rogthane

Eddie, the delightful little laptop who has been my constant companion for the past three years now, has suffered a minor injury. I'm not sure how it happened, but one side of his foldup screen's connection to the base has broken. This means the monitor is capable of wigglage, and I can see little wires leading up from the base-which-contains-all-the-bits up to the monitor. This is oddly like seeing exposed bone jutting from somebody's skin after they've suffered a nasty-looking fracture.

Eddie is fully functional, I'm typing (carefully, lest I make things worse) on him right now. But this is the sort of injury that could become debilitating if not taken care of early. There's already a break, which is probably putting stress on the other side of the screen's connection to the base. I dread the idea of my laptop's screen just up and falling off.

I shall be checking up on IBM repair places in the Madison area, and figuring out whether my various "we'll fix this broken thing for you" assurances still apply. If not, Eddie may have to become a carefully duct-taped desktop computer. Which would be sad. My lap would miss him, and I can't afford another.

So, I made it to Yale without any major problems... minus the fact that my father drove off with the directions for getting online, and I left one of my books somewhere. Oh well... The only major complaint right now is COMMONS FOOD!!! I THOUGHT I HAD MORE TIME AWAY FROM IT!!! The dining hall is giving us this for our stay... thank god there are places across the street and whatnot... meh

Sam’s stepdad Aaron leaned across the table and caught my eye.
“Are you an atheist?” he asked.
“Yeah.”
“Cool. Me too. It gets me a ten percent discount at Hertz rent-a-car.”

And then Aaron got up and showed me the American Atheists card he uses whenever he wants to rent a car from Hertz. I asked him why Hertz would charge anyone less for maintaining a disbelief in god, and Aaron said that Hertz would provide a discount to just about any organized group.
“One time they didn’t give me the discount, but they let me use the GPS system for free. Guess they thought I’d need it without God to guide me.”

The fourth of July felt like a real holiday this year. Weird. It’s probably because I spent the day with Sam’s family, and his mom was born on the Fourth. Plus it was a Friday and Sam’s mom holds a huge shabbos dinner every Friday evening. It’s difficult to refrain from feeling at least a little holiday cheer when you’ve got that kind of community going on around you. Oh, and that much food. I think I ate an entire ecosystem.

Aaron always starts Friday dinner by leading everyone in singing a bunch of stuff in Hebrew. It’s hard for me to understand that part because I never learned Hebrew and people chant on and on for paragraphs and so I look at the translation sheet provided for guests and it just says something like “Praise God, Master of the Universe” and I wonder how a single sentence can possibly contain that many syllables. I suspect incomplete translation.

But then Aaron grabs a loaf of challah and rips it into little pieces and then he dips the pieces into a bowl of salt and throws them at people’s heads. I’m better at understanding that part, even if I only catch the bread about half the time. (I don’t have binocular vision! Give me a break!)

Sam is even worse at catching the challah projectiles than I am. Aaron kept throwing bread at Sam’s face and the bread would bounce off his nose or temple and fall on the floor and everyone would laugh. Eventually Sam just grabbed some bread out of the breadbasket and ripped himself a hunk. His stepsister Diana stole the rest of his loaf then, and Sam gave her a Dark Look.

DIANA: What? There’s more bread in the basket, and you’re closer than I am.
LEX: Really?! There’s more bread in the giant basket overflowing with bread?
DIANA: …yeah. I don’t know why I just said that.
LEX: It’s because Sam took the only real loaf; the rest is just a hologram.
SAM: Of course it’s a challagram. *pause pause* It looks just like challa!

I almost threw another piece of bread at his face then, but I was sitting too close to be able to get away with it without Dire Repercussions. Sam’s Dire Repercussions often involve tickles, which it’s prudent to avoid at the dinner table.

So yeah. I asked Aaron why he was so into being Jewish if he didn’t believe in god, and he said it helped him live a life of gratitude. I can see that. I know a lot of religious atheists. Hell, I am one.
When I mentioned this to Aaron he acted all surprised and asked what I meant. I explained about Zee, and how she made up her own religion centered around the veneration of a dead tree.

I didn’t mention that I worshipped Loki. I don’t know why it’s so hard to talk about in real life – it’s not like I have any trouble saying it here. I worship Loki. See? I didn’t even hesitate before typing that sentence.

The only time I’ve felt this open about my religion in real life is when people were discussing personal beliefs in the SCA. I was sitting next to a guy who told me that he remembered most of his past lives, but his favorite was the one where he got bitten in half by a dragon.
Then the guy on my other side showed me a black glass ball. “This is my Orb,” he said. “I’m a scorpio and I can’t generate my own magic, so I channel magic through my Orb.”
Somehow I knew that these people would accept that I could be an atheist and worship Loki at the same time.

But really, should I care what people will accept? I might not believe in dragons or magic, but I totally respect Dragon Guy and Orb Guy. And anyway, religious self-consciousness feels like a fairly non-Lokean attitude.

Meh. I’ll figure it out. Or maybe I won’t. Either way, it’s time for tea and a shower.

So. Gettin' married today.

Huh.

well, after a helpful chat with Dell Tech Support I now conclusively know that my mother board is fried and I will need a new one. Unfortunately the part number they gave me is not listed at the dell website. I guess tomorrow I should call the number they gave me.

EDIT: using their out-of-warranty repair service would cost me $430, which is more then a new laptop, I still have some hope that I can get them to sell me the part, which should hopefully be cheaper then the full service repair center.

Is there someone who can take take me to Beloit today? My asthma is really bad--a combination of being around the cats too long, going outside and watermelon. It's my own damn fault, but I need my inhaler, which I stupidly didn't bring with me. It's in the storage facility.

If anyone can help, please let me know. Thanks.

EDIT: Daniel and Ilana are awesome. The cocaines I has...er, the inhalers. I has them.

This post covers some more of our time in Lusaka and our work for World Bicycle Relief!
( Click here for pics and descriptions )
Well, tomorrow we are going on an elephant ride and jumping off of a 400 foot bridge over Victoria falls. Pics to follow if I am still alive.

Later, all!

Ate things wrapped in bacon, went to fireworks, watched the first half of West Side Story.

I love my country without thinking that it's shiny perfect happy land. It's not. But I'm from here. Happy birthday, motherland.

My Laptop seems to be dead. I still am holding out some hope, and will be calling Dell support tomorrow, but for now it just sits there with the "computer on" and "computer unplugged" lights both on. It does this regardless of whether or not it is actually plugged in. At first I thought it might be that the power cord died, so I Unplugged it and took the battery out, the lights went out, but then came back on as soon as the cord went back in (without the battery in), which seems to indicate that the cord was still supplying power. Through all of this the screen remains blank and pushing the power button does nothing. well next to nothing, if the lights had just gone off due to removal of both battery and cord, and then I put the battery in and tried it, the lights came back on. If these symptoms sound like anything any of you guys know of or if you have suggestions I would desperatly want to hear them, I really don't want to have to go to work without a laptop for the rest of the summer.

Seems like I've got one now.
( DO YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE? )

I just went to my first ever interview and got my first ever job! Daniel was also hired so there was much win all around. We will be canvassing for Obama. Lots of walking but hey, I needed to lose weight anyway. Granted this win was made up for a little by my fail on the way home.

Ilana: *playing loud music in the care*
Woman: *pulls up playing louder music*
Ilana (jokingly to myself): Playing loud music, it's on, Bitch. Don't make this a music war.
Woman: *Looks worried, TURNS OFF MUSIC*
Ilana: *shocked* Oh my god. Did you hear me? I didn't really mean to call you a bitch. I was just talking.
Woman: It's fine. *still looks worried*
Ilana: If you want you can turn your music back on. It was good.
Woman: Nah, it's fine.
ENTER AWKWARD STRAINED CONVERSATION
Ilana: This is a really long red light.
Woman: Yeah...
Daniel: *Laughing the whole time*

Yeah....

I'm thinking about buying an iron. On account of they're useful.

Does anyone recommend a good brand of iron at or under fifty dollars? Should I hunt the internet for one, or just check out what Jo-Ann's and Wal-Mart have?

Hello, Internet! How are you?
I’m on the Internet right now because poking at the computer makes me less inclined to discuss things in real life. This is good because I’m not supposed to talk. Food is running game right now and Sam says my side conversation with Robbie is distracting.
*sigh*
We were only discussing thri-kreen erotica. What’ so distracting about that?

Maybe Sam’s secretly into thri-kreen.
I can’t blame him, really. The thri-kreen are giant mantis warriors and when I was little I used to love praying mantises. I’d collect their egg cases and keep them on my back porch and stare at them until they hatched. It really worked, too – watched pots do boil and watched mantis egg-cases do hatch. It’s great. One minute you’re staring at this mild-mannered brown lump and then you see a tiny skittering out the corner of your eye and then BAM! Swarm outta nowhere.

I’m not sure that’s how it works with the thri-kreen, but I think it’d be cute if it did. And a mass birth like that would provide excellent warrior training if the babies had to fight each other for resources. Babies have got to be cuter when they’re fighting, right?

Except mouse babies. I’m glad mouse babies don’t fight – the entire purpose of baby mice is to lie very still and look exactly like a pile of small pink beans until you peer more closely at the beans and realize that – holy god – those beans have internal organs and you can see the organs through the skin. Adorable squeaky meat-beans!
And if you miss the gore of fighting, you can always watch the momma mouse eat her placenta. I used to love doing that when I was little, too. The placenta had veins in it.

And speaking of watched pots… my tea water is boiling. A steaming mug of earl grey should keep my mouth occupied in a non-babblesome state for a while. Internet, you have become obsolete!
…at least until I finish my tea.

EDIT: Oh wait I totally lied. The internet isn’t obsolete until I ask it if it knows anyone who wants to share a room with me at GenCon. I really want to go and I requested time off work and everything, but then the person I was planning to stay with backed out. Anyone going to GenCon have room for a Lex? I’m compressible! And not at all claustrophobic! And sometimes I leak colorful fish which you are allowed to keep if you find them!

housematehorror
Horror stories from the world of shared living spaces. EEK!

Does anyone want to go to the 4th of July concert? I can get people into the VIP section and we can have a picnic or something.

Quotes from work today:

"Man, this caulk is stickier than I expected."
"Is it getting hard already?"

"Eech, my fingers are getting all tacky and crusty..."
"Well, what did you expect?"
"I don't KNOW! I've never had to HANDLE this much caulk before!"

"Hey, be careful with that thing!"
"Sorry, it's just sorta dripping everywhere..."
"That happens when you get near the end of the load. Seriously, though, be careful with it."
"I'm wiping it off..."
"I know you don't have much experience with the caulk, but you're gonna have to get a hold of it quick. If they're not fully satisfied, we won't get a five-star rating."
"And we want those because of the free...raises."
"Yeah."
"...I'm putting this conversation on LiveJournal."
"...why? ...oh. I hate you. Get back to work."

"Hey, I'm having a problem here."
"What's up?"
"This crack is really huge, and it's just sort of sucking up all the caulk. I'm not sure I'm gonna be able to finish if this is all we have...left...why are you laughing?"

Today, the day before I leave camp and return home to prepare for my trip to Chicago for the wedding of two good friends, while on a highway, my car's brakes died.

Yes, I'm okay.

There apparently is a large hole in my brake line.

This is hopefully getting fixed tomorrow.

A list of things I want to do next semester:

Run a Shadow Nations Campaign
Run a shit-ton of Shadow Nations Pick-ups (including LARPs)
Take Voice Lessons
Run a Creative Writing Group
LARP
Be in Nick's 7th Sea Game--Huh, I should get on the background for my character.
Run DDR Night again
Facilitate a NaNoWriMo group (November only)
Work more on my own writing
Work in the Scene shop/ and or somewhere that might let me actually do other things while I work (Sports center, maybe?)
Facilitate/be in a Book group
Run several Shadow Nations information sessions
Bel-Con Rep?
Audit the Roman Empire History Latin class.
Not fail all my classes. Or any of them. Dean's list would be nice.


More time. I needs it.

Another addition to my wishlist, for personal reference, Dress To Kill, the autobiography of Eddie Izzard.

http://www.amazon.com/Eddie-Izzard-Dress-Kill/dp/1852277637