The Grouch's Trash Pile [Baldur's Gate 3]

Hmmmm apparently barley doesn't agree with me anymore either - I went and got regular rice crispies instead of the expensive gluten free kind aaaand they make my mouth hurt. T_T Why is malted barley even an ingredient in puffed rice cereal!!

 

I did a big cleaning/descaling of my electric kettle and my coffee maker recently, since the weather is starting to look a little autumny and I'll be wanting hot beverages again. The kettle works like new, the coffee maker... well, let's just say I couldn't remember the last time I'd cleaned it, and I was able to tell. x_x After five cleaning cycles and a number of rinse cycles and it was *still* producing gross stuff, I finally gave up on it and bought a new one. Same little 6 cup model, just ten years newer. I feel bad for throwing out something that still ostensibly works, but... it was pretty gross, and coffee from it had tasted weird for ages, to the point that even the most basic drip coffee from a cafe tasted fancy in comparison.

I just had my first cup from the new machine of a super fancy chocolate cherry coffee I just had to try, and I grudgingly admit that replacing the old machine was a good idea long overdue. I've got more spoons/initiative for keeping things clean than I used to, so here's hoping I can do well by this machine.

(omg this coffee is good. I can't justify paying 5.50€ for a 200 gram bag of coffee very often, but... it's so good! T_T)

 

coffee coffee coffee coffee coffee COFFEEEEEE!!!

... I only had two cups, why do you ask? 8)

 

Found the error in the sandbox program and fixed it, put my “I give up” message in the asteroids program and submitted it - Java course done!

Now I see a Scala course started today, and it has an English version :eyes: even though it’s introductory, I think I’ll take it - I can take an exam after and get a certificate for it and I presume they’ll have the exam in English. I can also read the Finnish version alongside for language learning.

I’m only at this workshop for another six weeks so I’ll have to improve my work hygiene at home since to get credit, I have to meet deadlines. But... I think it’ll be worth it? Even if I am kind of retreading the same ground.

 

I finally tried out some little packaged cakes I'd been eyeing - they're from a good brand but at 3€ for two little salted caramel cakes about the size of small cupcakes, I was reluctant to try considering how incredibly hit or miss wheat free baked goods are. Today I just went for it and OMG. Dense, moist, super flavorful, with some salted caramel filling as well as topping.

WORTH IT.

 

Me, this weekend: Argh, I have to remember to install Eclipse and finish this week's assignments since I don't I'll have time on Wednesday to get them done before the noon deadline.
Me, just now, discovering that all I had left was two small feedback sections: GOOD JOB, PAST ME :D

 

Scala course continues to be good. It’s thoughtful, the text is often funny, it’s clear and thorough. I do still get tripped up by the requirement to have an equals sign before the curly brackets on functions/ methods, though (which ate up an hour of my time trying to figure out why I couldn’t get one assignment to work...)

Also did a tiny bit of translation work for the rehabilitation center - basically running some very basic flyer text through google translate and then making it make sense and sound natural, while not getting tripped up by translate’s dumb errors (idk how it ended up translating skeittaus - skateboarding- as surfing, but whoever submitted that as the translation needs a talking to!). It was pretty simple but I impressed people all the same, which I’m mildly surprised by but hey, I’ll take it.

 

hey


why the hell do I have RIDGES IN MY SCALP NOW

 

also I regret buzzing my head, even though the edges of my undercut were messy and uneven at least I didn't look like someone's grandpa like I do now >:T

 

Hat opportunity?

(I dunno if anyone else gets as hype about hats as I do. I may be an Outlier.)

 

Definitely hat opportunity. Once I get done sulking I need to see if I can find some crochet slouchy beanie patterns that work with my aesthetic.

 

I have been tempted by this pattern before but I know once I get something that extra on my head it would literally never leave it

 

When I buzzed my head I also went with the hat opportunity it presented

 

I think that's a little too much for me at this point in time XD I'm going to look for something more basic to start with, since I'll need something immediately... autumn equinox was not the smartest time to do this to myself. Brrrr.

I'm not sure what's out there that suits a grunge/goth/industrial aesthetic, but surely there's something...

 

I dug through my yarn stash and re-discovered the yarn my mother in law gave me last Giftmas - which is in bisexual pride flag colors! I'm sure it's total coincidence and she just picked out colors she thought I might like, but it's a fantastic coincidence. :3

I just need to figure out how I want to arrange the colors, since I'm going to try making a ribbed band and then working the rest of the hat up from that - like this style. (That shop is great for inspiration, too.)

 

I need to get back to Nier: Automata... I didn't mean to stop playing it, but I started coming down with a nasty cold and my grandmother died on the same day last May and I couldn't deal with new things, and so it just kind of fell by the wayside for a while. (Probably for the best; I don't think I could have taken a highly emotional game at that point.) The next Alliance Raid series in ffxiv is Nier-themed, though, so I really want to get through it... but shifting gears away from Favorite Game is hard. :(

I had vague thoughts about restarting since it's been months, but I think that would only delay me even more. This isn't like a multiplayer game where I'll drag down the team if I have to re-learn the controls, self, and I doubt you forgot that much of the story, it'll be fine!

 

I got an anonymous gift on Subeta of a little thing on my wishlist! Thank you, gay mothman, whoever you are.

 

My advisor told me about this Hive coding school in Helsinki, and I'm feeling extremely doubt.jpg about it. It's free tuition, but I'm not sold on the whole peer-to-peer learning idea (three years of group projects...) and some of the wording and the time requirements give me a very strong impression that they will not address anything about what is wrong with current tech culture or how to maintain a healthy boundaries around work and personal life. For example, if you pass their online test and check-in meeting, you have to pass their on-campus four week training period, which requires more than sixty hours per week.

Now I realize I'm a risk adverse coward is who a bit of a baby at giving up any of my overabundant free time, but to me that doesn't sound like training, that sounds like a boot camp to get students used to having poor work-life boundaries and to make the at least forty hours a week for the three years after (including two 4-6 week internships) seem like a really good deal. Same with the 24/7 campus - it's presented as being accommodation for people with various life situations, but knowing what I know about the tech industry (and that their about has a section labeled 'Your Second Home') it sounds like another way to break down work-life boundaries.

It's doubly suspicious to me that they apparently originally only accepted applicants 30 or younger and the website text is still very geared toward catching the interest of young people - I don't feel it's too cynical of a take to think that's at least in part because young people are easier to convince to work themselves into nubs.

And their open community section made my shoulders go up around my ears:

But, you know, nothing about accessibility, accommodations, anything substantial about actual commitment to real diversity and support of minorities.

The site also talks about how its model is a French school founded in 2013 that has a 100% employment rate for graduates, which sounds wonderful... but how many people graduated of those who were accepted? What the graduates' backgrounds? What kind of financial and familial support did they have? Were any of them disabled or from any other minority?

Ugh, the more I think about this the madder I get, even putting aside that regular old 40-hour work weeks at actual jobs that paid wore me thin within six months. This feels exploitative.

 

And tbh a 40-60 hour a week learning experience that is going to consist primarily of - let's be real - nerdy young cis men doesn't sound like a great time to me.

 

I agree, that sounds like utter horseshit. You aren't being a baby, you're identifying what looks like a real problem.

More than sixty hours per week? Nope nope nope unless you're the only doctor during a disaster there is no good reason to work longer than forty per week, fuck that