Nov 12 2007
weekend of reading and unpowering
For most of the weekend there was no power which more than anything hindered my playing of Pirates! Gold (on an old Sega Genesis emulator, no less) and finishing the Battlestar Galactica DVD that Amy and Jordan sent me. Speaking of which, I will need to email em to find out whether that was the movie or the series - the special effects were very good and I can’t imagine such nice explosions through a several year-long project.
The other thing I determined is that I think the dvd drive on my laptop is wonky. It’s given me I/O errors for several cds/dvds I’ve used with it, and the DVD viewing has been stuttering/jerky to the point where I couldn’t even watch the last 8 minutes of the aforementioned sci-fi series. When I bring it to work, though, no I/O errors when copying or anything…so that may be something else I need to remedy when in LA. Bleh.
So, my feeling on the DVD-sans-last-8-minutes - gritty version of Star Trek with a more Buck Rogers feel and more gratuitous parts (you know, for those who watch scifi for the attractive alien women) 
So it’s been quite good. I remember as a kid switching off Battlestar Galactica if it came on because all I wanted to watch was Buck Rogers. Ah, how times have changed.
It’s been nice to do some super geeky things…normally I don’t have time for it…but I’ve also been working on learning guitar chords too. I figure that if I know enough of em, I in theory can play a tiny bit more than I can already. So far I know all the basic key chords (C, G, F, etc.) and the relevant minor/dominant chords for C, and some of the alternate chords for C. Maybe this will improve my concept of theory by osmosis as well.
Not having power isn’t too big of a deal. In Khovd generally speaking no power also means no heat and no water. I have candles and matches, and Peace Corps gave us propane stoves and I have fuel canisters, and I have a 15 liter water barrel full of water. The apartment walls are very thick, so it doesn’t get too cold, and the heavy-duty sleeping bag helps a lot. What suffers most is my laundry and my hair, as I’m down to about weekly baths (and twice-a-week hair washing if I’m lucky) and I don’t want to waste my water reserve on either. Besides, I draw the line at cold water bucket baths. It needs to at least be warm.
I also tend to put off cooking - but maybe that’s due to all the reading I’m doing instead. I got a delicious meal of imported red beans and rice where I contributed what was supposed to be corn bread but due to circumstances became hoecake - sort of. Still tasty and all, but not quite what was expected.
We’re gearing up for Thanksgiving - or at least talking about what to cook. Cranberry sauce is out, as is turkey, but we’re discussing the mechanics of finding and killing chickens…
