Wednesday 1 February 2006

Pic of the day: Since I forgot to bring my camera, please accept instead this picture of Multi and Hiro (I think) cleaning the floor at school.

Washing

Tomorrow, a hired expert from a cleaning firm will come and wash out my old apartment. After around 20 years of continuous habitation of the male kind, this will probably be quite a job, although I am sure they have both equipment and experience superior to mine. Today I went there and washed quickly over the place (an hour or so) in the possibly mistaken belief that I might save a few dollar on that. I got the bill for the new floor (came in the old mailbox, but address change takes hold tomorrow) and it was like 50% more than I had guessed. Not that I think they have swindled me or anything, I have the invoice and it seems reasonable enough. I just don't have the experience with such things to guess precisely, and hopefully won't for a long time. I would not be surprised if the washing too will be fairly expensive. So saving a few dollars here and there might be a good idea.

To that effect I have decided to change my daily diet. No more buying chocolate pudding and caramel pudding each morning. Instead bread with jam from home and half-liter boxes of yogurt, which are cheaper than the smaller boxes. Apart from food, I don't really expect any big expenses. I bought a new machine recently, quite cheap since it only uses free software and doesn't have a dedicated graphics card, but it should meet my needs for a server. No other tech expenses are in sight until I need to get one or more of the machines repaired. So I'll concentrate on paying my bills for these five months, so I'm ready to move if necessary. Hopefully I won't need to pay double rent for 4 months the next time! Actually, hopefully I won't have to move for a couple years, but that may be overly optimistic since my lease expires on July 1st.

Back to food: I remain hungry. My stomach can only be consoled briefly. It is pretty funny to observe. I have a lot more sympathy lately with the people who feel like this even when they are fat. It feels like a very real need, and quite intrusive. It makes it that much harder to concentrate on anything else. Not impossible, but the mind returns to the stomach as if tied with an elastic line. Of course this is not entirely unique, I have after all been a male for many years and the mind does return to other instincts as well, but it kinda feels more real or something. More serious, I guess. As it would indeed be, if I lived in the wild and food would be scarce much of the time. But a quick visit to the supermarket tells me otherwise. Oh well. What says Lao Tzu: "The wise is ruled by his belly, not by his eyes." Heh.

The house remains cold, at least in the night. And it was still morning when I left, and dark night when I returned from my washing job (and two bus rides after that, since I'm not on the same line). I soon put on a thick winter jacket for my stay in the computer room. The computers are surely not complaining, this must be a paradise for them. The basement is even colder, where my washroom is. I washed a couple pullovers as well. I'm drying them in the bathroom, though. I can't imagine how long it will take for heavy wool clothes to dry at just above the freezing point.

Hmm, these spherical candles could probably burn through the whole night (and the next day as well) safely. I also have them standing on metal feet, and these again on a fireproof surface, so it would probably be safer than almost any other heating. But it just goes against my ingrained habit. Besides, it's not like I'd benefit much from that heat anyway. I do spend a bit of time at home before going to work. I think of it as loading the world, like when you start a new game of The Sims or Animal Crossing. ^_^ But it's still only an hour or so, and keeping the rooms hot all night just for that ... well, I won't let the place freeze over, but I'm not growing palm trees here either.

Anyway, it's bedtime. This evening was shorter than usual, of course, with the washing trip taking a few hours altogether with travel from work and back. My current Sim, Magnus Reinboe, is doing very well in college with only a helping hand a few times each semester. He would surely survive even without that, but might get less than perfect grades unless I make him write his term paper and such. Also, he's a knowledge Sim so he gets aspiration points for schoolwork. I suppose I am a knowledge human myself, but at least at my age it is a bit more subtle than getting points for writing essays. Except you might not know that from reading my journal sometimes...