Monday, November 08, 2004

Acquired Habits, featuring the element of Satan: Lithium!

Dear readers, have you ever had the pleasure of watching a certain Japanese film called Shall We Dance? Or perhaps its inferior but still enjoyable American remake of the same name? There is one scene in both films where the protagonist is confronted by a fellow who shares his hobby (in this case, ballroom dancing) who tells him that his interest in ballroom dancing is beginning to show, in his posture, in the way he walks. "You probably don't even notice" the co-worker insists. For some reason, the protagonist is sometime nonplussed by this realization.
The point I'm trying to make is, I really hope that I won't begin to unwitting acquire habits similar to those of the people at BAKA. They're all very nice, sociable people, and I like spending time with them (today alone, without overtly begging, I was treated to a box of Nerds, a plate of fries, and a packet of Pocky by three different people. They're very generous). However, there are a few tiny quirks that I find intensely annoying. For instance, there is a friendly girl that I will now refer to as T. T is an artist, and for National Write a Novel month (November, silly), she's drawing a comic book. Now, while in all other respects she is a respectable, amicable person, she occasionally interjects her own speech with random phrases in Japanese. She's Caucasian (as far as I know), and these aren't only Japanese phrases, they're catchphrases from certain anime characters, so only the people who A) understand Japanese, or B) have watched that specific show that utilizes that particular catchphrase will understand and appreciate the joke. Otherwise - it's fairly irritating. Now, she's not so bad, because she seems to only do this while she's in the company of fellow anime fans, so it's understandable.
Another visitor to the BAKA office is someone who doesn't seem to realize she's using annoying Japanese phrases, so I'm assuming she actually uses it in casual conversation with non-anime loving people. The concept is really quite chilling. At least T's catchphrases, when taken in a certain context, are cute. The quotations this girl uses are grating, to say the least. They are random, high-pitched exclamations that no one understands, like "Oro! Oro! Oro?" and "Hein!!" If any of you, dear readers, can make sense of this, feel free to speak up and tell me what they mean.
I like these people, okay, and they're allowed to have their kooky flaws from time to time. I just hope that I don't pick up those habits unintentionally and spread their pestilence to the rest of the world who firmly believes that animated series are for children. Believe me, it would just be giving anime a bad name to those who already hold it in low esteem.
Speaking of low esteem, something else I have little taste for is lithium - specifically the kind that comes in laptop batteries. I recently discovered, to my everlasting chagrin, that the batteries of MY laptop are lithium, and I never checked before I started using my laptop willy-nilly. The thing about lithium batteries, is that they "remember", through some bizarre scientific process that at present I am unable to fathom, when they are recharged, and they mark it as their "low level". This means that you're not supposed to recharge your laptop's lithium batteries until they are completely empty, or have reached a low enough level to satisfy you (say, 1-4% power remaining sounds fine). So - next time, when recharging, the lithium batteries will "remember" how long it took them to recharge from 0 - 5% of power back to 100%, and they repeat it. At least that's what I heard, I haven't done any serious research into the subject. The Reasons: I have essays to write, and I'm lazy. Due in part to that laziness, I never got around to reading the operator's manual concerning the battery - so I used the battery when I wasn't near an outlet, and recharged whenever I was, regardless of how much I had used on the battery. For three months, nothing happened, the computer worked like a charm - I simply began to assume that the batteries of my laptop were not "those" batteries - the kind that have to be completely depleted before they are recharged. Today, however, in my Earth Science class, I turned on the computer that had been plugged in throughout the weekend, only to have it tell me that there was a "Critical Battery" situation - only 4% of the power was remaining! What? Who? How? Needless to say, after giving that little message the laptop promptly crapped out, and it was only due to the extreme luck of finding an electrical outlet underneath the seat next to me that I managed to take any notes on that class at all.
I spoke to my friend's friends - and they relate from experience that the battery will probably be that way for good - which means I have to fork over 60$ to get a new one if it's too late for the warranty to kick in. Some luck, huh? I guess it serves me right for not reading the manual fully......

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