Caveat: Nonnet #39

(Poem #64 on new numbering scheme)

Recently I read the tide's turning
among linguists, who now reject
Chomskyan orthodoxy.
That linguist's ideas
about how words work
always seemed wrong.
I think words'
syntax
drifts.

– a nonnet
picture

Caveat: an obsessive tinkerer tinkers obsessively…

At the risk of becoming boring, posting on the same essentially autobiographical topic for the third day in a row…

I continue to obsessively mess around with my computer, trying to figure out what happened to it. There is a component of my personality that is a compulsive tinkerer, and thus I somehow prefer to try to fix a clearly dying computer to buying a new one. I suppose partly I see it as an opportunity to "prove myself" and make sure I possess at least some of the skills necessary to be "self-sufficient" in the context of computers.

I made a very weird thing happen: when I gave my computer a complete "cold" shutdown (i.e. I removed the onboard battery, which forces the BIOS to reset), my USB bus returned to life! This seems quite weird and miraculous, but I can just barely grasp how this might work. If something happened that had caused my BIOS to break, which had in turn been the cause of the lost USB bus, by forcing the reset I recovered the original BIOS configuration.

Well, anyway, in theory this means my computer isn't actually broken, at the moment. But I have lost my trust in my computer – I'm working hard to make sure nothing would be lost if it should crash catastrophically. This is a useful exercise, which I don't resent.

I continue to tinker with Linux – it's interesting to me, at an almost obsessive level. I'm curious, now, to see if I can replicate ALL the functions I was performing on my home Windows machine – because my relationship with Windows was always a marriage not of love but of convenience. I had concluded 4 years ago that I could NOT replicate all those functions, but having solved the language issue yesterday, I feel optimistic that Ubuntu has progressed to the point where I maybe can do it.

There are some challenges:

  • getting my massive music collection (18000 tracks? – I didn't even know!) to be accessible and playable – every time I try to configure one of ubuntu's music players and point it to my music collection, it crashes;
  • configuring my  offline mapping tool (JOSM) that use for my geofiction hobby; this should be easy, since JOSM was originally written for Linux, but I'm running into problems;
  • replicating my "sandbox" database (postgresql) and coding environment (perl / python) – because I have a mostly dormant hobby of trying to keep my programming skills functional, in case this "teach English in Korea" gig falls apart, or if that worst-case-scenario related to my mouth health situation eventuates, and I experience a major impairment or loss of my ability to talk.

[daily log: walking, 7km]

Caveat: Nonnet #38

(Poem #63 on new numbering scheme)

I had let my nonnet-writing slide
during the last several days,
but I wrote this here nonnet
during a break at work,
just now, to have one
which I could post
on my blog.
It's not
good.

– a nonnet
picture

Caveat: The Hangul Toggle

Mostly I don't post technical stuff on my blog, but I want to post this because it took a lot of googling and toubleshooting to solve the problem.

As mentioned in yesterday's post, for reasons having to do with a recent computer crash, I decided to give a try at using Linux again. I downloaded Ubuntu 16.04 and upgraded the never-used dual boot on my system, because my computer is currently USB-less, which has in turn left me mouseless. Linux offers more options for dealing with a mouseless computer, at least as a temporary stand-in until I can decide what kind of replacement or repair to do.

The reason I gave up on Linux before was because, as bad as I am at Korean, I still view having the ability to type in Korean on my home computer as an absolute necessity – a perusal of my blog will show why: I like to post my efforts at learning Korean, aphorisms, etc.

Ubuntu Linux (and other versions that I flirted with) has (had?) documented issues with keyboard internationalization. I had decided it was beyond my limited skills to deal with it. I couldn't get the "hangul toggle" to work: that is the keyboard button on Korean keyboards that lets users switch between ASCII (Roman alphabet) typing and hangul (Korean alphabet) typing.

This time, under 16.04, I gave it another try.  I did some googling to try to find if someone had found and documented a solution.

I found this page. It's in Korean, but the relevant Linux commands are there, and I could piece together the steps required to get things to work.

I followed the steps, and after a reboot (which had some frustrating, unrelated issues related to the weird way the Ubuntu-installed GRUB loader interacts with a Korean-speaking BIOS), the keyboard entry works!

After this, I also found this English-language discussion of a slightly different method, which someone can be free to try as well.

And now I can say, from this Linux window: 문재를 해결했습니다!

Ubuntu1604_hangultoggle

[daily log: walking, 7km]

Caveat: Nonnet #37

(Poem #62 on new numbering scheme)

I had never intended to age.
Yet each year slyly captures me.
It tends to be annoying.
Nevertheless, I cope.
The main thing: just breathe.
If you do that,
you can live
till next
year.

– a nonnet
picture

Caveat: Crashed and not yet burning

I'm having kind of a horrible day.

My computer had a weird kind of crash, this morning. I think the hard drive is fine, but the ports bus seems partly burned out, so a bunch of the devices have become "invisible." Based on some rudimentary troubleshooting, I think it's a hardware problem rather than a software problem, since the problems are the same under Linux as they are under Windows.

I'm running under Linux at the moment, because it's easier to use Linux with a non-functioning mouse – which is one of the fatalities of this problem. I have no speakers, no mouse, no ability to plug in external storage – nothing USB works. I might be able to get a functioning mouse if I could find one of the old PC style mouses, but they're not sold in stores anymore – I have a quite old PC style keyboard I'm using, but the spacebar is "floppy" and the backspace is erratic. I am FTPing my most important files to my rarely-used server, because I guess I need to buy a new computer, and lacking USB ports means I have no other simple means of extracting data from my harddrive.

I went to the store earlier intending to shell out and buy a new computer, but changed my mind at the last minute because I feel such a major investment needs to be better thought out beforehand. Anyway, buying a Korean-speaking, Microsoft Windows computer is a major undertaking. Korean Windows is really the only option here – English-language Windows is possible as a pirated version, but every time I've tried to do an "official" upgrade I've been driven away by impossible-to-understand websites mediating the process – not to mention the exorbitant price MS charges for the English version in Korea. Korean Windows will mean spending a day with a dictionary in one hand and the system set-up windows on the screen, as I walk through getting it all working they way I want. Maybe I'll give a try at going to Linux full-time, again – it's been a few years since I last tried that, which might be enough time for them to have sorted out the truly annoying language-support issues that drove me away from it before.

I'll sleep on it.

[daily log: walking, 3km]

Caveat: Nonnet #36

(Poem #61 on new numbering scheme)

North of the Ten Freeway at Rosemead,
a place redolent of regrets,
honeysuckle and asphalt,
I received some treatments
which electrified
the aches and pains
which haunted
my lost
mind.

– a nonnet
picture

Caveat: Nostalgia for the 5

My 내신 (middle-schoolers’ test-prep period) started, which means I don’t have to work Saturdays for a few weeks. I feel supremely lazy today. 
Mostly I don’t miss living in L.A. But then I read something like thisand I get a little bit nostalgic for that truly weird city with the boring climate.
What I’m listening to right now.
Modest Mouse, “Lampshades On Fire.”
picture[daily log: walking, 1km]

Caveat: Nonnet #35

(Poem #60 on new numbering scheme)

I was gazing up at the green trees,
meandering to work one day,
and that Lou Reed song came on.
"What makes a perfect day?"
I wondered and thought:
"Not.much more than
quite simply
saying
so."

– a nonnet
picture

Caveat: 50 million pancakes

Based on how annoying this song is, I'm pretty sure it will be perfect for teaching to my younger students. Children typically like the most annoying song in a given set of choices, so that is how I judge whether it is a song they might like. I will report back if my instinct turns out to be incorrect. 

What I'm listening to right now.

Parry Gripp, "Pancake Robot."

PANCAKE ROBOT

Pancake Robot Come And Get ‘Em While They’re Hot

The pancake robot is coming to town
He’s mixing up the batter and he’s laying it down
Buttermilk, blueberry, chocolate chip
50 million pancakes he’s gonna flip

All you can eat, (yum yum)
All you can eat, (yum yum)
The pancake robot is coming to town
All you can eat, (yum yum)
All you can eat, (yum yum)
It’s a pancake explosion, come and party down

Pancake Robot Come And Get ‘Em While They’re Hot

The pancake robot is here at last
His flapjacks are flying supersonically fast
With his maple syrup cannon, and his butter pat blaster
He’s gonna feed the world, cause he’s the pancake master!

Stackity, stackity way up high
Stacking those cakes into the sky
Flippity, floppity down they go
Grab yourself a fork ‘cause it’s time to mow
Flat and round, flat and round
Griddle cake griddles hot and brown!
Everybody everybody chow down!
‘Cause the pancake robot’s in town!

All you can eat,
All you can eat,
The pancake robot is coming to town
All you can eat,
All you can eat,
It’s a pancake explosion, come and party down

All you can eat, (yum yum)
All you can eat, (yum yum)
The pancake robot is coming to town
All you can eat, (yum yum)
All you can eat, (yum yum)
It’s a pancake explosion, come and party down

Pancake Robot Come And Get ‘Em While They’re Hot

[daily log: walking, 7km]

Caveat: Nonnet #34

(Poem #59 on new numbering scheme)

In my most advanced Tuesday cohort
there is a student named David.
I think he's full of anger.
When he gets a low score
his face scrunches up,
he shouts at me,
he hits desks,
he cries,
"No."

– a nonnet
picture

Caveat: Another Go-Round

I have renewed my visa for another year. It's always year-to-year.

Not much incident to it. Sometimes when I'm frustrated, I spend time saying "I won't renew for another year." But I always do. I guess I prefer stability to instability, for now. 

I sat in the immigration office for about 30 minutes, listening to Arabic being spoken behind me and a mix of Uzbek and Russian being spoken in front of me, and passing the time deciphering a sign about amnesty for illegal aliens who self-deport – which is to say, if you leave we won't arrest you and put you in jail, which doesn't really strike me as an amnesty so much as a way for the government to avoid housing them.

The sky was almost green with a brewing thunderstorm. In the midwest, we'd call it tornado weather, but don't think Korea gets many tornadoes. 

[daily log: walking, 3km]

Caveat: Nonnet #33

I made this nonnet after reading the article I mentioned in my previous blog post.
(Poem #58 on new numbering scheme)

A new rain of unfortunate ants
has arrived, my fellow workers!
Let's welcome them to our dark
yet thriving, cold abode!
Let's show them the walls!
Let's move this dirt!
Let's begin
to eat(,)
ants!

– a nonnet
picture

Caveat: a new rain of unfortunate ants

Here's a very different angle on several old topics, including immigration to Poland and death camps in Poland (but not what you're thinking, at all).

There are ants living in a kind dystopian ant-colony in an old Soviet nuclear bunker in Poland. The population is supplemented by ants falling down a broken ventilation shaft (immigration), and the mortality rate is quite high (death camps). Scientists speculate the ants may be cannibalistic, too.

I think this needs to be turned into a novel, with lots of layers of allegory. 

[daily log: walking, 6.5km]

Caveat: Nonnet #32

(Poem #57 on new numbering scheme)

Grasping the atmosphere like despair,
the humidity guards the dusk.
The equinox approaches.
A hazy twilight hangs.
My expectation
helps me walk home,
awaiting
longer
nights.

– a nonnet
picture

Caveat: 손발이 잘 맞다

I learned this idiom from my boss yesterday.

손발이 잘 맞다
son.bal.i jal mat.da
hand-foot-SUBJ well be-in-balance
“Hands and feet are in harmony.”

This seems like something a sports coach would say, but I could see it being a business buzzwordy type of expression, too, which is clearly how Curt used it. I was trying to think of how best to translate the intended pragmatics. Maybe something like, “the team is a smoothly functioning machine.” He was intending it as a goal, rather than description of the current state. In fact, he was lecturing the staff room bemoaning the lack of teamwork.
I have no idea how many Korean businesses experience this kind of “in sync” teamwork, despite it being the highest ideal of Korean business. I suspect very, very few actually get there.
[daily log: walking, 7km]

Caveat: Nonnet #31

(Poem #56 on new numbering scheme)

While
the sun
was glaring,
a cloud drifted
meditatively
across a hazy sky,
but the cloud failed to commit
to any kind of rainmaking.
It felt no inclination for mud.

– a reverse nonnet
picture

Caveat: Ya no voy a exposiciones ni a las fiestas de moda

I had a rather braindead weekend. So I don't have much to say. Meanwhile…

What I'm listening to right now.

Mexican Institute of Sound, "Katia, Tania, Paulina y la Kim."

Letra.

Ya no voy a exposiciones ni a las fiestas de moda,
porque toda la rutina me recuerda a Paulina.
Ya no voy al colegio que es el General Prim
porque cuando voy me acuerdo de Kim.

Es que ya no me gusta salir de noche,
porque me acuerdo de las noches en el coche.
Tan bonitas y preciosas, todas con un defecto,
ya no salen conmigo, salen con un güey perfecto.

Katia, Tania, Paulina y La Kim
(Qué Maravilloso!)

Katia, Tania, Paulina y La Kim (x2)

Ya no quiero una novia intelectual,
que vaya en … y que lea Kant
que sólo baile salsa con sus amigas,
y que oiga Mano Negra a escondidas.
No es que no me importe la cultura,
pero a estas alturas no me hacen sabrosura
parece que en un siglo no me hubiera importado,
pero la verdad es que me he relajado.

Katia, Tania, Paulina y La Kim (x2)
(Qué Maravilloso!)

Esta canción es un panteón de ex-novias
pero es difícil superar a todas.
Paulina tan chula y educada.
Tania tan güapa y sofisticada.
La Kim era adorable, inteligente.
Katia era alocada pero muy decente.
Aquí dejo un espacio libre en la pista
por si se ofrece mi siguiente conquista.

Katia, Tania, Paulina y La Kim (x2)

Ya no voy a exposiciones ni a las fiestas de moda,
porque toda la rutina me recuerda a Paulina.
Ya no voy al colegio que es el General Prim???
porque cuando voy me acuerdo de Kim.

Es que ya no me gusta salir de noche,
porque me acuerdo de las noches en el coche.
Tan bonitas y preciosas, todas con un defecto,
ya no salen conmigo, salen con un güey perfecto.

Katia, Tania, Paulina y La Kim (x2)
(Qué Maravilloso!)

Y de todas las mujeres en el Universo,
las que mas he amado están en el verso.
Y me quiero volver a enamorar,
pero esta vez me la voy a pensar.

Lo que estoy buscando es una chica cotorra,
que salga de noche y que no sea modorra.
Solamente busco una clase mediera,
que sea como yo pero que me quiera.

Katia, Tania, Paulina y La Kim (x2)
(Qué Maravilloso!)

Katia, Tania, Paulina y La Kim

[daily log: walking, 7km]

Caveat: Nonnet #29

(Poem #54 on new numbering scheme)

Time
is not
exactly
a progression
of simple events.
Rather, it loops and whirls,
perhaps like a falling leaf
caught up in a vortex of wind
skittering across our grassy minds.

– a reverse nonnet
picture

Caveat: Nonnet #28

(Poem #53 on new numbering scheme)

Korean ghosts are thick on the ground:
everyone's ancestors cluster
round each monument or tree.
There are some migrants, too:
shades that have followed
a sorry soul's
displacements:
Michelle's
ghost.

– a nonnet
picture

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