h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

How are you doing?
I read your introduction on your personal space. Looks as if we have a few worries in common. Well, I don’t want to start a competition of who’s better off, though could be fun. No, really, I just wanted to say hello to you. Would be nice to have a chitchat with someone who has realized that there’re more serious problems out there than having a boyfriend who is too fond of watching soccer (well, in the US rather football, baseball or basketball), or having not the most beautiful hair in the office, or having missed an episode of “The Bold and the Beautiful”.

Did I get it right that you now live in California again? I’d like to live in California or Florida, but that’s a dream that will be hard to realize. Well, Hawaii is also on my list, but that’s even more unrealistic than my other destinations.

Would be nice to hear from you! All the best!

Katkodl

P.s.: Sorry for the incident at the “age-threat”…

Hey Katkodl!
If you check my journal entries, you'll see why I haven't replied in so long. It's a long(ish) story, and a sad one, so for now, here, I will just say that I really appreciate your stopping by to say hi.
Pull up a chair and stay a while. The fire is nice, and all around.
I realized a long time ago there would always be someone better looking, smarter, or more talented than myself. So, I decided to concentrate my attention on what made me unique, what made me special, and why I was worth my own attention, let alone anyone else's attention.
You have to love yourself, first, as anyone will tell you. But it's more than that. If you base your self-worth on your HAIRDO! than everytime Jennifer Aniston gets a haircut, you'll suffer. If you base your self-esteem on having a boyfriend, then everytime Jennifer Lopez gets married, you'll sink into the pit of despair!
What's the point of that?!
Too, too better to revel in your own glory, that which they cannot take from you by hook or by crook. Be your own best friend, your treasured companion, your favorite artist, musician, poet, writer, or whatever you do that makes you shine in a universe full of stars.
I do not currently live in California. I was born there, and spent much of my childhood there. Some of the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen was in Northern California, and I have traveled the length and breadth of this humongous nation. I have climbed many mountains, walked down many broad boulevards, crossed bridges on foot, met people who didn't know the rest of the world existed, and even swam in two oceans. Someday, I will be able to say that I have swam in every ocean. Until then, I remain keeper of daydreams and dispenser of no ill-will.
Remember, reality is that which we accept. If you accept nothing but the best, you will get nothing but the best!
This is me, howling in the desert of the soul, but delighted to hear your echo returning to me across the great chasm of life.

Hello!

Nice to hear from you! I didn’t bargain for a reply after so long. (Well, referring to a few weeks with “so long” is kind of weird, but I suppose in the internet there prevails another sense of time. )

In Austria it’s raining again. After a very few nice days with sunshine the bad weather is back. This summer was/is totally spoiled by raining. And whenever the sun is shining it feels in a strange way as if it was fall. I don’t like fall.
Do you live in the north or south of the U.S.? Or maybe in the middle? Do have cold winters? I’d like to have winters like in the south of the U.S.. I hate those cold temperatures we get here during winter.

Have you ever been somewhere to Europe? Unfortunately I haven’t been to any other continent than Europe yet. I’d love to make a vacation to the U.S., or some small island in the Pacific Ocean. They seem so beautiful! And they don’t have cold winters!

You’re right, trying to copy some en vogue celebrities or even trends is kind of useless, exhausting and not to mention expensive. I never got the hang of those changing trends all the time. I pity everyone who doesn’t wear the clothes bought last summer, just because they aren’t en vogue this summer. Don’t get me wrong, I like watching shows like “Friends” and sometimes even “Sex and the City”, but whenever Carrie Bradshaw gets a hysterical fit about some pair of shoes I’m pretty much inclined to switch the channel…


I hope you’ve recovered from your job hunt, and that your computer is working again. Would be nice to hear from you again. Take care,


katkodl

Hi Katkodl!
Yes, the main thing I was worried about was my files, although not being able to talk to anyone on H2G2 was a distant second. I want to be a writer, AM a writer, have wanted to be a writer since I wrote my first poem at the age of five. It even rhymed. Not that I write much poetry these days. I should. It helps with the depression.
The thought of losing all my stories, all my ideas, all my poetry and songs made me feel like going not-so-quietly insane. So I was very glad that my brother was able to get them all backed up before my computer went kaput for good. I still can only use his computer for internet access, so my attendance here on HooToo will be sporadic for a while, at least until he either goes back to school(which he does on Monday), or I get my own place and my computer up and running again. Since I haven't had any job offers yet, I am feeling a little(read: a lot) down today, since its Friday, and I have to wait two whole days before I get back to the job search.
It rained the other night, around 1:30 am. It is so rare that it rains here that the sound woke me up. You could send some of the rain here, but no one here would know what to do with it! We have a monsoon season here, for a couple of months in the summer, it rains almost every day, for about 45 minutes or so. Since we live in the desert, the rain that we get in these hurried, sporadic rainfalls usually runs right off the topsoil, filling the arroyos for miles around, running off to who knows where. The arroyos are dangerous. They're a type of canal that occur naturally here in the desert, and even if its not raining overhead, you should stay out of them in the summer, for if it rains in the mountains, it runs straight thru the arroyos, and you can get caught in a flash flood in seconds, in hot sunshine. We've already had two deaths this summer due to the arroyos.
I love monsoon season here, because since I was a little girl, I have always loved walking in the rain. I have only been to Canada, briefly, and other than that, never out of the United States. It is my dream, goal, ambition, fantasy- to travel all over the world. There are so many countries I would love to visit. A lot of them in Europe. That is where most of my ancestors come from.
My favorite t.v. programs are usually the ones that are considered weird by the general public. X-Files, Forever Knight, Dead Zone, Alias, Simpsons, Smallville, and I loved Angel, Buffy, and Firefly before they all went off the air. I used to watch Hercules and Xena too. I'm trying to cut back on my tv time though, as it is the biggest thief of my writing time. Especially right now.
I love to read, listen to music, and go to the movies- all of which are rather solitary habits. I'm trying to get out and be with people more, and even this hootoo is a big step forward. For me.
Well, hope to hear from you soon, and be able to respond, too!

Your first poem at the age of five, that’s early! I wasn’t even able to write at that age.
I can absolutely understand that you’d have gone crazy if you had lost all you’ve ever written. I’m not a creative writer or poet, but the thought that I’d lose everything I’ve written for university is terrible. A friend of mine experienced that misfortune some time ago. Everything she’s ever researched was lost. Incidents like that really teach one to get paranoid about back-ups, don’t they?

I hope your job hunt doesn’t drive you crazy. In an estimated year I will have to face the same problem – then I will have finished my studies, hopefully. As an alternative I could terminate my studies within the next few months and… probably end up in the gutter. I’m afraid finding a job in Austria is as likely as finding one in your area. It’s exasperating. Some friends of mine already have graduated, and hardly any of them have been lucky so far in finding a job. With this prospect studying is real fun!

I’d love to send our rain to somewhere else. The whole country seems to be soaked through. And if rain wasn’t enough now it’s windy as well.
The arroyos you’ve described sound like the ones that appear in African deserts. (I only know that phenomenon from watching documentaries on TV.) I didn’t know that they also appear in the U.S.. Must be unsettling if there suddenly emerges a torrent next to one’s house although it’s not even raining!

Which European countries would you like to travel to? I haven’t come around much, but I can recommend the Côte d’Azur in France. It’s a beautiful place. I also liked the coast of Istria (Croatia) a lot. The rocky coast is just stunning. And Venice in Italy is worth a vacation as well.
Which states of the U.S. would you call the most interesting ones? Which was the most beautiful/exciting/appealing city you’ve ever visited?

We share some favorite TV shows. I’m a huge Buffy fan as well, or I should better say in first place I’m a fan of James Marsters who played Spike. I became attracted to the series through the character Spike, I started watching the show, and then I began to like the whole concept of the show. I’m looking forward to watching the last season of Angel. Unfortunately German TV suddenly cancelled the series in the middle of the third season more than one year ago . I wonder when they’ll show the remaining episodes. Austrian television doesn’t show Buffy or Angel at all. I’m glad that we receive German TV as well.
I don’t know Dead Zone, they’ve never shown it around here. They showed Forever Knight, but I’m afraid I’ve never seen it. At least not that I’m aware of…
Of course I know the X-Files, and I liked them a lot, especially the early seasons. I haven’t watched the last seasons regularly. It wasn’t the same after David Duchovny had left the series.
Some days ago they broadcast the last episode of the second season of Alias. I hate cliffhangers, especially at the end of a season. I would read in the internet how it’s going to continue, but I hate spoilers. It wouldn’t be fun to watch the coming up season if I already knew what’s going to happen. So I have to wait - more or less patiently.
The Simpsons are one of my most favorite U.S.-American cartoons. I’m also a fan of Spongebob. Especially his pet Gary is a sweetheart!
I’m very fond of American comedies… like Frasier, Seinfeld, Friends, or Married With Children. They’re so much more fun than European ones. Well, there’re some good British ones (do you know Red Dwarf?), but hardly any good German or Austrian series.
I could go on talking about TV for hours. By the way, do you like Charmed ? It’s one of my favorites as well. All in all I’m watching too much TV, and it often keeps me away from my studies.

Time to come to an end here. Otherwise I’ll spend the whole night talking about TV-shows.
I hope you’ll be able to sort out your computer problems soon. It’s always tough when one is dependant on somebody else’s computer.
I’m looking forward to hearing of you!

katkodl

Hello Katkodl! By the by, would you mind terribly explaining your nickname? I love cats myself, but when I moved out of my parents house several years ago into a pet free apartment, all my sinus problems cleared up, which is how I discovered I'm allergic to my lovely felines!

I am absolutely paranoid about backing up everything I have now, but unfortunately, my cd burner is still acting up, and my floppy disk drive doesn't work at all, so I am struggling to not write anything more on the computer until my brother gives me his old computer once he gets a new one. His has a working floppy disc drive, and a nice new cd burner. So for now, I write on paper, by hand, and am once again building up my paper files. It makes it hard, because I can't work on any of the stories I have stored on the computer, for fear that I will lose them again! So I cultivate patience!

At least when you graduate, you have that to your name to try and find a job with. I never went to University, and more and more, since so many College graduates can't find the work they are trained to do and want to and so are settling for less, you need a degree to be a fry cook! That is a little bit of an exaggeration, but I have been a receptionist for over five years, but now can't get a job doing that without a college degree, unless I want to work for minimum wage, which isn't enough to pay my car payment, let alone rent! So when my unemployment insurance runs out in less than a month, I will go apply for that fry cook job, even though I am a trained receptionist! Actually, what I will probably do is go back to work for the photography company I quit 2 1/2 years ago. I don't want to go back to them, but I may not have any choice!

The arroyos only happen here in the Southwest- New Mexico, Arizona, and parts of Southern California, and very rarely in Texas. Anywhere there is a desert that occasionally gets rain, even if its only once every two or three years, can have arroyos- although they would call it something else, since arroyo is a Spanish word. It is just something that happens naturally when the rain washes away the topsoil, leaving a gouge in the earth, that gets filled the next time it rains again! Since we do get rain almost every year, the arroyos here are pretty firmly established, and they hardly ever threaten anyone's house. A lot of them in the city of Albuquerque are actually paved, to keep them from changing direction and threatening the city. Since they're empty 362 days of the year, visitors rarely realize just what a necessity they are, and just how dangerous they can be. As you said, even for someone who lives here, to see a torrent of rushing water when its not even raining can be troubling.

I would love to see Italy, Greece, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Egypt, Sri Lanka, Prince Edward Island in Canada, France, Germany(for the Holocaust memorials), and Ireland and Scotland. The first place I ever go, though, has to be London. Then I can feel free to go to Edinburgh, Dublin, and even Paris, maybe. All my life, I have felt that London is the gateway to the rest of the world, that if I travel, I have to go thru London to get to the rest of the world. Is that silly? I just love the idea of getting off the plane at Heathrow, and taking a train north to see Scotland, and south again to Cornwall, then perhaps a boat ride to the Emerald Isle!
In the United States, every state has something different to offer. Texas is big, bold, beautiful, and the people are very polite. New Mexico is one big small town. No matter how big Albuquerque or Santa Fe get, they will always feel like small towns, because that is the way the people act. I have yet to go anywhere in the states that can boast better sunsets- even California, where you can see the sun set over the ocean, can't compete with the amount of color and spectacle of N.M. sunsets. California is diverse enough that it can be split into two different categories- North and South. Northern California is lush and green and full of fog, and has the most beautiful city I have ever seen in person- San Francisco. It is surrounded by the bay, and anywhere you go in the U.S., if you say, "the bay city" 99% of the people will know you mean San Francisco. Southern California is hot, and sunny all the time, and has great waves for surfing. It also has Los Angeles, and Disneyland.
New England, which consists of Vermont, Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Maryland and Rhode Island, is green, green, green. With the hot, humid, muggy summers that go along with all that green by the coast. Their winters are enough to make a devout man atheist! But they are not as bad as winters in Minnesota. They have the record for the worst winters, even over Alaska, which has longer winters. It gets colder in Minnesota, and they have the worst snowfalls. Blizzards that last for days, snowing people in, bringing down power lines with the weight of ICE! I would not want to live there. The southern states are all much warmer, of course, but either too hot and dry like here in N.M. or too hot and humid, like in Mississippi, New Orleans, Georgia or Arkansas.
That is, of course, a very brief overview of the U.S., since it would take literally pages of writing to go over all the states individually, and since I haven't been to ALL of them, yet, I don't want to talk about that which I am not familiar with.
I'm afraid I have to go now, we just recieved a very important delivery, and I have to go help with it. More later.

Cali

Hey Katkodl- haven't heard from you in a long time, and I haven't been very communicative lately myself, but I hope to hear from you soon, and hope you are doing okay.
Write soon, I have nothing better to do with my days than talk with everyone here. Not that I mind in the least!
Cali gal

Hello Cali_gal!

I just read your journal entry and I’m so sorry about what’s happened to you!
How do you spend your days? I’m afraid you don’t have many alternatives to lying in bed all day long. It’s a terrible situation you are in. Hope you have at least a TV near your bed, so that you can watch the one or other episode of Alias, Angel or The Simpsons… Or a nice book… do you something nice to read?

I’m pretty busy with my studies at this time, and I’m also not in the best mood. But yesterday it snowed! and this cheered me up a little. It’s fascinating – every fall (or winter) when the first snow falls my mood is a lot better for at least one day. Unfortunately the snow has already melted again.

I’m not sure whether I bore you with my chitchat or not… Probably your time in front of the computer is valuable – as you’ve mentioned in your journal entry your back starts hurting even more as soon as you sit at the desk. So if you don’t have time to write back just ignore me – I won’t be cross! The most important thing at the moment is that you’re doing the things you’re fond of, and that the pain goes away as soon as possible. Don’t get me wrong, of course I’m looking forward to hearing from you! Would be great if you had some good news about your health next time.

Take care and get well soon!

katkodl

Hey Katkodl!
It is good to hear from you again. I love to be able to get online and talk to everyone, because it is pretty much the only contact I have with anyone right now. I've never been a big phone person, much preferring to write to people. It has taken 30 years, but technology has finally caught up to my own personal preferences!
I no longer have to talk to people on the phone- I can email them or chat with them- all thru writing. I love it!
I can't lie down and type, but I can type a little, and then lie down for a while, then get up, finish, then lie down some more. It really is okay. I just can't work.
I watch so much tv- but I stay away from soap operas- don't want to get caught up in them. Eventually I want my life back! I read a lot! A book or more every day or so. Especially when there is no tv worth watching. My mom goes to the library and brings back a huge stack of books at least once a week.
It snowed on the mountains near here a week or so ago. I loved it, too, but it is all gone again.
Trust me, please! You do NOT bore me with your chit chat! It makes me feel normal to be able to communicate with anyone, and special to be able to communicate with so many fascinating DNA fans. Sure it takes me a while to respond, so don't give up on me, ok?
Sometimes, I might leave in the middle of a conversation, but please don't think its because of you or anything you've said. My back spasms can come on quite suddenly, and sometimes, I just have to stop what I'm doing and lie down.
It will get better. It has to! I will go insane if it doesn't go away or get better soon.
I do need to go away for a little while now, but I will be back! So please write!
Cali gal

Hello Cali_gal!

Good to hear from you again!

We have something in common: I’m not a phone-person either! I’ve never understood what’s so great about chatting on the phone all day long – just causes a headache , doesn’t it? Writing is much better, I agree.

I suppose a laptop would be ideal for you at the moment. You could lie in bed – treating your back with care – while typing your e-mails and messages on h2g2.
But at least you can read books in bed. Which ones have you been reading lately? Anything you enjoyed a lot? I just finished reading “Bleachers” by Grisham. I thought I have to read a book by Grisham, cause he always makes it to the “New York Times Bestseller” list. So I picked one at random… what a disappointment! “Bleachers” bored me to death. Really, it was by far the worst (English) book I’ve read within this year. It was not only the plot I didn’t like, the way he is describing things is even worse. Simply not the kind of book I enjoy reading.

Snow!!! We had snow here as well – not only on the mountains, even in the lowlands. That was on Tuesday. It was so beautiful! Unfortunately the snow has melted again, and now it’s pretty dull outside. It’s mizzling all the time, and there’s a lot of wind. I hope we’ll have some more snow soon.

At university prevails chaos. I don’t want to go into detail, it just freaks me out to write it down. The reason why I’m telling you is that it’s likely that I won’t be able to be regularly on h2g2. So if you don’t receive answers immediately it’s because I’m busy with my studies. So please don’t be disappointed, and don’t feel neglected! Sometimes it’s so hard to talk about it when everything goes wrong, writing it down makes it so much more real, doesn’t it?

I’m busy learning some French at the moment. It’s so much fun! There are a lot of pages where you’re taught French for free – I love the WWW! I’m also reading a French book (short stories with a lot of pictures ) – it takes me an estimated hour to read (i.e. analyse) a single page, but it’s worth the effort.

Hope your back is doing okay today! I’m looking forward to hearing from you! Have a wonderful day!

katkodl