Little Sister turns 26 today.
If you happen to read this, Christine, just know that I’m proud of you and I hope your future is full of happiness and purpose.
Happy Birthday to you.
Category: Life
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Idiocy and Streetlamps
Add this to the “Karel’s An Idiot” files. I realized about two hours ago that my mobile phone wasn’t at home where it belonged. I thought, therefore, that I’d left it at the office. Wendi had left for the temple a while previously, so I ran out to Holgate, hopped a bus and did the hike to the station to retrieve my phone.
Of course, the phone wasn’t there, either. Whoopsie. “It must’ve fallen out of my bag in Wendi’s van,” I realized. So I trudged back to the bus stop and came home, to find my phone on my desk where Wendi thoughtfully placed it when she realized it was in her van.
I could’ve just waited for her to come home and saved myself bus fare and that long couple of walks. Not to mention the joy of feeling like an utter moron.
And now, to digress. Or change the subject. Whatever.
I’ve been walking places my whole life. That may not seem like a profound statement until you realize that I’ve almost never driven an automobile, and I’ve lived way outside of some very small towns. One of the things I noticed during my teen years is a phenomenon I’m at a loss to explain, one that creeps me out just a bit.
The same thing happens every time. I’m out during the evening or late night, basically any time the streetlamps are on. I’ll walk past dozens of lamps, but as I approach one particular lamp it’ll go dim. Not all the way dark, just very flickeringly dim, as if the thing just isn’t getting quite enough power to flash to full brilliance.
If I stand and wait a while it may come back on, or it may not. If I walk the same path repeatedly, it will always be the same lamp. It’s always the nearest lamp I’m approaching, not one I’ve passed or one a block away.
Mind you, I’ve been observing the same behaviour for over fifteen years. This includes living in Kent, Bellevue, Concrete, and various parts of Portland; it also includes places I’ve only visited once in my life.
So, is this weird or is it just me?
The reason I mention all of this, other than chronicling for posterity the sheer freaking bizarreness that is my life, is that it happened twice tonight: once as I was approaching LaborReady on my way to the bus stop, and once while I was at the bus stop. Yeah. Twice within five minutes is unusual even for this unusual phenomenon.
Why yes, I do appear to be a freak from another planet. Thanks for asking.
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Things I Learned During My Mental Health Day
It was a long and educational day yesterday. Let me share with you a few things I learned:
- 17th and Park is a myth.
- If the well-organized woman who is looking over your apartments for rent does not make the time to ask detailed questions, it’s a clear sign that you’re not getting her business.
- Lyse and Mari are not identical personalities. They’re just very, very similar.
- Sometimes it’s okay to let your guard down in front of a good friend. Not everybody is squeamish about real emotions.
- Karel has absolutely no business at all being in the same room as a VHS deck running a copy of The Ring. None whatsoever. And facing away from the screen for 95% of the film doesn’t help. Not one bit.
- Lyse and Lilith are not identical personalities. They’re just… similar.
- Doug is a very good sport.
- There’s absolutely nothing better than the company of good friends.
- 17th and Park is a myth.
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The Tao Of GreyDuck
I could tell you about the outrageous shopping trip with Lil’ and Anxiety during which much snacky goodness was purchased in between snarky phone calls to Mari for ice cream advice.
But I won’t.
I could tell you about the delightful evening spent in the company of the aforementioned Mari, her eerie Irish doppleganger Lyse, and the always-alluring Lilith.
But I won’t.
I could tell you about the searing, mind-numbing emotional depression and angry outbursts I suffered this morning, likely spawned by too many weeks spent under too many kinds of intense stress.
But I won’t.
I could tell you about how my friends, among whose number I count the aforementioned ladies as well as Wendi and her friend Amy, collectively brought me back to something resembling normalcy through the simple expedient of being caring and supportive.
But I won’t, which shouldn’t be regarded as a lack of gratitude.
I was sitting at my new desk, pondering all of the above and thinking about a journal entry, when I noticed that among the books unearthed during the mini-move on Saturday is my copy of “The Way Of Life,” better known as Lao Tzu’s Tao Teh Ching. Using my old favorite technique from Richard Bach’s “Illusions,” I flipped open to a random page and started reading.
21 The surest test if a man be sane
Is if he accepts life whole, as it is,
Without needing by measure or touch to understand
The measureless untouchable source
Of its images,
The measureless untouchable source
Of its substances,
The source which, while it appears dark emptiness,
Brims with a quick force
Farthest away
And yet nearest at hand
From oldest time unto this day,
Charging its images with origin:
What more need I know of the origin
Than this?I leave the meaning of this as an exercise for the reader. Me, I just wanted to share a bit of something I don’t show very often: My soft spot for philosophical mumbo-jumbo.
Please have a pleasant evening. Relax. Be well.
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Another multifaceted update
I did finish the rearrangement of the house yesterday. Bernie’s computer is now where the dining nook “should” be, and he has the big chair from out of Wendi’s room. The house is online again, though there’s still two gaming PCs to hook up. That can wait.
During the start of the dinner break, Lilith and Geoffrey and the smaller demonspawn stopped by for a bit. Sadly, it was during the part where my room looked like a dorm room after a LAN party. Ah well. They didn’t seem to mind too much.
I nailed Cat-5 to the walls, I vacuumed (yes, Lil’, I vacuumed), I threw out all kinds of garbage, and eventually I was able to call it good. It’s not a stretch to say that I’m very, very proud of myself for not making a disaster of it.
Wendi came home from her second gig for the weekend, and we promptly went out for our official Last Date. It seems appropriate that two people who noticed each other during a pre-Rocky (Horror) dinner at Denny’s should end up sharing appetizers at a Shari’s. It was a very pleasant evening and we’ve reaffirmed that while we are parting ways, we’re parting as friends.
This morning I went in to the office to do the email maintenance (basic version) and traffic system backup (single pass) as well as set up some of the new computers we ordered for the incoming KWJJ/KOTK staff.
The good news is that I assembled every computer we’ve received so far. The bad news is that we’ve only received three out of the twenty-five we ordered. And the move-in date is this coming Friday.
Speaking of work stuff that makes me nervous, I’ll leave you with yet another example of how Karel Is A Goddamned Idjut:
Months ago, we ordered the licenses for the webserver project. I insisted that since I already have Win2K Advanced Server installers, they only needed to send me the regular Server install media.
Cut to Friday. I frantically searched for the aforementioned Win2K A.S. CD. What I found instead was a regular Server installer, and I thought, “Damn, wrong one.” Eventually I had to call off the weekend project because without the Advanced Server installers we can’t accomplish a single thing.
Late last night it dawned on me. “Duh,” I said to myself, “You’ve never had more than one copy of Windows 2000 Server, the one you found in your CD cabinet. You assumed all along that it was Advanced, but obviously it wasn’t. Moron.”
Now I get to a) scramble to get Advanced Server install media, b) reschedule with the very-expensive-consultant and c) explain to the Corporate Internet folks the delay in getting their promised-by-month-end server cluster online. Eep.
This is not the sort of thing that fills me with confidence in my ability to perform my job. *sigh* Ah well.
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I shall call it… Mini-Move.
Today’s the day. I’m going to attempt to reorganize (all by myself) large portions of the house so I can get my new bed into what is currently the computer room.
The plan:
- Clean, clean, clean.
- Disassemble computers.
- Move chair out of Wendi’s room.
- Move black tables into position in Wendi’s room.
- Set up computers on those tables and run Cat-5 back to the computer room. Er, my bedroom.
- Drag bedding into my room. Assembling is optional.
- If time and energy permit, get Bernie’s computer out of my room and run the 50′ cable from its new location back to my room. (I may not have a choice, depending on how the furniture is allocated throughout the day. I’m flying solo today so I’m not sure what the hell is going to happen.)
- Whatever else ends up needing done as the process reveals. I’m woefully incapable of predicting how this is going to turn out, I’m afraid.
So, if any of my friends are unspeakably bored today and want to help me redesign the layout of the house… well, they know how to reach me. (Okay, if you don’t… you can email my nickname, you know, the main part of this domain, at the Verizon SMS email domain, which is vtext.com. Was that spam-proof enough for you?) Gifts of snackyfoods and root beer are encouraged.
This should not be seen as begging, mind you. I’m determined to get this done with or without help. I just figured I’d float the idea just in case. Never hurts, right?
And tomorrow night, whenever I end up coming home, I’ll be sleeping in my own bed. This is a good thing. Progress.
- Clean, clean, clean.