The Bad News
Those of you who said I wouldn’t last a week in Japanese were wrong, but those who said I wouldn’t last two were right. It wasn’t that I couldn’t do it, it’s that I couldn’t do it without other things that were more important (my family, my research, my recovery) suffering greatly. I still plan to study it on my own this summer, perhaps sharing lessons with my son on weekends. And I’m still pretty proud of myself for learning all of the hiragana kana (including long vowels, short consonants, and glides) in under two weeks.
It’s summer, and I’m sitting in my office, coding data. (Well, blogging, really. But thinking/stressing about coding data.) Blech. I’d rather be floating in my pool, or tending my garden.
I have to travel again next week, much to my kids’ dismay. Only for a few days (to Santa Clara for Supernova), but I really am tired of traveling.
The Good News
Dropping Japanese lightened my psychic load more than I could have imagined. Last night I actually was able to relax with my family. The fact that it seemed like a barely-remembered luxury to do that was pretty telling.
While I have to work on the grant this summer, I set my own hours. If I want a two-hour lunch-and-sun break, I can take one. If I want to code data on my back deck (glare permitting), I can do that, too.
If I have to travel anywhere, Supernova’s a pretty good destination. I had a great time there last year, and I’m looking forward to meeting some new folks this year.
The iSight 1.02 firmware update seems to have finally gotten my iSight to work with my computer again, so I can videochat with my kids while I’m away! That will be fun.
My new 300GB drive should arrive this week. w00t!
I’ve closed comments on this entry, because the flow of invitations has subsided, but the number of requests (particularly from people with whom I have no prior interaction) has started to snowball. If you already know me—from offline or online interactions—and want an account, let me know through alternate means.
Five more GMail invites have appeared in my account today. If you’d like one, let me know.
Update: Mine are all gone. Five more new ones just appeared. Brilliant marketing by Google. Leave a comment if you want one.
You can also try here, here, or here. I’m assuming they all got additional invites to distribute tonight, as well.
www.flickr.com
|
