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Its been a funny week, in many ways it could be described as the week that wasn’t. My little brother was supposed to come back from Tokyo for a week long visit but due to a visa hiccup he wasn’t able to after all. There was a bunch of stuff we had planned for the week, most of which didn’t end up happening. A bit disappointing overall, chatting online just isn’t the same as seeing him…  He came back this time last year (its birthday season here at this time of year: both brothers and Mum) and it feels like he should be here now! Miss you Ash! Life is a bit uncomfortable at the moment, like an ill-fitting, scratchy wool jumper. Bloody transition periods. And PMT. Nasty combination, I tell you! I hate not knowing what comes next. I have a tide-me-over job interview on Monday at a local coffee shop that I applied for AGES ago, and if I get it then that would give me a bit of financial breathing space while I search for something more in line with what I have just studied. I keep hoping that I can get work with the organisation I am doing the placement with, and there are little hints that this could happen, but Im not sure when exactly. As I may have mentioned before, I tend to throw all my eggs into one basket and then jump in after them, but holding my breath and waiting is not really an option at the moment. Im still planning to apply for Honours in Anthropology next year, despite that looking a bit unfeasible. I guess the questions that frame my actions at the moment are “How do I get money?” and “How do I sponsor a visa next year?”, and the answer to both of them is “full-time work”. Although I do believe the longer term answer to the money question lies in the Anthropology option. The coffee shop job would also give me a bit of spending money for the Faraway Boy’s impending visit as well as the still planned trip back to Tokyo at the end of the year. I’m desperate to get back for a visit and I want to catch up with old friends and places, and meet Ken’s family too. Anyway. Today. Sunday. Back to the here and now. Today’s challenge is a bit of an odd one, and one I’m not really looking forward to. On my sewing table currently sits a Powerbook 145B, an ancient old Mac (around 15 years old, I’m told). My task, which I have foolishly chosen to attempt, is to print out a ‘book’ that lies in its memory banks. I think this particular computer has about 4000kb of memory, total. Are you giggling? I’m giggling! It belongs to my neighbour who has offered to pay me $50 to hand her an edited, printed copy of the ‘book’ she has painstakingly typed into it. I can’t edit the book on that computer because the mouse setup becomes painful after about 5 mins. I cant plug it into the internet and download it because none of its sockets will fit my plugs. This is a pre-internet computer! I think my best option is to start with the slot that clearly is designed for floppy disks. Today I will go into town and try to buy a single floppy disk (or as few as I can get away with), then save the ‘book’ onto that, and try to print it out at the library. I think the computers at the library still take floppy disks. I have a feeling that this is going to be as awkward and difficult to explain to some unsuspecting computer shop guy as it would be to attempt it in Japanese in Bic Camera… Before you chastise me for taking on such a foolish task, you probably need to know that when my neighbour first asked me to help her out, the task was more of a simple typing job, six to eight poems that needed to be typed up and printed. As with most things that involve my neighbour however, it evolved and got a bit more complicated. So here I go! *Update* A box of 10 fluro floppy disks were $10+ in Woolies. Why? The guys at Next Byte in the city were great as usual, and even kinda understood what I was talking about. And then I found a single, non-fluroescent disk in a newsagent nearby. So there you go folks, floppys are still available and in use. I had no idea. http://threadsofgold.info/index.php/1318