Catching Up: Real Life

[csakuras]

Because of how much I've procrastinated on updating this journal, I've got a backlog of stuff to post. So heeere we go, a list of notable stuff that's been happening to me for the past month-and-a-half

Comments

[ms_gamgee_89]

Why are you freaked by raw meat/especially chicken?

[csakuras]

Because I'm paranoid about germs and it looks/feels/smells NASTY. At least when cooking ground beef, I don't have to touch it. But with chicken... *shudder*

Which is sad, because I prefer white meat. :(

[ms_gamgee_89]

You should maybe try to find a way to associate the uncooked product with food by forcing yourself to cook with it. If you can draw a visceral line in your head between the raw chicken and tasty nom-ables, then it might kill that weirdness.

Believe me, nothin' on a chicken's gonna eat YOU. My family is AWFUL about food preservation, really terrible, and I've never had food poisoning in my life. And we cook with chicken all the time.

[csakuras]

I try. I'm sure I'd be fine with the actual cooking of the meat...but it's the preparing that freaks me out. If they sold raw chicken already cut up into bite-size pieces, that would be great.

[annwyd]

I totally failed NaNo too. D: I got like, one chapter of my original fic done. And now I want to try to work on another original story, but I'm too lazy to actually start writing. It's pretty sad. D:

[csakuras]

I can totally understand. D:

[actualdionysius]

In re Chocolate binges and Georgetown

I took a course in Con. Law at Georgetown over the summer once. A few blocks from the University is the best fudge I have ever had. I wish I could remember the shop's name, but it isn't coming back. It's relatively close to a Five Guys,1 I remember that much, but damned if I could tell you just where to go.

If you've gotten a Mac, check out the application Terminal. It's a huge, huge time saver once you get used to the commands. If you're running 10.5/Leopard (which you probably are if you just got the Mac) it should be fully UNIX-compliant, too (which makes life much easier since UNIX tutorials are much easier to find than ones for some weird Mac-UNIX cross. You might also want to check out emacs, which is a nifty free word-processor/programming environment on steroids. With the steroids on steroids. And those steroids, in turn, also on steroids.2

And that is an adorable daschund. All this talk of pets has me missing my chinchilla. Bah, I'm ready for the semester to end.

1. Five Guys, while

[csakuras]

Hahaha, my friend was taking a test at the university, and we had like an hour to spare so we just went walking around. We came across so many chocolate shops, and my mom wanted to stop in every single one and buy something. XD; I don't remember where the Five Guys is, but it's likely we at least walked past the shop you're talking about.

Uwaaah. I think I only comprehended a third of that. x_x But thank you, I'll try looking into the emacs thing.

[actualdionysius]

Oh dear. I'm sorry if I was unclear (which, yeah, I definitely was.)

Leopard is the most recent operating system out out (OS 10.5) Saying "running leopard" is just like saying "running Vista" for windows, except, you know, different features for different systems. UNIX was/is an older operating system that was big in the 70s/80s and set kind of the standard for the vocabulary we use for terminal commands ("ls" means "list all my files in this directory" "cd" means "change directory" and so on). All I meant was that now that Terminal uses all the regular UNIX commands it won't be too confusing and super-useful. I definitely recommend using terminal more than emacs (emacs has a pretty steep learning curve. Not as bad as learning LaTex, but pretty darn steep.) Still, if you want to save a ton of time and have a program that does just about everything, emacs is the way to go.

Out of curiosity, what do you miss about the PC?

[csakuras]

Oh no, I'm just really bad with technology. I only ever understand things to the point of knowing how to use them.

I mostly just miss the little things I'm already used to, and Microsoft Word & Paint...I haven't figured out how to write in Japanese on the Mac yet, so that too. The Mac is very easy to use, but it feels like I've landed on a different planet, and I'm still learning to adapt. ^^;

[pacificpikachu]

Tako is so adorable! That's wonderful you got a chance to care for her, even if there were some mishaps and it was stressful at times. Dogs are incredible at being happy, haha, I love them. ♥ I hope you are able to get a pet sometime, when you're ready! I've never had less than around six pets (I have fifty-something right now) so I can't even imagine what life would be like without pets!

I'm sorry to hear about your grandfather, even though you weren't close. :( It's good he passed peacefully at least.

It's too bad NaNo didn't go for you, but at least you got 6,000 words you may not have had otherwise! Something's better than nothing, right? XD

[csakuras]

I've helped take care of other peoples' pets before, but this is the first time I've cared for an animal all on my own since my pet box turtle when I was a kid. (I don't think that goldfish I petsitted once counts? That hardly took any effort.) So it really helped me understand the level of responsibility I'd need to have for a pet of my own. :] (And holy jeez, fifty pets. @_@)

[pacificpikachu]

I think it's a great idea to pet sit when you can't have pets for whatever reason, and it's also something I think everyone should do before getting a pet. So many people underestimate the level of commitment and the time and effort they require. I'm glad you've gained a new understanding!

And yep! Thankfully they're not all cats and dogs or anything, which reduces the amount of work quite a bit, but it's still a lot of time and effort. I love my pets dearly, though. ♥ (I've got dogs, cats, a horse, cockatiels, a parrotlet, a lovebird, guinea pigs, chickens, ducks, guinea fowl, a pheasant, and fish. Plus I do wildlife rehab in the summer, so I'll have anywhere between one and twenty-five birds I'm caring for then.)

[kirarakim]

Aww Tako is so cute. For some reason his sad face makes him look cuter. But I am glad to hear he warmed up to you guys.

And I love Cirque Du Soleil. I saw it once as a teenager and it was one of the most amazing experiences. I never had the chance to go again but I so would in a heartbeat.

I am also sorry about your grandfather