For anyone who has read Terry Pratchett's 'Making Money':



It's also further proof that although modern computing technology may be smarter, more versatile, and a whole lot less messy than its predecessors, there's something appealingly ingenious about a machine that does just one thing but does it entirely through the application of basic physical principles. (I have probably said this before -- many times -- but, eh. It's still true.)

I don't really get why RRSP contributions are limited to 18% of salary. That seems like a pretty regressive policy, on the whole; it means that people drawing large salaries are able to derive more benefit from the RRSP program than people with smaller salaries. It means, for instance, that no matter how thrifty I am, I can still only save a fraction of what someone with a larger salary is entitled to save in their RRSP. It's kind of aggravating, really.

Anyhow, mostly I'm just happy that I currently happen to have the means to be saving at all, even if it does make me feel even more like an impostor adult than usual. It's just that I'm so used to programs being weighted to help people with less income save as much as possible that I'm a bit thrown when a program doesn't seem to be structured with that end in mind.

Since Dr. Tiller's murder, I've been reading a lot of online discussions about abortion. And I really need to stop now. It's only making me angry, and not accomplishing anything at all productive.

I also finally got around to watching Pan's Labyrinth. Which was just as horrifying and excellent as I'd heard it was. Though, man, the second trial annoyed me. I don't mind main characters making dumb choices, as a general rule, but I'd at least like to be able to understand why they made the choice they did. "Because I thought I could get away with it" was a pretty unreasonable reason to take such a pointless risk.

On the positive side of life, I found out what my annual bonus is going to be. It's not a huge amount of money, but then I've only been working for the company for a little over half a year, so that's not exactly surprising. Anyway, I now have the delightful task of deciding what to spend it on. Honestly, I'm torn. I've been wanting to get a roomba for ages, but haven't been able to justify the expense to myself so far; this could be my chance to indulge. On the other hand, I also am kind of drawn to the idea of buying new clothes, etc, in an attempt to improve my appearance and maybe look a bit more professional. Or I guess I could do both. Hmm, hmm. Really, that's the kind of conundrum I don't mind facing.

Apparently, one of the other houses on my block is being sold for some $750 000 dollars. (Or at least that's what the people selling it are hoping it will sell for.) Granted, it's a considerably nicer looking building than mine, but still! Suddenly, my rent looks awfully reasonable.

Also surprisingly reasonable is Microsoft Office 2007. I've heard a lot of negative things about the new design from various people, but so far I quite like it. And I've heard Word 2007's styles feature utterly shames Word 2003's, which would pretty much be enough to sell me on the upgrade all by itself. Microsoft OneNote is also surprisingly good. Oh, Microsoft--! When did you get so competent? This experience almost gives me hope for the upcoming Windows 7 release.

Not reasonable at all is Dreamwidth's system for journal customization. Okay, sure, it's exactly the same as LiveJournals, but at least LJ has enough decent prefab looks that only the hardcore need mess with their customization system. I'm determined to bend the confounded thing to my will, but I make no guarantees on how long that will take.

Unrelatedly, I was reading about The Art of Memory the other day, and trying to come up with a place I could use for the architectural mnemonic. For the longest time, I couldn't come up with any place I could get a clear sequence of more than about 20 places from -- but then it came to me! Instead of physical places, I could use scenes from Chrono Trigger! Not only I have pretty much memorized that game, but the way that the game's designed makes it so that the scenes are each visually and emotionally distinct from each other, which is perfect for a mnemonic base. The only problem comes in deciding what counts as a 'scene'. Does Chrono's arrival in 600 A.D count as a scene, even if there's no dialog? Do dungeons count as scenes separate from their bosses? These are certainly difficult questions that need to be resolved before I move ahead with my plan, but I think the potential is definitely there.