journal for 2002-09-07
scanners!
We finally watched Scanners, today. It was about what I expected: a decent horror-ish movie limited by its budget and script. The concept (and, really, much of the execution) was dandy, but it really lost me now and then. The “scanning the computer” was pretty awful, and it was rendered entirely stupid when he scanned the computer over the phone. (“Well, sir, this top secret computer is connected to a modem that’ll accept calls from anyone. Did you see War Games?”)
The head-explodey scene was much less gruesome than I’d expected, although it was pretty gross. It also looked as if, were you to reconstruct the guy’s head after it’d exploded, he would have a head the size of a large watermelon. Of course, I didn’t spend a lot of time dissecting the frame.
mario
Mario got himself a few more shines today, bringing his total up to seventy-eight. I think I’ve beaten Shadow Mario in every level except Noki Bay, where I’m stuck on one of those infernal Secret stages. I guess that I’ll just need to get into the stage and play it a few dozen times in a row. After that, I should be well on my way to Corona!
work
Dire, dire news.
I’m going to Wales.
Now, that is not such a bad thing. I’m actually alright with going back to the UK; I get along with my co-workers, and the pub has a good meat pie. The problem is something else, and twofold: I’m going for three weeks, and I’m going to spend it writing “code” for JD Edwards OneWorld, one of the most wretched pieces of software it’s ever been my displeasure to use. I haven’t done much of anything more sophisticated than simple report writing since May 2001, and then it was only training exercises. I’m not enthused to be tried by fire on something I despise. Still, I don’t have much choice, so I’m trying to keep a brave face.
I’m also somewhat miffed that the trip is slated for early October, meaning that just after I get started with Animal Crossing, I’ll have to put it aside unless I take the Cube with me and acquire a PAL/NTSC converter, which strikes me as a bit much.
Most likely, I’ll try to kill time by playing a lot of GNU Go and improving Debug for coff compliance. Really, I should try to get some reading done, too, but that didn’t go so well, last time.
Spending three weeks in a hotel just seems weird, to me. It definitely won’t be cheap for the company. Speaking of which, I’m going to need to eat lunch with my coworkers every day, because otherwise I have to pay for it. Food isn’t cheap in the UK, and it’s not like I can go grocery shopping; my hotel room has no fridge or kitchen. I’m not even sure what their laundry facilities are like!
I am just not looking forward to this exile.