The Truth about Tahoe

[Username17]

Currently I'm living in South Lake Tahoe, in a small room in a horrible run-down hotel. It's more of a flop-house, and it's actually full of cut-throats and thieves. The place smells like a mixture of ciggarette butts and urinal cakes, and you have to wash your clothes every week even if you didn't wear them, because they smell bad just from being in the room.

It's seriously one of those places where you take the princess because people will never look for her there. Sounds and smells come through the wall like rain through a picnic basket and the only reason that there isn't violent crime right outside my door is that the people in adjacent rooms are just too broken down and dispririted to try.

So I haven't really brought much of my stuff up here. Partially because I don't want to expose anything I can't wash or throw away to the room, and partially because my window doesn't close all the way and I don't have any faith in anything especially valuable actually being in my room when I get back from class. And while washing a D&D book is entertaining, it's also the kind of fun you can really only have once per book.

My computer and D&D books are all the way in Santa Cruz, and it's modestly difficult for me to contact them telepathically. A Complete Divine full review will have to wait until I visit Ted and Lucy again, which should be in like 2 weeks.

-Username17

[The_Hanged_Man]

Geez, Frank. That sounds terrible. Lose a little at the tables?

[fbmf]

I'm hoping it is something like "the class was only available at this campus during the summer, and I need it as a prereq to take something wicked kewl this fall."

Game On,
fbmf

[Username17]

I'm hoping it is something like "the class was only available at this campus during the summer, and I need it as a prereq to take something wicked kewl this fall."

Pretty much. I want to take Medical Spanish, which is only offered in the Winter, and it requires Spanish 4, which in turn requires Spanish 3, and the only place in state that I could find to take Spanish 2 and Spanish 3 this Summer was in Lake Tahoe.

I don't actually gamble in Casinos. I hate those places. They really spread urban blight everywhere they go. It's really weird to see, because I'm in South Lake Tahoe, which is a pristine mountain town on the shores of the deepest lake in North America which is surrounded by verdant trees and native wildlife. Bears walk around on the streets and people don't freak out or even notice - and it has urban blight anyway because it is on the Nevada border and has casinos. Drug dealers, prostitutes, run down buildings, sleazy motels which get shut down periodically for health violations - the whole thing.

/rant

-Username17

[User3]

Prostitutes!

I'm coming to visit!

Just kidding. My car's not that dependable.

------------

Just keep the faith and remember that no matter how bad it gets, its only a few months and you are setting yourself up for something better. The surest sign of wisdom is an appreciation for the long-term and the ability to delay gratification.

And you're learning to say dirty things in Spanish. That's got to be worth it.

[The_Hanged_Man]

Yah, personally I hate Tahoe. Weird mix of pristine, beautiful wilderness, trailer trash, and urban ugly. The lake's great, though. Make sure you go swimming. Seriously.

Se habla espanol, eh?

[rapanui]

"Se habla espanol, eh?"

Quit butchering my language, I try hard to speak and write eloquently in yours. That's español BTW. ALT164 if I remember correctly.

[Draco_Argentum]

Those accent marks are funny. I was talking to some French guys and the question "How do you know how to pronounce cafe?" came up. Here everyone knows its pronounced kaf-ay not kaf but the idea seemed to weird them out.

[Username17]

Se habla espanol, eh?

No, pero yo leo español. Yo puedo escribir en español un poco.

I mean, what do you want, it's still the second week.

Quit butchering my language

Much apologies, but of course if we don't butcher your language now, we'll never be able to write it well later. You have to crawl before you can walk.

-Username17

[Josh_Kablack]

The Truth about accent marks

[Desdan_Mervolam]

Besides, if he doesn't butcher your language, he'll never be able to make succulent and lightly seasoned steaks out of it.

-Desdan

[rapanui]

"You have to crawl before you can walk."

True, I was being snide for no good reason really. My apologies to THM.

Also, as a native Spanish speaker, I have NEVER bothered to learn the proper places to put the accents. I can write you a comprehensive essay on the themes in Jorge Luis Borges's "El Aleph" and get high marks for coherence,word choice, and structure, but I will get my ass spanked for my grammar because I never put the accents.

It guess it's like when English speakers don't bother to learn the difference between "their", "there" and "they're" something that happens to bother me. Likewise, there is a pretty big difference between "si" and "sí". Don't ask me what it is.

[Username17]

So I couldn't stand the people pawning stuff to each other for beer money (and then getting too drunk to remember where their stuff went), or the people angrily ranting about "hindus" and "[EDITED]", or the guys who smoked in the kitchen and demanded to watch Fox News all day while they ranted about the encroachment of U.N. troops onto American soil, or the constant playing of offensive rap music so loud that I couldn't make out the words anymore. So I moved to the forest. Sleeping in a sleeping bag on the dirt is not the most comfortable thing in the world, but waking up to crows and the sun beats the living hell out of waking up to a drunken dispute.

Anyway, I had to give a presentation on Friday, so here's the script I wrote for it (I didn't actually keep it well at all, because people asked for questions and then I went back and clarified things, and lost my place, and just sort of ended up ranting en español while drawing explanatory pictures and carving up a watermelon):

Hacer una sandía sin las semillas

Hacen una semilla y la tiene medio de los cromosomas de cada padre. Sus padres tienen dos copias de cada cromosoma. Ud. tiene dos padres y medio de sus cromosomas al azar. Ud. tiene dos copias de cada cromosoma igual. La célula con copias no igual de cada cromosoma es ya muria.

Nosotros tenemos dos semillas de la sandía. Convitemos una con el veneno y la tiene cuatro copias de cada cromosoma. La otre semilla crece regular y tiene does copias de cada cromosoma. Nosotros cruzandamos ellas y ellas hacen la sandía con tres copias de cada cromosoma.

La planta de sandía hace sandías y semillas. La células de semilla tienen medio sus cromosomas de la planta. Medio de tres es no uno y el es no dos. Algunos cromosomas reciben dos copias y algunos cromosomas reciben una copia. Una sandía tiene once cromosomas. Por todas los cromosomas ser igual en numero es un en mil y viente y cuatro - casi nunca.

Ud. busca de semillas en la sandía y casi nunca encuentra la semilla nego. La semilla tiene cromosomas numeros igual. Casi siempre Ud. encuentra semillacapas blancas. Ellas tienen una célula solamente. Ellas reciben copias de cromosomas no igual al azar. Ellas no pueden crecer.

And I cut up a real seedless watermelon and handed out chunks, and one student even got one fully grown seed, which really made the presentation cool. Sorry about it not making a whole lot of sense, I can only do present tense, which makes talking about multiple modifications of subsequent generations difficult. It makes more sense when I have a watermelon and a board to draw on.

-Username17

[fbmf]

1089646822[/unixtime]]So I couldn't stand the people pawning stuff to each other for beer money (and then getting too drunk to remember where their stuff went), or the people angrily ranting about "hindus" and "[EDITED]s", or the guys who smoked in the kitchen and demanded to watch Fox News all day while they ranted about the encroachment of U.N. troops onto American soil, or the constant playing of offensive rap music so loud that I couldn't make out the words anymore. So I moved to the forest. Sleeping in a sleeping bag on the dirt is not the most comfortable thing in the world, but waking up to crows and the sun beats the living hell out of waking up to a drunken dispute.

<SNIP>
-Username17

:jawdrop:

You moved out into the woods? This is preferable to living in a dorm? I need to know that you are NEVER coming back to this university.

Game On,
fbmf

[Username17]

Dorm? LTCC doesn't even have any dorms, I'd been living in a motel that rents by the week. It just happened to be full of criminals who never made the big score that would get them out of a hotel that rents by the week.

-Username17

[rapanui]

If you don't mind...



Como hacer una sandía sin las semillas

Hacen una semilla que tiene la mitad de los cromosomas de cada padre. Sus padres tienen dos copias de cada cromosoma. Ud. tiene dos padres y obtiene una mitad de sus cromosomas al azar por cada padre. Ud. tiene dos copias de cada cromosoma igual. Una célula con un numero de cromosomas equivocados muere.

Nosotros tenemos dos semillas de la sandía. Convertimos una con un veneno para que tenga cuatro copias de cada cromosoma, en ves de dos. La otra semilla crece regular y tiene dos copias de cada cromosoma. Nosotros cruzamos las dos semillas y hacen la sandía con tres copias de cada cromosoma.

La planta de sandía hace sandías y semillas. La células de semilla tienen medio sus cromosomas de la planta. Medio de tres es no es ni uno, ni dos. Algunos cromosomas reciben dos copias y algunos cromosomas reciben una sola copia. Una sandía tiene once cromosomas. La probabilidad de que todos los once cromosomas reciban dos copias es uno en mil vienticuatro - casi nunca.

Ud. busca de semillas en la sandía y casi nunca encuentra una semilla negra. Una semilla negra tiene un numero de cromosomas igual. Casi siempre Ud. encuentra semillas con capas blancas. Ellas tienen una célula solamente. Ellas reciben copias de cromosomas no igual al azar. Ellas no pueden crecer.

My corrections are probably not complete, but as a biologist I think I understood what you were trying to say. Basically, by using a mutagen, a watermelon seed with a 4n chromosome number is created. The plant is crossed with a normal 2n plant to create offspring that is 3n. When this offspring produces seed, each chromosome can recieve either 1 or 2 copies (presumably through self-fertilization or breeding with another 3n plant). If the seed does not receive 2 copies of each chromosome (a 1 in 1024 chance) the seed either does not mature or appears as a white immature seed shell.

Yay or nay?

Interesting slang sidenote: in Venezuela we call a watermelon a patilla, not a sandia. There are many stupid little changes like this over south america. The changes to some bad words can also get you into trouble. A word that means 'angry' in Venezuela can mean 'horny' in Mexico.

[User3]

When this offspring produces seed, each chromosome can recieve either 1 or 2 copies (presumably through self-fertilization or breeding with another 3n plant). If the seed does not receive 2 copies of each chromosome (a 1 in 1024 chance) the seed either does not mature or appears as a white immature seed shell.

Not quite, the watermelon is actually backcrossed, and the seeds become non-functional so long as they don't get an equal n for each chromosome. So because the chance of the first chromosome (which could be 2n or 3n after being back crossed with a 2n plant) being equal with itself is 100%, and the chance of each successive chromosome randomly having an equal n value is only 50%, the 11 total chromosomes gives a chance of a non aneuploid seed at 1 * 10^.5 = 1/1024.

I have no idea how to use past tense or probability notation in your language, and of course I couldn't even find the words for "aneuploid" or "backcross" - so I just sort of had to work around it with the tools we were given in "Spanish 1 Condensed".

-Username17

[rapanui]

" So because the chance of the first chromosome (which could be 2n or 3n after being back crossed with a 2n plant) being equal with itself is 100%, and the chance of each successive chromosome randomly having an equal n value is only 50%, the 11 total chromosomes gives a chance of a non aneuploid seed at 1 * 10^.5 = 1/1024."

Ah, I see how it works now. I'm a moron.

"I have no idea how to use past tense or probability notation in your language, and of course I couldn't even find the words for "aneuploid" or "backcross" - so I just sort of had to work around it with the tools we were given in "Spanish 1 Condensed"."

That's OK, I don't know how to say those things either. In fact, I have a lot of trouble explaining to my parents exactly what I learn in college. I can't translate concepts such as anaphase promoting complex, Holliday junction, lac operon, or epistatic expression too well.

In fact, barring the occasional odd mispronounciation of a common word, I'm pretty sure I'm more fluent in English than in Spanish.

[Joy_Division]

I couldn't explain to my parents what I was learning in university in english. Blank stares all around.

[Username17]

Some hints for sleeping in your car:

1. Don't park in a parking lot, that attracts popos like a KrispyKreme. Park on a side street, preferably in a residential neighborhood.

2. Know where public bathrooms are. Don't park right in front of them, because there are people patrolling for that sort of thing. Also don't piss on the ground outside your car or do anything else gross. You should be considerate of the people whose neighborhood you are invading. When you need to take a leak, drive to the public bathrooms. Note that all-night establishments have bathrooms, and usually expect you to wander around bleary-eyed while there.

3. Sleep in the back seat, not the front. Having the front seat down looks weird, perhaps even suspicious. Having a pile of stuff in the back seat of a car on the side of the road doesn't look like shit.

4. Colleges, campgrounds, and gyms have public showers, you can usually just walk in and shower without anyone giving you the fish eye. Just because you're homeless, doesn't mean you should smell homeless.

5. Sleeping in a car may sound cold, but it's not. Actually your primary problem is over heating, since you'll have to fold yourself up to fit in the back seat. While you don't want to leave recognizable human parts exposed from under your pile, you'll need to do something about heat build-up. You should probably leave a window open a crack. It'll seem cold at first, but over the night you'll thank yourself.

-Username17

[Username17]

People in Tahoe will not give me a place to stay in exchange for money.

Actual event:

I pull into the parking lot of a Hotel with an advertised rate of $150 a week (which means $175.50 after hospitality tax). I look at the big "Vacancy" sign, and I look at the hours of the office, which are 8 AM to 10 PM. Then I look at the sign that says "Will Return at: 65". I look at my watch - 6:10. OK, I try the handle - locked. I try the "Ring bell for service" bell - nothing. I stand outside and tap my foot - nothing happens. I go sit in my car in the parking lot and read a fvcking book.

As it so happens, about 20 minutes later, a man walks up to my car, and says:

AH: "What are you doing here?"
Me: "Are you the manager who was supposed to be here 20 minutes ago?"
AH: "What makes you say that?"
Me: "There's a sign on the door that says you'd be back at six-o-five. It's six thirty, I've been waiting for you for a while."
AH: "The sign doesn't apply to... the sign." (actual quote) "I don't use that one, there's a sign on the door that says that if there's an emergency to call Kenny. That's what you should have done. So what do you want?"
Me: (I note that phone is in fact inside the office, but decide not to bring it up) "I'm looking for a room."
AH: "Well I don't have any! And this isn't a parking lot!"

I look at the "Vacancy" sign, and the fact that I'm in a parking lot and decide that this ass hole isn't worth going to prison over.

I hate it here.

-Username17

[canamrock]

Y'know, though you might have a hard time getting to class, at least a prison gives you a place to sleep.... right? >_> Never mind.

[fbmf]

:jawdrop:

Game On,
fbmf

[User3]

Damn. There's a campground on the. . . North side of hte lake? I stayed at for a few weeks when I was in college. The guards never checked for anything.

Were you wearing that orange shirt? Maybe that was the problem.

[Username17]

I'm on the South Shore, but there are some campgrounds here as well.

I was wearing a Hawaiian shirt, but the guy wasn't wearing a shirt at all. I suspect that he wouldn't rent to me because I had just "caught him" being off-duty while he was supposed to be at work and he didn't want me around to maybe mention it to the boss.

-Username17