What? The title? Yeah, I know, pretty strange if not cryptic title. That’s what happens at 4am in the morning, haha. But don’t worry, it’ll all make sense in the end. Mice. Bamboo. Wood. Apples. Dragons. Moons. Water. Yeah, it’ll all make sense. I hope. Good luck, lol.

Death of Mice. Haha, I love the title of this section~ “Death of Mice”. Essentially, given my recent hand and arm aches in recent weeks (due to Dell laptop and iMac frenzy, lol), I’ve given up the use of both traditionally-shaped and thumb-trackball mice. Done. No more. Instead, I’ve re-introduced myself to the awesome “Wacom Bamboo Fun” tablet. Here’s the story…

Actually, some of you might’ve already read in my Blog 154 post, that Puppy-Chun inspired me to buy my first “Bamboo Fun” back in late August. Back then, my intent was to recover my lost pencil-pen-drawn skills (as opposed to mouse-drawn skills). Unfortunately, in my attempt, I also discovered that to recover my pencil-pen-drawn skills on the computer, I first had to regain them on paper. Not a pretty sight as you can see in that post, lol. Hence, I decided to abandon that path for a while, and stuff the tablet back in its box. Until last week.

Lately, my index click-finger and right wrist, even my elbow, had been undergoing some strain. At work. At home. A bit more irritating than the usual strain I can massage away or shake off in the office. Luckily, not to the tingling syndrone level, yet. But still annoying. So last Friday, December 5th, I drove over to Best Buy, not only to purchase some blank CD-Rs and DVD-Rs, but also to find myself a new trackball mouse. I found a Logitech Trackman. Not bad. Similar to my old trusty Microsoft trackball mouse. Yet not quite satisfactory. Disappointing.

So three days later, Monday the 8th, I decided to dust off my dusty tablet, and attach it to my new iMac. Wow. Amazing. Definitely more intuitive when the tablet maps to a single screen, instead of mapping to a laptop plus secondary monitor. Another reason why the August drawing experiment failed. So yeah, definitely a single screen… Consequently, two days after this success, Wednesday the 10th, I decided to bring the tablet to the office as a further test. Double-wow! Now this test blew me away! Hardly any aches or pains. Never knew how smooth and fluid it would be with my daily workflow. Totally unexpected. Worlds apart.

If I had to describe the difference, I’d say using a traditional mouse on mousepad, or even a trackball, was like using a wood sander to scrape back and forth across a slab of wood. Too much force and pressure. While using my pen-and-tablet was like using an inked feather through the air. Like nothing at all… My Bamboo Fun found new life, not in drawing, but in the unexpectedly normal and everyday point-and-click (not sand-and-scrape) activities, lol.

In fact, I was so enlightened that I decided to go back to Best Buy the next morning, Thursday the 11th, and exchange my new Trackman for a second Bamboo Fun for my home laptop (which I always bring to work). Even told my manager about it, lol. Funny thing is when I left Best Buy and brought the tablet to work, I opened the box to discover it was the *white* one, not silver! Gahhh, not only did the box photo *look* silver, it doesn’t say *white* anywhere on the box. So I let my manager know, and drove back to Best Buy *again*.

But guess what? They didn’t stock the *silver* tablet at all, lol. Maybe it was the bright sunny weather, or the modestly attractive blonde girl, but the situation actually made me chuckle, haha. Oh well, she didn’t know what other store might have them, so I tried the nearest Office Depot. No luck. That sales girl didn’t know what other store either. But then it hit me. Duhhh, the Apple Store! Since the Apple Store was quite close to my office, it was another 20-minute drive. Found the store, found the box, double-checked the silver label, and bought it. The rest is history, lol… Wow, any of you buy something from the Apple Store before? Those double-strung bags are pretty coolsome, eh? ^_^

In a nutshell, not only has the Bamboo Fun tablet streamlined my workflow in the office, it has doubly-or-triply enhanced an already pleasurable iMac experience at home. I mean, after over 15 years using the PC, upgrading from a lagging laptop to a shiny iMac has been one of the most eye-opening and enjoyable technological chapters in my life. Like upgrading from a slide-animated GIF or PowerPoint slideshow to a smooth-and-slick Flash movie. Such a fluid and flowing experience. Warping windows. Fading wallpapers. Pulsing icons. Everything ebbs and flows. Then by configuring Windows with a single-click navigation, the pen-and-tablet simply extends that smooth flow. As if the Bamboo Fun was intentionally designed for the iMac. Hmmm, perhaps it was? ^_^

---

Death of Expression. Hmmm, so what do I mean by “Death of Expression”? Well, this stems from these last couple of days. For the first time in my life, I finally watched Bruce Lee’s final classic film “Enter the Dragon” (1973, Special Edition). Last night, I watched it the first time. Wow. I mean, wow. Then after watching a few of the disc extras, I watched the film again with the commentary. Double-wow. Such history. I never knew how well he spoke English, nor did I know his fighting style, presence, passion or philosophy. Such a passionate philosophical view of the martial arts, but of life as well. Feeling. Physical expression. Emotional expression. ~Physical motion with emotion.~ Emphasizing the *art* in martial *arts*. Not empty movement. Not copying a style because it’s popular. But finding your own path of expression… In fact, if you’ve never seen any of his films, here’s one of the definitive introductory moments in this revolutionary film.

Enter the Dragon – Teacher-Student Introductory Scene

Yup, emotional content. Now, in terms of the internet, this is what I mean by “Death of Expression”. Not with the lack of combative ranting or overactive drama. But the lack of *emotional content* or introspective-artistic passion in blogging or in social networks like Facebook. Do I really wanna know what you ate for breakfast? Or what you’re watching on TV? Do I really wanna know what you hate or who annoyed you an hour ago? ~If you do, tell me why.~ What lies behind the facade? Why did you do something? Why did it make you think that way? How did it make you feel afterwards? Where’s the emotional content? Don’t just state an empty fact. Or post a photo without a story. That’s easy. Even lazy. Now explaining it, that’s more revealing. More powerful. Maybe more memorable… But should we have to ask first? Or should you explain it without us asking? Ah, maybe that’s the difference, isn’t it?… ~Motion with emotion.~ Blogging or twittering without *going through the motions* or because everyone else is doing it too. I may not have fully reached that goal yet, but I’m trying, lol.

Speaking of Facebook, after 12 months of it, I’m juggling the notion of either quitting or cutting a few more associations. Mostly due to the precipitation of trivialities, as mentioned above. But I’m still juggling, lol. For those of us who’ve been regular members of a social network across the last few years, we all know the phases. LOL, don’t we? A network starts getting popular, reaches its height of bloat, then something new comes along. In my case, seems to happen every 12-18 months. First it was LiveJournal, where I posted regularly from mid-2005 through late-2007. I tried MySpace for a bit, but its clunkiness never really stuck to me. Then Facebook since late-2007. At first, I was really heavy into the “Scrabulous” or “Scrabble” app. Then second, the “Human Pets” sub-community. But eventually, the novelties faded. Like phases of the moon. Regular. Natural.

Conversely, my xJAYMANx_toybox blog has been hanging around since early-2007. Most likely into early-2009 too. Two years. Wow. Maybe it’s the difference between being carried away by the collective flash-and-flood of a social network, versus blogging-and-blazing one’s own self-realized path at one’s own self-defined pace. Who knows? Maybe I’m making excuses for not allowing myself to be caught up in a collective trend. Maybe not. Though I remember mentioning the timeless inevitability of social trends on Meimi132’s blog, lol. Pretty difficult to not get caught up or carried away by something. But it doesn’t mean one shouldn’t try, does it? ^_^

---

Mimi’s Rage Ongoing. By the way, awesome thanx again Mimi-chan for your kind words, lol. That’s another reason for your DC-idol popularity. Your gracious generosity. Tempered with a touch of rage, of course, lol.

Incidentally, not only has Joe1991 purchased a “Mimi’s Rage” T-shirt based on her fan club logo, but Rodrigo has expressed interest too, lol. Thanx dudes! If you haven’t already found it, you can grab your T-shirts at Zazzle.

Well, that’s it for now. Let’s continue to blaze our own individual paths of honest expression. With the occasional artful rant and rage against the elements. But without the artless bitterness and selfishness towards others.