Coast is clear
Mar. 20th, 2005 12:34 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hirezA day that starts with the postman handing one a bag of lead can only remain strange, and so it did.
This last week, I've been avoiding mention of my headstate because...
... Mostly it's been hurting like fuck. I mean really. I'd got a reasonable handle on what was going on by Thursday (stupidity, by and large. No cause for concern) and it could be fixed by sleep, food and staying away from computers. So I stayed in bed all morning and created a mongo fry-up for lunch. Sorted.
Anyway, a long time ago I used to get paid to write C. I wrote pascal (within beer-lobbing distance of a bloke called Pascal, oddly enough) before that, but didn't get paid as such. I got sidetracked by unix adminning about ten years ago and have always slightly regretted that. I've always felt that there's something... Cleaner about writing code, rather than the firefighting and arsewiping that typifies admin work. Not that there's not a sense of achievement in bringing box back from the dead or migrating critical services or... I'd better stop before I start to sound like my own CV. I guess the correct answer is that I've been damn lucky to be able to slide between a series of different-ish jobs that have a range of skillsets that suit me. Though I can't be the only one who's done hardware, s/w and admin.
So I've not written any production code for a while and I'd had a hankering to try again, just to see if I can. Some will remember the well-intentioned but abortive Java attempt a while ago. That was a bit embarrassing. This time I've been hacking on some ugly C. It's now smaller and portable. I am rather pleased with myself, which I think is allowed. Especially since I've been trying to pick up the threads of skills last used in anger when the tories were in power, while battling day-long headaches and wooziness.
[Edit: Something that![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
s0b said on the artist-torturing retreat struck a chord: 'You can't hold a whole novel in your head. It's a set of stories that knit together...' Now I've spent the last week re-wandering the dusty bits of my head concerned with coding, and... There are fresh footprints there. Those bits aren't disused because I've been using them to write reviews and stories. The techniques one used in coding are more or less the same as the ones used in writing a good story. You can't hold a non-trivial program in your head. It's a set of (head-sized) routines that knit together. ]
As a respite from all of that, and because the sun was shining and because I have no car... Well, I say 'no', there's the backup Saab stored at work, but that'll need money thrown at it to get it road-legal...
...Y'see I have a bit of a problem with personal mobility. If you can be arsed to read back through this LJ malarkey, you'll discover that a JH-R sans vehicle is a paranoid and stressed JH-R that hides under the duvet and whimpers lots. I don't have much of an idea why, but I do know that I don't like it and keeping two Saabs seemed like an obvious fix at the time. Of course the insurance companies didn't much care for the idea and it all got well futile. Meanwhile the one that is road-legal is going to need some money spending on it (rust, it transpires. Repairable, but...) if it's to take me to the Netherlands at the end of July. Another four years have passed and it's time again for a hacker camping-trip. Who else is coming along?
So. Biked it into town, waving the Lomo at anything interesting. It was all lovely. Days like that remind me what's worthwhile about living in Bristol. I wandered the avenues and alleyways, whistling the relevant tune, and discovered a good half-dozen interesting-looking boozers hiding down dead-end streets round the back of the university and hospital. Bagged some 'scope probes inCity Speed Joe Maplins, stopped for an expensive pint in the pub next door, failed to find either Repsycho or Travelling Man, but engaged in guerilla photography (curiously good fun) with a tribe of sp00kykids and spotted a real live Nathan. Complete with wee bike, crap hat and seventies sports-bag. I nearly fell off my own bike in surprise.
The Lomo-waving was a bit odd. I've got used to pulling the Nokia out and showing it strange things, and there's a certain amount of 'If I can be bothered' about it; the point would seem to be to live one's life, rather than record it. (So what's this all about then?) However, I'd find myself seeing an interesting thing and instead of logging it as something to come back to when I'd discharged my current responsibility, I'd think 'The light's right now. Best bag a shot while you can...' Which is an entirely new experience. The jury's still out, but I think it's a positive one.
This last week, I've been avoiding mention of my headstate because...
... Mostly it's been hurting like fuck. I mean really. I'd got a reasonable handle on what was going on by Thursday (stupidity, by and large. No cause for concern) and it could be fixed by sleep, food and staying away from computers. So I stayed in bed all morning and created a mongo fry-up for lunch. Sorted.
Anyway, a long time ago I used to get paid to write C. I wrote pascal (within beer-lobbing distance of a bloke called Pascal, oddly enough) before that, but didn't get paid as such. I got sidetracked by unix adminning about ten years ago and have always slightly regretted that. I've always felt that there's something... Cleaner about writing code, rather than the firefighting and arsewiping that typifies admin work. Not that there's not a sense of achievement in bringing box back from the dead or migrating critical services or... I'd better stop before I start to sound like my own CV. I guess the correct answer is that I've been damn lucky to be able to slide between a series of different-ish jobs that have a range of skillsets that suit me. Though I can't be the only one who's done hardware, s/w and admin.
So I've not written any production code for a while and I'd had a hankering to try again, just to see if I can. Some will remember the well-intentioned but abortive Java attempt a while ago. That was a bit embarrassing. This time I've been hacking on some ugly C. It's now smaller and portable. I am rather pleased with myself, which I think is allowed. Especially since I've been trying to pick up the threads of skills last used in anger when the tories were in power, while battling day-long headaches and wooziness.
[Edit: Something that
s0b said on the artist-torturing retreat struck a chord: 'You can't hold a whole novel in your head. It's a set of stories that knit together...' Now I've spent the last week re-wandering the dusty bits of my head concerned with coding, and... There are fresh footprints there. Those bits aren't disused because I've been using them to write reviews and stories. The techniques one used in coding are more or less the same as the ones used in writing a good story. You can't hold a non-trivial program in your head. It's a set of (head-sized) routines that knit together. ]As a respite from all of that, and because the sun was shining and because I have no car... Well, I say 'no', there's the backup Saab stored at work, but that'll need money thrown at it to get it road-legal...
...Y'see I have a bit of a problem with personal mobility. If you can be arsed to read back through this LJ malarkey, you'll discover that a JH-R sans vehicle is a paranoid and stressed JH-R that hides under the duvet and whimpers lots. I don't have much of an idea why, but I do know that I don't like it and keeping two Saabs seemed like an obvious fix at the time. Of course the insurance companies didn't much care for the idea and it all got well futile. Meanwhile the one that is road-legal is going to need some money spending on it (rust, it transpires. Repairable, but...) if it's to take me to the Netherlands at the end of July. Another four years have passed and it's time again for a hacker camping-trip. Who else is coming along?
So. Biked it into town, waving the Lomo at anything interesting. It was all lovely. Days like that remind me what's worthwhile about living in Bristol. I wandered the avenues and alleyways, whistling the relevant tune, and discovered a good half-dozen interesting-looking boozers hiding down dead-end streets round the back of the university and hospital. Bagged some 'scope probes in
The Lomo-waving was a bit odd. I've got used to pulling the Nokia out and showing it strange things, and there's a certain amount of 'If I can be bothered' about it; the point would seem to be to live one's life, rather than record it. (So what's this all about then?) However, I'd find myself seeing an interesting thing and instead of logging it as something to come back to when I'd discharged my current responsibility, I'd think 'The light's right now. Best bag a shot while you can...' Which is an entirely new experience. The jury's still out, but I think it's a positive one.
