Last night was the first time I can remember having a pain dream.

"if you don't have much soul left and you know it, you still got soul." — Charles Bukowski

The Americana at Brand is one of those hybrid residential/commercial developments that sprung up like weeds during the housing bubble, featuring high-end boutique shops and restaurants with condos on top of them. They're basically the next-generation mall, carrying on the long tradition pioneered by Southern California, of creating quasi-high-density pseudo-urban experiences in the setting of a private development (see also the Paseo Colorado, L.A. Live, The Grove, Universal City Walk, Downtown Disney, etc.)

Because I read all four existing books of A Song of Ice and Fire right before I started playing Final Fantasy XIII, I keep wanting to call one of the characters in the game "Jon Snow" instead of just "Snow".

Most people complain about the smog in L.A., but, perhaps disturbingly, the smog makes for some pretty spectacular sunsets. I was driving southbound on the 405 earlier today, passing through Orange County on the way to San Diego, and here, the freeway veers eastward, putting the sun in my rear view. The sky looked like it was on fire.

Tim O’Reilly replies to his critics regarding his proposed blogger’s code of conduct.

The Old New Thing discusses the different macros you have to set in order to ensure library compatibility in Windows.

…and I don’t want to face the world, I am reminded of this conversation from “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”:

Because you can’t expect perfection to last for more than a moment. (Paraphrased from Tyler Durden from “Fight Club” by Chuck Pahlahniuk)