LJ kvetching

I've been so careful about making sure I don't lose any entries during the composition stage that the LiveJournal gremlins had to do an end run around me and devour entries I'd already saved. Apparently, some data on my subcluster got corrupted during a "routine" relocation and they were only partially able to restore it. I can't view my most recent entry and the restore tool they've made available can't find it, so I assume it's lost for good. (That's what I get for being snarky about Barry: Her latent Pilipina voodoo must have activated.)

The tool did find and restore an entry that's at least a year old, which makes me wonder what else I might have lost. I'm afraid to look, really. What's the point? The staff have already been working for days to find the data; I doubt there will be any new breakthroughs. I'm not about to rewrite the lost entries, assuming I can even remember what they are. I'll find out only if there's a particular old entry I'm searching for.

I've always known that posting online entries on a free service is, in effect, writing in the sand. Known intellectually, that is; I didn't anticipate having to face their loss anytime soon, so I am a little caught off guard. One never knows when these object lessons in Buddhistic non-attachment will occur!

Chinesy stuff

Weeks ago, tyrannio had a question or two for me about Chinese numerals which I couldn't answer on the spot. I was wondering how to summarise what I found in an entry and then discovered that Wikipedia has already done a fine job. Summary: The Chinese have single characters for some really big-ass amounts.

Tonight is my first Chinese class in three weeks (missed one due to vacation, another fell out due to the Fourth) and I'm not prepared. I'd meant to work my way through every one of my flash cards from the very beginning, but of course that never happened. Fortunately, one of the missed lessons was a review, so I shouldn't be too far behind.