rocking funky beats while looking sharp

wow, no updates for awhile. i've been exhausted. or busy. or both.

---thursday:

the day began well, with me totally wanting to rock the funky beats all dressed up for the office. [breaks to rock those funky beats]

i step into the street, and it's minus five, but i'm dressed warmly enough that the world feels just right, its soft, crisp air rolls into my nostrils and forms small clouds as i return it. i turn the corner and the bright morning sun's rays wash over me, i am squinting against its brilliance while with a bounce in my step i walk into the light experiencing that same sensation that accompanies one's arrival at a wide, empty beach early on a warm summer's morning.

---the morning's video test was successful, which meant that i had something new to learn. having now finally (the last few hours) gone over it all, i'm familiar enough with internet telephony to at least know where to start. and i'm pleased to report that projects like linphone are not only fully functional, cross-platform and open-source but their code is clean enough to be easily understood. hats off to you, sirs and madams*. hats off to you.

* can't be bothered to check

---after reading the wired article on how our passwords are failing us, i revisited all of my important accounts, changing their passwords, configuring two-step security where possible and deleting old accounts that have cool names but i can't remember when last i checked them. i then constructed a two-step security system to protect an api i wrote. it doesn't matter that that's a very simple procedure to implement, it's look good, dammit!

---during the day i switched my phone to a bell account. once i understood that porting out a number is entirely on the provider being switched to, everything was fairly smooth. i couldn't have done it soon enough - this morning i received my phone bill from fido and the disconnect between the package they offered me and the costs incurred is jarringly dissatisfying. thanks, fido, but no thanks.

moonlighter came into the office, and amongst other things we talked about my communication skills. apparently, i've unwittingly managed to make the developers feel under pressure; the fact that the cto sold the bear skin and everyone's out hunting bears is beside the point... i've asked that they tell me if anything makes them uncomfortable and i've decided to ease back on my assertiveness. i need to win friends and influence people until i get settled, and perhaps i should wait until i'm actually employed before i get all authoritative.

there were shopping failures, but i can't recall what they were about. and pg and i had been missing each other due to time-zone difficulties for a few days, which was quite frustrating.

it was an early night for me.

---friday:

i took the morning easy, and spent half an hour with pg on skype making up for the aforementioned lack of communication. just before we said goodbye she blasted alter bridge - metalingus down the line and i smiled at the thought that that was the song that convinced me to buy their albums in the first place.

that began the setting of the tone for the morning, which was furthered by huey lewis - the power of love and the wallflowers.

my earlier grievances with terrence mckenna - food of the gods aside, the man's insights are truly astounding and the evidence he presents seems to be well-researched and is rather convincing. i admit to some bias in the matter, but that doesn't invalidate my support.

the tone that had been set was crushed fairly soon upon my arrival in the office; it seems that the cto and i do not always see eye to eye (not the end of the world), and our awkward conversation was followed by a day in which the site i'd constructed in php repeatedly resisted my attempts to modify one of its base processes in the nastiest of ways. i didn't want to leave without finishing it (not that anybody else would have cared, really), and so i ended up walking out a lot later than i'd hoped.

---weird note for the day: it might have been one guy or it might have been two. the first odd thing was the toothbrush lying next to the sink. the second, a little later, was the guy standing in front of the mirror stuffing his face with something, and then hurrying out when i walked in.

---so there i was, waiting in the mall for my aunt to pick me up for friday night dinner with her friends, trying to figure out which wine to purchase. i gave up and called her to ask her advice, which was that under no circumstances was i to buy wine from a supermarket.
okay, then.
she advised chocolates, dark chocolate from the chocolatier that could be served after dinner.

isn't it something? that's the second time i've looked for dairy-free dark chocolate (the first time was in toronto); do vegans here simply not count as a potential market?

---when she picked me up, she hit me with the news of the day: my uncle wouldn't be coming to dinner because he was in the hospital under observation after having suffered a mini-stroke.

on the one hand, nice to have a warning. on the other...

---dinner was very nice, although the whiskey went straight to my head so i was a bit disconnected. there were two literature majors present and our hostess had specially prepared vegan options for me. the goodbyes were a bit awkward, but whatever.

i took the train going in the wrong direction, and had to switch at the next stop. but i was still tipsy, so i didn't care. in fact, i wrote a poem. or the beginnings of one that later became life in the love lane.

---saturday:

i woke up late, and spent the morning watching hobbit week on the colbert show.

i've figured out how comedy central online works in canada. they don't have access to regular short clips that everyone else does, but to full shows with full advertisements that cannot be fast-forwarded.

the internets are broken. i'm watching the same irrelevant ad three times for each of the hobbit interviews that i'm waiting for :(

on the other hand, the streets are well-lit at night and i don't have to worry about stepping in crap on my way home.

it's like all of my complaints have lost their edge over here. they make it really hard to complain: it's not like "this sucks!" or "that sucks!", rather "this isn't perfect! oh noes!"

i would have chatted with pg but i couldn't stop yawning, and i would've had a nap except that pg had asked me if i'd paid the rent. i haven't paid rent in so long that it completely slipped my mind! i stressed, and hunted down the closest atm to which i hurried through the drizzling skies. i almost forgot my pin code for my new card...

i did laundry, repeating others' laundry offences (they'd left their stuff in the dryer for at least an hour before i removed it, and an hour later when i took my things the pile was still there) and losing a single sock in the process. i'm almost certain it's inside the duvet cover and that i'll find it when i wash it again :P

i passed out for a couple of hours and then met with the caretaker's wife to pay the rent. i'll relax when i get my $3 change and it doesn't come with a warning for being a week late :$

---i've been a gushing fan of hunter x hunter for a decade now, and i've read the manga and loved that even more. for those of you who hated it, i was upset but i can understand that it was too slow going. but. there's. a. reboot. and. you. should. totally. give. it. a. chance.

it's way, way compressed and it's superbly done.

---duolingo's iphone app is really well made, and between that and the satisfaction from the progress i've been making i'm really having fun learning!

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