hmmm
I know I haven’t applied to nearly as many jobs as I should be, but I’m starting to think that maybe nobody will hire me. :\
countdown: t-4 days, and linux adventure part 3
How is it POSSIBLE that I’m leaving in 4 days and still have barely got my packing together?! Instead all I do is play around on Ubuntu all day. It’s a relief that I already got my dishes/personal knickknacks/bedding shipped off. All I need now is: clothes, books, shoes, and miscellaneous other electronics. It hasn’t quite hit me that I’m moving out of state for basically the first time (Singapore/Argentina don’t count because they had definite time limits). I really love San Francisco and right now I don’t think I’m leaving for good, but things change in 2-3 years. Still, time these days flies by so quickly — before you know it, I’ll be done with school and home again and everyone will say “Wow, it seems like just yesterday you left…”
The Linux adventure continues — I finally got Banshee (open source equivalent of iTunes – uglier and slightly less features but a lot more lightweight and still great to use) to play mp3 files, rather than just .ogg files (the open source music format). I’m happy I got it even to play audio files at all! The damn codecs were a pain in the ass to get installed right. In the end, guess what — restart fixed all (again!).
The thing about Open Source is that a lot of the applications available generally aren’t quite as full-featured or as pretty as, say, Adobe products or specific Windows/Mac-based software, but they’re a lot more lightweight and come with tons more choice. I played around today with Gimp, an image editing program that looks like its just about on par with Illustrator (although, I’m terrible with graphic design so what the hell do I know), and Screem, a Web editor that basically prompts you with the right tag for the thing you need done, instead of weaksauce WYSIWYG editors like Dreamweaver that basically auto-codes as you design your page preview-style. Screem is AMAZING for me because I’ve always coded by hand, which is tiresome and tedious and explains why I only update my website about twice a year and am continually forgetting all my HTML/JavaScript.
Speaking of which — not long ago, through a special Indycar/GoDaddy promo, I got a free online domain (thanks Gordon!). I’m now the proud owner of http://www.briannalee.org – and yes, briannalee.com was taken, and no, I don’t know if it was the porn star.
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On a completely unrelated note, I saw Mamma Mia! the movie with my mom and grandma last Sunday. I saw the live show once in Vegas and was totally indifferent to it (ABBA does NOT have 21 good songs) but for some reason the movie was really enchanting. I’m always a sucker for someone with a beautiful voice and I’ve latched my voice-envy onto Amanda Seyfried, the movie lead AND the chick from Mean Girls whose boobs could forecast the weather. Perhaps she is just magical?
linux adventure part 2
Well another few hours of troubleshooting, only to realize that (practically) all my problems were solved by a simple restart. Ubuntu isn’t great at telling you you have to restart in order for an application to work properly — generally, once you install a program, it comes up in your Applications menu automatically. So when I couldn’t find it, I went, “Where the hell are all the things I just installed?!” and frantically searched.
Fortunately, there were no problems – I’m just an idiot!
I really need to stop messing with Linux and pack. I’m moving in 5 days :X
victor hugo is kind of awesome
“This Will Kill That”:
…Omitting the detailing of a thousand proofs, and a thousand objections to what has been said, we may sum the matter up as follows:–That architecture, up to the fifteenth century, was the chief register of humanity; that during this interval, no thought of any complexity appeared in the world that was not built into an edifice; that every popular idea, as well as every religious commandment, had its monument; that human nature, in short, had no thought of importance tha it did not write in stone. And why? because every idea, whether religious or philosophic, is concerned in being perpetuated. The idea that has stirred the emotions of one generation desires to affect others, and to leave its trace behind. And the immortality of the manuscript, how precarious it is! An edifice is a book of very different solidity, durable and resisting. To destroy the written word, we only want a torch and a Turk. To demolish the constructed word requires a social revolution, or a terrestrial upheaval. The barbarians passed over the coliseum, the deluge perhaps over the Pyramids.
In the fifteenth century, everything underwent a change. Humanity discovered a means of perpetuating thought more lasting and durable than architecture, and even simpler and easier. Architecture was dethroned. To the stone letters of Orpheus are to succeed Gutenberg’s letters of lead.
The book will destroy the building!
The invention of printing was the greatest event in history. It was the supreme revolution. It meant the complete renovation of humanity’s mode of expression, the discarding by human thought of one form to reclothe itself in another, the complete and final casting of the skin of that symbolic serpent, which, since Adam, had served as the representation of intellect.
In the form of print, thought becomes more imperishable than ever; it is winged, intangible, indestructible. It mingles with the air. In the days of architecture it transformed itself into a mass of stone, and took forcible possession of an age and place. Now it is turned into a flock of birds, winging its way in all directions, and occupying a the same time every corner of air and space.
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so tell me honestly…
Over the weekend I went canoeing with some of my boyfriend’s friends from Berkeley up in Marin. It was really fun! Riding down the Russian River, wearing a tank top for the first time in weeks, seeing actual sun. My canoe capsized and I got dunked in the water and probably swallowed some algae, and I have a gigantic bruise on my ass, but all in all a great time.
I hadn’t seen some of these friends since before South America, so some of them looked amazed when they saw me and exclaimed “Wow, Bri, you look really good!” Which was flattering, of course. So I said, “thanks!”
But then: “Wow, did you lose weight?”
“You look amazing! You really slimmed down!”
Now, I’m aware that I lost a good deal of weight in South America. 20 pounds, in fact. Even better, I wasn’t even trying to — I pretty much just lost my appetite a lot because of the lack of food diversity and sicknesses and the over-saltiness. Combine that with a ton of walking, and now I’m back at high school weight. I know I was sort of on the heavy side back in the Google days (damn you, free food) and my mom also seemed delighted when I came home, but I really hadn’t given it too much thought — I just thought, Sweet, my clothes fit better now and that was that. But all the compliments over the weekend, though still pretty flattering, made me wonder…
How fat WAS I four months ago???
I’m a little self conscious about my weight now! I never really used to be — I guess that’s how I gained 15 pounds at Google to begin with — but all these amazed reactions makes me wonder if people saw me 4 months ago and were like “Wow, what a cow.” It’s too bad I didn’t take any pictures of myself — save a picture of me as a refrigerator for Halloween, which sort of defeats the purpose — to compare with. I wonder if New York, in all its fashionista glory, will make me do the impossible an actually watch the amount of food I eat and maybe even exercise, or something.
I guess the only thing I can ask of anyone who knows me (probably John, since he is the only one who will be around me the next few months) is that if I ever get back to Google weight (which in my mind now, is equivalent to a MASSIVE FLOPPING HIPPO), tell me, stage an intervention, or something. I probably won’t do anything about it, but at least 4 months later when I’ve lost weight unconsciously, I won’t be so surprised when people notice.
yup. i think i’m going to do it….
i’ve been thinking for a long time, and yes….
i want to switch to linux.
my inner geek is sort of beaming with pride. and looking back specifically on my 2001 – 2006 HP desktop that was maliciously infected with malware and viruses galore, i’m a little relieved at my decision. i always saw open source systems as a really obscure mass of techno jargon (picture the string of binary code in the background of the matrix logos) but while in peru of all places, i stayed at a hostel that had ubuntu on the free internet computer, and it was not only beautiful, but really navigable and user friendly! and user friendly = bri friendly.
aaaand i’m getting a new computer soon (!) because my beloved toshiba which has been with me for the last 3.5 years, survived 4 countries (!!) and has generally been my chief comrade, is quickly dying. and not even because of malware this time. those of you who’ve seen it in the last year have probably noticed the dozens of colored lines going down the screen (there are about 40 of them now). the computer also has a tendency to overheat because i think one of the fans blew out last year. plus, the battery died long ago, and the new battery i bought to replace it will no longer charge because the power cord is getting worn out and i have to position the computer just right or it will shut off suddenly without warning. so, new computer, new operating system!
is it really messed up of me that i think being a linux user would make me seem really, really cool?
mom conversation
Woman on Oprah: I pledge that I will stop putting myself last all the time, and set aside 10 minutes of silence every day.
Woman on Oprah #2: I pledge that I will not let my daughter’s tragedy keep me from moving forward.
Mom: What’s a pledge?
Me: It’s like a promise to yourself.
Mom: Psh, Chinese people don’t have time for that crap.