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[raven]

Reasons why I, and other people, but mostly me, are made of epic fail:

1. My laptop is suffering from, and I quote the computing services here, "spontaneous hardware failure". ("That sounds like spontaneous human combustion," Maria said, and I am forced to agree.) What does that mean, I wailed. "Sometimes," the man said, "sometimes, chips just die."

Great. "We'll take it apart for you no problem!" he said.

I find the thought of someone taking Loki apart very violating, for some reason. But at least they aren't saying it's irredemable, which is something.

Er, yes, this is me typing on Loki. It's best not to look to closely at this phenomenon in case it disappears. Like quantum.

2. I came back from the computing services and went back to bed. Slept fitfully for an hour or so, woke up feeling hungry, went into kitchen for late breakfast with assorted flatmates. When I went back to my room, my scout had locked it. With the key inside. I should point out that my attire was, well, not something I mind my flatmates seeing me in - my flatmates have seen me in worse states, it must be said - but, yeah. I went to Claire and demanded clothes, and went determinedly down to the lodge wearing one boot, one sandal, half-pyjamas and half-jeans.

Fail. Oh, so much fail. They did get me in again, and I thought the day had to start getting better, which brings us to point number three.

3. So, there's me having a shower and getting ready to face the hopefully now-improving day. I drop the soap. I reach down and pick it up, and note in bemusement that the whole floor is awash with red. It looked like some sort of cheesy B-movie, honestly. Blood everywhere. I eventually discovered, and dressed, a cut on my foot - no doubt acquired by the walk down to the lodge - but in the meantime, it looked like I was disposing of evidence, seriously. I'm just glad it happened before my scout came in, as she already thinks I am some sort of moral degenerate because I always go back to bed mid-morning. Sigh.

4. Some time actually passed. I ran around everywhere, I got out many, many books on Nietzsche, I handed in a dreadful essay on Cold War détente, I got stuff in order, and then I went to London in the afternoon to have dinner with Shubhra, American cousin what has abandoned the mother country, and my dad. We were all settled in a cheery restaurant somewhere off New Bond Street when Shubhra said, "I can smell something funny." And then, "Iona... you hair's on fire."

Yeah, I set my hair on fire. I win at life, I really do. I sat back down and tried not to notice the people moving to sit downwind of me. I can still smell it, sort of. Sigh. I managed to get home without further incident, but still.

Reasons why I, and other people, but mostly not me, are made of win:

1. chiasmata telling the nice people at the Queen's Lane coffee house that she'd like a cream tea, please, with no cream. This might go under the fail list, were it not for the fact that she is made of win anyway and cheered me right up after my morning of failure and Nietzsche and the bloody birth of tragedy. (Speaking of which, I really want to write fic where Darren and Geoffrey are Apollonian and Dionysiac and there are wacky pseudo-philosophical hijinks. There is something wrong with my brain other than the mantle of burning hair.)

2. Being in London with my dad and Shubhra. My mum sent me down some things - cake, and coffee, and proper spices: dhuniya and haldi and other things I cannot be bothered looking up the English for. And I have new boots. Boots are good.

3. ds_match is up and running! The first pair of stories went up yesterday, and there are more today. They are all made of win.

4. tau_sigma is also very much of great. I spent much of the journey back tipsily babbling to her about intelligent design and Egyptian food and natural sciences and indeed, burning hair.

5. Another thing that should probably go under the fail list, but. Shubhra today confessed a misconception that I thought was the best thing ever. The signs on the Underground, that say "Keep left" to stop people walking into other people going the other way? Yeah. She thought, she said, that they were political. That Transport for London were, in their small way, making the world a better place. Carry on, never surrender, bring on the revolution of the proletariat!

I feel bad for laughing as much as I did, but, you know. I still have a postcard on my door that says "You are now leaving the American sector." I couldn't help but laugh.

Right. Time for bed.

Comments

[me-ves-y-sufres.livejournal.com]

I can assure you from personal experience- scouts do not judge your moral rectitude based on how late you sleep in. As I recall, most of the time is spent a) wishing for a cup of tea b) wishing you could go back to bed and c) hoping you don't walk in on any people having sex.

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

You haven't met my scout. She is tall and Disapproving.

[shimgray.livejournal.com]

So, these are almost exactly the same thought processes the students themselves have? ;-)

[leiascully.livejournal.com]

Dhuniya is coriander, and haldi is what, fenugreek? No, that's methi. Ah, turmeric.

This is mostly for my benefit. *g*

Let's hope for less fail tomorrow!

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

I do hope so. No more fail! Please!

Fenugreek! Didn't know that one.

[wishfulaces.livejournal.com]

Oh, honey. Oh, sweetheart. It wasn't even Friday the 13th. How on earth did you manage to set your hair on fire?

Oh, gods, and I can totally see Geoffrey & Darren in such a story too. Does that mean there's something wrong with my brain as well?

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

Not entirely my fault, to be honest! Someone was walking behind me with a candle, and I happened to swing my head back at just the right moment. Total accident, but of the sort that only seems to happen to me. :)

Oh, yay! Maybe if you see it too, I won't have to be the one who ends up writing it!

[wishfulaces.livejournal.com]

I thought something like that must have been involved, but--yes, your luck today seems to have taken a turn for the truly terrible. (And wasn't that some fun alliteration?)

Maybe if you see it too, I won't have to be the one who ends up writing it!

So long as somebody *else* sees it who can write it!

[shimgray.livejournal.com]

Yay for resurrected laptop! Spontaneous hardware failure in laptops is sometimes a cooling thing; the fans get wearier over time, and the hardware runs hotter, and when it can't cool past a certain point it just trips a safety somewhere and powers down (and then refuses to come up again for a while).

It may help the long-term survival if you try fiddling your desk layout to encourage the fans to push through more air - examine the underside, see where the intakes for the fans are, and then arrange a couple of books so the laptop is balanced comfortably half an inch off the table but the intakes are unobstructed.

(I find clothbound pocket-sized editions are perfect for this, like, say, the old red Everyman's Library ones - about the right thickness, small enough not to stick out too much, and the hard rough cover means it shouldn't take any damage from a hot computer. ... and that is possibly the most surreal bookgeekery sentence I have ever written.)

[casirafics.livejournal.com]

I've made remarkably similar book rigs for those moments when the whim strikes to sprawl out on the carpet with my laptop. ;)

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

The thing is, I'm wondering if it isn't a real resurrection - what's actually happened is that I've discovered you can run one program at a time, but nothing more. (Firefox works, you see, but I haven't dared try anything else.)

But still, fans sound likely because my laptop's lost its supports that hold it off the surface. I shall have to investigate further. Thank you for the advice! (And yes, you're a geek! This is a good thing!)

[foulds.livejournal.com]

"Speaking of which, I really want to write fic where Darren and Geoffrey are Apollonian and Dionysiac"

You just made my head explode... Is Oliver some sort of Satyric Fury figure? Or Eris?

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

Oliver as Eris makes MY head explode. *g* Maybe I should write this!

[gamesiplay.livejournal.com]

This is awful of me, but I had to laugh at your hair catching on fire. It's just such a perfect expression of EPIC FAIL that it sounds as though it must be fictional, but it actually happened. (I am so sorry.)

...Okay, what in the world is a scout?

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

It is, isn't it! It was just so awful that I had to laugh, too.

You remember the first few pages of Brideshead Revisited, when Charles is in his room arguing with, er, Lunt, I think his name is? He's Charles's scout. They empty the bins, they come in once a week to clean, they look the other way if they find someone else in your bed, and if they find you dying, they report it to the college. (And because we have a flat rather than a staircase, our scout also cleans our kitchen.) They also prompt deep, deep feelings of MIDDLE CLASS GUILT OMG in everyone. Argh. Ours is inscrutable and Polish and scares me.

[marymac.livejournal.com]

Um. You named your computer Loki? Was that not slightly an invitation to chaos?

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

Reverse psychology! It worked for two and a half years!

[manynames.livejournal.com]

When we were in Toronto, my vegetarian best friend found that fast food places really didn't cater for vegetarianism, and had to ask for a roast beef sandwich, without the beef. The poor man behind the counter clearly thought we were just there to mock him.

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

*laughs* My dad did that in New York. It was another level of fail!

[nos4a2no9.livejournal.com]

Yikes! Your life is made of varying degrees of fail and win, and I was actually totally grossed out and fascinated by the bloody-shower incident. You didn't feel a thing, eh? Weird!

Did you get my email about the thing? I haven't heard back and I'm worrying my email system is fucking up.

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

I really didn't! And the odd thing is that today I did it AGAIN. Not as badly this time, but I cut my finger and got blood on everything, and didn't notice until I, er, squeezed a lemon. Ouch.

I did indeed get your email about the thing? Did you get my reply?

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

Er, I did, I mean. I am question-mark-happpy, apparently.

[lydiasings.livejournal.com]

Spotted you in theladiesloos - thank you for what you said about SSRIs and depression. You seem like someone I might get on with. Hope it's okay to add you.

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

You're welcome, I'm glad I could be of help. Of course you can add me! Nice to meet you. :)