tabula rasa

Disabled

It’s an incredibly tedious process, but I have to admit, there are some benefits to biting the bullet and reinstalling Windows on one’s machine. And I don’t just mean things like “Adobe no longer gives the system a hairball” or “it’s stopped hanging whenever I try to delete something through Windows Exploror;” I mean that it’s faster than it’s been in years, and has also provoked me into doing a lot of digital housecleaning that I’ve been avoiding for a while.

Mind you, there are other ways I would have preferred to spend the day, but it could have been a lot worse. Many thanks to the boy for his assistance.

Now, having spent most of the day with my eyes glazing over as one program after another installs itself, I think I’ll go watch the rest of Batman Begins.

In Spanish. Because in theory I’m going to take the proficiency test next week. (On my birthday. Won’t that be fun.) Watching films subtitled is not a bad way to study, honestly. And it’s surprising, how quickly ten years of dust can be brushed away from one’s language skills. (At least with Spanish, which has always worked better for me than any of the other ones, with the possible and backhanded exception of Old Norse.)

Vámonos.

0 Responses to “tabula rasa”

  1. Anonymous

    Spanish

    Spanish is one of those languages I wish I knew, because it’s so useful, esp. today; Indianpolis’ Latino population is exploding, and I hear it spoken in the supermarket almost everytime I go there; and in other places. I’ve spent my time learning obscure languages like Mohawk and Cheyenne–I love them dearly, but they’re only useful on their respective reservations (which I visit every now and again). I did German and French in high school, but never continued them in college.

    -jsb

  2. aliettedb

    I’m used to reinstalling Windows every couple of years. It’s a pain because you have to do all those backups and then reinstall every bit of software you had, but it does run faster after that.

    Good luck on your proficiency revisions!

  3. danielmc

    there are movies with Old Norse subtitles!

    “Zut Alors!” i must have one.

    Casablanca in Old Norse.
    could be the beginning of a beautiful voyage to Valhalla…or something.
    …ah, nevermind.

    • Marie Brennan

      Alas, no movies with Old Norse subtitles that I know of (not even The Call of Cthulhu). I was referring to the facility with which those languages work in my brain.

  4. d_c_m

    with the possible and backhanded exception of Old Norse.)
    I myself and still waiting for the “13th Warrior” Old Norse version myself. sigh.

  5. nconstruct

    That has always been the horrid curse of Microsoft. At least it instills the obsession with constantly backing up all important data.

Comments are closed.