Surreptitious Opinionation

tedious list

No Ro in town. Did get 2.5 hours of work in, which is better than I’ve done for some week’s that Ro’s been gone. Got serious laundry done, and actually folded this time. Removed much hair from head and body. Gradually inching forward on making my freebsd box happy. I have a dragon warrior 3 rom, and lack only sound before I’ll be turning goof-offs into sages.

Talked much with Shannon (she’s our new roomie. An interesting contrast in personalities to the rest of the house, she also tidied up my self-trim job). Made facon, avocado, spinach, mushroom sandwiches for dinner. Very tasty.

Haven’t purchased tickets to washington for ‘s birthday. Haven’t found any universities out there that really catch my attention (neither American U nor Georgetown show any great concern about urban planning (ie, no department, I should investigate in more detail rather than fucking with the bsd box), but there are still people worth seeing, and it would definitely not hurt me to get off my ass & get out of town. In terms of grad schools, Portland State is somewhat interesting in that it houses urban planning and public policy in the same school, but that’s another story.

Not really nervous about my class starting tomorrow. Not sure if that’s a good or bad sign. Apathy + grad class = bad bad bad combo. Hopefully the class itself will engage me out of slump.

My knee was giving me shit this weekend, I’m pleased to report that that has mostly passed. and that my shoulder, while still unhappy, is improving.

Also, orange juice + vanilla spirutein powder, really isn’t bad.

Also, in my like 15th or 16th game of puerto rico (with and , thanks for coming over, guys), I finally freaking won (I usually come in 2nd) by 1 point. Woohoo! =) Largely by emulating 😉

While I was cycling around on Sunday, my chain slipped off the front gear, away from the bike frame. I found this exhasperating, and so, reached down with my foot, and managed to slip the chain back on the gear. Without stopping the bike. That was kinda cool, no greasy hands this time.

What this really means is that I need to readjust the limits of my deraillers. =)

Well, it was surprising to hear about ‘s recent medical troubles, but by the time I heard about it, it seems that things were quite under control. It’s good to know that he’s being well cared for, and I hope for a speedy recovery.

My week and weekend has been much less adventurous. Gym stuff, groceries, installing freebsd (which happened far more smoothly this time than in any prior experience), clinic. Ro left for Albuquerque early yesterday. This morning I’m doing some atypical stuff, doing laundry, and in the wait times, I’m doing dishes, messing with my window manager (yay pwm), and what not. Definitely doing the gym and getting some work in today. Probably going to head down to south bay to hang out with tonight or tomorrow.

Tomorrow is my first day of my first post-secondary class anywhere other than cmu, and the probable arrival date for my new-to-me laptop.

Things have been feeling very blase to me lately. Many times in my life, the ones I’ve enjoyed most, have been experientially rich, vivid, and complex. Time is flying in CA, but like flying in a jet, the scenery has quickly become monotonous. Not sure how I’m going to ‘touch down’, but the time is coming.

Taking one course at cal costs as much as my share of one month’s rent. Good heavens. I definitely need more paying work. Bleh.

Well, it looks like I won’t be going to Albuquerque this time after all. I really want to make a good impression on this prof and do well in this class, and skipping the first meeting of it seems inadvisable. Maybe the external office will make it easier for me to do work on my own.

So, awhile ago, recommended I check out Lois McMaster Bujold. Said she did good stuff. I’m actually pretty impressed with the first one I sampled, Ethan of Athos, which I just returned to the library this morning. The characters are complex, yet likeable, with a great deal of verisimilitude. The story never jumps into anyone’s head but the protagonist’s (something I think is a big deal for , but not sure). It’s a suspense/mystery/action/espionage type book.

Furthermore, it’s the only scifi depiction of a gay protagonist I’ve seen (though, arguably, he’s not exactly gay as we understand the word), and even if we include fantasy, specifically, Lackey’s stuff, this is hands down better (unless you’re still in, or just coming out of the closet, then go for Lackey). But she does a good job of making it a human character. None of lackey’s neurotic obsessions with what it means to be gay. This guy has background worries about his designated alternate parent/lover’s irresponsible flakiness, and that is rapidly replaced with the much larger concerns about the reproductive fate of his planet, and the imminent safety of his life.

That’s a side note. I would rank it as great pulp, well worth the read. Think I’ll be reading more of her stuff. Yay women who write scifi. (Ms Bujold, Ms Butler, and Ms Cherryh coming specifically to mind).

And in the spirit of side notes, my rotator cuff feels like it’ll be sucking it for a little while, but I can do a fair amount of upperbody stuff at the gym without bothering it at all, and I think I will. Just have to stick to the machines, for now.

Also, my dad just called, and wanted info on howard dean. Yay! =)

So, I went to see ‘s play this evening, and I have to say I was quite impressed. It was way better than the showing of ‘Making Porn’ I saw in pittsburgh, lo those many years ago (as well as a couple of lesser known things I saw in chicago). The goings on were complicated, yet connected and interesting. The characters had some real development. I liked it. It was better than cats. I’ll see it again and again….

(went with , , and , enlightening political conversation on the way there, and love/sex talk on the way back.)

My shoulder is still broken, but it’s very selectively broken. I’m learning what specifically makes it unhappy, and plan to do upper body stuff tomorrow, slowly, gently, and at light weight, to see what I can do. I did do lower body today, and despite twinging, it was not a serious impediment either to that, or to biking to/from work. Yay.

Ro is leaving for Albuquerque next monday. I will join him tue sometime, after I see the first day of housing policy class. Here’s hoping.