Sam's L33t Journal

Ah, ye old meme-as-in-questionnaire going around, takes me back to the LJ days.

1. Are you an Essential Worker?

No. And far less so now that not so many people are shopping for airline tickets.

2. How many drinks have you had since the quarantine has started?

A few beers. I drink fairly little in general, and I'm less inclined to do so when I'm tired. And I've been very tired.

3. If you have kids... Are they driving you nuts?

Yes. I miss having some shrieking-free hours to work.

4. What new hobby have you taken up during this?

Nothing, really. Definitely increased the amount of home cooking I do. But I have less free time overall.

5. How many grocery runs have you done?

Since school closures, one Target run.

6. What are you spending your stimulus check on?

Not getting one. As someone else joked, you don't get one if you make more than $100k but less than United Airlines.

7. Do you have any special occasions that you will miss during this quarantine?

I'm missing some conference travel this spring, but those conferences are not happening. If Sandy Island Camp is closed this summer, that will be really strange. First year my family went was the summer I turned two. This would be my parents 33rd year and my 30th (I missed some years for various reasons, but they've missed none).

8. Are you keeping your housework done?

Yes. Though doing the house cleaning myself instead of having cleaners come every two weeks. (Still paying them, though. Similar for daycare.)

9a. What movie have you watched during this quarantine?

Lots of YouTube videos. Frozen a bunch. That Babies documentary series on Netflix.

This doesn't mention TV, but I've been watching The Handmaid's Tale. Which is very well done but I really need some not post-apocalyptic media. Also been watching some anime, most recently Beastars.

9b. What are you reading right now?

Not much of anything book-length.

9c. What video game are you playing?

Finished Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Started Individisble.

10. What are you streaming with?

Netflix, Amazon (plus a PBS Kids subscription), VRV / Crunchyroll, plus al la carte stuff from Amazon and Google Play.

11. 9 months from now is there any chance of you having a baby?

See question 3, lol.

12. What's your go-to quarantine meal?

A lot of veggies from that Boston Organics delivery subscription. Pasta or rice. Instant Pot lentils or beans. Salmon ("pink fish", an Eris favorite). Or just some frozen dumplings.

13. Is this whole situation making you paranoid?

Anxiety, sure, but it's not technically paranoia.

14. Has your internet gone out on you during this time?

No, it's been generally reliable if a hair flaky at times.

15. What month do you predict this all ends?

Maybe daycare will be available again, at least for a while, in June? Maybe. That's a big factor in a start of a return to normality for me. Daycares in Massachusetts are currently closed through May 4. But I don't expect they'll be reopening that soon at this point.

I think it will take about two years for things to approximate 2019 "normal".

16. First thing you're gonna do when you get off quarantine?

Maybe get a donut at Union Square Donuts. If they still exist.

17. Where do you wish you were right now?

This location is pretty good, but I wish my parents could visit again.

18. What free-from-quarantine activity are you missing the most?

Restaurant dinners and hanging out in cafes.

19. Have you run out of toilet paper and hand sanitizer?

No, though I'll need restock of toilet paper at some point.

20. Do you have enough food to last a month?

Definitely. Though not being able to get fresh milk would make Eris very sad indeed.

Since archangelwells asked:

A. List seven habits/quirks/facts about yourself.
B. Tag seven people to do the same.
C. Do not tag the person who tagged you or say that you tag "whoever wants to do it."

1. I often pat people on the head. (I resist this one much of the time, as some people find it annoying.)
2. I enjoy being tickled. (Though that's not to say I'd want to be tickled out of the blue.)
3. I can get really absorbed in music. With regard to me, trance is an accurately named genre.
4. I'm very un-picky. I like unusual flavors. There are very few foods I don't like. (I don't like fast food much anymore, but that's not because I find the taste unpleasant.)
5. I'm really shy about playing music publicly. I almost always use headphones.
6. Artificial light keeps me from sleep far more than daylight. Sound is also more disruptive to me sleeping at night than napping during the day.
7. After burning myself on a hot pan at camp when I was very young, I've been phobic about fire and hot objects. Took me ages before I was comfortable turning on the burner on a gas stove.

I'll tag fantwurm, _skye_, i_am_lane, polygonia, nurrynur, chiaki777, and larksdream.

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I don't usually do these, but I've got an answer at hand this time. The song in question is a Japanese children's song I learned in class at Brandeis. Raffi did a cover of it, so go have a listen.

春が来た春が来たどこに来た | haru-ga kita, haru-ga kita, doko-ni kita
山に来た里に来た野にも来た | yama-ni kita, sato-ni kita, no-ni-mo kita

鳥が鳴く鳥が鳴くどこで鳴く | tori-ga naku, tori-ga naku, doko-de naku
山で鳴く里で鳴く野でも鳴く | yama-de naku, sato-de naku, no-ni-mo naku

花が咲く花が咲くどこに咲く | hana-ga saku, hana-ga saku, doko-de saku
山に咲く里に咲く野にも咲く | yama-ni saku, sato-ni saku, no-ni-mo saku

The first verse translates as, "Spring is coming, spring is coming, to where is it coming? It comes to the mountains, it comes to the village, it also comes to the fields." Then the same thing for "birds are singing" and "flowers are blooming".

An old meme that I missed.  25 things about me that you might not know:

1. I've never broken a bone (fingers and toes aside), but I dislocated an elbow as an infant and it had to be casted.  I think my parents still have a pair of pajamas with one arm amusingly expanded.
2. I have cold urticaria, which means I break out in hives when exposed to severe cold (I also get hypothermia quite fast).  I recover pretty fast once I get inside and warm up, but it's annoyingly itchy.  I didn't know that name for that condition until today.
3. Speaking of annoying medical conditions, I have a Becker's nevus on my back, which suddenly appeared during college (don't remember which year).
4. I'm a compatibilist, which is to say that I believe that free will is compatible with a deterministic universe.  (That says nothing about whether or not the universe is deterministic (certainly seems to be at a macroscopic level, but that doesn't guarentee anything).  I'd guess that it is, but I don't think physicists know for sure, and I certainly don't know enough physics to say so.)
5. I had surgery on the muscles in my eye when I was in the first grade.  Never got to actually see the operating room, though, since the sedative they gave me beforehand had me out like a light.
6. My username started as an inside joke.  I still use it everywhere, but although I really like it, lately I also find it a bit embarassing sometimes.
7. I've read the whole Old Testament, a chapter a day.  Still have yet to get through the New Testament, though.
8. Reading The Screwtape Letters forever messed up my interpretation of my own internal dialog.
9. Sometimes, my main source of stress is that I have too many enjoyable things I could be doing.  Not a bad problem to have, I suppose.
10. I decided not to look at my grades in college, it was one of the better decisions I've made.  When my parents asked to see my college grades, I outright refused.  I recommend all college students do the same.
11. I miss my old cell phone.  My newer model is not nearly as good (no flashlight, doesn't keep track of the time when not connected, lacking the near-invincibility of the previous model).  Cell phones are still the one exception to my knee-jerk pro-technology stance.  (Edit: That last bit is no longer true.)
12. I refuse to get a credit card and make payments to "build up a credit history".  That this is probably the best example of me "sticking it to the man" is indication of how much I've sold out.
13. Pre-real-world, I didn't program as a hobby nearly enough.  Now, I want to take it up more, but it feels like work, and there are many things competing for my free time.
14. I identify with a lot of radical political and/or philosophical positions, but I don't really put them into practice.  (I think Singer is right, but I don't give nearly enough of my disposable income to charity.  I'd sometimes think I should be an anti-copyright ideologue, but I work making proprietary software.  Etc.)
15. When people wonder if I'm serious or joking, the answer is almost always both.
16. I used to be completely unable to tell if other people were joking and always assumed they were serious.
17. In elementary school, I developed a pathological aversion to laughter, such that if I heard people laughing I'd feel horrible, even if they were laughing in response to an obvious joke (of the "I'm going to tell a joke" kind) and I knew it had nothing to do with me.
18. I often think I'm able to give pretty good advice in situations where I'm completely incompetent (not a contradiction, I'm often awful at following my own advice).
19. When things are at their best, I feel this sense of calm amusement.
20. I sometimes (not necessarily "frequently", but way more than I'd like) have flashbacks to stupid things I've said or done.  It's just as bad in retrospect.
21. Most years since I was two, I've gone with my family for a week at family camp.  This year, I had to decide whether to go.  I'm going, but of the reasons against, the biggest wasn't money or vacation time, it's spending a week away from the internet (of course, given that, it's also a bit of a reason for).
22. I like my job, but I still don't have the ultimate marker of job satisfaction:  If I became independently wealthy, I'd probably quit.  (There just aren't enough hours in the day for all the things I'd like to do.  Plus, I'd like to go back to Japan.)
23. I'd like to live in the sort of society envisioned here.  Sure, maybe you can't get there from here (they certainly make optimistic assumptions about how human culture and personality would be shaped by such a system), but what if you could?
24. If I could be perfect at any physical feat, I'd choose parkour.  In reality, I'm incredibly quite poor at even the more constrained sort of running (better since I started working out, but still bad).
25. Going skydiving used to be a dream of mine, but then I developed a fear of heights and realized that I find the sensation of falling incredibly unpleasant (although I enjoy the sensation of flying very much).

The above is serious, it's still not April Fools'.

Courtesey of Yonmei: If you saw me in the back of a police car, what would you think I got arrested for? Answer me, then if you want, post to your own journal and see how many crimes you get accused of.

Meme time:

( FOOD! )

For the sake of reciprocity and interestingness:

I want you to ask me something you think you should know about me. Something that should be obvious, but you have no idea about. Ask away.

Then post this in your LJ and find out what people don't know about you!

Mmm... Freudian...

( Memage )

Meme courtesy of gerbilsage.