The Past

And now for a step back in time.

Smarts

A few days into the semester, i've yet to buy my materials for the classes i'm in. Only once did i complete a class without buying the book (and got a near perfect score - missed a couple extra credit points for lack of trying), but as i recall that was an art history class that focused on too much European art, so i was starting with an advantage. I'm hoping to get myself hooked up with some of the materials sometime soon, we'll see how that goes.

But for now, there may still be some time to place your bets for how long i will stay in these classes. I'm shooting for at least 4 weeks, but last i heard Vegas odds on that were 20:1.

Ouchie

I've hit many things while biking - trees, animals, light posts, walls, other bikes - but until today i'd yet to hit a car. Luckily some guy exiting an SVU took care of that for me, opening his door right as i was biking by him. Not too bad a hit, i was still able to enjoy the rest of the night's activities.

Ceilings

By request, a few shots of the unfinished mural.

 
 

Ssh

Got ssh to work on my phone. For those of you who aren't jumping with joy right now, this means i can pretty much do all of my work from my phone. Sure, it's a little on the slow side, but i'm used to working from places like the Gobi Desert, Chanchamayo, and Kisoro, so it's not that slow.

Took a bit to figure out, mostly because i didn't do my research properly. Instead i contacted T-Mobile tech support, and they graciously helped me through my problems and directed me to the faq and forum i should have noticed in the first place.

I Say Go

I say hello, and how are you, just as i learned on my last vacation. The standard brief babbling, then she says, "we are so blessed, this life, it's a blessing, and so often we don't even realise it."

I assume she's a religious fanatic - who quips such nonsense when selling coffee? A nervous twittering in my mind, we end in some simplistic comments, "hopefully you'll still feel that way at the end of the day."

Religious fanatics - a quarter block away, they sometimes gather to yell at us all, saving our souls by screaming of the glory of their god, but only when the weather's nice; on those -20 days, as i cycle by that corner on my way to work, they're not to be seen, back in their caves? What is the standard hibernation period of a righteous freak?

Exit the cafe, past the corner, on to the park on the way to work. It always is quite a day through the park, never know what birds i'll see, how many snakes, or snails, count the rabbits, perhaps a fox, some deer, sparkling white snow, deep puddles of rain, singing ice, sometimes a challenging rain. It is quite nice, yes, perhaps even a blessing, just to go to work.

I'm reminded of my father's words, the first time he visited MI after he started working in Iraq (in 1994): "it is so peaceful here." I wonder, perhaps she knows a little more, perhaps she simply meant it as an expression of truth.

Food

Spent the night cooking a week's worth of meals for a low-income friend. Not quite like my father's many claims to fame, but i'm not quite like my father. Made a couple of the zero-day classics - Plantain Yellowmess and Czech Surprise (the surprise would be if it actually had anything to do with the Czech Republic) - as well as some lesser named beasts. If you like spicy (digo picante y sabroso) fried food that tastes like it was thrown together on a whim (forse alla putanesca?), then you may like my cooking.

Meanwhile, tonight i dined on vodka tonic and Flintstones. As i was hungry i had two of each.

Death Be Not Proud

We lost another one to their Plague.

First it finished off our fastest runners, then it shocked our slowest into submission, today it took away our transports. We've been abandoned, doomed, marked for extinction. And still our leader paints desperate slogans on the walls - "DO NOT ABANDON HOPE" - "HELP EXISTS" - "THE STRONG SURVIVE". These fool few. It is the end times; the Old Guard is gone, and from the distant shores comes the distinctive shouting of The Outsiders, ready to consume our decaying souls.

How many more will fall? We hope, we pray, we wish, we cry out that some will make it through, that some will strive for life beyond the Plague, and yet, we wonder - if we survive, what kind of life will this be, underneath The Outsiders? It is guaranteed that, on the surface, our society will change. And thus we hope that inside we can remain the same.

The Outsiders - long have we heard of their existence, seen glimpses of their shapes, felt the weight of their approaching burdens. But every day we doubted, every day we blinded ourselves to the leader's stubbornness, every day we wistfully ignored every sign, every scent, every sound of the oncoming Plague Years. If only we had prepared, if only we had cared.

Is it too late? The leader would have us believe we can overcome, we can mend, we can carry on. But it is too dismal a reality, too impossible to fall so blindly to not realise our approaching demise. This world is gone.

---

Yes, it is time to get new bike tires, flip-flops, and backpack.
It is truly tragic.

Couple of Notes

Don't try this at home. It took me a number of years, but i finally applied fighter pilot knowledge to my everyday life. Sometimes when i stand up fast my head goes a little dizzy. I used to work through the dizziness - continue walking where i was going, usually get there without falling. But a few days ago i began trying something new: flexing my arms when i start to go dizzy seems to prevent going dizzy, just like fighter pilots pushing many G's can flex their legs to help ward off blackout. I theorize the flexed muscles prevents too great a change in the blood flow to/from my head and thus keeps me upright, and while it seems to work for me, i'm no doctor, let alone kinesiologist, and it probably won't work for you. And i've only tried this 3 times - consider this paragraph as only preliminary results.

In other news, bought a pressure lantern for someone i know who lives off the grid. Tried it out with isopropyl alcohol, but that just created a firey mess (a *little* firey mess, mind you, and i still have all my fingers), i think i need a smaller nozzle. At least it burns bright otherwise, and i don't really mind the smell of alcohol throughout the house. I wonder if it will run off of pisco?