In which the term is over and I’m on Christmas break!
I barely left the house. I declined three different social invitations. I studied and studied and studied. Then I studied some more.
I powered through the Windows Client practice tests and the rest of the Linux + class. It took several tries to pass the final, but I managed it. Then I opened my Cisco Certified Network Associate course and realized that there was no way I could get through it and study for my other CCNA final too, so I emailed my instructor and told him that I was totally freaking out.
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In which today’s news storm has got me pretty bothered.
Why is no news source mentioning the most salient fact about WikiLeaks, which is that all the information given to WikiLeaks came from individuals who believed that the information needed to be made public?
None of the information was stolen. WikiLeaks has committed no crime, and neither has Assange.
The idea that government must keep secrets is a wrong one, but it’s so pervasive that questioning it isn’t even part of the current dialog. Military secrets, well, it seems obvious that they need to be protected, but how can any thinking person sanction hiding data on climate change?
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In which I update you on my educational progress.
As you know, I went back to school full-time this fall. I’m taking 4 courses: Windows Client, Linux +, Cisco Certified Network Associate (all online-only, via TestOut LabSim), and CCNA Exploration (also online, but with a classroom/lab component). The term is over next Thursday.
I’ve finished all the coursework for the Windows class and taken all the tests. I have one chapter and the tests left for the Linux + course; I expect to finish that tonight. I’ve done all the coursework for CCNA Exploration, and have a final next Thursday that I need to STUDY MY ASS OFF FOR. I have SEVEN CHAPTERS AND ALL THE TESTS remaining in the Cisco course. Gah.
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In which the banking industry has no manners because it feels it doesn’t need to.
I’m listed at Chex Systems.
The reason for this starts with a d and ends with ivorce; long story short, all the bills were in my name and we lived just at the very edge of our means and then he quit working and a bunch of shit went ballistic. An unscrupulous creditor put a lien on my checking account and fucked up my financial life. But instead of going bankrupt, I found a debt reduction program and I’ve been paying off my debt for the past three years. Even though it was our debt. So I’m not only not bad, I’m good, mmm’kay? Any bank should be pleased to have me as a customer, because if I were to find myself owing them money I would pay it back.
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In which there’s a quote.
Do you know how to make a match from scratch?
Could you grind lenses for your glasses? Do you know how to make guns or bullets? How to refine ore, how to make aluminum? Could you build a battery? Do you know how to wire an electrical circuit?
How about penicillin, do you know how to make that? Or sulfa drugs, could you make those?
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In which there’s a quick update.
- 1. I had two horrible weeks of panic and anxiety, but it seems to be over now.
2. I’ve redecorated the ‘box for Xmas!
3. This is the 9th week of a 10-week quarter. I’m freakin’ out because I think I’m behind in my coursework, my practice test scores are all over the place, and I’m half-convinced I’m gonna flunk outta freakin’ school. Argh!
4. The contract QA thing ended. There’s a small hope that I will be given more work, but it’s a small hope.
5. I will run out of UI benefits before school is out. I must finish school or I’ll have to pay back the benefits I’ve already received. I think I’m going to have to take a food handler’s certification class so I can wait tables or bar tend or something, but a P/T minimum wage job will bring in even less than I’m getting now on UI benefits. Gah.
Okay, yeah. I have to get back to studying now.
In which I voted, so I get to share a few opinions. With liberal amounts of gratuitious cursing!
1. I think the GOP has lost its bloody mind. THE SKY IS NOT FALLING, you stupid chickens. Shut up, for the love of God, you’re giving me a fucking headache.
2. I think the Tea Party is made up entirely of idiots. The bulk of them apparently are racists, for fuck’s sake, and I really want them to shut up about bailouts already. Let it go. It’s done. Move on. Jesus. I am, however, glad that the GOP is internally divided in this way because they’ll waste a bunch of cycles trying to redefine themselves.
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In which I want to go see Mother so much it hurts.
I thought maybe I wasn’t going to be able to deal with the Creator of a reality that contained within it the death of my beloved pet and companion, and in fact I pretty much only looked at my meditation corner over the next few days to glare at it and think angry thoughts, but not much time passed before I found myself sitting in tears in a hopelessly heartbroken Why? phase. (The Fuck You, how could You allow this phase didn’t even last a week, mainly because I knew it was coming; I’d known from the day I adopted her that she’d die first. So.)
The incarnation of my Satguru being physically so far away, for answers I had to resort to that most revered of traditions: opening books at random. Daughter of Fire was several pages about how the guru doesn’t do anything any more than the Sun “does” anything. The Sun is just the sun, but because of the Sun, flowers open and all life on Earth is sustained. The Awaken Children volume I pulled at random was an entire chapter about the same thing: how one must be in the presence of the guru to experience forward motion on the path. The other book I’d been reading, Autobiography of a Yogi, was in the middle of a similar exposition as well.
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In which IS IT YOU? Is it?
I got two books from my Amazon Wishlist today, but I don’t know who sent them! Whoever you are, THANK YOU! *smooch*
I don’t know if they’re a consolation gift or a late b-day prezzie or what, but I’m very excited about them.
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Instagram has become unusable crap, so please click the icon below to see my latest pics.
4 random books from my Library!
