Journey into Mystery

Okay, so... my stepfather is getting fired again, so we're going to be sorta poor from next year on until any of us gets a job. (Technically I'm still finishing my degree out of spite, but I've had a coder's block for months now and I'm too shitty to finish my thesis. Curse the day I came up with such an elaborate project! I want to get a job, but they want me to graduate first, except I'm too depressed to work on the thesis and their attitude won't help, and so on. It's a vicious circle, I swear.)

THE POINT IS... I kind of want to spend the money my grandma is giving me in something cool, as mom's present was already clothes and a pair of boots. Grandma still sends me 70€ as allowance every month, but besides putting some bucks away for the March/April 2011 NDS gaming clusterfuck I've decided to save up. Maybe I can convince my family to use that shit on, you know, food or bills. You know, guys, I'd be less useless if you let me give you my money or get a part-time job, just saying! I'm sheltered because you force me to be such! You idiots!!

I keep going OT because I'm bitter these days, sorry. So anyway, yeah. One last cool buy. Is it worth it, though? Or should I spend it in tinier things?

[Poll #1658892]

To be honest, the one I'd use the most is the e-reader since I have a lot of, ahem, legally dubious e-books in hand -which I can never read because reading on PC is tiresome. I can also read manga and comics, technically (no idea if it's legible, granted). The downside is that it's pricier than the other presents: the one I want to buy is 169€. But yeah, I think it's a good idea overall, and that model already brings a collection of classic books built-in as bonus. But if I'm going to get it I should be fast, because right now the shipping in FNAC is free for the holidays.

External hard drives are always a necessity. OTOH, I've developed a bit of a phobia to HDDs in general after so many times of them dying on me. I'm so unlucky, sob.

My DVD player isn't working anymore, so I might as well get a Blu-ray one so I'm not behind with the ages. I don't actually HAVE blu-ray discs or plan to buy any, but it's pretty cool to have the option open. Of course, from the expensive presents, it would be the one I'd use the least in comparative. I would use it, but mostly for normal DVDs and DivX avis.

Well. Derp.

[Poll #1362706]

My family tried it today for the first time, and we all agreed in consensus that it's absolutely gross. None of us could even swallow it, many of us cried manly tears caused by the bitterness. Y so bitter, cocoa?! Needless to say, we didn't like it.

ETA: Object of the trauma. I'll also add that I tasted it without knowing it was 99% cocoa. It was like "hey Chris, we got fancy chocolate, have a square!" AND SUDDENLY, BITTER. Sons of a bitch.

1. Interesting question in our English class. Let's suppose you're in a car with your best friend, who's driving. You're on the copilot seat. You're in a 40 Km/h zone, but your friend is going 45. Then in a crosswalk, they almost hit a pedestrian because of the excess of speed. After the fright, a policeman is interrogating you all, and since you'd be the witness, he asks you if the driver was driving over the speed limit. Again, remember it was your friend's fault and not the pedestrian.

[Poll #1287797]

They asked this simple question in about 70 countries in a research about honesty. The lowest rank in telling the truth were Spanish-speaking countries, funny yet reasonably enough. He asked us which one we thought would be the highest, and several people said Germany. And it was, it was, with Norse countries like Finland as runner ups. (Suddenly, the Klavier-Gavin-studied-in-Germany fanon made SO much sense, let me tell you. Ignore Franziska, she's a special snowflake.) Don't ask me about other countries because those were the ones the teacher mentioned (plus Ireland, since he's Irish: they ranked like 8th or something, which he found really WTF)

2. Man, I suddenly felt nostalgic about diskettes. Does anyone else remember those huge 5¼ floppy diskettes? Guys, our first computer had like no memory, and the OS (MS-DOS!) was loaded from one of us, just like every other software. And data was stored there, too. And the screen only had two colors! I tell you, it was a shock to see a computer running on Windows for the first time, when I was on 8th grade. OMGWTF A MOUSE. Tiny diskettes!

I got sick from my stomach last night, for no reason. Go figure. I'm better now, though. But anyway. It's poll time!

[Poll #1154670]

[Poll #1154671]

I HATE UML SO DAMN MUCH. NO, REALLY, I DO.

Anyway...

I currently have *checks* 155€ on my wallet, and I'm hoping my uncle lets at least 50 more go.

[Poll #995467]

For the curious:

a) I'd get a black DS, because I loathe portable consoles on white and pink isn't my style. Why the fuck Nintendo hasn't released a blue lite? ;_;
b) I'd get one of the geeky training games for starters. Believe it or not, Brain Training is addictive; my brothers have it. However, I want to try English Training (yeah, such a game exists, but AFAIK only in Japan and Europe)

And for my (and yours, I guess) reference, here's a list of books I want to buy this year.

( LOL BOOKS )

Linux is a bitch. But at least I could install the C compiler on Soel. The wireless card is still flipping the finger to me, though.

Random: Baka world map.

Since the ending of Furuba is coming to us ( ending spoiler ), the first November random poll will be about fruits!

[Poll #870136]

You know, this journal is either getting boring or everyone is on vacation. Let's spice things up with silly polls on crack :D

[Poll #823422]

Because I'm sort of bored, and it's been a while since I amuse butterflydrming with anything.

( Teh P0ll )

Dammit, Norma is going to sell each CLAMP no Kiseki at 16€ x___xT Anyway...

( Please answer this, it's important )