Finger info for chunky@icculus.org...



[2002-08-12]

You know you're having a shit day when you're ringing up the towing
service to see if it's cheaper & easier to leave the truck to get towed,
rather than spend any more hours looking for someplace to park the
f**king behemouth.

I'll be camping out Booth 1081.

Somone, somewhere, has a sick sense of humor; the MS booth is right
between the Linux Rookery & CodeWeavers.


[2002-08-07]

Yes, I can spell USA perfectly well, thanks.
And no, I'm not gonna talk like the rest of you. I'm different, goddammit.
Some quotes:

"One of these kids is not like the others"
"My mummy says I'm special"
"Stupid colonials"

I was in Culver yesterday, so I wandered into my
about-to-be-place-of-employment

Looks like I'm going to LinuxWorld. W00t.


[2002-08-06-later]

Just a note: out of 36 questions, I got 34 right. Technically, your test
is easier than the UK one.

I hate driving in LA. At least in England, I don't tend to have to put
my 10-foot-long car into a 9-foot hole between cars on the motorway.

M-O-T-O-R-W-A-Y. Get it right.


[2002-08-06]

So:
Once I get a driving permit, I'll be allowed to drive in CA so long as
I have someone sitting next to me. I'll also be allowed [once I get it]
to get car insurance, a car registration, and all that other great stuff.

All of which would make sense, if I hadn't been driving my aunt's car
perfectly legally since I arrived. It would be legal for me to drive my
car, if they would just let me have insurance.

Do you guys have to show your driving licenses to go for a piss? I seem
to need one for virtually everything else...


[2002-08-04]

OK. So I shipped my computer via UPS, with my hard drives in my carry-on
luggage.

Interestingly, the people at the airport had nothing at all to say;
didn't even bother asking me to open my luggage.

During the course of transit, sufficient hurt was put on it to dislodge
the speaker & then decimate said item, and to dislodge one of the case
fans [with the 4 clips holding it in] and wiggle that all over the
case, too.

During this process, my grahpics card fan also bit the dust.

I've now put it all back together with some superglue, and on a wing and
a prayer, the thing actually still works. Haven't tested the CD burner
yet, but all diagnostics run just fine, with all 8 drives playing nice
together still.

I'm now in the market for:
1) The usual power-lead trappings
2) A computer speaker
3) A couple dumb terminals
4) A monitor
5) Some decent speakers

In other news, I forgot to mention; Mountain Dew can be my new best
friend [second still to coffee, but mmmmmm]

Still looking for an apartment. I hate apartment shopping, especially
when I know I'm gonna have to get a studio or 1-bedroom, and fork out
double the rent than if I were sharing.

Oh, yeah; something from before I left the UK;

Anything HP can do, I can do better.
Their scanners play Ode to Joy.
My mouse plays Ode to Joy.

I bought an iFeel mouse for the comedy value, and
after a brief bit of research and CVS downloading here:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/tactile, I got it playing random musical
tunes. Ode to Joy being the one that HP do, so I thought I'd start with
that one.


[2002-08-03]

I'll call it my Driving Baptism of Fire.

It's the first time I've driven an automatic.
It's the first time I've driven anything bigger than a small car.
It's the first time I've driven with a trailer.
It's the first time I've driven on the right hand side of the road.
It's the first time I've driven on a freeway.

Two days ago, we flew up to Reno, picked up a U-Haul truck & car trailer
[flat loader? Hell, no], and dad drove us to Tahoe.

The next day [yesterday], we throw my new car [mmmmmm] onto the back of
the trailer, and begin driving to LA. About 60-odd miles into the journey,
we stop for Petrol [it's spelt P-E-T-R-O-L, goddammit], and dad says
"Wanna have a go?"
"What the hell, my driving test is on Monday, after all"

So I get to drive this many-ton truck, a stupid autmoatic, about 350
miles. Eeesh. For reference, I've now done about 10 miles in the car I'm
taking my test in the day after tomorrow, and I still loathe automatics.

Other notes: It's spelt B-O-N-N-E-T. The last letter is a hard T. And
it's what you muppets call a "Hood".


[2002-07-29-shortly-later]

*** Topic for #icculus.org: Chunky Kibbles, United States Pimp Corp:
  Enjoy Yosselves
*** #icculus.org joshua 1027991609 (from vinge.openprojects.net)


[2002-07-29]

Lock up your daughters.


[2002-07-28]

It's tomorrow. Scary. I'm also taking "The World of Pooh" because Pooh
rocks. More memories, also. Hiya, Cordy. You wanted a mention...
Also, I've got this seriously cool cross-stitched piglet, who's really
cute. Awwwwwww.

Since people don't seem to get it, I like Pooh bear for two reasons:
1) He's a bear of very little brain, a lot like me, and
2) He's always happy. Doesn't really know what he's gonna do in the
next ten minutes, but always enjoys doing it. Yes, that's a precis of
the Tao of Pooh, and yes, I happen to like it.

Just been out shopping for pint glasses, to clarify [mostly for Hendersa &
MikeyP] what decent people drink out of, pip, pip.


[2002-07-27]

OK. Two days, and It seems to be time to turn a little weird about
switching continents.

I've been clearing out my room at home ["home" /a la/ 22 years, not
"home" /a la/ anything else].

Shit, there's a lot of random memories there that I'd just forgotten
clean about. "Dredging" applies to what I've been doing.

I've binned about 6 or 8 black bags of random stuff. Mostly empty boxes
and 15-year-old trash, but some stuff that I just can't justify keeping,
even though I'd never throw it away in a million years if it was possible
to keep it.

I fucking /hate/ getting rid of books. But on the grounds I can't ever
justify taking novels to the states with me [I'm told you have them out
there], and I'd rather mine were read than sitting about on shelves,
I've given away roughly several hundred novels in the last few months.
Only to people who I know will read them, but still...

My posessions have now distilled down to:
1) One cupboard full of stuff. I couldn't bring myself to throw the BBC
Master, and there are probably 10 boxes of "stuff" in them, mostly in
the form of books & other random memories.
2) A pile of stuff that wouldn't fit in my cupboard but I can't bring
myself to throw out either. Not a very big pile, mind...
3) One suitcase of stuff. Things that're coming to America with me,
mostly clothes, about 6 or 8 textbooks, and a few things like Rubik's
Puzzles and teddy bears. Yes, Sara, both of the Poohs are coming with.
4) My juggling toys. Probably about 30 balls, 6 clubs, and 7 rings. I sold
all the rest while I was in York. I miss my unicycle. And my diablo. And
all the clubs I sold, and, and, and... The 6 remaining clubs are in
transit in the same box as my computer. I mean, I /really/ miss the
unicycle.
5) My computer, which is partly in transit, and partly coming in my
carry-on [expect a story here about convincing customs that my hard
drives aren't bombs, and my steel toes really are just steel]

All in all, I've actually started getting depressed and thinking about
all the things I'm gonna miss. Which is soooooo not a good way of moving
forward, but... that's just how it seems to be.

I guess all this shit happens to every bugger at some point in their
lives, but fuck, I've never been a big fan of change, and this has just
really put the shits up me.



[note: old plan entries are all avilable at
http://icculus.org/~chunky/oldplan]

When this .plan was written: 2002-08-12 17:03:01
.plan archives for this user are here (RSS here).
Powered by IcculusFinger v2.1.27
Stick it in the camel and go.