…silence

I know I have absolutely *no* excuse for ignoring this blog for so long, so let me write up a short update on my situation: most of my time these days (except school) is spent at the EAC preparing for the upcoming SAT test in October. I have to go to Iasi, Romania to sit the test, because there is no October test in Moldova / Ukraine. The fact that Romania is part of the EU means they now require visas for us, and there is a 1+ month queue at the embassy. [sarcasm on] Talk about civilized people. [sarcasm off] Anyway, all odds are against my getting the visa in time.

I promise to write more after this is over.

What Are the Odds…

… of that happening? Within less than 24 hours of me finishing reading one of his books…

The Light be with you, Robert Jordan.

Quotes from ‘The Eye of the World’

I didn’t guess just how much I liked fantasy books until I read Robert Jordan‘s ‘The Eye of the World,’ the first volume of The Wheel of Time series. While confusing and a bit boring at first, because there were so many characters with strange names, the story quickly enraptured me. Some quotes:

• A little more light in the darkness.
• …shouting at the top of their lungs. Shouting to scare anything that might be waiting; shouting to remind themselves they were still alive.
• If wishes were wings, sheep would fly.
• …hope is like a piece of string when you’re drowning; it just isn’t enough to get you out by itself.
• Sooner or later there’s always trouble when there’s two humans together.
• Going to spend the rest of your life running, running and afraid of your own dreams.
• Think, if you want to stay alive. Fear will kill you if you don’t control it.
• We’ll die with the setting sun…
• People don’t see what they don’t expect.
• No eye can see the Pattern until it is woven.
• Politics is a foggy mire full of snakes.
• Try as you will – you cannot make stone live.
• The Wheel weaves as the Wheel wills…

Happenings

Almost a week has passed and I’m still silent. No time? No inspiration? No will?

School is boring like usual. We’re not feeling the full weight of it yet, not until the exams start. Still, spending the first half of the day away from my PC makes me think of how much time I’ve wasted this summer… This year more attention is given to SATs and college applications than to school itself. Teachers had better be understanding or else…

Thankfully, audio-books make the days significantly less monotone.

I’ve been hacking around in KDE, Konsole mostly. So far I helped implement a couple of features which I’m awfully proud of:

• Double-clicking a tab lets you rename it;
• Double-clicking the empty space on the tab bar opens a new terminal session;
• From the menu you can now open Konqueror at the directory you’re currently at.

but I’m still floating around through the files and classes like a clueless wanderer…

So, risking to sound like Abby Normal again, let me just say: ‘later.

Quotes from ‘Time Enough for Love’

Robert A. Heinlein‘s huge novel, Time Enough for Love, seemed to me boring at first glance. It is science fiction, no matter what you may think from the title. For 1973 however, I was impressed at the freedom of thought expressed in the ideas of the main character, Lazarus Long. It’s definitely worth reading, especially if you like hard SF.

Way too many quotes: