I wrote this post starting in SFO airport on Sunday.
Here’s an interesting fact for ya that I didn’t know until ten minutes ago: BART service doesn’t start until 8 a.m. on Sundays. It’s 5:33 and I’m camped out on what is looking like the only seat in the house that is next to a power outlet.
The fam already went through security, so it looks like I’m going to be falling in love with this stretch of terminal. It’s a relationship I can commit to, at least for the next two hours.
Have I mentioned I’m totally in love with iPhoto ’09? I like photo organization apps (I used Photoshop Elements when I was on my PC), but with iPhoto ’09, it has face recognition, so it searches through all your photos, you tell it who the people in the photos are, and it finds nearly all pictures of them in your library. Also, it will plot your geotagged photos on a map in the application, and let you see where all your photos were taken. Before, I had to rely on Flickr’s finicky support of geotags. So I’m running my geotagging application at all times now.
It’s odd how the universe decides whether I should have connectivity. I mean, I’m in an airport, so I would imagine there’d be wi-fi, but the “t-mobile” access point doesn’t work, and my phone refuses to tether (it works 90% of the time). I rather like that my devices have their own personalities. I anthropomorphize my gadgets to no end.
I was just so desperate for human contact last night that I filled out an entire profile on the preeminent hipster dating site, okcupid. I was computing on my uncle’s couch with my grandma on the couch next to me, so I couldn’t answer that urge in the normal way. The way that condo is set up, there is no privacy at all. It’ll be nice to be home. Not that I have much privacy there, but when I barricade my door with both of my 20-pound weights I can watch all the Star Trek and Damon I want with impunity.
This trip made me realize how much I take physical contact for granted…I’ve been too tired when I’m in town to actually go out, and hamstrung when I was in Burlingame by the lack of alone time. I swear, this one guy got on the BART train when I was coming into town last time…he wasn’t even that cute but I just wanted to jump him, take him back to my house, and have a sleepy afternoon snuggling in bed and listening to Slowdive.
I feel like I’m on the fast track to become a friendless hermit like my father, which is a fate worse than death. I guess that’s not true, but it feels like it after the past two weeks. My mom and my grandma were very grateful for my help in providing directions (a la Google Maps for mobile), for company in the Condo Fortress of Solitude, and for my help in retrofitting my uncle’s house (removing a few doors and figuring out how to remove the shower doors).
My grandma gave me some more money for my graduation. Even with buying those two hard drives, I’m still far from poor. It’s so weird. I’ve been playing with the idea of getting an internet tablet or a netbook, but I don’t think it’s really prudent.
My investment in hard drives comes just as everything seems to be switching to cloud-based storage. There was a time when I used Outlook for all my e-mail because I wanted it to be on my hard drive at all times. Some time in the past (I remember this), I decided all my old emails were useless, so I deleted the big backup file with all my mail in it. All the e-mails I sent to Kelly when I was in high school, poof, gone. 20/20 hindsight. But now, all my mail is on gmail and I can’t imagine using a desktop client. Well, I do use a desktop client, but it’s basically just a special web browser customized for gmail. I realize that I’m going to have nearly two terabytes…probably more if I calculate it all out. And for what? I used to download a lot of TV shows, but I rarely (if ever) watch them any more. There are movies, but I have more than enough space for movies already.
I guess the main point of this purchase was to replace those two ancient drives which had a lot of important data on them and would make crazy clicking noises whenever I’d ever access anything that was on them.
I’m listening to an album I downloaded at about 2 a.m., Walls by Apparat. It’s a lot of multilayered sonic environments with a very precise and subtle approach to melody.
This cheese danish I ate this morning is doing somersaults in my stomach. Be eight, be eight. But no, it’s only 6 a.m.
This weekend I’ve been watching the short films that won awards at Sundance, they were a free download on iTunes last week. They are really great. There’s this one, called James. It’s very powerful. When I have connectivity again, I’m totally going to link it.
Too sleepy to read, too sleepy to watch a movie from start to finish unless it was softcore porno like Shortbus (verboten in the airport), so all I can do is watch music videos.
These people have a Siamese cat on a leash. It seems incredibly freaked out by the noise and bustle of the airport. Parents have no control of their kids…this toddler ran over, then tried to pick up the cat and run away with it.
I never e-mailed Taggart back. I should have left him a message when I called. I think we’re doomed. Only unfulfilled love affairs can be romantic.
I’m in this feedback loop where I keep opening Firefox (Page Not Found), oh…no Internet…I wonder what’s going on on the Internet! (Page Not Found) oh no…no Internet
Oh thank god, I just remembered I have Molly’s novel, I was halfway through.
*timeslip*
I’m loving this novel…it’s like when I read The Mandarins and think about who the real people she’s writing about are (the people in her circle are pseudonyms).
Walked up to the BART station, took some pictures on the AirTrain, and headed to San Francisco. I was hoping Taylor would call and give me an excuse to delay my return, but I was feeling totally fucking exhausted from getting no sleep at the condo.
I would wake out of my half-sleep at every BART stop and then go back to sleep. It took me 30 minutes to realize I had to transfer at 12th street (I’d never taken the train to Richmond on Sunday so the schedule was all whacked) I didn’t want to transfer at 12th because I think that’s where that guy got shot.
Downloaded the most recent This Week in Tech podcast on my N95 while waiting for Amtrak, listened to nearly the whole thing on the way home. Wireless podcasts = epic win.
Sat opposite two straight couples on Amtrak. The man in each couple was talking endlessly, like a tour guide. Both girls, as if in unison, nodded and agreed with everything the men said. Amtrak to RT, RT to Vespa, Vespa to bed.
Categories: Ennui