Thursday, December 23, 2010

Christmas/EOY post

I don't think I'll be able to post anything in the next couple of days, so here goes my wishlist for 2011:

Right the wrongs

I've done some stuff that I'm not too happy about this year and I hope to right at least some of them before new year's day. 'nuff said. :)

Less Illness

I've been sick a lot this year and it's not fun. Here's to a healthier year!

Learn Wijesekara and blog more in Sinhala


This has been on my wishlist for a good couple of years now. But 2011 could be the year I finally get down to it.

Less hasty/irrational decisions

A calmer, more logical Chavie? Something that can't be left off the list after everything that was said and done in 2010.

More meetups!

We meetup and fly kites. We're hardcore like that!
And more cupcake parties! :D 2010 was billed to be the year of blogger meetups (in my head, albeit) and it was, to a certain extent. We could've done better though. :P

More travel!

Eclipse in Anuradhapura, January 2010
2010 sucked travel-wise. Despite having been on vacation for a good 4 months this year, I only got to go on 2 or 3 trips and it rained like hell during one. 2011 could will be the year I'll be meeting Kirigalpoththa, Amila and going on my first Sinhalaya Travels adventure, whether my parents let me or not! :P

More TOMMY!

"Sup, bitches?!":D
Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year, y'all! :D

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Dingdongs

Nope, not talking about Dinidu's balls here. :D

At the end of last year, I felt like doing some comics, but putting them up on this blog was not an option, what with no anonymity and the rather political (and rather offensive) nature of most of the comics. So I created a webcomic blog called Dingdong, made about 8 or 9 comics, ran out of inspiration and shut the thing down. Sadly I lost all the comics (They were stick figure art... I had just discovered xkcd and my drawing was terrible), but there was this one comic I remembered and I redrew it today (with updated art and what not). It was entitled "Living it up in a puritan society". I used GIMP almost exclusively for today's comic (I usually use Paint.NET) so this is my first comic created in GIMP and in Linux. :D

Monday, December 13, 2010

The lights, and the action


I was fortunate enough to witness the gradual development of "Who Turned The Lights Off?", from a draft script to the version performed at Punchi last Friday. Over the course of several chance (gives Himal the :P face) run-ins with the crew in meetings and practices, I watched as the story took its final shape and form.

The story arc is something that is not unfamiliar: Boy and girl fall madly in love, girl trusts boy, boy does wrong, girl is left HIV-positive and abandoned by friends and family. Sadly, no matter how common the story is, it still gets repeated way too many times in society, with the same tragic ending.

And forum theatre is a place where people get to change that ending, and in the process learn some important facts about HIV, and how you can protect yourself and your loved ones from it. I should note that you can never be too informed about these things, as a lot of us learned the correct way to open a condom wrapper during an audience member's (highly passionate) intervention.

Don't use your fingernails or teeth when opening a condom wrapper. It's very easy to tear the condom inside.
Another fact that people might not be aware of:

Don't use oil-based lubricants, like baby or cooking oils, hand lotion or petroleum jelly as lubricants with latex condoms. The oil weakens latex and can cause condoms to break.
(You're supposed to use water-based lubricants)


The play itself was brilliant, the story flowed nicely (nothing too overtly complicated, and no WTF?! moments) and the acting was superb. In a show with so many brilliant performances (from the butt-smacking 'Men have needs' guy, to the crazy Dad, to the depraved pharmacist who makes buying condoms near-impossible), the female lead (who, I think, was making her FT debut) took everyone's heart. The Awwws were free flowing that night, and so was the sympathy when her character found out her fate. Beyond Borders certainly has stumbled across some fine actors and playwrights. :)

So, in conclusion, the only way to prevent the terrible scourge of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections is the continued education of high-risk groups, the foremost of which is our youth. This is of utmost importance, at a time when even those in the know have a nasty habit of becoming victims.

Eighty percent of Americans with HIV do not know they are infected.
– Philip Emeagwali

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Chavie's unfunny comics, part eleventy-four

Well, Starpoints guy makes a comeback. Oh and please don't call your better half IE6. :S

Talking of star points, they have to be redeemed them before they expire on the 31st. Yes, this was a paid advertisement by Dialog Telekom PLC. ;)

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Blogger screwups

I should've written this a couple of months ago, but didn't have the balls to.

The wise Makuluwo said it best when she posted this on her Tumblr:


We were once a big happy family, just euphoric and full of goodwill. But stuff happened and everyone did and said things that they weren't supposed to. I get that, it's human nature to screw up a perfectly good thing and it happens all the time. But dragging it out this long is both painful and childish. We're all adults, so can't we just smile, nod and pretend nothing bad ever happened?

And you know what the worst part is, it makes people choose between us and being loyal to their best friend, and that is something that nobody should ever have to go through. I certainly wouldn't want to.

This might seem an angsty, immature and rather naive post, but I really needed to put this out there.

P.S. If you get invited to a meetup near/just past your birthday, please do try to make it. We'd like to thank you muchly in advance. ;)