Back up, now

Had the bright idea just now of putting copies of my picture files onto my little hard drive, even though they already get backed up through the little program... just in case I wanted to access them directly... aaand ended up deciding to delete most of the originals anyways. So basically if I ever lose this thing, years of my life will be going with it.

As I was doing this though, I discovered that I'm missing... all of my pre-Shanghai pictures from my '05 China trip, and Kim & Teddy's wedding pictures. And probably other random things along the way. I have no idea why I'd be missing those China pictures, but I'm assuming they're on my other external drive somewhere back home. The wedding pictures are a bit trickier since I don't think I had time to back any of those up before I left for Baotou. They should exist on a CD in my box of China stuff, so hopefully I can pull them off of that when I get home. The problem is, a lot of these things were entrusted to my desktop, which my mother proceeded to run into the ground for her own nefarious ends. That computer's a swamp now and anything that was on it is long gone. I'd thought that everything had been duplicated onto the other drive, but... yeah, guess there wasn't much depth to my thinking.

Meanwhile, my little drive gets more and more cluttered, but I managed to free up a lot of space just now by deleting all those photos. Actually, most of them are just chilling out in my recycle bin right now. All I permanently deleted was a bunch of fireworks videos that I just HAD to take at Disneyland (yeah...) and gave myself 2 gigs more of space, which is nice because I've been downloading music like the craziest person ever.

Saturday is Murphy's Law Karmic Revenge Day

And it really is. Or at least on a small scale. Saturday is "I should have known" Day, though most of the time everything balances out in time for the afternoon. This Saturday was a pretty good example.

So really, Saturday just adheres to a strict policy of cause and effect, and therefore my story begins on Friday. Fridays are the days that I used to spend frantically trying to complete a worksheet unit for my Saturday morning students (who don't appreciate it so much, by the way) so that I could get it printed by 4pm, when I have to head back to class with Russ and Dave. Ever since I found out though that the printer opens at 7:30 in the morning, I've been putting off the work until the evening so that I can relax a bit in the afternoon and just wake up early (which I tend to do anyways) to get everything done. This worked fine for like one or two weeks, until one recent weekend where the machine kept choking or something and I wound up having to take a cab to make it to school on time (and the cab woman would not give me change for a 50, even though she had it, and insisted on looking in a gas station for change when they were either closed or didn't have it either and in this manner stalled me even further). My thing is that I like to take the bus cuz it saves money and I like to take it early because I don't like walking through a fog of recessing #1 school students to get to my classroom.

Anyways, last Friday, I was tootally not in the mood to spend my afternoon making this worksheet. I had some lunch, walked around a bit, and came home with the intention of napping for a while before getting started on it... but then I decided that maybe I wanted some lychees. I figured I could get some fruit and get in some brief conversation with the fruit guy and thereby put myself in a good mood to do work. The brief conversation became kind of an hour-long conversation, give or take, and by the time I got back I was even more tired and much closer to classtime. I ended up sort of not doing anything productive in the meantime and then left.

Putting the worksheet together at night normally isn't a problem for me either. I can stay up to do work if I have to, and really a lot of the worksheet is pretty automatic once I get the main idea set down. So this was not a big deal, nor was it out of the ordinary.

After class, I hung out with Dave and Russ as per usual. We often eat dinner together since it used to be we all had class relatively soon after, but recently it's just been a few snacks at some picnic tables near a bunch of vendors. By the time Dave and I got back (this particular class takes place in my neighborhood), Mrs. Liu and some of the parents were just standing around outside my apartment. After a brief chat, I headed in, BUT stopped short when I saw Tara's bike sitting there. I found that I could go no further. The whole idea of writing this thing with the constant distraction of her mere presence was simply too much. SO, I decided to go cool off in the little park area. I sat for a while... sent Alice some text messages describing my plight, and eventually pulled out my notebook and sketched out my worksheet idea. Eventually Alice texted me back and told me to go over to her place instead. So I walked on over, rested my head briefly, ate what amounted to a 2nd dinner, and at last the 2 of us came home. At that point I just wanted to shower and die, so I did just that. I didn't feel like wasting a bunch of time sitting around staring at Word, when I knew that I could get up early and have a nice serene work atmosphere all to myself. That's just what I did.

Saturday dawned. I arose as planned, and finished everything on time. I figured that the latest I should be headed to the printer was about 8:15, to allow for any copier troubles that could come up. Everything went all right UNTIL I couldn't find my USB drive. Couldn't find it anywhere. Still can't find it, as a matter of fact, which ain't good but whatever. I did, however, know the location of my 256k drive which I hadn't used in months because it was full. I decided to just delete some of the stuff for now.

I don't know if I was just dazed or what, but when my anti-virus/spyware monitor suddenly started asking me if Windows Help should be allowed to alter system information and access the internet, I just kept clicking allow. I remember thinking "this doesn't seem right... oh well!" Then I got the BSOD for the first time in ages and my computer shut off. Cue storm of cuss words and panic attack.

I restarted my system, and it all came back ok, at which point I was prompted again about Windows Help. I'm not sure why it said Windows Help, but the actual program in question was one RECYCLER.exe, which turned out to be a trojan/smashbot or stashbot or slashbot or something. I got sooo pissed. I'm pretty sure I got this virus from a computer at the #1 school last semester. But anyway, I couldn't access the drive at all, so I burned the files to CD to drop off at the printer so that I could come home and work this out while it was all getting done. I threw on a random outfit (jeans/t-shirt affair) and ran downstairs. When I got there, we couldn't get their CD drive open. When it opened, it couldn't read the data. SO. I had to run back.

By this time, Tara had gotten up and was getting ready to leave. Alice got up too, though I guess just to visit the bathroom. I waylaid her and begged her for her usb disk. She gave me her usb hub. We spent a moment trying to clarify this and finally I got a working disk with my files to the printer. While I was there they also killed the virus on my USB (though it involved deleting everything). At this point I had enough foresight to ask whether or not I should go make some change to pay for the printing. I did have to, so I went to the convenience store and bought random crap.

I got out at 9:15 wide awake with enough adrenaline in my system to last the rest of the day. At the end of it all, I decided to just take the bus anyway just to sort of reclaim my morning. I got to class exactly at 10.

Afterwards I went for a soothing coffee/student journal reading session and the rest of the day went all right.

So anyways, I'm not complaining, since everything worked out in the end, but it's just kind of a funny story to me. By the way, I fiddled a bit with the registry and it seems like my virus problems are solved...

Skype

OK, I have Skyping capabilities now, so if you have a microphone, skype with me! Tried it already and it's muy fun. I wasn't feeling particularly thoughtful or creative at the time, so my username is kat.pan

Go figure. Anyways, I probably miss hearing your voice, so yeah, lemme know if you can use any kind of voice chat service (Skype! Since I've already downloaded it and everything).

Laptop Troubles

So last Sunday, I developed some computering problems that were rectified yesterday. Since I have a few unrelated stories I want to share, I'll go ahead and split them into a few easy to swallow entries!

As for my laptop troubles... the problem was that my adapter was... broken? There was something wrong with it, and so my laptop battery would no longer charge. I think this was actually brewing for a couple of days. Alice and I were watching Meet Joe Black one night when our DVD player flipped out, so I put the movie in my laptop instead. I ran out of battery by the end and it took me a while to realize that even after it was plugged in, no juice was flowing. I jiggled the connection though, and then it was fine. I figured the cable wasn't fully connected somewhere

The next day though, my computer ran down again, as the thing was plugged in. I panicked slightly and swished the cable around, and it was fixed again. This hadn't ever been an issue before... the connection was always pretty stable, but I just shrugged it off.

Then last Sunday, while I was using my laptop for class, it did a couple of bizarre things. First of all, iTunes blinked out of existence briefly... it disappeared from my quick launch and then told me that it was uninstalled when I tried to open it through the start menu. Then my Now Charging icon disappeared and didn't come back no matter what I did.

So last week I had only about 1 hr of power left in my laptop that I was afraid to use in case I needed it or something. For a while it looked like I'd need to go to Hohhot again to find a repair place, buuuut...

My class was cancelled on Tuesday, but when Alice got back she told me that Mr. Ding said he knew a Sony story here that could at least look at it, but that he would use some of the school's equipment to see if the problem was my laptop or the adapter. The next day I took everything in, but the tests showed that it was my laptop. I was really upset, right?

Thursday morning, we met up to go to the Sony store, where I feel like... they didn't try very hard at first because really Sony doesn't sell my model anymore. Also they insisted that it was probably the adapter. We were ready to leave when I was like "well... did they say if we could check it with one of the adapters here? it's not like all the computers in this series don't have the same parts" and so on. So we pulled everything out again, they plugged in an adapter from one of the T series (which are gooooorgeous and I want one) and ta da. The guy couldn't sell us one from that store, but he predicted a Y380 price tag if we bought it from an electronics shop.

So we ended up in an A/V mall a la that episode of Cowboy Bebop where Jet's looking for a beta tape deck, and guess how much my new adapter cost! Like... Y130, making it officially cheaper than the generic replacement I got off eBay after the original disappeared at the library junior year (and that one broke, remember). So cool. I may get another before I leave just so I'm covered in future eventualities.

Kind of sick now

Because I found a website today where pissed off foreigners just bitch and bitch. So it really looked like kind of a support group for people having bad days in a strange land, but having gone through one of the comment pages, I feel as though many of these people could benefit from just... spiking their mi fan with midol or something.

Like there was a challenge where folks should submit their best simile for life in China, but the replies were just so bitter that everyone missed the point of what this challenge *could* have been. A lot of them compared China to self-mutilation, disappointment, unhealthy relationships, and regrettable sex. Often, Chinese people were described as children, effete, stupid, or crooked. I hadn't even read all the comments when the most obvious solution presented itself: go home. I mean... if you don't like it here, and it's so much trouble to stay here, why don't you just go home? Clearly it's sooooo much better back there, though I promise you'll still be able to find shit to complain about.

Whatever, everyone is allowed a moment to rage and be a moron, especially when unexpected things happen that aren't altogether positive (re: not at all), but classless humor is not a substitute for superiority and belittling an entire country of individuals just because you had a bad day does not pass for clever.

Cope or go home.

Some bitterness of mine

So, it turns out that one of my USB drives is veritably infested with viruses! Specifically, Win32.Mima.C, the bastards. And this is something I didn't know until after I plugged it into my laptop. My antivirus software has no idea how to deal with it, and symantec.com won't load, and mcafee has never heard of it. I figure that means that I can get as paranoid and worked up as I want. Having googled, I found only one website that has a description of it, and it ain't pretty (well it's enough to freak me out anyway). Apparently it destroys word documents and assumes their identities. I am concerned for certain of my essays and so on that are located on this drive and on this drive only. And then of course it steals information.

I'm not sure how the virus got on there, but I suspect that it took up residence either at the training center last night when I used their computer, or sometime earlier that day before my laptop flipped out. Too many variables for me to sleep very soundly.

Doing a system scan of my laptop now with my fingers crossed.

Just thought I'd share.

But yeah, I'm really pissed at people who make this shit up. I mean come on. This facet of our society is just one of many that will keep our civilization from colonizing space.

Ta da!

Ta da actually references the moment that I threw a champagne bottle at my laptop in my imagination.

After tinkering (wrestling) with blogger all afternoon, I finally got myself a blog. Blogblogblog. I'm still not sure how I feel about that word. Yes, it's nearly midnight here. No, I didn't spend the whole night trying to figure this out either.

Anyways, some thoughts that ocurred to me as I did this:

1) The big mushroom in the sky- for some reason, Len's farewell letter for our 11th grade English class that reminded us of the absurdity/profundity of the whole transcendentalist oversoul concept really stuck with me over the years, and popped into my head for... maybe no reason, as I berated my internet connection.

2) How bizarre it is that tomatoface.blogspot.com and all its punctuated variations is actually unavailable. Ok, so I actually just looked it up... dude's not even using it.

3) That the only unusual nickname I have is, in fact, "Tomato Face." And that I've grown attached to it over the years.

Currently, my ipod is behaving strangely.

Earlier, I made fried rice. It was the first from-scratch thing I've made since I got here. And it really sucked! Not sure what went wrong... although... perhaps the rice was too sticky (rather large rice cooker is of a different ilk than I'm used to), and perhaps the soy sauce wasn't salty enough. One thing I do know is that in my laziness, I convinced myself that it was unnecessary to salt the eggs. As trivial as that may seem, I wish I'd done so just so I'd know whether that was the crux or not.

I fried rice tonight because it never ocurred to me this afternoon to eat. I think it's something I meant to do before I went to teach my 7-9, but... I didn't? Not totally sure why. Also I didn't have a real lunch or breakfast, so...

What I did do today was make a powerpoint presentation about food and the home... implements, appliances, ingredients, fruits, veggies, place settings, and so on. I was working on adding photos around lunchtime, and coupled with the nice smells coming from my neighbors' apartments, they were making me really hungry. But I think I just ate some bread and peanut butter. And a pear.

This morning, I really had to force myself out of bed. I had to work on the presentation, because at that point I was still planning on using it in my high school class. This class was cancelled a few hours later, but I would have been done in time. And I still needed to use it for my class at the training center. So I got out of bed... sorta nauseous... sort of... emotional?... and the first thing I did after sitting still on the couch for a few minutes and all those hygiene things was to make myself a strong cup of coffee.

Later, I really regretted the coffee. I was so strung out that I didn't know what to do with myself. I was like, inches away from losing control of my body completely, but as it was, my eyes were really wide and stuff.

Then I had a scare when my computer started doing some really frightening shit, and I mean stuff it hasn't done since I had the motherboard repaired/replaced (I actually don't know exactly what they did with it). I think it might be ok now?

Also, Alice was gone all day, so not having my usual amount of human contact sort of skewed my perception a bit probably.

Anyways, class today went ok. I think actually maybe the powerpoint was boring. There was a lot of new stuff in it, and I guess maybe folks didn't pick up as much of it as I'd hoped they would. I sort of made it with high schoolers in mind, and expected to spice it up with many rousing activities (cough). But I did get to chat a few minutes with the students in small groups, which is my favorite part. It's more like hang-out time, and I'm not really sure what everyone else does when I'm with each group... haven't worked out those kinks yet (had a Mrs. Barber graduation flashback that would have been especially inappropriate here). But I like talking to them!

Returned Brokeback Mountain to the rental place having seen only about a minute of it before the VCD went all flaaaah. So they traded me Ant Bully. And one of my training center students found me there and offered to lend me Brokeback Mountain on Thursday, so that's pretty sweet.

Ok, had an observation but forgot it. These things happen, I suppose!