Weeknotes 2022 W17: Dead body

April 25​–​May 1, 2022
1200 words

This week has been mostly uneventful. I’ve been off work, on sick leave, because of the wrist and arm problems that I’m having. It’s been diagnosed as tendinitis, for which I’m also getting physiotherapy.

Same as last week, I’m writing these week­notes by dictating them. This is working better and better as I expand the vocabulary used by macOS’ voice control support. I’m glad I’m using a note taking tool that is native to macOS because the non-native apps (typically Electron apps, like Discord or Slack) are severely lacking in the accessibility department.

I tried to figure out whether I could get some work done purely using voice control support, but there is a learning curve, and apps in general need to improve their accessibility features for this to be a feasible option.

The good thing about not really having used computers in the last week, is that technology hasn’t really been failing me! No gremlins this week.

This week, my mom and godmother were visiting Berlin. It was nice to hang out with them! I made a sourdough loaf that turned out quite well and was quite a success with them. Also visiting Berlin was Henrik, and it’s been good to catch up with him too.

I’ve been trying out Mas­to­don as a Twitter alternative. You can follow me on Mas­to­don: @denis@chaos.social. The (probable) acquisition of Twitter by the American oligarch Elon Musk’s baffles me, and would like to have an alternative set up, just in case.

Cycling in Berlin’s touristy areas is such a pain. Many tourists don’t seem to understand bike paths, what they are for and how to recognize them. They’ll walk onto the bike path and not get out of the way even when I approach and ring my bike bell. They’ll have a confused look on their face, make eye contact and then just keep on standing there.

Yesterday, someone suddenly ran across the street right in front of my bike and we nearly collided. My bike is bright orange, so it’s quite visible, so that is not the problem.

My best guess is that these tourists are from areas where cycling isn’t really a thing.

I would like the city of Berlin to make the cycle paths stand out more, and have clearly-visible protected bike lanes on all major roads.

Speaking of cycling: A few days ago I stopped for a red light and looked into the park on my right hand side. A curious small fox walked up to me, with a dead rabbit in its mouth. We made eye contact. I was hungry, but the only one with dinner was the fox.

My dreams have been intense lately. Here’s the last dream, slightly novelized:

One night, the handsome engineer was jolted awake by a sound coming from the living room. The unopened large parcel he received earlier that day and hadn’t given much thought to, had fallen over and the side had ripped, revealing a dead body inside.

The engineer was perplexed as to how this body came to be in his apartment, but he knew it did not matter — the imperial police would find out sooner rather than later, either in one of their frequent raids or by being reported by his overly nosy neighbors, and the consequences of keeping a corpse would be dire under the city’s oppressive regime.

As luck would have it, the engineer had fallen in with some shady individuals years earlier. They weren’t part of the resistance; they were simply living their life doing their illicit business for their own personal gains. They’d absolutely be able to help him out — for a price, of course, which he knew wouldn’t be much of an issue. The only option right now, he thought, was to head to their place without delay and request their aid.

As he was getting ready, he wondered whether the body could’ve been delivered by the imperial police itself, in an effort to smoke him out — he had, after all, been making an effort, as small as it was, to get in touch with the resistance. He’d been sympathetic to them, as the deteriorating state of affairs in the city had all but destroyed his quality of life.

The engineer snuck downstairs, exited the building quietly through the back door, and disappeared into the shadows before the next imperial police patrol turned the corner onto his street.

That is where the dream ends. I didn’t even get to the juicy bits about disposing the body! Now it feels like I’ll forever have a rotting cadaver in my living room.

Perhaps I’ll extend this into a proper short story, but then I guess I’ll need to do some research on how to properly dispose corpses. It needs to be a realistic story, you know? I’m sure Google would not mind the dozens of mildly alarming search queries I’m about to fire up!

Also, the handsome engineer is me! I’m glad you noticed.

Let’s talk entertainment!

I’m now in the second season of The X-Files. I feel like it’s now finding its footing.

I canceled my Netflix account. I’ve not watched much of it lately, so it has lost most of its value to me.

I miss playing games, but I’m holding off on that until after my sick leave. I don’t want to jinx my recovery process.

Links:

Some interesting blockchain reading:

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