I woke up about an hour and a half before I needed to get up this morning, which was irritating as I had to get up a bit after 7, meaning that I was awake really fucking early, like almost as early as when I have to get up for work.
It took me quite some time to get back to sleep, which meant that I was really tired when Dido woke me up by telling me about how she’s no angel (more on that in a bit), as I’d only been asleep for about fifteen minutes. Being awoken after only fifteen minutes of sleep pretty much negates any amount of sleep you might have gotten before that.
In any case I made the irritating drive to Tyson’s Corner in a little over a half an hour, which meant that I was really early for the class. Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean that I can leave later and get more sleep during the rest of the week, because the later I leave the more traffic I’ll encounter and the longer it will take to get there.
So the options are pretty much limited to getting there early or getting there late.
As I mentioned, the material presented in the class today makes me certain that I’ll fail the test, which I pretty much expected from the start.
After all, the success rate for people taking the test the first time is only 50%. Those would be better odds for me if it were like an essay test or something, but the test consists of actually doing stuff. There are no “questions” on the test; it’s entirely lab-based.
I’m not an idiot, by any means, and certainly I fall into the category of “power user” when it comes to computers, but I’ve never aspired to be a system administrator, and while I’m comfortable with using Linux, I don’t that I have enough practical experience to be able to effectively apply what I’m learning in the class.
As I’ve said before, there’s a sort of disconnect in my mind between the abstract information presented to me and the actual practical application of it.
And the way the information is presented doesn’t really do anything to make the connection.
I mean, you run into stuff like this:
“grep is a powerful search tool, therefore for the lab portion of this chapter write a shell script that calculates how many angels can dance on the head of a pin.”
Okay, maybe I’m exaggerating a little, but you get the idea.
Anyway, knowing that I’m going to fail sort of takes the pressure off. After all, there isn’t really going to be any sort of consequence to failing, and, as mentioned, I’m sure to at least learn something.
On various occasions, both on Threshold and in my actual conversations with people, I’ve talked about how getting woken up in the morning by music often leads me to become angry – albeit temporarily – at the performer whose song is waking me up.
A while back I mentioned to Scott that I woke up arguing with Dido as I was lying there not wanting to get up and he suggested that it might be a bad idea for me to have my favorite performers waking me up in the morning.
I responded, “Yeah, but I argue with Dido all the time anyway.”
It’s true; my relationship with Dido is a contentious one.
Of course it’s not really a relationship, it’s just me listening to her music, and it’s also not really arguing, it’s just me ranting at the iPod/Computer/CD Player like a crazy person, but that being said, it does seem to happen more often with Dido than with any other performer I listen to (Though I have had a few rows with Liz Phair and Jewel. I can’t really work up any anger at Sarah because, well, she’s Sarah.).
I’m not sure why that is, but it seems similar to how certain people, such as your significant other, really know how to get under your skin (except it’s not like that at al because it’s just me being so starved for human contact that I resort to “arguing” with songs), so just as a woman who’s been in a relationship with a man for a long time knows exactly how to push his buttons, Dido knows how to push mine.
And just like with any couple that’s been together for a while, we argue about the same old things over and over again.
(Just to be absolute clear, I am not completely out of touch with reality and I do realize that I’m not in a relationship with Dido and that I’m not actually arguing with her. Basically, the fact of the matter is that, as I learned when I was married, sometimes bickering and arguing can actually be kind of fun, so, since I’m not in an actual relationship in which I can engage in arguments, to pass the time when I’m bored, I sometimes “argue” with Dido. What the hell else am I going to do when I’m stuck in traffic on the way home from work? If you think that it still sounds a little crazy, I’d suggest that you start spending the majority of your time alone and see how normal you are after a few years.)
The main thing that makes me argue with Dido is her inconsistency. In one song she’s talking about her morbid dependency on a guy, and in the next she’s talking about how she wants to get out of the relationship she’s in and go out into the world on her own and start screwing around.
Make up your mind, Dido!
(See? It’s so easy to find reasons to argue with her.)
In any case, while it is an entertaining way to pass the time, I can’t really stay mad at Dido, as she’s far too adorable. I mean, have you ever seen her and listened to her talk with that cute little accent? Adorable (even if she is sometimes infuriating).
Of course, the other drawback to not actually being in a relationship with her and not actually arguing with her is that there’s no make up sex either…
On the topic of accents, the instructor in my class is Norwegian, but she lived and worked in the UK for quite some time, so she has an interesting accent.
One of the most distinctive things is the way she says the letter H. She actually adds an H to her pronunciation of it. Basically, whereas most people pronounce the letter H with a long A sound at the beginning, she starts out with an H sound.
So while I would say the letter H as “Aych,” she says it as “Haych.”
It’s kind of like the British tendency to pronounce the H at the beginning of the word herbs (as in oregano, basil, etc.).
So she says things like “Haych” R instead of HR and “Haych” T T P instead of http.
Most of the time she sounds very British, but once in a while there’s a hint of Scottish, and occasionally she sounds vaguely Eastern European.
There’s no real significance to any of this, it’s just an observation.
In any case it’s getting close to being time for The Closer, so I think I’ll post this and do some other stuff before it starts.
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