9:10AM. I already read a bunch of pages in I thought it was just me by Brene Brown, and I exercised. Walking, jogging, yoga, and pushups. Then I showered and packed and shipped 2 eBay sales and I walked them to the mailbox.
I couldn’t do as much yoga as I wanted to do. As I held the poses in a traditional sun salutation, I felt incredible physical and emotional pain. I was ready to call the workout off, but I decided to sit and meditate for a few minutes before simply walking.
I am an addict. I spent most of yesterday on the computer, listing cards on eBay and listening to JRE podcast after podcast. Something is wrong with my operating system. I thought I was upgrading to Pop_OS! 19.10, but I ended upgrading to Ubuntu 19.10. So now I have a bastardized combination of Pop_OS! and Ubuntu, and simple packages like Nautilus have disappeared.
The upgrade process was poorly done, since I had not updated packages in quite some time. My system was on Pop_OS 18.10 which has become outdated and unsupported. I regret not having stuck with a long term support (LTS) release 18.04, or upgrading more often!
It will feel good to have a fresh installation of Pop_OS! 19.10, but it’s going to be a pain go get it to that point. I have to scrounge around and find hard drives in my archive which have enough space to back up important files onto. It’s moments like this where I wish I had a large NAS on which to offload files. That way, I wouldn’t have to worry about losing files that are on my laptop should my laptop become lost or stolen… There are pros and cons to the NAS scenario, but right about now I wish I had one with petabytes of free space!
Anyway, I’ll figure it out. I’ll get my system running again and rid it of all the crusty old packages which are installed but no longer used. According to screenfetch, I have 3536 packages installed, and a fresh installation only has around 1000 packages.
I know this process well. My workflow will be interrupted while I spend a day or two getting everything back to how I like it.
I’ll figure it out, and I’ll be better off for it. Upgrades from an outdated system rarely go well, so I’ll just have to keep this in mind and upgrade my operating system more often so I don’t run into this problem in the future.
I followed some blog post on upgrading old Ubuntu systems, and I think what I ended up doing was switching my package source from system76’s repositories over to Canonical’s repos. I’m amazed my system works at all, but I guess that goes to show that system76 aren’t deviating too far from ubuntu, which I appreciate.
I would rather run stock Ubuntu, but this laptop hardware does not run well on anything other than Pop_OS! It’s just another reason on my list of regrets for buying this high-end Bonobo WS linux laptop. In the future, I’m not going to make the same mistake. I will buy an ATX size computer and I’ll get more bang for my buck. With the money I save, I can buy a small laptop which I can use for portability should the need arise.
The need for a portable laptop rarely arises for me. When it does, and I end up lugging this laptop with me, I regret the purchase even more because the battery only lasts 2 hours. If I want to charge the laptop, that’s an additional 5 pounds or so to carry around the massive brick of a power supply.
Truly, this laptop is wonderful as far as specs go, but the compromise in portability is real.
I’m just taking it all as a learning experience, and I continue to learn from it on occasion.
Downloading the popOS iso now. Apparently I already have it downloaded. I remember downloading it yesterday but I thought I might have interrupted the process. The filesize is correct, I suppose I should check the sha256sum.
I always forget how SHA256 check files are supposed to be formatted. Is it the filename first, or the checksum first?
4b76c0b25fbd14856062bdfa5ccdf360c6f87dbc6321e796ab95e0d6eac0b3c2 pop-os_19.10_amd64_nvidia_12.iso
checksum first. My download from yesterday was good! Time to fire up Etcher! Etcher has been really good to me.
And now that I say that, Etcher suddenly won’t flash a drive and offers no reason as to why.. I think it has something to do with my password entry… I think this system is completely butt fuckered!
dd to the rescue.
sudo dd if=/home/kaito/Downloads/pop-os_19.10_amd64_nvidia_12.iso of=/dev/sde
I checked my eBay sales for February. $1294.21. This surprisingly beats January’s $1222.06, which included the sale of a $380 electric longboard.
This is good to know. I can do it! I’m just going to keep this up, keep listing 10+ items a day, and keep living frugally. I can live my dreams and be in control of my future. I’m happy about this!
I am bringing in money, but I am eventually going to run out of things to sell. It is for this reason that I am thinking of ways that I can get free shit which I can sell on eBay. Ideally, I’ll get small items which can fit in a bubble mailer and ship via First Class mail. FedEx or Priority Mail isn’t a problem, it just takes extra time and consideration for shipping cost.
I am thinking of dumpster diving. Perhaps under the cover of night? I am interested in diving Barns & Noble’s dumpster because Cincinnati Picker says he gets some free shit from there on occasion. Things like card games which haven’t sold very well in store. I dunno, I’ll figure something out. Perhaps my first step is to scope out dumpsters to dive. Barns & Noble’s dumpster has a gated fence, which means that I could get charged with trespassing if I jump it when it’s locked.
I’d like to stay out of jail, LOL!
Hmm, how else can I get marketable shit for free? Dumpsters seem like the best way.
I suppose I could offer to do paid dump runs for people. Then out of the shit they’re trying to get rid of, I can sort through and keep the stuff that I know I can sell. That’s how recycle centers make money from their work.
Ooo, I could open a thrift store! Then sell all the good shit before it hits the shelves. That’s what Value Village and Goodwill do. They must make BANK due to that, as well as their high prices relative to other thrift stores.
I’m going through and selling my USB drive collection. Doing a quick wipe and selling lots of 3. Most of them have anime on them. It doesn’t make a lot of sense for me to hoard them when I can just go on line and watch whatever I want. I was keeping them in mind for the apocalypse, when the internet goes down I could still watch anime as long as I had a computer and electricity. Or I could join a new settlement and put on viewings for the community of survivors.
I think that’s a fantasy that probably won’t take place. I think my storage medium could be optimized as well. Hard drives or SSDs are probably a better storage mechanism. I suppose I would need to consider EMPs caused by nukes or solar flares as well. As it is, all my media would get fried because none of them are in Faraday cages.
It’s better to let it go, sell it and put the earnings towards this month’s rent.
I withdrew $400 for February rent. The ATM must have been out of $50’s because it just gave me a fat stack of $20’s. The first ATM I visited at STCU on Argonne must have been completely out because it wouldn’t spit out any money at all. At first I was fearing that the machine malfunctioned, but luckily I got a paper receipt that indicated that the transaction did not occur.
I probably would have been fine if the machine malfunctioned and simply failed to dispense cash. They have cameras and I would have made enough of a stink about it that I’d get my money.
It didn’t come to that, thankfully. I just went to the ATM in Spokane Valley and all was well.
So yeah, my parents come home tomorrow. I’ll give them their mail and my rent, and hopefully they’ll be up for a game of Lucidity sometime this week. Tomorrow my schedule is full, as usual for a Tuesday, but Thursday or Sunday are good days.
Wednesday I’m going to go hangout at Spokane Create! Maybe find someone to teach me how to use their laser blaster.. I mean cutter.
I signed up for a 1-on-1 Glowforge help session at the North Spokane Library. Yep that’s right, the North Spokane Library has a laser cutter! So between Spokane Create! and the library, I don’t have to worry about paying for Laser Cutting! I simply need to bring my own material and CAD files, and invest the time into learning.
The thing is, I have to learn the acceptable social behaviors in those locations. Not like I really have a problem with misbehaving or anything, but I don’t have a feel for the nuances of being a person in those places…
I don’t think I’m making any sense. I am simply uncomfortable in group settings. I would like to not be uncomfortable in group settings.
I seem to have got it down at the board game day. I felt comfortable and I enjoyed my time there. I was in the moment and I wasn’t afraid.
I’ll figure it out. I’ll take things slow, I’ll allow myself to be vulnerable. I’ll ask for help if I need it, It’ll be scary until it’s known.
What will happen? I just have to wait to find out. The unknown is scary!
I had a thought today while I walked. If today were my last day, would I want to go to work? No. i would want to do what I love. If 2020 were my last year alive, what would I like to do with my time?
I would like to grow my eBay business. I would like to increase my revenue streams using my web development skills. I would like to complete my Precious Decks website. I would like to resell some domain names. I would like to level up my Japanese. I would like to become resilient to shame. I would like to improve my house cleaning skills. I would like to find a best friend.
On the subject of Japanese, today I want to get one closer to that goal by figuring out my damn SCC/SFCC password. I don’t know it, and my answers to my recovery questions aren’t valid, so I need to enlist the help of the IT department. I have their number and I’m going to call them today and see what we can do.
I’d like to join a community where I can practice Japanese. I would like to take and ace JLPT N5. I’ll do it all on a shoestring budget! I’ll get one of those new $10 bus rides to Seattle where the test is administered. I’ll do it and I’ll become bilingual! It’s something I want, and it’s something I know I can do.
I think it could open up some new opportunities. I can put it on my resume and apply to anime companies! I can translate shit and I can code. How cool would it be to work for Funimation or Anime1 or Otakumode or a place like that?
I could actually have zero fear about setting up a Hatsune Miku shrine at my work desk! LOL I can only imagine the joy!
Anyway, I probably don’t want to work for a company. Not right now, anyway. I suppose if it was a company I really admire, I would go for it. But right now, I enjoy not having a boss other than myself.
2000 words came easy today. I had a lot on my mind and I really just wanted to quit doing yoga and go on to journaling. I did some yoga today, but I toned it down a little bit so it was bearable. Baby steps!
Ok then, I’m going to do the regular things to close out this post. Creative writing, affirmations, and words of gratitude.
A skater is seen on powered inline skates cruising at high speed down a city street. On the left and right are four story townhouses, each colored differently and with dark metal escape ladders adorning the building faces. It is evening time and the sun has just set, with just a hint of gradient of deep blue extending upward from the horizon.
The skater leaves a trail of light from each skate. The bright orange glowing from under each foot is so bright that it affects the persistent vision of human eyes.
The skater wears thin tinted goggles, has curly brown hair extending from below a red and yellow striped beanie. In either ear, wireless speakers that reverberate a sick urban techno remix. A blue demin jacket flaps in the wind as the skater’s arms go back and forth in sync with their long stride. Thick, finger-less gloves on either hand accentuate their style and protect in case of a fall.
The skater wears black skinny jeans which disappear behind the rollerblade liner and show off the rigid carbon fibre frame.
65. I release all fear from my mind.
66. I can reach my goals. I am unstoppable.
67. I am ready to write a new chapter for my life.
I am grateful for Brene Brown. I’m excited to take a course on shame resilience which is based on her studies. I’m excited to continue to read her book. I’m greatful for Brene Brown because her research is one of the things that is helping me to live my life.
I’m grateful for my glasses. I am grateful for them because my vision is not so good without them. I am able to drive and see upcoming things with clarity. I’m able to visualize my surroundings and experience them better.
I am grateful for cardboard. Cardboard is what a lot of things get printed on, and it’s a good material for preserving information for a long period of time. It’s also a great substrate on which to print fun things like trading cards! I’m grateful for trading cards and it is only due to cardboard that such things exist!
