tl;dr i do what i want and this is not something i want to do right now, deal with it

in the past, years ago, where i got the laptop i currently use, it was because of one main reason: my extended family are uncivilized savages. so it came with a cracked screen, half a keyboard, usb ports filled with some sugary drink etc. but it was free and the internals were decent, so it was worth it to try to save it

the screen: well, it used to be a touch screen. no longer lol. nowadays it has big ass visible cracks but other than that, it displays shit wonderfully. i can use xbacklight -set 0.059 and it still displays stuff, so i can use it in the night comfortably (tho that is unrelated)

the usb ports... well. i manage. i could get some usb hub but thats too much of a bother, so i survive with a single port, thug life. also, gross. i cleaned it as best as i could but its hard, and i think something shorted in that side (luckily a sideboard, not the main one) of the computer innards. cleaning it made the rj-45 work tho, so it was worth it

now, they keyboard...
it came with an also destroyed replacement keyboard, i guess from the first time they had to replace it. but both keyboards were lacking keys. so i made a mix, frankenstein style. only at the end did i notice that between the two keyboards i had a total of 0 enter keys

i had to improvise and tl;dr pic related

now, that has worked surprisingly well for years. but today, it ended. it was undone. the ""enter"" key died. actually it was yesterday but i was in denial, but thats beyond the scope.

today i opened the thinkpad keyboard spares box™ and i saw that i have three potentially suitable replacements:

so, i will let the public decide which one i should try first: upper side, a third shift key. left, a del/supr(?) key, and on the bottom corner, we have some extra tabbing™. on the right, the loyal but deceased bloq mayus (aka caps lock). forever in my heart.

seeing the tab key like this is like... "is it a button to call an elevator? is it the internet symbol of "im a switch"?" whatever it is, it is weird

today's very specific music genre is "melodic death metal with vegan lyrics"