thedeadparrot

I have been fairly busy lately here, where it is exactly 12 hours apart in time difference. This is kind of a good thing in that I don't need to readjust my watch or my computer clock, but it's also kind of a bad thing in that I totally lose sight of what day it is, as my computer ends up reporting yesterday's date as today, since its clock is 12 hours behind.

The purpose of this trip, ostensibly, it for me to learn to speak Mandarin enough so that I'm not entirely pathetic at it. I'm not entirely sure this plan is working, because most of the time, I'm either coding or trying not to fall asleep or trying to figure out all of the technical vocab I entirely lack. About half the time, the people around me switch to Taiwanese so that I get completely lost.

All in all, it's sort of weird, because I feel homesick a lot in weird ways, and I remember this from my first trip to Taiwan a long time ago. It's a feeling like, "huh, I don't belong here, either," which was really painful back then, and it's mostly just annoying right now. Perhaps even more than in the US, I feel like people treat me like a freak, an outsider, and it's fair to say that I am, but I'm kind of tired of being treated like an idiot just because I can't fully articulate myself. It's always kind of awkward when yet another person assumes that I can't understand what they're saying, when I'm just not good enough to actually speak back with conversational competence. This whole thing is mostly brushing up against the fact that I'm not the most talky person in English, either, and my first instinct is usually to withdraw and hide in my computer.

I can't complain about the food. There is so much deliciousness all the time. Nom. It's all so excellent, and I always miss it so much when I go home.

I can complain about the insects, though, because omg, I am now covered in bug bites and it's not even like I've spent that much time outside. I have, on last count, two on my right knee, one on my left knee, one on my left shin, one on my right ankle, one on my left foot, one on each of my shoulders, one on each of my arms, one on my torso, and one on my right ring finger. I think I'm probably missing some, and I'm sure the number of these will double by the end of tomorrow. I'm not even kidding.

In addition, I've decided to go on reading the Temeraire books, because they were sitting around my house, and I needed books to bring with me on this trip. Currently, I am in the middle of Throne of Jade and trying desperately not to wince every single time Yongxin shows up. Or, you know, spending time wondering how awesome it would be to toss Laurence into the ocean. Repeatedly. It's kind of interesting to contrast the weird, exoticized Chinese of the book with, you know, the actual Chinese people around me here. WHATEVER, DUDES. I realize that this is what being a fan of Glee must be like for people who give a shit about anti-oppression work. I don't even have awesome song and dance numbers to use as a good reason for continuing on. (And yeah, you can say whee! dragons! but I feel distinctly left out of that squee, for reasons I have articulated before. AND YET I am still here.)

I'm going to be bringing the company computer with me to mainland China when I go in that direction in a few days (and ahahahha, let me tell you about funtimes trying to operate a computer when you can't read the language the whole operating system and window manager are using) so I don't know if I'll get around to typing up the kink_bingo fics that are slowly managing to dribble out of my brain. I hope to get more written, at least. My writing mojo has been all over the place over the last semester, and I am slowly trying to regain it.

Also, dumplings are delicious. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

Wow, this is a rambly, not-entirely-coherent post. I think I'll continue to blame the jet lag.

1.
My knuckles hurt from punching through a piece of wood. Owwwwww.


2.
Class I am TAing is eating my life.


3.
I haven't really been writing much. Except for this bit of the ninja!Foreman AU for hannah, because she wrote me this awesome story about food in the Trekverse.


4.
I have been getting other stuff done. Like, I cleaned the bathroom, took out the garbage, did my laundry, finished up a week's worth of homeworks and class notes, baked cookies, and set up port forwarding on my router. Productivity is awesome!


5.
Also, I gotta say, I am really fucking sick of people who complain about other people calling out racism/sexism/other-ism. I've run across a few of them, some even anonymously, and you know what? If you're one of those people who has a problem with me hating on your favorite TV/movies/books, you know where the de-friend button is, and I will not be offended. In fact, it will probably be better for both our blood pressures.

Yeah, fandom is changing, and fandom has changed me. You have no idea how important it was for me to discover the words to describe my discomfort and my anger and my existence, and I will always be grateful to fandom for giving me those tools. I am not an acafan. My degrees is in fields that are basically math with a tiny bit of engineering thrown in. I have never taken a class on gender or race theory.

You are not being oppressed by my anger. And when you say, "Why can't fandom be happier?" and, "Jeez, you don't have to make such a big deal out of it," all I hear is, "Why can't you sit down and shut the fuck up?"

Yeah, no. Not going to happen. I've been silent enough as it is.

Context and further discussion:
ciderpress brings the truth.
maschalismos has the screencaps.

So, as many of you know, there's this little election going on in the United States soonish.

This morning, I saw a video from the Rachel Maddow Show about how there's a record low in voter turnout for young voters this year (so far, at least, in early/absentee voting), and it depressed me quite a bit. Seriously? Are they just assuming Obama's won this one? Are young voters just that apathetic?

Part of me can't believe it. I've been looking forward to being able to vote since I knew what it was. When I was in middle school, we had a sort of mock election between Gore and Bush, and I went out of my way to make sure I had put a vote in. (Gore won, BTW.) My parents would take me with them to the polls and let me flip the little levers for them. I was just shy of voting age in the last presidential election, and it drove me nuts to know I had no say in what happened. I still have to yell at my parents to vote every couple of years. A mixup in voter registration two years ago meant that I didn't get to vote, and I bitched at everyone who would listen about it.

Maybe I haven't become cynical enough over the years, but I really do believe all that warm fuzzy stuff about democracy and civic duty and having a voice. I do believe that voting is one of the most important thing an individual can do to show their patriotism.

I've already voted (absentee) in this election, even though I'm voting in a state that has consistently polled for Obama in the double digits. All my friends (with one exception) who are citizens have voted in this election or will vote on election day. After a quick poll at lunch yesterday, we discovered that even though none of us were voting in the same state, we were also voting in incredibly blue states, and as such, not counting for much in the presidential election, and that's okay with us, because it's important that we vote anyway. I had a minor freakout when one of my Californian friends was filling out his absentee ballot, because of Prop 8.

Look, I realize that I'm preaching to the choir, here. And that it might be too little, too late. But if you can, please vote this year. It's important.


And now for pictures of adorable kids being involved in the political process:
What This Election Means
Girls 4 Obama

Okay, so classes were mostly good. AB hour of doom lived up to its reputation, especially since it's Econometrics, and while it may be useful for Econ in the future, statistics is still the Devil's Work.

I was worried about my Computational Theory course, but after Econometrics, anything will probably look good, and anyway, the material was actually interesting, which helped.

Programming Languages has an awesome professor and seems like an awesome class, but it wasn't offered last year, so everyone is taking it now, and I'm not sure if I want to take it when there's a class that big.

Investments is tomorrow. Let's see how that goes.

I am moved in! And mostly settled! And start work on Monday! (eep)

Also, have internets, even though Comcast is evil and does not "support" Linux. Fuckers.

I am also quite amused by the fact that this really is bumfuck, MA. Man, I really need to get a Netflix subscription.

Still alive.

Still writing, mostly. I had this random House fic idea, and then I spent like an hour working on it instead of reading Farenheit 451. WHICH IS (A) BAD (THING), OKAY? Other stuff is updating slowly, because I'm really wary of fucking up my wrists. Fucking up my wrists is bad.

The SGA fandom is trying to steal my soul. The fic is so pretty. Plus, the show really sucks. In funny ways. On the other hand, Rodney is so my dork boyfriend.

Have been sick for a bit. Just a cold, but still really annoying.

ETA: Fixed stupid wording above.

Still alive. Barely. I really like Intro to Graphics, but it's also pretty intense so I haven't really been around.

Still working on the Five things. I swear.

Sandman is so freaking good. I just got Endless Nights, and I would totally lick it if that weren't gross.

I also got the third season of Arrested Development. Yay Bluths. I wonder if Michael's name is a very, very vague, subtle reference to The Godfather. That would amuse me greatly.

I'm also taking a Pop Culture class this semester. I'll keep you posted if there's actually anything interesting that happens.

Milk + cereal = awesome, though Milk in cereal = gross. I like my cereal crunchy.

Thanks for all the birthday wishes everyone!

I've been mostly been absent due to TA camp and reorienting myself to college life. Classes start tomorrow. It's going to be pretty crazy.

I've been trying to write stuff, and it's going okay. I think my inner editor really needs to shut the fuck up sometimes. Seriously. Like, I think that most of what I've written has sucked, but I mostly write because I enjoy writing. I generally hope for non-suckage, but I'm not sure if that's always achievable. At this point, I think I'm a hack, because I keep using the same structures, the same ideas, the same patterns over and over again. It's kind of frustrating, because I don't know how to stop using them. They're a crutch I lean on a little too much.

Rar. I'll leave my writing angst at the door next time.

Just got back from a crazy-fun weekend in New York with my parents.

Saw two shows with my parents. One of these was Rent (which I totally blame on stars_inthe_sky), which was quite excellent. We did the whole "get tickets half off from Tkts" thing, and we got really good seats for cheap.

On the totally other hand, my mom and I went to go see Faith Healer. mostly because of Ralph Fiennes. You see, my mom has only two pop culture obsessions. Clay Aiken and Ralph Fiennes (yes, weird, I know), so it seemed reasonable to take the chance and see him live while we could. (Also, Ian McDiarmid was in it, which makes me, I think, a giant geek.) It was good, and also, quite the opposite of Rent.

Also had lots of good food. Yay.

So I've been reading a lot of Angel fic lately, and I've realized that he's totally that character type that really draws me in. The kinda assholic, deeply obsessive, deeply caring guy with Issues (see: Roy Mustang, Jack Bristow, Bruce Wayne), though I can't quite put my finger on why I'm really drawn to it. Maybe it's their sheer badassness, maybe it's because they give really good angst.

Still can't write, however. It's at the point where I don't think I'm ready to try a ficathon, simply because I'm paranoid of letting down my recipient. Am trying to put together a fanmix though. It's kind of risky, in terms of various genres it throws together, so I hope I can get it to flow right.

Have received a job offer from IBM for a summer internship, which kicks major ass. I am quite excited.

Upgraded my Ubuntu install to Dapper Drake. I am liking it quite a bit. Lots of nerdy goodness. There were some bumps along the way, but I think they've all been straightened out. I am liking the new version of Times New Roman (I think?). The old one was butt-ugly and annoying to look at.

So, how have you guys been?