Thursday, October 23, 2014

Tech Stupidity - Stark Raving Mad (No Arc Reactors Were Harmed In The Process)

You know what is lately pissing me off the most?  Hint -  it's not facebook, even if it seems that virtually everyone  is  on the darned thing and  yapping all over.

No.  But old, outdated technology.  Now, I seem  to remember  that  saying 'oldie is goldie', but  when it comes to technology, this  saying is  woefully outdated. Yes, some of the old tech is still  good, even superior in  comparison with  today one - however  there are some bright exceptions -  case in point,  machine  from Antikythera,  and  the iphones of the newest generation -  6 as I am writing this -  are  bendier that a rainbow, and not in a good sense. Sadly.

No,  the trouble is, when you have  old,  before-the-flood  mobile phone and    iPhone G3S  just stubbornly refuses to  accept the pack of the pics  mum had taken with her old, outdated Nokia phone. Cue the  rifling through internet, forums and Apple help pages to cure the dumb thing of its affliction, but noo,  hafta to  go to the specialist to get  the settings done. Which for me, is no way, no how,  around 21.00 PM   to get the things to a master tinkerer. And I already know my awesome (not so in some cases) big brother's  answer -  Ask Uncle Google or  Figure It Out Yourself, and  grrr.

The  culprit in my case, was an old  mobile phone,  Nokia C2, which still has keyboard and  is notoriously stubborn when  coming to manning the pics.   I am  semi-proud owner of a second-hand  Apple phone of  version G3S.   I am  still getting used to its features,  however I fell in love with the  touch screen typing first,  as  keyboards on the older versions of the  mobile phones always irked me something fierce.  What can I say,  computer keyboards spoiled me   a mite bit too much.   But back to the  actual case.

Task was, to  send the pics from the prehistoric Nokian  phone to mine, and  then from mine on the laptop and then to  mum's laptop.   Why the long way?    No idea where mum  stashed her  cable from the  Nokian phone, and   really not bothering with searching for it and then getting  shocked by her devil of a laptop again while uploading/downloading the pics.   The plan  was simple, only the execution was  fucked up  nine ways to Sunday and beyond, because apparently, my  iPhone balks because it isn't attached to Safari, and  Nokian phone  has an outdated  interface  for  e-mail, and I  had to pick each pic separately to upload it in the email compartment, and even then, I was limited  by the space I could stash the pics in.  So,  instead of some 15 minutes max as I had  supposed I would have to use at the beginning to get the thing in order, I  used   one fat hour and a half to get the things rolling,  because of the keyboards,  scrolling around and so on and so forth -  I am not mentioning the   failures  before I switched the accounts to  send the pics from.  Opera browser on  Nokia was worthless, as it didn't allow   uploading the pics, had to go to separate compartment for email...  the whole shebang.  /head meets desk/. Seriously, guys and gals,  I love the technology -  how could I not,  because I had to practically grow up with using  it in  some manner or another, but this one took the  proverbial  cake.

I sincerely, really hope the  next photo session will involve actual photograph machine -  mum somehow managed to get hers out of the commission, don't ask me how -  so  the whole process will be a mite bit easier on my nerves and fingers.

And memo to myself -  gotta get her to use more up to date tech,   just for the sake of my  braincells.  Figuring out the un-compatibility of  the Nokian and  iPhone was  really not my favorite thing to do, especially because of the  roundabout  way I had to take to  finally get her the pics she was  craving for.

Take care and wishig you   compatible tech to work with,

Eirenei

Friday, April 25, 2014

Ordinary Day

Right, haven't  written  anything in a lo-ong while.  Suffice to say,  got  my  pics and    all from the graduation.  Today,  I got the usual -   waking up, doing the lunch,   puttering around the house,  reading a massive amount of fics and having that Brat Dog  Mia  to walk.

The weather is heavy, and I wish for  rain. My brain is under pressure - luckily I got most of the  cleaning done, so   my Saturday will be  relatively free - hopefully /mumbles/,  and I wanna snooze  without mom scaring the crap  outta me.   I once again got the CI on, it's a bitch to remember to actually wear it, and   I will have to acclimatize  to it once again, but music helps.  But 3D sound is  worth it.  Even if I have  an annoying feeling  in my tongue -  an unpleasant scrape in the back  of it, resonating  with the  music.  Grrr.   I am wondering when  I will finally  conquer the damn thing  to the point of actually  hearing  without imaging the sound -  it's like hearing an inverse sound actually -  but  I am giving up on that kind of  wondering.  Who knows.  I care only becasue  the  thing can be  itchy.

Have two new pet projects -  HP/Fate Zero and   an original story  which is still begin drafted -  have the characters to flesh out before I actually begin to write,  and  I hope to gods  I will actually have time to get the thing  done.  But with  operation advancing, I think I will have  some time.... hopefully /grimaces/. Depends on what would the docs say, and if I would be lucid enough not to spell  out  senseless drivel. Or  sleep.  Under those,  if I am not loopy,  I am usually sleeping.  Well,not a problem, sleep is  my second favorite activity, aside from reading.

Listening to the Absolute Beginners  by David Bowie  and my ears are loving it.  For that matter, I am loving it too. Hm, seems I will be happy camper after all.

Friday, April 18, 2014

The Power Of Forgiveness

Today,  when I was shuffling along the pages of  Yahoo,  I  found  a moving story. 

In Iran, there was a murderer, who was judged to be  hanged, becasue he had killed a 19 year old youth in a street-fight back in 2007.  Today,  the  family of  the killed  youth should have  been given  a satisfaction  -  blood for blood after all,  but in a  stunning and  unexpected  turn of events they did...

Nothing.

Well, not  exactly nothing, but  the mother of  the murdered victim  did  halt the execution, slap the  accused and then pleaded that he should  be left to live.   The mother's  gesture left me in awe, becasue  Iran is islamic, and  their prophet Mohamed  had  approved of the  'eye for an eye' law.   Even if  nowadays it's thought barbaric,   and used only in extreme cases,  death penalty still exists.  Civilized countries  want to abolish it, and they   had succeeded to some degree, but  islamic countries  are led by different hand of justice.  There,  blood revenges are  accepted as  usual practice, and  so this  happening is  so much more unusual.

I am not a parent, but I can imagine how hard is for  a mother to lose  her child -  one of my schoolmates had done a suicide, and  it was heartbreaking to hear her  ask why had her daughter done suicide when at funeral. There's always left a deep, gaping hole, no matter if  the child  has done  suicide, been killed in self defense or in war.  By all rights,  this Iranian mother should have been vengeful and demand the  worst of the tortures for the murderer who left her bereft of  her precious child, and yet,  she chose not to.   She chose to show mercy, to plead for the murderer to be let go.   Of course, if  we wanted to be cynic,   we can attribute  the mercy to the public outcry of Iranian women and  public who pleaded  mercy for  the murderer, but  the last decision was still in the hands of the family of the victim's family.   How easier would it be to just let the murderer pay for his misdeed, to see him hang from the gallows, and yet....

The ones we call  Islamists, Mohamed's followers,   the ones who  still have such a strict code,  they  have spoken out, declaring mercy. What does that say about us, Christians, who are  sometimes squabbling about the tiniest of things?  It makes me ashamed  that  Christianity propagates mercy, and  yet, it's so rarely  shown. Our  greatest feast is nearing,  and instead of  contemplating the mercy we were gifted with, we contemplate chocolate eggs,  what we will eat  and so on and so forth!  For  Islamists,  our feast  means nothing,  so it's even more amazing they  have done the act of mercy in the days that follow to the Easter.

How different would the world be, if  the  people, who asked to release a murderer, would have asked for  releasing Jesus?  It's illogical, that  the  crowd  would rather have had  a certified  wrongdoer  released than an  innocent man. If we shall believe the Bible, that was intended to happen and yet, it makes  for a bitter taste in the mouth, reading  about such  travesty.

Was it wrong to show  a mercy to  the killer?  Cynics would say yes.  Jesus would say no.  He was the one who  advocated for mercy, even for his enemies.  One old proverb says, that eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.  Sometimes, mercy isn't the right answer.  However, there are moments when  it's a saving grace that resonates within the sinner's soul.   And I believe that  this little act of mercy resonated within the murderer's soul.  There's not many things that could affect the  man  so hard as  to escape the sure death, even more so,  if by mercy.

We all are innocent and  sinners at the same time. We can  abide  by the code of revenge or  the code of mercy.   It's our decision which one   we will chose,  and  for me, I am glad  this one   family has shown  that despite the pain and adversity,  it's still possible to  chose mercy.   And for that, I thank them from the bottom of my heart.

Thank you, Samereh Alinejad. Thank you, Abdolgani Hosseinzadeh.  Thank you,  little daughter.   May you be blessed.

Eirenei

Wednesday, April 9, 2014

Graduation Day

So here it is, much expected, dreaded and longed for - the G-day (it makes a person think about G-strings, and it just  as comfortable as one /snarks/).

Thankfully,  there 's no  fuss like it had been  for the prom, but it is still an  annoying piece of duty, not to mention it can eat out a significant  amount of money. Okay,  I will reuse most of my thesis-defense clothes,  but still,  shoes  had cost a pretty penny,  not to mention both hair-styling -  would have had hair-styled it all by my lonesome if the dratted operation wouldn't have demanded a good  chunk of my hair  being sheared off, and  I am still on the wrong foot will all bigger things with makeup. /defeated sigh/. I seriously  need some makeup classes. (Mum is gunning for  manicure and pedicure ones /sweatdrops/. Seriously, hello?)  My  laptop keyboard has ganked, so I am  using my other one and it will take time to  write  smoothly, as I am used to my laptop one, but oh well, I am thankful I had enough of a foresight to at least buy the darned thing. (Would have loved to own  a new laptop by the way, with a much bigger inner drive -  1 TB or more and possibly a SSD to boot, but  that  is still  a work in progress, both on the tech and mine front.)

On the shoes, I am  happy  camper to have some that don't clack on the  floor, don't have high heels and are reasonably comfortable without my  feet  weeping at me in discomfort.   Once, I made a mistake  and bought pretty shoes  for some or other celebration,  and the front part, where the  toes were, was uncomfortably tight.  The salesperson had convinced my mum  that  it  took just a little  walking around to break 'em in.  You know what -   that was a bullshit. I  wore them for the celebration, and then never again.  The next ones, I overgrew, and that was a damned shame, because they were  totally to my taste. And the  walk through the shops was almost an exercise in futility - seriously, if the God had  wanted  that we wear high heels,  he would have made  our feet so,  and I was both horrified and fascinated at the instruments of  possible death and guaranteed torture that innocently parade on the shelves   in the shape of  high-heeled shoes. Noo, nope, thank you very much.  There are few scenes  of martial arts being used in high shoes, and that  for  a reason.  And yeah, I will shamelessly  admit I am not so gifted in the  balance apartment,  but trying to wear high-heeled devices of murder -  feet murder or otherwise,  is just asking for trouble.

Still, managed to  find an unconventional pair of shoes, that have a small heel  and are  interesting and  glory of all glories, they don't make  me  itch to get them  off the minute I get them on my feet.   As I joke,   I didn't buy them -  they adopted me for themselves the moment I got them on my feet.  It was funny that was - I came to shop, grumped around and  I would've gone out in a snit if I hadn't  noticed something glittering on  one of the lower shelves.  Yup, I am sucker for  glittering something if it's tastefully done. At first, I tested them just  for the heck of it,   but then, I pondered -  why  should  the shoes be black, of all things just to go along with the black trousers,  so my mind did a total turnaround and  I decided that I won't follow the conventional wisdom  of having black with black -  would've been cool, but not my style, and I snatched the pair faster than you could say 'sold'.   Of course,  the price was significantly higher than  I wanted it to be, but  they will serve me faithfully for a long time, so  it was a good investment, even if  a bit  pricy one.   So...  totaling the  amount of shoes I have -  and yeah, have to  buy  winter ones sometime,   I own  seven pairs,  four of them trainers, one pair of crocs (clogs),  pair of flip-flops and a pair of  sandals,  the  slippers notwithstanding.   Some would say it's a shamefully  small amount,  however it's an useful one,  and that's all I care about.  I am confused about the girls'  chat about  that  and than model of the shoes -  what should  I care about some or another Loubotini?  Gimme some good book any day. /Sighs/. Women are strange species, that they are. /shakes head./

The sun has appeared, so maybe we will have a modicum of  good weather today, but I am not counting on it.  My headache from yesterday has also disappeared -   seriously,  the  yesterday was stifling like hell, and I am thankful we had a rain  overnight to cool the air down and so on.  For April, the weather is very  flighty still -   we have almost summer-ish  temperatures, and then, it's  could  outta blue.  but so long so good,  it seems it will be good one today.   Still, better bring along an umbrella....



So, there it is... time to prepare for the  G-string -  oops,  I meant graduation.   See y'all later,


11 PM,  so  almost 23.00

Here, back again.  Have mixed feelings -  on one hand, I am relieved I  avoided  any overly nasty topics and on the other hand I am spooked and angry  dad  had  looked into my graduation map. What, first  thing he doesn't  want to go, and  then, he dares to browse in what is mine!?  Hell, man would've be tempted to clock him one around his head.     Shame I ain't a man.... would've probably solved some o the things.  Doesn't help  he is still drinking,  so  we had another  companion to see the graduation ceremony with - don't know whether to be pissed off or disappointed in my father -  I am  leaning toward indifference -  he wasn't here when  I was one of the best,  and he ain't here when it  mattered.  Makes me wonder if I should  ever  invite him to my  wedding if there ever would be one.  /grumbles/.   Anyway, he is one of the reasons I am  wary of men, because at subconscious level,  my brain is trying to  equate all males with him,  in negative light.    I am tempted to say that I am done  with him.  He is still my parent, that is true,  but the one who reared me up,   since diapers till now, is  mum.   But I got used  to him not coming to celebrations of my achievements -  first in the elementary school, in middle school  there was only mum,  and occasionally my brother.  University, he  wasn't much present, except in monetary matters. I am confused on where to place him -  he provided for me, sure, but as a person, he wasn't there much.  He tries, in his own, awkward way, but  his tries are interspersed with my past hobbies -  I painted well, and  he is still onto me  to get into painting sometimes.  Now, I am writing.   I don't have  much to talk with him. But between him drinking and me having my own problems,  there's not much to say.   I am leaning toward indifference, and isn't that sad?

Overall, the day went well. I am tempted to continue the schooling, to reach for the Master level, but on the other hand, I now know where are my borders in regards to this particular  course.   I don't know whether I would have patience for getting through another heap  of exams -   in the end,  ther eare onyl numbers and  some  courses you've successfully done, and  I am not sure I even learned something about anything when I was in a  school.  True, I can draw the business plan,   use programs relevant to my job and  so on and so forth, but I still feel woefully uneducated about a heck-load of things, the things  I can only learn in life.  Probably. No  matter the curriculum, the  only real test is  a live situation.    I am leaning toward writing, because I do this the best and enjoy  it, but I am afraid. What if I fail?  Logically, I know if I fail, then I could always  try again, but the hurt of failure is sometimes bitter to swallow.  Fail nine times, get up ten.  I know  that only too well, what  with the math subjects. /grimaces/.   However, on the other side, I am feeling  as if I am deliberately pressing all the wrong  buttons except the  right one.   I am pressing the wrong button in  a want to conform, to be normal and to have a dependable income.   Steady job  means  good income and I wouldn't want for anything for a long time, drifting through the years, meeting a good person and  marry them and then maybe have kids - very  doubtful maybe,  rear them,  age, and then  die.  Isn't' that how the things usually go?

But on the other side, I could dare myself to go against the mainstream thinking,  to write and to endure on this way.  It's  an unknown path,  uncertain one,  I don't even know if  there would be a  steady income to  cover all my needs and more, and yet...if I succeed, it would be a success that would  exceed my wildest dreams.   If I fail, then  I would have failed, had to  find a low paying job and then begin anew from  something  and  somewhere else.

The road that leads to nowhere
or the road that leads to you. 
 (Enya)

I am afraid to go against my father. It simply  isn't done, and yet, this is my life.  If I accede now,  then I will miss something very important to me - experience,  growth, self-respect,  happiness, feeling of accomplishment - it sometimes irks me that my gift isn't  obvious one, like with numbers or chemicals or something, but instead, I only have a gift with words. Well, yes, I am artisitcally inclined too,  but  still, sometimes I feel that I hold  nothing in my hands.

Nothing worthwhile.  And yet... If I gave it a chance,  it could be something,  I don't know  what exactly,  but something.  A book, a  song a picture... I don't know, but something, I  don't know  whether it would be brilliant, because sometimes I think myself  so very clumsy, like a beginner, and then  I am always happily  surprised when I  read the praise from  my readers, that they enjoyed my works, and  I read them and marvel at them,   reminding  myself that I created them.  That is what drives me to write -   to create, to push the boundaries, to make  the  images in my head real.  To dream alongside the readers.

Scary,  but true. and  I am still here, still trying to fit in, and still being grumpy about not fitting in.  Being ordinary is  becoming exhausting, and only my laziness is   stalling me  from advancing forward.  Laziness and fear, that is. /sour face/  No other  cure than to  kick my ass in gear an constantly convince  myself that  this was the right decision.

Today I went past the house of my deceased  schoolmate, E. She had missed so many chances -  she could've graduated,  have a  boyfriend up  till now,  everything, and  yet, she chose to end her life.  And wasn't that sad?  Yes, you need to be courageous to  end  your life, but even braver to  live it, and yet, not living in accordance with your desires, is dying in small doses.  So, one step after another..../gulps/. 

Wish me luck? /puppy  eyes/



Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Miffed, pissy and gumpy. Satisfied?

Right now, I am feeling in a tailspin, and  being pretty much miffed about it,  to the point of feeling aggravated  to the n-th degree,  and I really wanna howl  because  of it.  I feel  confined,  having no job and no work -  wait,  work I can find, but job... /grumpy face/.  The  unemployment is getting to me, and with mum biting my head off sometimes,  I am not a happy camper about it.  I want to do something. I NEED to do something before I burst.   Doesn't help there's also that damned SOPA 2014 on the strike, and  we still need some 6.400 signatures to get to the threshold!

Today I looked up the  possible study choices -  I am toying with the thought of picking up my previous study,  or  continuing the recently  finished one,   but   to my disgruntlement, I can't find in myself to get  serious about them, either becasue they  are too hard or  too confusing.   I am leaning on  continuing the  finished study, because it's shorter and I already have a background,  'sides it's near my home.   I am  a little bit wary of picking up the former  study, firstly becasue it's away from home and secondly, I know myself only too well -  not  having liking for  language and it's grammatical nuances.  Bitch, please,  I  can learn, but  I have some notable exceptions -  Old Slavic Language is one of them, because this   language is dead as  dead can be, and  I  so don NOT want to  have my  brains zombfied  for  a year  before  the  exam and so on and so forth.  Gimme French any day, thank you.   And while we are at French, oh glory of all glories,  mum finally did her homework without me!  /relieved sigh/.

 But back to me and my snit. I am feelin' snitty. Now it's a little bit easier, but   in the morning I snapped at my mum when she brought me possible contact for a job -  in my  defense, I was eating at the time, and  she  came in  just in the middle of my chow time. What pissed me off was that  she continued  even if she  saw me  eating.  (true, I was reading alongside, but  that isn't the crime, as far as I know, and I sorely  despise when someone  interrupts my read-chow time.) Back before   the snit, I was pissed off becasue a)  I found a  small mountain of a freshly laundered  clothes to hang,  which is ....  somehow my duty,  and b) the two berks who shall remain nameless for  the sake of democracy,   left their  dirty dishes in the  sink  ... for me to wash. Not a happy morning for me, if I have to  do mundane tasks even before my breakfast. Okay,  laundry I understand, because  we just repaired the washing machine, so the increase is understandable,   but  I am a mite bit pissed off  that  the two don't  wash the dishes they use after  themselves.   Noo, nope,  not in a million years, since  I and mum  got that  unwritten and unspoken agreement that I am an unofficial dishwasher in the house.  Hello? Gawd,  it's tedious,   and I  can't   help but admire her for  the sheer tenacity  of doing this 50+ years, and being grumpy that we still don't have  dishwashing machine to do the deed. if there's a machine which we use for washing the clothes, it boggles my mind that we don't  use  a machine that would wash the dishes and  spare us the pissing around the subject of  dishwashing once and for all. We would spare time, heating up the water -  well,  electricity and  water would be a collateral here, but still,  the  good would probably outweigh the bad. Probably. /skeptic glance/.

Good news -  this month I am absolved from paying the health bills :), so that's a plus.  Still, the sooner I find  a stable job, the better.   That means getting off of my behind, wagging my proverbial tail at prospective  employers and hoping  that I would be interesting enough  for them to employ me. Really, all this cheer is practically killing me /miserable groan/. And am not feeling charitable right now. Right,  shutting up now.

Have to do something productive.

Friday, February 28, 2014

Mia-tastic Day

Well, what do you know,   there are some days when both of us have  a respite from each other.   Today, I led Mia out, let her to  run and   dig her  goles to her heart content -  I  amused myself with thinking  that for  all of her entusiasm,  Mia could definitely   dig a hole to the other side of planet, but alas,  her abilities to find the juicy  mouse or a mole are on a declining side.   However,   digging tired her out.

We also found a spot where  she just threw herself down and   roll, roll, roll, like crazy.  I don't know why, but   it was Rolling Spot, even if I didn't  see anything that would differ that  patch of dried out  grass from  any other.  However, Mia   enjoyed it.  On the  walk back, I don't know, but she behaved as if she had hemorrhoids in her  behind -  sitting , rolling  anything,  just not  going home!  However, her  'beside-walk' improved -   I just had to tire her out enough for her to comply.   Today's  time was half an hour,  or three quarters of an hour -  I am not too clear on that, but okay.

Anything else?   Got  amusing  new concept for story, and   I am grinning at the thought of it.   Right now,  gotta go  read some more,  yesterday was once again  Pack Your Logs Day, and  I only  finished with  sorting it out  today.

Mia was a darling, though  I will have to  get her in the  garage tonight, because the  temperatures outside are, even if  days are  moderately  warm, still chilly.

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Tornado Mia turned Brat Dog Mia

Remember Mia? The Tornado Mia?

Yup, that Mia.   This day, she became officially ours, and changed into Brat Dog Mia.

Duration of time spent together: 1 hour and a 10  minutes -  30 minutes in the morning, and then 40 in the afternoon.  

At morning, it was  good, because it was more informal,  nothing to take her attention aside from usual  things, but  the afternoon was a whole different kettle of fish.  First father  instructing me the leash should be slackened -  I  want to see HIM  leading Mia  without  being dragged along at first /growls out, incensed/,   then I  tapped Mia down  for  jumping on me -  all right, she weighs  some 35  kilos, and I am  twice her weight, but  that still doesn't excuse her  from jumping on me.

The work was mostly Mia-centered -  I let her down  to  wild herself out,   and I made a note to talk to Mum about  teaching her  to let go of the things -  I wanted to play fetch with her, but  she is as stubborn as a pitbull on that, and I am so not risking my hands without  a proper know-how on how to teach her to  NOT  chomp on my  fingers  when I take  anything from her mouth.   Fuck, I miss Sani.  He  had plenty energy too, but  he at least was obedient to me /slumps with defeat/.  Then,  walking alongside me -   she  had an unpleasant habit of trying to drag me  everywhere and anywhere, so  I was  teaching her  to  walk nicely beside, or even better, a little  behind me.  pack leader and all that.  It  went better than with the first lesson, but that was about it -  when she was  let off leash, she was  crazier than ever, not listening a whit  to me, and when we came home,  she  inadvertently -  not! -  scared the chickens. Mia the Dumbass  makes appearance. /quadruple  sweatdrop/ Father was angry, and I admit, I should've lead her home on  a least, so   a lesson for next time.   I  intend on ignoring her today and maybe tomorrow.   Even  Mia isn't as cute as to convince me to  forgive her so quickly.  One step forth, three back.  Oh, God, just why don't  the dogs come with some kind of  an user manual? /whines/ Cat-speak, I understand.  Dog  brains...  the next greatest mystery to me,  aside  male  ones.  Sometimes, I wish we could gotten one of the ankle-biter puppies and reared them up.   Because   while Mum seems to get  the Mia Manual, I am hopelessly lost within translations.

Till next time,

Eirenei

The theme for today Who Let The Dogs Out?