Dreaming of circuits

Pantheon, originally uploaded by afortiorama.

Tanto tempo fa - circa 20 anni - quando ho ricevuto il mio primo computer serio ho fatto un sogno: Il mio sistema operativo aveva dei bachi seri e l'unico modo per mantenere la macchina attiva anche se a potenza ridotta era quello di spegnere una parte delle funzionalita'. Il sogno e' talmente lapalissiano che non c'e' bisogno di spiegarlo. Nel corso degli anni sono passata ad altri sogni in cui il sistema operativo veniva aggiornato correggendo alcuni bachi e diventando piu' potente fino a che, un giorno, non ho cominciato e sognare che l'hardware era troppo vecchio per ulteriori aggiornamenti e che bisognava cominciare a cambiare i pezzi. A questo e' seguito un altro periodo di sogni in cui tonnellate di cavi vecchi, che sicuramente non potevano portare bene i segnali elettronici, venivano rimossi. L'altra notte per la prima volta ho sognato che non c'erano piu' cavi da rimuovere e che qualcuno stava mettendo dei circuiti integrati. Mi son svegliata pensando che tra qualche anno mi metteranno Voyager bio-neural gel packs and then I'll almost be human. :D

The Cherry Story Continues...

The Cherry Story Continues..., originally uploaded by afortiorama.

The cherry with only one developed branch has produced also some cherries this year. Not as many that they cannot be counted but enough to be notice if some are missing - I suspect it might have produced a couple last year two but they were gone before they could be noticed. Primary suspect is The Squirrel. My guess is that next year there will be either many cherries or a very fat squirrel. Hopefully also a second branch to balance the current one or secondary trunk from the twigs I've left grow this year at the base. I don't know why those cherries make me so happy. The apple has grown almost 4 times it's original size and produced many decorative apples and I'm happy about it but not as thrilled. Perhaps it is the struggle this cherry tree has to produce something that endears it so much to me and keeps me glued every year to see what happens. Maybe I feel an affinity. My brother the cherry tree. :)

Previous pictures.

Cleaning considerations

62/365 Washing time!, originally uploaded by afortiorama.

I have to admit I don't clean that much. My aproach to cleaning is the epic fight against the evil that happens once a year. The only rooms I keep moderately clean are the kitchen and the bathroom.  The epic fight might stretch over few weeks and when I finish I start to obsess over small stains I left and I go around with a mop in my hand for several days and then everything starts more or less degrading until the next epic fight. This brought me to some existential considerations on the meaning of life, house cleaning and I reached some conclusions:

a) cleaning is a never ending job I mean you clean and even if you don't move after a while you need to clean again. I live alone and can limit the damage but if there were more people in the house the potential for mucking grows exponentially.

b) if it is really clean you can spot a stain from much further away and feel the compulsion to clean it. That's the reason I have this mopping reaction after the big clean. And I can see how that might look like obsessing over cleaning.

c) I cannot even imagine if I had a family after spending time cleaning if someone soiled it again immediately. The cat does it already but it's a cat and the worst she does is leaving footprints in the kitchen if it is raining.

d) I need to reduce the epic fights, increase the skirmishes and change weapons. So I bought 10L of vinegar and 1kg of baking soda. Will see how it goes.