Entries this day: Chat_with_Fred Not_panic_packing fred my-love-hate-relationship-with-english-by-akiko-shimada nathalie worcester-telegram-gazette-news

Chat with Fred

9:44am JST Sunday 15 July 2007 (day 13626)

Talkin' with Mr Fred right about now. He's workin' on his big ol' project (which requires ~ terabyte of RAM) for modeling some sort of fluid flow through a reinforced fiberous tubes (aka the arteries in yo brain, boiyyyy).

He's going to do his presentation in Cali next week: heading out to work for a weekend (and ignore his friends) then do presentation, then hang out with his friends for a weekend.

I told him about Maggie's Marble Track being packed, and briefly introduced Ami, though she was being shy for some reason.

We mostly talked about random nonsense relating to computers, video, girlfriends, and over-friendly girls.

After we hung up, I turned to Ami and quoted Fred. "Yeah; he has no idea."

I'm wondering if it's better to meet him before or after his trip to Cali. I can definitely wait until he gets back, but I hope he secret can be maintained that long, especially considering I'm going to SWUUSI.

Not panic packing

12:26pm JST Sunday 15 July 2007 (day 13626)

Super duper thanks to Ami for helping me pack, keeping me on task.

fred

1:18am JST Monday 16 July 2007 (day 13627)

Online with Fred and dad, logged in to Fred's machine in Austin, using a split screen screen session to watch Fred editing a fortran file in vi in one window and compiling it in the other. Technology can be fun.

my love hate relationship with english by akiko shimada

##14:04 Sunday 15 July 2007

Looking back over the years, I'm surprised by how much time and how much money I've devoted to English, the world's most dominant language.  Sometimes I love English, but sometimes I really hate it, feeling that my longtime efforts haven't been paying off.  I still have difficulty dealing with the language.  To begin with, English is illogical and capricious.  I don't think I'll be able to understand it completely even if I keep studying it for the rest of my life. It's just like a relationship with a guy, in which I'm worried that my love may be unrequited.  I feel uneasy about the future and begin wondering if I should stick with him.

And I realize that he, Mr. English, is not the only guy.  I look around and notice there are so many attractive looking guys in the world.  For example, look at Mr.  Italian!  He looks gorgeous, cheerful and friendly.  I imagine I can have a great time with him.  So, I decide to break up with my boyfriend, tell him that we should have some time apart, and leave him for handsome Mr. Italian!

Mr Italian and I hit it off very well from the beginning.  For the first several weeks, I feel thrilled by every experience with my new boyfriend.  He gives me new perspectives and pleasant surprises, which have been missing in the relationship with my ex.  Even our differences amuse me. (I even find our differences amusing.)  More than anything, I'm happy to see my improvement every day.  Could he be my soulmate?

However, after the honeymoon, things start to change.  He begins to show me his dark sides.  He looks happy-go-lucky, but deep inside, he's complicated and difficult to get along with.  I am disappointed to find that his amiable manner is just superficial.  For instance, when I tell him that I'll see a friend of mine, he always asks if the friend is male or female... always!  My ex-boyfriend was not so nervous.  He had only surprised me by asking whether I wanted to see one friend or a few friends.

I now realize how simple my life was with my old flame.  Suddenly, a lot of memories come back to me - how I first met him, our first fight and making up... Hey, I miss my ex!  OK, I know he has a lot of negative aspects, but I think I can handle them because I've become used to them in our long relationship.

After all, he's my Mr. Right.

So, I dump Mr. Italian and go back to Mr. English.  Acknowledging I was wrong, I tell him I've realized how much I loved him after leaving him.  And I ask him if he'll give me another chance.

Mr. English opens his arms to me and we get back together again.  I'm trying to make things work and feel comfortable being with him, at least for now.  Still, the world is full of temptations.  I may have another fling or a one-night stand if I get tired of our relationship again.  Because, some guys are just irresistible, you know?  Hey, that's Mr. Arabic.  Doesn't he look exotic?

nathalie

3:14am JST Monday 16 July 2007 (day 13627)

Just "met" (via Skype) Fred's girl Nathalie, whose voice sounds nice. She's pretty funny and nicely unshy. Perhaps I'm too used to Japanese shyness. She's getting a Masters in Education, and was shocked to see the facilities available to the hard-science peeps like Fred.

"They have wall-to-wall computers, and we have makeshift walls..."

When we talked about her coming over here (as in, it's 0.00000001% likely that she will), Fred was telling her about the crowds, and I found a video on youtube

I posted the link in Skype as Fred was laughing that we have 3 ways to chat, all open at the same time: Skype, gmail, and it took me a second to figure out the third one. Oh, a terminal in screen.

So, for fun, I was like,

bash-3.1$ lynx http://www.youtube.com/v/gQG-aLi7lOo

to see what would happen.

                                Crowded train

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bash-3.1$

- - - -

It was a bit against my morals, but I totally lied about how soon I could get there. I wanted a way I could word it so as to not actually lie, but I'm pretty sure Fred would have noticed. I was like, "the soonest likely time is this Christmas, but that isn't actually very likely; it's probably more like next year, but."

worcester telegram gazette news

##14:05 Sunday 15 July 2007

Worcester Telegram & Gazette News

All regions of the world will change, with the risk that nearly a third of the Earth’s species will vanish if global temperatures rise just 3.6 degrees above the average temperature in the 1980s-90s, the new report says. Areas that now have too little rain will become drier.

Yet that grim and still preventable future is a toned-down prediction,

And I'm glad to see that people are beginning to realize that we are in for some shit. I am beginning to think Trent Reznor's Year Zero (wiki is more understandable to the average bear) will come true. We are raping Mother Nature and she has to defend herself.

(smack!)