic flakes soaked in a little water for 20 minutes or until soft if you don’t have fresh garlic available), grate 1 lemon (you will only use the grated rind and not the juice).
2. Heat 15 ml of cooking oil, olive oil, or peanut oil in a large saucepan.
3. When the oil is hot, add about 2-3 tablespoons of thai red curry paste and stir for about 30 seconds.  (If you prefer a stronger, hotter experiment with the amount of curry paste used until it’s to your liking).
4. Add the chicken and stir until it is completely covered by the curry paste.
5. Add 1 teaspoon of ginger, 1 teaspoon of tumeric, and the garlic you prepared beforehand.  Stir-fry for a few seconds and turn the heat down to low.
6. Add 400ml of coconut milk (which can be replaced with cream if you want a richer curry), the grated lemon rind and 2 teaspoons of sugar.  Make sure that you get no lemon juice into the pan otherwise the cream will curdle … the dish will still taste delicious but look very unappetising!
7. Simmer over low heat for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the dish has reached a creamy consistency.
8. Serve with jasmine rice or pad thai noodles for an authentic thai feel.  (This recipe should easily feed four adults.)
9. Garnish each serving with a couple of fresh basil leaves.

At 28 I know there is not much I can do about changing the essential me and, in all honesty, am pretty content with who I am but not necessarily with how that finds expression.  So I have decided that 2010 is to be a year of revolutions rather than resolutions.

To this end I have invested in a magical little book by Michael Norton entitled “365 ways to change the world.”  From globalism and consumerism to health issues to environmental concerns, each page covers a practical way in which every individual can begin making a positive impact on the world around them rather than sitting back and whining in self-centredness and despair.

Today’s assignment was simply to set a target for the change I want to see in the world.  Mine is to improve the access that children in the impoverished communities around me have to healthcare, educational support, and recreational facilities so that they can have a chance at a great life.

Archbishop Oscar Romero said:

There is a certain liberation in understanding that we can’t do everything.  This enables us to do something and to do it very well.

 What are you going to do this year?

According to wikipedia they are shy and unaggressive creatures which seldom venture to the ground and, when threatened, usually just make a quick and elegant escape. 

Unfortunately for me, the one that I encountered on my holiday obviously had not read wiki for he conducted himself in a most inappropriate manner.  Granted, he had obviously been blown out of his treetop sanctuary by the wind that was whipping around us so I can understand his foul temper. 

I also have to acknowledge that he was probably further aggrieved by the fact that I was standing directly on his chosen route home but I really do not it was necessary for him to draw himself up to about knee height (as my knees are quite far from the ground I’m fairly certain he was an above-average specimen length-wise) and proceed to sway and lunge at me in a most threatening manner.

Fortunately I kept a cool head and, while shrieking at the top of my lungs, threw most of the contents of my tote bag at him.  Even more fortunately my aim is pretty awful and the flurry of objects landing all around him distracted him long enough for me to make a very unladylike getaway. 

Talking to a snake handler at a nearby reptile centre a few days later I was calmly assured that I had done completely the wrong thing, and, if I had managed to hit the snake he would most assuredly have bitten me.

So what should I have done? There are apparently three golden rules for negotiating with a snake:

1. Stay very still.
2. If the snake looks to be in a threatening position, back away slowly.
3. Don’t make sudden movements or the snake may bite.

Whatever you do, definitely DO NOT throw your favourite pair of sunglasses at it because you will have to retrieve them at a later stage! 

Some time ago I decided there had to be a better way to count how many layers you have in your .psd file in Photoshop. Mostly because its interesting trivia but also because its probably a good idea to not to exceed a certain limit.

So why would layer count be important?

Well, the .psd filesize doesn’t really tell you much more than that the file is heavy. It doesn’t tell you why its heavy, could be because you work with high resolution images, advanced and extensive blending modes or it could be because you have a bizillion layers.

A bizillion layers – why not leave well enough alone?

If the latter is the case, you might need to consider removing a few or merging a few especially if you are a designer and other people are supposed to be able to make sense of your work and that person might not appreciate (perhaps sitting on a not so powerful computer) a ten minute waiting time just to open the file.

File with too many layers

This file is an export file for custom buttons on a web page, in this case the layer count could really take off. Having four states (default, featured, pressed and disabled) in 5-15 different languages – and we don’t want to merge them all since that would rob us from the graphics being usable in the future when our client wants to change something in the buttons (this file has about.. 3.5 thousand layers – almost not usable any more).
File with many layers

Enough blabbering – how do I count them all?

A nice fellow named Kyle Tunney posted a script on his web site some time ago which does all this for you. Running the script on your photoshop file will prompt you with the exact layer count of your current photoshop file.

How to – Step by step

Download the script, note where you save it. Open your photoshop file and click ‘File’ -> ‘Scripts’ -> ‘Browse’.

Find the script and load

Find the script you just downloaded and hit ‘Load’ and then ‘Yes’.

Features

• Counts all the layers of your file
• Counts all groups and layer masks as well (since you you use groups for more than just structure and categorization – this works as intended

Problems with the script

• Files over 100-200 layers might take time to count, you will probably think PS crashed
• There is no progress bar letting you know how far you’ve gone in the counting
• Loading the script and hitting ‘No’ (deciding you don’t want to count layers) will result in the script still counting your layers
• Kyle doesn’t seem that into developing the script further (adding progress bar etc.), ill probably need to do that myself one day

• Download the counting script |
• Kyles web site

Detektivbyrån

Detektivbyrån

One of my newer favourits “Detektivbyrån” just had a well appreciated small and intimate performance on the big stage. The only band in the history of Dreamhack to be prompted for an encore by the audience. Very interesting consert indeed!

There has been around 8-12 bands so far and pretty much all of the bands in my genre are really great! Some heavy metal, some rock and alternative rock. Has been some nice surprizes.

JulieHally, strange and awesome.

JulieHally

Live drum concert – Super Mario Theme =)

Super Mario Drummer

SCAR SYMMETRY, which were new to me.

Scar Symmetry

As for my own record list I tend to keep log of certain thing; this year will be nominated for:

• Best musicians on stage
• Worst weather
• Highest EMO count per square meter

Hug an EMO, they are warm and cuddly!

Preparing for his departure from the online game in which we met, a friend of mine announced his plans for a dramatic “exitbang” which had me rolling on the floor in fits of laughter.

While he quite innocently was trying to sum up the act of slamming a door on one’s way out a room in a single appropriate English word, the use of exitbang in relation to a female player named Marge took my not-so-innocent mind to some very interesting PG-rated places indeed.

As a result I have added this smile-inducing word to my vocabulary: exitbang – the act of making a dramatic exit OR a quick farewell of a more physical and intimate nature just before parting.

Douglas Adams and John Lloyd in their book “The Meaning of Liff” have come up with a few new words of their own.  Here are three of my favourites:

• duntish (adj.) - mentally incapacitated by a severe hangover.
• fring (n.) – the noise made by a light bulb which has just shone its last.
• wike (vb.) - to rip a piece of sticky plaster off your skin as fast as possible in the hope that it will (a) show how brave you are, and (b) not hurt.

Massive introduction

As the scene was revealed and the opening song commenced, the trio with Matthew Bellamy dressed up like never before, began their storied show. Setting the standard of the evening by delivering the massive and soul piercing Muse sound and ascending on three gigantic podiums which gave the audience an overdose of awesomeness, especially in contrast to the fore-bands previous show (which one might suggest was just a little too creative).

Favourits

As a definite and undisputed Muse fan I can honestly say I was hoping to hear a couple of songs which was not included in the repertoire, such as “Screenager” and “Map of Your Head”. Other than that the playlist was absolutely flawless. The new album “Resistance” had obviously been released just in time for the audience to attune to, for there was nothing but deafening screams and whistles for the initial 40 seconds of each new song. And as Matthew toned his voice down, the emotional sound of audience lyrics was heard thru out the arena atmosphere.

The peaks of total chaos and audience mass-movement was caused by the obvious spot-on songs; “New Born”, “Plug In Baby”, “Starlight”, “Knights of Cydonia” and the featured song “Resistance”.

All in all

As a moderately frequent concert visitor I can without hesitation confirm that this was by far the absolute best and best performed concert I have attended to. This includes concerts like “White Snake”, “Joe Satriani”, “Santana” and naturally all the bands from various festivals, who’s foul performance wouldn’t suit in comparison here.

The generally massive and unique Muse sound was undeniably there. Bellamy’s inhuman voice managed to peak in a way one wouldn’t think was possible live. The Muse concert gets 4.5/5.0. Being 0.5 points from the absolute perfect experience.