I think I’m having writer’s block, and not just with my blog. I can’t seem to put together a creative piece, a discursive essay, not even a letter to one of my far-away friends. Why? What’s holding back the power to write?

In all fairness, I have been using my Twitter account a lot more recently, but that’s hardly writing, merely posting my thoughts as they come and not turning them into something more developed. But is there some malign thing in my life, preventing me from stringing together words that are actually meaningful? I think I may have lost my artistic ability with the literary canvas temporarily whilst I focus on exams, only I’ll need to be able to write well to gain good marks; and the vicious circle continues.

Reading has also become quite a stint too. It’s taken me several weeks to not even read a third of ‘War of the Worlds’, why? It took me a month to read all four books in the Twilight saga so it’s not a case of my ability. And I’ve got plenty of topics to write about – David and I recently had a very deep conversation which I can’t wait to write an article about. I’ve thought of an interesting tutorial to post. I want to finish writing up my new software concept. But there’s something holding me back from actually opening up my blog and just writing.

I love writing, I love reading. Have I become too much of an apathetic teenager to really care any more? I sincerely hope not. Hoodies and heavy metal may have become a little too prominent in my life at the moment, maybe I need to get things in balance again, including writing to my blog more. Perhaps I need to realise what needs focus at the moment.

In setting out to reason with myself why I’ve not been writing, I think I’ve accomplished getting over my writer’s block.

Dan, the blogger at UneasySilence, has had is laptop stolen.
He gives more details in his blog (link below), but I’m helping to spread the word so that he can get it back soon and write more awesome blog posts.

[http://uneasysilence.com/archive/2009/02/13832/]

Poems are not just for literature students. They’re so much more.

I love write. I really do, and I love to read just as much. This is where I can liberate myself, through poems.

I’m in control. I can sculpt the world as I wish. I can vent my feelings, manifest them in complex metaphors. I can make them as intelligent and complicated as I want, or I can keep them as simple little rhymes.

If I’m feeling dark, I can create my world of horror and fear.
If I’m feeling philosophical, I can create a world of questions and riddle.
If I’m feeling anarchist, I can refuse to conform to any style of poetry.

The rythm is my pulse.
The words are my thoughts.

I have a blank canvas without constraints. I can pour myself onto the paper. Let the world influence my writing.

I fire up MSN as usual, and notice something strange.

A white box is appearing under some of my friend’s Display Pictures, but not others.
It doesn’t do anything when clicked, there are no options, and it just sits there next to the webcam and option buttons.

What could it be? A status box? A new feature? A secondary DP?
I have no idea. Maybe readers or Mess.be can throw some light on it.

Update: Aaron_S has pointed out that it’s an office icon in the 9.0 beta. That still leaves the question, what’s it doing in the current build? What is it’s function?

Update 2: Microsoft say it’s just a bug [http://messengersays.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!5B410F7FD930829E!37203.entry]

Evernote was an amazing note-taking app.
Multimedia notes, syncing, text recognition, so many things it could do.

Why am I divorcing myself of it?
The Mac client is leopard only – I run Tiger.

Sorry Evernote, it was fun. Back to Google Notebook!

Oh, by the way, I have 20 Evernote invitations to give away

In Anime news, Viz Media have licensed the Bleach movie, Memories of Nobody.

So, the first Bleach film will be dubbed and is hitting our cinemas.
Good or Bad? I’d go with subtitles.

[http://www.fathomevents.com/details.aspx?eventid=720]

Dear Spam,

You have annoyed me since I started using the internet.

You disgust me – a lot.

I can’t picture an inbox without you.

Have a terrble 30th Birthday!

CLibra

[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7380788.stm]

There are many flaws with the Office Assistant. As well as being annoying, it generally just doesn’t help, giving basic tips in an almost patronising way.

I want Office Assistant to actually live up to it’s name.
Office Assistant should be able to process commands given to it in a simple, human language.
It should be able to do things when files, images, and text are dropped onto it.
It should process Outlook Alerts graphically, possibly use Text to Speech.
It should have it’s own set of wizards and tools.
It should be able to search the net for resources too, copyright free ones.

If only Clippy did these things, he wouldn’t be hated as much.

To whom it may concern,

Please release a Mac Client of IM-History and DocSyncer, very soon please!
Your products are great, but It would be even better if I could get them on my Mac, also.

Regards,

CLibra

PS. Also, please accept me into the DropBox beta.

Well, I need to let them know SOMEHOW that I’m waiting.

I’ll update my letter as new software is released. If I don’t ask, I won’t get!

BitTorrent works as a fast, effective, and cross platform file distribution protocol. It’s become one of the standards now for sending large files quickly.

However, I was thinking about IMAP, and realised how it has the potential to do something like BitTorrent.

I mean, as long as each recipient has a specified IMAP account configured, a single email with attachment needs to be sent that account, and the file can reach millions. It could work as a distribution protocol.

I’m not suggesting that IMAP will take over BitTorrent in that respect, but it’s interesting to realise how something as simple as an email can synchronise files between many people, easily.