i just returned from a lecture by richard stallman. i tried to get some friends of mine to go, any friend actually, but when not even those who i thought were into computers and free and/or open software knew who he was i felt a bit crestfallen.
so i crammed into the draken cinema alongside a crowd of 99% sweaty men and listened to rms preach about gnu/linux and the four basic human rights as they relate to computer software. i’ve read most of it before, but it’s nice to see the man himself deliver. i had to leave when the q&a started, but caught enough to hear him berate the questioners as more or less imbeciles. he’s such an adorable geek in that way – if you don’t do your homework or ask silly questions he’ll call you on it.
(a photographic curiosity is that a guy at the other side of the room took a flash photo at the same time as i took mine, so i actually caught his flash. not that big odds of that happening.)
as of two days back, i’m a working kind of guy. from eight in the morning until five in the evening i’m behind the counter at the photo store, trying to imitate someone who actually knows what they are talking about. ok, most of the time i know more than the person asking me, but it’ll take a while to get the hang of it.
the past two days have been spent learning the antique system that they use for shipping and receiving. the stupidity of the system employed (which entails printing out seven different papers, using two printers, and a bunch of different computer apps) is baffling. if computers, and especially computer applications, can be said to have developed over the years, then the applications used in this instance are technically retarded. if you think i’m using the expression in a derogatory fashion you might want to refer to a dictionary.
at the same time, i’m filling out a questionare about chewing gum of all things. a gum manufacturer has given me a bunch of gum samples and thinks that they will benefit from me answering questions like:
I feel refreshed while chewing this gum
I feel refreshed after chewing this gum
I can imagine chewing this gum while reading or studying
I can imagine chewing this gum while walking, driving, using public transportation and/or bicycling.
me and a coworker (whom i gave one piece of gum out of the alotted six) agreed that this gum was best suited for “standing around” and/or “talking”. it was also a bit too soft. i can’t begin to imagine the amount of money the manufacturer has to shell out to get this nonsensical information that somehow will end up with yet another type of regular, fucking, gum.
seeing as i might appreciate some cheering up, anna and jan suggested they make dinner yesterday. awfully nice of them since my eyes lack a certain zest if not outright will to live after working (people work nine hours a day for a living? insane!)
anna has family visiting as well, so the dynamic duo decided to swag it up a bit and do a non-vegan concoction that would be esthetically pleasing, taste good, and (i imagine) be really cool and elaborate. so they dug out some cheese and bacon and chicken, had fish and shrimp for starters, and actually put the work in to make their own mayonnaise.
besides going out to get some pepper and lemon, i sat comatose in my room until someone calls out to me. tired, but glad that i don’t have to cook anything, i step innocently into the hall. the aroma sort of stops me in my tracks. i check to see if all that working and biking in the day has turned me into a walking pile of sweat, but sweat doesn’t smell like that. this is the smell of death. somehow the combination of fowl, egg, rotten cheese, fried chicken and whatnot has melded into something from CSI. you know when grissom or one of the others step into a room and immediately throw their hands up before their faces, saying Oh, God! What is that?. it was the smell of three hookers and their pimp left dead in a shipping container. and not the “pretty woman” type of hooker.
my food was very good once i stopped breathing through my nose though. tomorrow is a day off, and i plan to sleep until eight. at least