California Blue Fox

I am blogging by candlelight, which I have to say is a first for me. We have just had a large earthquake. From what I hear, it was around 6+ on the Richter scale, with an epicenter about 22 miles off the coast of Ferndale. It was the second large earthquake I've been in, and the first, although it occurred in southern California, was a bit milder. Sirens started wailing almost immediately, the dog was excited, and all around was a frenzied atmosphere, but I see very little actual damage. Within the house, the only thing to break were a few plates, although the falling 32-inch CRT nearly crushed the dog and my roommate both. (It only had a foot or two to fall, but it was pretty heavy to begin with.) All in all, not much to write home about, although it was *very* exciting.
The sun has gone down and the house is pitch black, but technology has not abandoned us. Although I have not charged it today, the 50% battery life remaining on my netbook will probably give me a good 4-5 hours, I have a double-A charger for my phone and iPod, and my roommate is playing his DS. If the batteries go out we've got a car charger (and a car, even!), but before becoming that desperate we've still got two hand-powered flashlights to read by. No internet, by the way. I'll be posting this when it comes back up.

P.S: There was a tsunami warning issued, evidently, although by the time I heard about it it would have already been too late. Not that there was anything to be done--we're very near the ocean, but behind a bluff, so we probably would have gotten a pretty good view of everybody *else* being taken out. The Bayshore Mall, aptly named as it is, is either at or even below sea level, and the long flat parking lot would have created a swimming pool many times Olympic size.

P.P.S: 3-4 hours later, power and internet have returned.

P.P.P.S: Got the stats:
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsus/Quakes/nc71338066.php

It's not that it's inherently painful. It's just that most people don't know they're doing it wrong.

I got myself a Google Wave invite. :D Unfortunately I don't know anyone else who is at all excited about it. I have high hopes for the technology, although it has a way to go, but I can't even begin to critique it at this early stage, because I'm not having any luck getting conversations started. I think that's more my problem than Google's, though. :P

http://www.mcnaughtonart.com/artwork/view_zoom/?artpiece_id=353#


You can hover over various parts of the image to see the symbolism. I particularly like the immigrant.

Alright, everything went okay at the bank, except that apparently today is not one of those days where I should try to communicate with people or even step outside. I ended up owing about 185 Euros and some cents, so I handed the teller a 100, a 50, and a 20. After that it took two minutes of stunted conversation and confusion before I realized that he wasn't asking me for exact change. I was so busy trying to speak in German that I forgot about maths.

After that I wandered around the city for a while, and did some shopping. I finally remembered to get some snacks for the flight, and although I couldn't find any string cheese, I did pick up some peanut butter Cheetos. I just discovered those yesterday... so bizarre... and so addicting...
Predictably enough, I didn't really feel anything while walking around the city. I could have almost forgotten that I would be here less than 24 hours more. An absence of emotion. But when I got back to the dorm, and holed myself up in my room for a little while, that absence of emotion started to turn into a really pleasant feeling. I'm getting this warm, thoroughly contented feeling simply from the thought that tomorrow I'll be living anywhere but here. It's a really good way to round off the trip. Not worth what brought it on, but welcome now that it's here.

I believe I've already gone on at sufficient length about this dormitory I'm staying in, and how glad I am to leave, so I won't rehash that. But if I restate the obvious, it's because some things can't be said enough. In this case, the wisdom is this: A bad situation is always going to try to take a bite out of you as you're walking out the door. Fortunately there hasn't been any huge problem, but I definitely haven't changed my mind about this place. There were two things, and they both happened yesterday, as I was packing and cleaning.
The first was pretty shocking. I got a telephone call from my bank, saying that the account I had closed two days before now had a negative balance. It turns out the last half-month's rent had been withdrawn automatically (they don't let you pay in cash) yesterday, two days before I leave the country and two days after I had closed my bank account. It gave me quite a scare, but it looks like everything is going to work out--the rent was paid, and the bank people were very helpful and kind about it--I'll be heading down there today to give them back some of the money I withdrew on Friday. If it doesn't go so well, then... you'll hear about it soon enough. But it definitely could have been worse. Let me count the ways.
The most probable situation, I thought, would have been the same thing that happened when the rent was paid the first time after I got here, before I got my stipend. It was not paid, that is, and I received a letter from the bank and from the dorm saying that no money had changed hands and I had better have enough in the bank next month for two month's rent. Which was okay at the time, but if it had happened now I don't know what I would have done. I might have been able to pay in cash, but otherwise I would be up a creek with no bank account, and leaving the country in two days. And if they simply sent me a letter instead of calling, I might have never received the letter.
Another possibility is that I could have wired the money to my Bank of America account when I closed the account, instead of withdrawing it in cash. In that case there would have definitely been no way of getting the money back in two days, so I think my only recourse would be to transfer some back, and communicate by email with everyone involved, trying to get the money where it belonged. Not fun--and I don't even know if the bank tellers have my email address.
In either of these cases, I should note, my phone could very well not have worked at all. I have less than one Euro of credit on my phone, and a few stray text messages could have emptied that completely, and I might not have heard from the bank at all. As I said I don't know if they have my email address, and I don't think this dorm is going to be forwarding my mail, so as soon as I left I would be completely off the radar. Not scot free, I should add--they do have my passport number. I wonder what would have happened then...
Anyway, it should work out fine. I'd better be getting over to the bank pretty soon. But there was a second thing. I actually wasn't going to mention it, at first, because it could have been just me interpreting ambiguous stimuli in weird ways. But... it wasn't. :(
As I was doing my laundry yesterday, I had to keep walking up and down the four flights of stairs to the laundry room. I must have gone up and down six times (the dryer took way too long to finish, and didn't have any indications about the time, so I had to keep guessing). And each time, there was a janitor somewhere on the stairwell (the same janitor), and he would say hello every time, and stare at me without smiling, with his mouth open just a little bit. I took this as creepy, and questioned his mental faculties (not out loud), but as I said, I wasn't going to mention it, because this sentence on its own just makes me sound intolerant. But... then on the way up the stairs today, he said something more than hello. I'm not sure what he said, entirely, but one thing was unmistakable. "I won't bite." And then he finally smiled.

I think if I didn't have to get to the bank today, I would just stay in my room. But as it is I'm going to wait a little longer, and hopefully he won't be there cleaning the stairs when I go down. :(

I'm not going to get all sweetly sentimental about it... frankly I'm glad to leave. Three months was enough time to get a lot of work done, and do a fair amount of traveling, but not nearly enough to feel as if I really live here. I get the feeling (contrary to what I felt last time) that I could live here, if only I had time enough to actually integrate myself, know the place, and maybe meet some people. But if I'm going to be here for a short time, three months is better than five. And yet somehow I feel as if I've learned more in this three months than I did in last year's five.

This has been a wholly unexpected and educational trip. Half of what I did was completely unexpected, and the half that I expected didn't turn out like I thought. But... it's not all bad. I'm lucky enough to be able to learn from the unexpected things, while still being able to enjoy them. And there were very few unqualified failures. Even my living situation here isn't absolutely terrible. At least the kitchen ended up cleaned while I was gone. And as an extra bonus, every place I visit, whether I stay in a hotel, a hostel, or on someone's couch, is nicer than where I live. That's... actually, that's more depressing than anything.
I guess I could be less vague about things. Here's a short summary.

• The work I did here was largely based on hardware, instead of anything resembling artificial intelligence. I ended up designing the majority of the robot's physical layout, and even found myself in the workshop for a few days sawing, filing, and drilling some aluminum brackets.  Definitely not what I had expected, but so far outside my range of expertise as to be a very educational experience.
• My visit to Amsterdam was wonderful and crazy, but even just a few weeks before I left I had no idea that it was going to happen.
• I ended up visiting Bremen, as I had wanted to, but I was only there for half a day, and I didn't see a single person I met last year. It was bittersweet.
• I still feel very conflicted about my visit to Vienna. Things didn't go how I thought they would, and it was... complicated... but I don't regret it. I still had some good times, but I think the last day sort of colored the whole experience. And when I returned, it was with less than two weeks remaining in Germany... so it may have colored my entire summer.

Sometimes it feels like my life is just a series of things that happen to me. I think if I learned anything from this summer, it's... something about making plans. I know it's impossible to be prepared for anything, but being completely unprepared is no picnic either. I'd like things to go the way I want them to a little more often than random chance.
At least I think that's it. I'm still trying to invent the moral to fit this story. I'll keep you posted.

And there I go, right after I said I wouldn't get sentimental. Damn.

The state of the kitchen has blown right past "dirty" and I feel it now qualifies for the term "rancid". The entirety of the counter space has been covered in dishes for a few days (thankfully one side of the sink is yet holding ground), it has been molding for about a day or two, and it has now begun to stink. I would be disappointed, if I was ever appointed to begin with, but frankly I'm not all that upset. There's a simple reason, though--I'm leaving tomorrow night, and I won't be back until Tuesday. The fact that a stench has appeared means that (and I really shouldn't be so confident here...) by the time I get back it will have long since become unbearable, and one way or another it would be cleaned.
Regardless, I'll be leaving Germany in less than two weeks. I've been quite satisfied with this summer, with the exception of the lodging, and yet I'll also be happy to be home. It's a nice equilibrium, and I hope it lasts. Fortunately I'll be moving from the So-Cal area back up to Humboldt about a week or two after returning, so that should provide an additional boost... I might be at peace like this for the next month! Good times...

Wow, I've been lazy about blogging lately. I've still been doing things, though, and I have more things yet to do in the short time left before I leave. I'd better clear out some backlog before it piles up over my head.
It's almost 1 am, though, so I'll keep it short. Here are some photos I promised you regarding the previous few posts. A lot of the photos could use some explanation, but that'll have to wait until I find a better way to share photos.
EDIT: I'm trying out Flickr. I detest Yahoo, for no good reason, but so far Flickr looks like a good option. Links will be changed as I can upload and tag the photos.

Christopher Street Day
Amsterdam
Heidelberg

So much has happened in the past week that I feel hardly even capable of documenting it. It's pretty cluttered in my mind, but hopefully the process of describing it can unclutter it. To that end, I'm cutting it up into a few different posts, with this one to centralize it.

Christopher Street Day in Cologne
Seeing Crosby, Stills and Nash in Amsterdam
RISE Meeting in Heidelberg