Glued by gravity to the surface of this kamikaze Earth, I spin without choice through space.

And time passes.

It is hard for me to digest that a little over two weeks ago I could not use the command line interface on my computer. At the start of this year, I would not even have been able to find it.

Today, one month into the new year, I can now effortlessly navigate on the command line using basic commands.

If you are a mac user and would like to join the CLI club, then I highly recommend the Command Line Basics series on YouTube. I am currently on video #4 out of I’m not sure how many.

I like these videos because it is very easy to pause, practice the command that was just introduced on your own computer, and then play the video to learn more. The commands evolve naturally through the short lessons and the videos go into more detail than your average command line crash course. This is a real ‘must do’ for people who want to learn how to use their computer without a mouse.

Since gaining confidence on the command line, I have moved on to my next frontier: Git and GitHub.

If you have no idea what these two things are, then you and I have at least that much in common.

One month ago, before I started any of this PreWork, I was reviewing the syllabus and I noticed that I was going to have to learn Git and GitHub. Those were the only two completely unfamiliar terms on the syllabus so I went to YouTube to find out more.

The first video I watched clearly stated that Git was a “virgin control system.” Perplexed, I stopped the video and replayed it to be sure I had heard correctly. Yep. Virgin Control. That is what Git is all about.

At this point I was understandably very confused. Why would anyone want to control virgins? More to the point, what does virginity have to do with computing?

So I selected a different video…. And there it was again. Git is a “virgin control system.”

In fact every video I watched started by saying that Git solved the complex problem of “virgin control.” I stopped each video after it said that.

“What?” I was wondering, trying to stop my imagination from running wild.

Finally I went to Google and typed in “What is Git?”

First I learned that in British informal English, a git is a contemptible, unpleasant person.

That didn’t help.

Wikipedia saved the day with the following definition: Git is a “distributed version control system.”

“Oh,” I said aloud. Git is all about version control, not virgin control.

At this point I laughed at myself until tears rolled down my face. It is so nice to cry tears of joy instead of that other kind that we all too often encounter.

I still didn’t know anything about Git or GitHub at that point, but I was glad to know that I would not be sacrificing virgins and offering their innocent blood to the computer gods.

However I did learn an important lesson. As I learn the unfamiliar skill set of a web developer, I am going to make mistakes and misunderstand. Sometimes this is going to happen A LOT.

I have to be comfortable with laughing at myself. If I am going to make it through this Bootcamp in one piece then every instance of “virgin control” cannot be the end of the world.

Rather these misunderstandings have to be invitations for me to learn more.

Comforted by my newfound knowledge that Git and GitHub have nothing to do with sexuality, I am ready to learn.

Lets “Git” on with it shall we?