Tuesday 2 October 2018

Nectarines

I like them not really ripe and crunchy. I used to get them in Spar down the street, slightly more expensive than elsewhere but they were great.

I got another package today, they looked good but they are past their prime, slightly squishy and less crunchy than I would like. One had a tiny rotting spot... and the package contained a substantial amount of fruit flies who were smart enough to sit still when I carried it outside.

I believe that all living things should be treated fairly and with dignity, with the exception of the ecosystem under my bed, metaphorically speaking. In other words, I don't want to share my room with tens of fruit flies. They are used as a model organism in genetics because they breed rapidly and mutate fast so within a week, I'd be living with thousands of mutant Drosophillas.

I put the offending nectarine in the trash bin along with some kernels and other leftovers, placed the good ones in the fridge and then took the trash away - the fruit flies will certainly fare better in the trash bin anyway.

Most of them are gone but there is half a dozen sitting on the wall giving me a doubtful look. So what, where's some food?

Nope.

Monday 1 October 2018

Some more random whines

I feel somewhat off place quite often. I haven't got used to it yet.

I play my card of I am another studip Erasmus student when around the university, mostly for myself because people don't generally want to interact with me.

And then there are the cultural differences.
I am clumsy so since... well, forever, my cellphones were of the sort that can fall from the 3rd floor and nothing happens. And I am not an iThing person, for various reasons, one being that them poseurs can stick their apple stuff up their posteriors - and this is quite a general opinion on my home turf. Also, why should I pay twice as much for something that will break in three days maximum, because it will take three days maximum until I drop my phone on the stone floor.
Which is beside the point. I have an android thingy which looks like carved out of an old tyre, I dropped it the moment I unpacked it, it jumped a few times and looked as happy as any other time, and it has a microUSB port. Which means that to charge it, I need a USB - microUSB cable. Of which I have plenty, there are several circulating around our household and obviously, I took one with me to Vienna.

One.

It survived a month.

I set out to find some place with USB cables. I live 100 metres away from Mariahilfer Strasse (*) and some months ago, I went to H&M and noticed that they have phone cables and dug through them to find a nice colourful cable for mom's iPhone that needs super special weirdo cable so I supposed I'd just go there, grab that damn cable and go home.

Did I say that I don't exactly thrive in new environments, and in places with too many people? Which is why I am not too adventurous and why asking someone is the last resort?

I ventured to Vienna's main shopping street... I got a scented candle in H&M - it had a sticker with a warning that it contains some-or-another aromachemical which may cause allergic reaction and shouldn't be eaten or whatnot, which is why I immediately liked it - but they only had iPhone cables. They had only iPhone cables even at the mobile operators' shops. At the end, I found one of those stationeries that has stationery and all sorts of other crap. The shop clerk warned me that this is not for iPhones and asked three times whether I am sure that I don't need an iPhone cable.

WTF.

Not that I wouldn't be able to survive without my phone for a week but I only have my public transport ticket in the app.



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(*) I hereby state my intention to ignore the ß. The German orthography changed since my school days so I don't know where should it go and although this ligature developed from the sz digraph, today it stands for ss and it's developed from the ss digraph as well so I can happily apply some folk etymology and consider the ß a long s and s rotunda digraph... so... anyway...you get what I mean. [Insert slightly desperate handwaving.]