Cleanliness is next to Godliness

You know what they say. (See above.) So I decided to take a proactive stance on fighting messes that seem to accumulate around me. A long while ago I decided to keep my room food free. Not that I don’t eat here, but the plates or garbage that go with said food leave the room after the meal, and in no way do they stay overnight.

I always make sure that after popcorn or pizza, I air out my room to get rid of the smell, and make sure to put away all of the garbage/utensils/plates, etc. If I do this, I seem to get less mice or bugs interested in my house. Ever since last year, when I had a mice die in my wall, and leave a horrendous stench that no amount of opening windows, turning on air purifiers, or air fresheners could get rid of or even mask long enough for me to get some shut-eye.

After that happened, I started making sure that I clean up after myself in regards to food.

I didn’t, however, take up cleaning my bathroom or bedroom… evar.

A month or six ago… (search the blog for “new toilet”, and you’ll see when) I was preparing to have someone come in and install new water-usage-friendly toilets in our house, so I was forced to clean the pig sty/garbage dump that was my bathroom. I had to mop, I had to clean off the gunk that had accumulated behind the toilet, and in the sink, and in the shower. Now let me make clear how disgusting this was. I had lived in the house for 4 years without ever cleaning my bathroom beyond opening a window and putting the tiniest bit of comet in my sink and toilet. Yeah. I’m a lazy bastard, I know.

After fully cleaning it, and getting the new toilet, I vowed to keep it at least habitable by man without developing asthma or some sort of degenerative lung disease. I mostly held true to that vow, and thoroughly cleaned my bathroom once a month for the longest time.. ’til a few months ago when I realized while I had been cleaning the toilet at least once every month or two, and my sink every one to three… (not good, but I’m still lazy) I had neglected my shower, other than the automatic “Scrubbing Bubbles” shower cleaner that was in it.

I spent a day cleaning it out, and airing out the room, and let me tell you, it was DISGUSTING. The amount of black gunk, mildew, and mold that had accumulated… no wonder I dreaded having a shower in the morning… I could hardly breathe in it. But after cleaning it, it was superb, and still is to this day. (Though it has started to smell a li’l again, I don’t know why, as I still thoroughly clean it.. it just smells like soap scum and mildew very slightly when I first run ze water.)

So today I cleaned my bathroom again, as usual, but for some reason, I decided: “Hey, I’mm’a be adventurous.” Now this is not only because I was already cleaning, but because I had seen Nintendo’s warning about dirty Wii’s not being able to play Super Smash Bros. Brawl on Kotaku, Destructoid, Joystiq, and Digg. Not wanting to have to deal with returning my Wii again (I actually have a different one than the one I first bought, as they sent back one with a different serial, and of a slightly heavier weight… I don’t know what the difference is.) I decided to google “get rid of dust”, and was HORRIFIED to find out about dust mites.

Now if you have any problem with the fact that in your every day life there are small microscopic creatures living all around you, and indeed on and in you, that eat dead skin, excess oils, old food, and what not, do not (and I mean DO NOT) search Google for “dust mite.” ’specially not a Google Images search. Ever since I have, I’ve felt constantly itchy all over and what not, though that could also be from sweating, from cleaning.

Anyway, I (for the first time in about 2 years) brought down the vaccum, and vaccumed my room out thoroughly, and have had my air purifier (with HEPA filter) running all day. I flipped up my bed, took off all the bedding (although there’s only one sheet and one blanket, as I used to sleep just on the mattress, since in my sleep I kick off all manner of sheets, etc.) and washed it in the washing machine on extra hot, and put it in the dryer on extra hot…

It’s not yet dry, but when it is I’m going to be putting on one of those sheets with the elastics on the corner to keep it secured to the mattress, a second fitted (but not secured totally) sheet, my normal sheet on top of that, and my blanket on top of that. Clean pillow cases, and dusted/beaten pillows. That should help me sleep without sneezing/coughing, etc.

I also vacuumed out the hallway leading to my room, and part of my bathroom (not that there’s much dust anyway) and am now about to go take up my bath mat (y’know, the thing in front of the shower, like a towel with rubber on the bottom?) and put it in the washing machine… or rather, I’m going to let my mom do that, and ask her how, because I still don’t know how to wash it.

I’m also going to exchange all of my dirty towels for clean ones, and then put some Drano down the sink drain again, as it has been acting up a li’l again. (There were huge disgusting black gooey balls clogging the drain before. Not hair, as I don’t shave.. or even comb my hair. Ever. So I don’t know what it was.)

Furthermore, I’m going to temporarily go without my beard, as I’ll be getting a haircut on … well some day this week. I was about to say Monday, but that’s when I get Super Smash Bros. Brawl, so that ain’t gonna happen. Tuesday I’m going swimming with my mom, and if we can find ze cash (I was originally supposed to fix someone’s computer to pay for it, and other stuff, but they just never showed up with their PC.) go out to Saffron for butter chicken and naan, because my mom hasn’t ever had the good stuff, just a horrible recipe from her work.

Anyway, when I get my haircut, I’ll be having my beard shaved off (not moustache or anything though.. well, maybe. I look like a complete fool without at least my moustache, but it’ll never grow in thicker if I don’t shave it…) and my moustache, I guess, and let them grow back in. I’m going to go clean shaven for probably a week or so, provided I don’t get too lazy to shave every morning. This is all just to ensure that my face gets a rest from having all that hair, and so I can see which I prefer. (Though I always find I look stupid without a beard, etc, apparently girls do not agree. ;))

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The following (which could be bullet points) is just a smattering of ideas and happenings from my life that don’t go along with the motif of my post. Think of it as what scrolls along the bottom of the screen when Wolf Blitzer is talking about bombings in Iran.

In other news, I installed Ubuntu (7.10) on Nasir, and it now dual-boots that and XP. After fixing the art teacher’s laptop at school (which runs Ubuntu 6.04, for some reason) I realized how much I miss Linux, and decided to give it another go. Luckily it now fully supports read/write functions with NTFS, so I can store all of my files on the XP partition, and only have a 5 – 10 GB partition for Linux.

I’ve started watching Fullmetal Alchemist. I always wanted to, but just didn’t have access to it. Luckily my friend got me a source, and now it’s pretty good, even though I’ve only seen the first episode.

I got two manga..s? I can’t say comics.. graphic novels? Well it’s Manga, but I got Love Hina Volume 3 (1 is in the mail still) and Ranma 1/2 Volume 8 in English. I would have started at y’know.. 1 for Ranma, and gotten 2 of Love Hina, but when it comes to Bookmooch, you take what you can get. After leaving feedback for my two Garfield books that are still in transit (along with Love Hina Vol. 1) I’ll have enough to mooch another book from out of Canada, or two from in it.. so we’ll see what I get next.

I like Michael Jackson. I bought 9 of his songs, and made my own li’l.. Best Of In NobleArc’s Opinion album. They include: Thriller, The Girl is Mine (with Paul McCartney), Black or White, Billie Jean (Long 12″ Version), Beat It, Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough (2003 Edit), Smooth Criminal, Dirty Diana, and Human Nature.

I’m quite happy with ze selection. I also found out that I absolutely hate a song by Michael and Janet Jackson entitled “Scream.” The music video especially bugs me, as you can’t tell who is the woman in it ’til Janet starts fondling herself on ze camera. It’s upsetting.

I get Super Smash Bros. Brawl tomorrow. The video store already has ‘em in stock, but apparently they need to go through processing. I assume that means calling people on ze list (like me) and giving them their copies first, as well as putting for sale stickers on them, with prices.. etc. That’s why tomorrow during the first break (9:50 – 10:05) at school, I’ll be running over to grab a copy. They open at 10 though.. so I might end up waiting ’til lunch, and just calling at break.

I tried playing Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops Plus, but I really don’t like those kinds of games. I agree that Hideo Kojima is a genius, and I love some of the humor I’ve seen from the games, but I don’t like being sneaky. That’s the same reason I hate the Splinter Cell series. I’m still determined to give the original Metal Gear Solid and the two sequels a try too, though.

–

END TRANSMISSION.

March 9, 2008 · Filed Under Announcements, Gleipnir, IÃ°unn, Journal, Linux, Nasir, Projects, School

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“Inspiron” ?

First of all, I never ever ever post to this blog anymore. Maybe it’s because school just started, I made new friends, I’m busy studying and playing Magic: The Gathering after school for three hours nearly every day, or maybe it’s because I’m just tired from going to the gym every morning. Either way, I have gone into a blog-lull. Lucky for you readers though, I have to post here now. It’s manditory. It’s for school! In the 4th module of English 10 (last one, very short) 30 of the 100 marks you get are from keeping a journal, so I talked with le teachers, etc, and it turns out I can just make a daily post here about … my day, and get credit for it. Internet..huzzah!

Anyway, I’ve gotten back into playing Magic: The Gathering in a big way. Like.. super-o-bigga. It’s le fun, Coldsnap rocks, Time Spiral looks great, w00t for old mechanics, w00t for Urza. But on a more serious note, the courses I’m taking thus far this year are…:

Science 10
English 10 (for about a week to a month, just finishing it off)
Beginner’s German 11
Social Studies 10
Photography
Planning 10/11
Physical Education 10/11
And, if time permits, Math 9.

Because these courses vary so much, and because of the fact that I have a very hard time writing (penmanship-wise, not English-wise), and also because of the fact that the computers at school are on so much of a lock down that you can’t install Firefox, new virus definitions, or windows updates, and the last update was done in June 2005… I’ve decided to get a laptop. Only a cheap one, but one not so cruddy and without battery life that I can’t do anything on it. The laptop I chose?

The Dell Inspiron 1300.

Yes, a Dell. Yes, they explode, yes they come bundled with spyware and ass-gaskets, and yes it requires a lot of work to get it running normally. But I don’t care, it was cheap, and more powerful than the Lenovo C100 or N100. Specs posted below (taken from Dell website):

IntelÂ® PentiumÂ® M Processor 735 (1.70GHz/2MB Cache/400MHz FSB)
15.4in WXGA Display
1GB DDR2 SDRAM (2 512MB Dimms)
80GB 5400rpm PATA Hard Drive
48x/8x CD/DVD Burner (DVD+/-RW)
IntelÂ® PRO 2915 Internal Wireless (802.11 a/b/g, 54Mbps)
Integrated IntelÂ® Media Accelerator 900 Graphics (Comparable to an NVIDIA GeForce 5900 or an ATI Radeon 9600)
Genuine Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition (Dell recommends Microsoft Windows XP Professional)

It’s a nice li’l machine, and I think it will serve me well.

For now, it has no name other than lappy. Why? Because frankly, I’m getting really tired of the Norse mythological naming convention. It’s hard to choose a good name for it. My router is Yggdrasil, my computer is Mjolnir, my old computer is Freya, and my PSP is Loki. But that’s it. I’m done. It’s just going to be lappy, or some weird Star Trek, Star Wars, Stargate, or … anything else with star in the title reference. Why? Because I’m a geek, damnit. When I get it, I’m going to check and see if I’ve got backup CDs for any software I want to keep, download all the drivers from the Dell and Intel websites, download the Office 2007 Beta for it, and then just wipe the damn thing and install Windows XP Home with the included $19 backup disc. Why? Because it will be faster. I’m also planning on dual-booting a distribution of Linux, but right now I’m deciding between Ubuntu and Gentoo. Debian = slow to update and outdated, Ubuntu couldn’t exist without Debian, and Gentoo takes for FREAKING ever to compile. Bottom line, no SuSe or Fedora Core. I like .debs or emerging things from source.

Anyway, this post has gotten long, and I have homework to do (well, I have a choice of either writing an autobiography sketch for English 10, or studying some German. Welches wÃ¤hlt man ich…?

September 12, 2006 · Filed Under Announcements, Freya, Journal, Linux, Magic, Mjolnir, Projects, School

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Heeeeeere’s lappy!

I’m going to buy a laptop. Maybe I’ll use the Christmas money I get, or maybe I’ll use the money from fixing computers, or from the job I plan on getting in September. Either way, I need it for school, so it’ll have to go on my list above all else. (Else being an Xbox 360, a Nintendo Wii, a PlayStation 3, a BD/HD-DVD capable optical drive for Mjolnir, all of Buffy and Angel on DVD, a camera, a trip to Japan, etc.)

I’ve pretty much decided that I’m going with a Lenovo laptop, just because I’ve used quite a few Dell laptops, a few Sony VAIOs, a Toshiba Satellite here and there, and even a few Hewlett Packards, and the thing is.. none of them have ever impressed me as much as a ThinkPad. (Though the Toshiba Satellite line has come damn close.) The thing I want right now is the Lenovo N100. While technically not a ThinkPad, it serves my purposes for a school-use-and-type-on-and-play-HL2-from-time-to-time laptop. Plus, it’s got one o’ those there biometricamajiggers. Y’know, you swipe your finger across it, and log into Windows, or what not.

One other thing I want from the laptop is Linux capability. Like, everything (save the pointless 56k modem every laptop still seems to have) working in Linux. I’d love it if the li’l biometric thingy did, but I’m not going to hold my breath for it.

Either way, I won’t be getting this until December, so for now I’m just going to worry about how to pay for it.

This of course means I need to get a job, learn how to drive, etc. I’ve already picked out a few places to apply to for work, and I know I have a near-guarenteed job at the local McDonald’s, etc. I’m not going to apply for said job until I go back to school, because you get credit for writing up a resume and applying if you do it at school. Credit = good.

I’ve also picked up the “RoadSense Guide for Drivers”, so I can take my written test before I go back to school. Or at least, that’s the plan. Most likely I’ll spend the rest of the summer swimming and playing games with Ben, but who knows.

(P.S. Swimming laps in the ocean is … weird. You swim from one end of the beach to the other, and get tired very quickly.)

August 5, 2006 · Filed Under Announcements, Journal, Linux, Projects, School

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One helluvan update.

Okay, so maybe “helluvan” isn’t a word. I refuse to say helluva followed by a vowel. Sosumi.

My first PC Gamer finally came here. It rocks.

I’ve added a new album to my gallery and upgraded it to a newer version. Took a while, but ’twas worth it.

Because I’m too cheap and/or lazy to buy a Flickr PRO account, and zeeble won’t buy me one either, I decided to go back to using G2 for more than just screenshots. So, in short, (or long, rather), I’ve added a Photos album, with at least one sub-album. W00. I also renamed the gallery “TLC_G2: The Gallery of The Lazy Canadian”, just because the weird name that was en francais I had before was… tres lame. ;)

In other news; I’ve really gotten into photography. At least for now, that is. I’m planning on taking a photography course as soon as school is back in session, but there’s always the chance that I won’t get in, seeing as the last two years I’ve applied, but not soon enough. Here’s hoping I get in. (Wish me luck!)

Other than that, my life has been as it always is during the summer: Long.

The last discs of Buffy S4 came, and I watched them.
The last discs of Medium S1 are here, I’m in the midst of watching them.
I got a copy of Azumanga Daioh, and I’ve been watching it.
I bought Kill Bill Volume 1 and 2 for $20ish, and I’m going to watch them.
I rented “She’s the Man” and “Pride & Predjudice (2005)”, and I watched them.
Ranma 1/2 DVDs are in the mail, and I’mm’a watch them.

Basically, other than take photos, and go for hikes/swimming, all I do during the summer is… watch TV or movies.

Boring, yes, but I can’t apply for a job ’til September as well, seeing as Ben apparently has an “in” with one of the places I want to apply at, and if I get a job during the school year, I get credit.

I asked my mom to pick up the “driver’s guide” book… manual… thing, so I can take the first test. Why? Because I’m so bored I’ve decided to learn to drive. I don’t really want to, but what else is there to do? At least this way when I want to go to Gibsons, I don’t have to convince one of my parents to go. (I could take the bus, yes, and I wouldn’t be bored, seeing as I’d have my PSP, but I don’t like taking the bus, because it limits the time I can spend wherever I’m going, since I have to keep the schedule in my mind.)

Eh.. what else (long post, ’cause I haven’t posted in a while.)

Oh.

I still haven’t recieved the free Gentoo CDs that I sent away for. I suppose I’ll just have to wait, but when they get here, I plan on setting aside a week to install it. :X

I’ve been spending quite a bit of time on IRC again lately, and I’ve met most of the people that I fell out of touch with again. I must say I’ve missed ‘em.

Anyway, for the last few sentences, I’ve just been trying to check every li’l category box. And while I’m certain I could easily do so, by yelling something out about norse mythology and … uncategories, I won’t. Though now that I have… I’ll check the rest of the boxes anyway. (My Xbox isn’t used much anymore, my dad is taking care of my old computer, I like playing M:TG, uncategories ftw.)

August 1, 2006 · Filed Under Anime, Announcements, Ben, Buffy, Freya, IRC, Journal, Linux, Magic, Mjolnir, Projects, School, Ullr, Uncatagorized