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Tuesday, March 5th, 2002
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12:58 pm - Perl!
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Larry Wall is going to be speaking at the Perl Mongers meeting tonight. It's being held at the Netscape cafeteria, Bldg 22, 468 Ellis St, Mountain View, at 7pm.
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12:53 pm - Bruce Mcpherson
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| Tuesday, February 26th, 2002
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8:28 pm - Emeril Live
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I like Emeril. He makes me feel like I want to cook (and I normally hate cooking.)
current mood:  hungry
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2:01 pm - ominous
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| Wednesday, February 13th, 2002
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6:57 pm - Oolong the rabbit
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6:26 pm - My current earworm...
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| Sunday, January 27th, 2002
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10:36 pm
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It's cold here. I mean really, really, really, really, really cold. It's not supposed to get this cold in California, even if it is Northern California. I'm freezing.
current mood:  cold
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(2 comments |comment on this)
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| Wednesday, November 28th, 2001
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8:52 pm - Enterprise
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I think I've figured out the main reason why I don't like Enterprise: The captain and the engineer are typical NASA flyboys. When I worked at NASA, I knew plenty of guys just like them, all of whom were deeply misogynistic.
current mood: dubious
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(5 comments |comment on this)
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| Tuesday, November 27th, 2001
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5:10 pm - TESTING
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I just used this client to post to LJ, and the post never showed up. Plus, there was an error message. I have a copy, I'll just have to re-post.
current mood: doubtful
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(comment on this)
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| Sunday, November 25th, 2001
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3:53 pm - Afghanistan
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Found this quote on RAWA's web site.
"But it remains a fact that from 1992 to 1996, the Northern Alliance was a symbol of massacre, systematic rape and pillage. Which is why we - and I include the US State Department - welcomed the Taliban when they arrived in Kabul. The Northern Alliance left the city in 1996 with 50,000 dead behind it. Now its members are our foot soldiers. Better than Mr bin Laden, to be sure. But what - in God's name- are they going to do in our name?"
The Independent (UK), November 14, 2001
current mood: concerned
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| Saturday, November 24th, 2001
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8:12 pm
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Okay, so we didn't go to the movies after all. We'll go tomorrow instead. We were too lazy, plus this is my TV night. I could go out, because I have both VCRs going, but I always worry that there would be a screwup. It's happened before. I feel better if I can double check that both VCRs have the right tape in them, and that they turn on at the right time.
Anyway, my second-favorite show just went off. It's good practice for learning Japanese, but besides that it has my on the edge of my seat, plus most weeks it has me in tears. What can I say, it's a total tearjerker. I have high hopes for a happy ending, though, if the nice yakuza doesn't die from rescuing the bitch younger sister from being kidnapped and then getting stabbed before he could tell the nice detective the truth about whether Ryo and Haru are really brother and sister or not. Practically every episode is a cliffhanger like that--one episode Haru got run over in the street and I thought she was dead.
Anyway Bill is hard at work, and I hate to interrupt him when he's working on something. He made edamame for dinner, it was delicious.
Oops, the next show is starting, gotta go
current mood:  happy
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4:13 pm - Really nice day
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Had lunch with a friend I hadn't seen in too long. It's a beautiful day out: cloudy, with rain and occasional lightning. It's nice that we're finally getting thunderstorms out here, I missed them. Oh, and we're going to go to the movies in a little while! Probably Heist. And I have yummy leftovers in the fridge for later, and my two favorite TV shows are on tonight. Have to remember to set the VCRs. And I got email from my uncle. All in all, a really nice day.
current mood: happy
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| Friday, November 23rd, 2001
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5:15 pm - new LJ client
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Just installed a new LiveJournal client--let's see if it works!
current mood: happy
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(comment on this)
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| Tuesday, November 20th, 2001
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1:42 pm - homesick
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I've been watching more japanese tv that I taped over the weekend. How can I be homesick for a place where I only spent one week?
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(1 comment |comment on this)
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12:20 pm - doctor visit
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I just got back from the doctor's. We had picked one name out of the list, but she wasn't available, so we just went with the guy who was on call. Which was good, because he seems really reasonable and competent. I'm going to keep going to him.
Should hear back in a few days about the lab results.
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(2 comments |comment on this)
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| Friday, November 16th, 2001
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11:29 am
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| Sunday, November 11th, 2001
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12:41 am - sick again
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Thought I was getting better, but took a turn for the worse yesterday. Starting to worry.
current mood:  worried
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(4 comments |comment on this)
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| Thursday, November 8th, 2001
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12:02 am - happiness
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Finally, some good news to report: Bill received a job offer from a major Silicon Valley software company. He starts tomorrow.
His previous employer was a startup that has been doing a creditable imitation of the Titanic over the past few weeks. We hung in there until it became clear that they weren't going to recover. Too bad, really--it was a nice little company. Bill was happy there. But I bet he's going to like the new place even better.
I'm just about over the flu, after three long weeks. I'm still coughing a little and my sinuses hurt, and my ankles swell up if I don't take potassium, but the fever is gone, thank god. When the new health insurance kicks in, I think I'm going to look for a doctor nearby--I'm tired of driving to Santa Cruz all the time. Any recommendations would be welcome.
Not much other than that to report: still trying to bring order out of chaos here. After winnowing, we still have five large boxes of video tapes of TV shows going back ten years. I hate to just throw them away, as they could be re-used as scratch tapes. I can't imagine that the women's shelter or Goodwill would want them.
I don't know, there's just so much stuff here. It's taking forever to go through it all. In the meantime, the piles of boxes are annoying me. I wish to god we had room for just one more bookshelf. We've taken so many books to used book stores, and still there are more boxes. *sigh* Of course, all the store credit at the bookstores is nice. I told Bill that anybody he wants to give a christmas or birthday present to is getting a book. He didn't argue--what better present could there be but a book?
Eh, I shouldn't complain. Things are going well, even if it's taking longer to pull things together than I'd really like. I've been doing some more thinking about what I'd like to do once I get my health back. I'm going to keep studying Japanese until I get really good at it, and then I'd like to be a liaison between Japanese and English speaking engineers. I've got solid experience writing code and reading schematics, and working with teams of engineers to find out what the heck the current project does. I used to be a consultant, so I was constantly going in on a project that was behind schedule, studying the schematics, reading the existing code, interviewing all the engineers, and then writing diagnostics or run-time software.
I don't want to actually write code myself, anymore: I spent too many years in cubicle mazes, and it started to feel like I was in jail. I don't ever want to do that again. But if I was finding out how stuff worked and then explaining it to other engineers, who could then write the code... If I could get my fluency in Japanese up to the point where I could communicate with Japanese speaking engineers, I think I'd have a real niche. With any luck, I'd be flying back and forth to Japan several times a year. I'm a fairly decent tech writer as well, which would come in handy. It could be fun.
current mood:  content
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(1 comment |comment on this)
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| Sunday, October 28th, 2001
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3:53 pm - Mellow Sunday Afternoon
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Bill is working on the other computer, and I'm idly websurfing, trying to decide whether to paint another watercolor or maybe do some coding, which I haven't done in an awfully long time. He put some Chet Atkins on the CD player, which I can only describe as jazz-country fusion--really sweet.
The flu is almost gone; I'm still coughing, unless I swill Robitussin by the gallon. I've actually grown to like the taste of the stuff. The fact that I've been getting my sleep helps a lot. I've dropped my Japanese class, so I'm not under a lot of pressure to do anything. We've gradually been getting things put away, and whole swaths of the house look nice. Bill grilled a salmon last night, and I just had leftover salmon and couscous for lunch. It was delicious.
I think I'll go take a nap...
current mood: mellow
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(comment on this)
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| Monday, October 22nd, 2001
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11:13 pm - Also,
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I can cough on them if they are unpleasant to Bill, assuming I find out about it in time.
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(comment on this)
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10:55 pm - The cool thing about the flu...
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is that when people are unpleasant to you, you can cough on them. [really nasty grin]
current mood: vicious
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(2 comments |comment on this)
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| Sunday, October 21st, 2001
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8:15 pm - Fun with Fizzicks
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Last night I kept being wakened up by an annoying "chirp" noise. I thought it was my CPAP machine, and i even unplugged it from the wall, but the chirp kept chirping. Finally I woke up enough to realize it was the smoke alarm. Took out the battery, and slept, uneasily, the rest of the night (I don't like sleeping without a smoke detector, 'specially when I'm only getting filtered air and wouldn't smell any smoke.)
So just now I got out my old Simpsonmeter, which is just like the kind we used back in freshman physics lab to measure voltage, amperage, and resistance. I keep it handy for testing batteries. I had a fresh 9-V battery (call it A), the chirping one (B), and one that I knew to be dead flat (C). A measured 9.5 volts, B measured 9 volts, and C measured 7.2 volts. Okay, that's a bit of a difference, but not really all that much, right? So then I got the idea of measuring how much amperage each one was putting out. C was putting out 450mA, and B was putting out 300mA, but when I tried A, it tripped the Simpsonmeter's circuit breaker; i.e. it's more than 500mA--the S-meter doesn't go any higher than that.
The thing that bugs me about all this is, I've got a BSEE. I spent 20+ years working as an engineer (well, okay, most of that was as a software engineer, but the first four years were straight EE). So how come in all that education none of my lab classes ever had anything to do with batteries? Nothing in high school, nothing in college. I feel like I didn't get my money's worth. The reason I majored in engineering in the first place was that math and science were my worst classes in high school: I figured if I was going to pay all that money to learn something, I should pick something that I couldn't just get on my own with a few trips to the library. Hell, maybe I should have majored in music. At least I have a bit of talent for that. [grumble]
current mood:  annoyed
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(comment on this)
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| Friday, October 19th, 2001
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7:50 pm
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I haven't been feverish, at least not much, but I've been coughing uncontrollably. Drinking oceans of Robitussin. You know you're sick when Robitussin tastes good. I'm still shaky and weak, and I've missed an entire week of class. I think I'm going to have to drop, and take it again next quarter. I just don't have the strength to catch up after missing a whole week, the way that class moves. And I'm worried this might turn into bronchitis, so I don't want to push myself.
Unfortunately, if I do that I'll have to start with a different teacher. My current teacher will be teaching Japanese 3 next quarter. Although I suppose it's possible I'd be in her class again some time in the future: Foothill has some kind of certificate program for fluency in Japanese. I don't know exactly what it is, but it sounded good. The classes go all the way up through Advanced Composition.
On the gripping hand, next quarter this class is being taught in the evening, at a satellite campus right near my house. Only twice a week, and I don't have to go out in the daytime. Okay. Decision made.
Anyway, this morning Bill took me to the chiropractor, over in Santa Cruz. We were like half an hour late, because 17 was completely blocked, both directions. Some kind of accident.So when we left, after doing some errands we decided to drive up the coast. The ocean was beautiful (big shock there, the ocean is always beautiful), and when we turned to drive over the hills, the woods were full of really subtle fall colors. It doesn't get cold enough here for reds, or even oranges, but there were some spectacular golds and yellows. We passed pumpkin patches full of orange pumpkins. Bill put on "Flood" by They Might be Giants, and we drove along singing our lungs out (punctuated by me coughing whenever I attempted a low note). It was great. When we came over the top of the hill, the whole bay area was filled with smog. Yecch. Oh well, the rains will be here soon enough.
Bill has been wonderful about taking care of me while I've been sick. He's done so many nice things I can't even list them all here. Being sick isn't so bad when you have someone like Bill around. Strange to be sick and happy at the same time...
current mood: happy
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(comment on this)
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| Tuesday, October 16th, 2001
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6:20 pm - oh great
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Bill is over in Santa Cruz packing up (hopefully) the last load of stuff, and he smashed his finger in the door of the van. He went to the urgentcare to get it fixed up. Waaaaaaaaaa...
Plus, I'm not feeling so great either. The virus is making another assault, I think. I'm making stupid mistakes, dropping things...
(heh, this spellchecker doesn't like me using "urgentcare". too bad.)
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| Monday, October 15th, 2001
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10:01 pm
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My temperature is back to normal, finally. It was a horrible couple of days, though. I'm thinking about taking tomorrow off, no sense in pushing myself. Still pretty weak.
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(6 comments |comment on this)
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| Saturday, October 13th, 2001
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6:54 pm - Sunstroke
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Well, I collapsed at the electronics flea market today. Spent about an hour in the car with the air conditioner blowing on me, and then Bill suggested I go home and he'd follow later in the van. Unfortunately, we both forgot his keys were in my bag for safekeeping.
So I got home, barely, and collapsed. My face and torso were burning up but my hands and feet were like blocks of ice. I've never had that happen before, and it was a little scary. Finally got through to the doctor on call, and she said if my temperature got up to 103F, I had to go to the emergency room. It peaked at 102F, and now it's down to around 100F. I'm supposed to rest, but no bundling up. And water, plenty of water and Gatorade. Which tastes vile. Even water tastes vile. I'm choking it down, but it makes me feel sick.
Poor Bill had to take a taxi home from the flea market, which was pricey. He's not feeling so great either.
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(6 comments |comment on this)
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6:04 am - Got this from Firecat
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1. Open up your CD player, what's inside?
Soundtrack to "Oh Brother Where Art Thou"
2. Look in your VCR/DVD player, is there a movie?
No. One VCR has scratch tape labelled "Fuji TV", used for taping
Japanese-language TV every weekend. Other VCR has blank tape for
taping "Hojo Tokimune".
3. If there happens to be music playing right now, what is it?
It's six o'clock in the morning. No music.
4. What are you wearing?
White terrycloth bathrobe and slippers.
5. Look down, what's the first thing that catches your eye?
Bowl of Cheerios.
6. Turn on your TV if it's not on already, what network is on?
Probably Discovery Wings channel, as that was what Bill was watching
when I went to bed.
7. Look out the window, what's the weather like?
Dark.
8. If you were to hit redial on your phone right now, where would it
call?
My mom.
9. Say "hello?" out loud, did anyone answer?
No.
10. What are you planning on doing next as soon as you get offline?
Getting dressed.
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| Friday, October 12th, 2001
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7:19 pm - Headache
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I've got a really vicious headache going; took six tylenol over the last four hours, but it still hurts. Other than that, though, things are pretty good. I got an A in my japanese test, although I did not get a perfect score. My brother called on my cell phone just as I was trying to finish, and, although I didn't answer, I think it rattled me. Oh well.
We're selling at the electronics flea market at Foothill College tomorrow, as we have tons of old computers and no place to store them all. Mention LJ and I'll give you a discount. :)
I've been trying to figure out what I do with my life. The two things I know for sure is that it has to involve travel to Japan, and that I don't want to be stuck in a cubicle maze ever again. Now that the sleep apnea is under control, I'm slowly developing enough energy to be interested in things. Or I would be if this damn headache would let up. I've started painting again, and if I get any free time I might start writing again (other than LJ, I mean.) And I want to do a lot of travelling, which is fortunate because Bill does too. He speaks more Spanish than I do, plus a bit of German, and by the time we leave I should be somewhat fluent in Japanese. It should be interesting.
Must get to bed: we're getting up at 5:30am.
current mood:  exhausted
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| Thursday, October 4th, 2001
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8:38 am - Tired
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I've been too tired to update this. It's a weird feeling: for the first time in my life I feel fatigued without feeling sleepy. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I'm now using a CPAP machine for sleep apnea (this website explains what it is.) So I'm finally getting enough sleep. It took me several days to get used to it, but I think I've finally got the hang of it.
But I'm also going to class every day, M-F, which involves taking the bus and running around campus, I'm unpacking boxes, selling every weekend at the flea market... I haven't even had a chance to go to the store to shop for groceries since this all started.
Someone else must have, though: when I woke up this morning and started getting ready, I found a new tube of toothpaste to replace the old, empty one, yogurt in the refrigerator... I wonder what else I'm going to stumble across.I really love him...
We didn't sell much at the flea market last weekend, but our friends sold lots of stuff, so at least it was worth going. It was way too hot and I ended up collapsing in the van with the air-conditioning on while Bill and our friends packed everything up. I felt bad about that. I guess it's going to take time before I get my stamina and my strength back.
Most of what our friends brought was plants: their landlord died, and his heirs are probably evicting them if a buyer for the house can be found. So a lot of the plants have to be sold. I could tell H. really loved those plants--which was probably why she was able to sell so many. People got swept up in her enthusiasm. Same thing happened to me, I ended up going to the plant nursery with her a couple months ago, and now I have a little herb garden. Which reminds me, I need to water it. She also gave me a beautiful little miniature tree, which is on the front porch and doing nicely. Her partner, N., wants them to start a nursery. I think H hasn't gone with the idea because she hates to let the plants go...
Other than that, I've just been studying and chatting on yahoo messenger with my brother in Japan. His new job starts next week, thank god. I hope I can fly out to visit him next spring. Last time I arrived just as the cherry blossoms started to bloom. Tokyo during cherry blossom season is not something one ever forgets.
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| Friday, September 28th, 2001
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9:45 pm - Opera!
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I've started using the Opera browser. This thing rules.
![[Get Opera for Linux!]](https://imgprx.livejournal.net/32c5e4d92f62e1d4c467eac2ff2f8d19d3d0c57037e65156a5c83eaa48c1ebc6/P2WlxyVijxKggGln8s1SUEMdsf-ah7h0yFmVCb1DisLSvRvbmI6iGks2CE50DQJzt0xbmS_NLA9ME0cU0hQy8XkCgnTdN-uA_2VJoR1tJQWiFOqf9Nw:DFM_mckbNjjti5juc6TBEw)
Also, I talked both of my brothers (the two online ones) into switching from ICQ to Yahoo!Messenger, which is way easier to use and much less annoying. This is especially cool because it costs me 14 cents/minute to talk to the brother that lives in Japan, if I use a phone. There's a Yahoo! feature where you can talk (voice, I mean) over the internet, for free, and they managed to get it working to talk to each other. Unfortunately, getting it working here would involve crawling around on the floor under desks, and neither of us is up for it. So we type at each other, which is more convenient anyway if we're swapping URLs.
Japanese class is going really well. I learned a lot of new kanji, plus some of the different verb forms. There are a lot of verb forms, and they're not much like English.It's all starting to make sense. I still understand written Japanese much better than I understand spoken Japanese, though. I need to work on that. I'd like to be able to actually talk to people when I get over there.
My brother installed something called PocketKanji on his Handspring Visor. I want one! It's so cool, you just draw the different characters on the screen, and it tells you what they mean. Kanji dictionaries can weigh several pounds, so this would be great.
I need to finish Monday's homework tomorrow, because we're going to sell stuff at the flea market Sunday. It should be fun, because two friends of mine from Santa Cruz are probably going to come hang out with us. I haven't gotten to see them much since we moved. Neither of them drives, so getting together with them is a lot easier on that side of the hill. It's funny, what with one thing and another I spend almost as much time in Santa Cruz as I did before we moved. I need to return some of the books I borrowed from them, and loan them some of mine. The only fiction I've read since we moved are the books they loaned me--I've almost completely stopped reading fiction. No time.
current mood:  bouncy
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