I know it's been a long time since I posted, and part of that was the Christmas wind-down, but not long after that, Eleanor the laptop actually crashed on me and had to spend some time in repair. The brightside is that $200 later, it's in fine working order, I didn't have to reinstall a single thing, and I actually have a bigger hard drive than what I started with! I also immediately went and uploaded my writing to two independent file storage sites so I can access my writing even without Eleanor.

Christmas was pretty awesome - I got cash from the grandparents, as usual, but I also got an iPod case from Shannon and Season 2 of Castle on DVD from Lauren. My parents, however, went on eBay and got me a vintage 2nd edition copy of a Little Golden Book my mom used to read to us when we were kids. Since I collect antique books, this was actually an awesome gift. Now all I need to find is the 1980s reprint, since that was the one we actually owned, and I'll have the Katie the Kitten exacta. (How weird does that sound?) Considering that Katie the Kitten isn't in print anymore, this would be awesome.

Speaking of Christmas, even though I said I was almost Christmas-ed out, I managed to paint six ornaments for a pastor friend, who just adopted a little girl. I made one personalized ornament for each member of the family, and on the bottom, where I signed and dated them, I included a heart (since I always sign stuff with a heart) and numbered each in their birth order. They turned out so adorable - I'm so proud of them, and so far I know Joel is jazzed. Then I painted an ornament for a member of the MST3K discussion board I'm on, and he offered to trade me three episode DVDs for it. Last year was my first artistic commission, and this was the first time I've ever been compensated for one of my ornaments. I'm kind of excited about that.

New Year's was cool - I got invited to go to the church's singles event, which was my first singles anything. I'd heard rumors that the group was mostly re-single people, and as a 26-year-old I kind of would rather hang out with people my age than 40-something divorcees. But the improv troupe they brought in was kind of cool, and the stand-ups (Christian stand-ups with real LA credentials!) were hilarious. Then we rang in 2011 with noisemakers and the Cha-Cha Slide. That was interesting... Everybody was nice, and there seemed to be some people my age there - I think I'll keep going and see what happens. I mean, if I can't get a job, maybe I can get a boyfriend, right? :P

In royalty news, the Crown Princess of Denmark had her twins on Saturday - one boy and one girl. In Denmark, nobody knows a child's name until the mother speaks it at the christening, which isn't for about three months. So being an onomastic (one who likes names and what they mean) I get to play the guessing game until about March/April. Until then, some people are calling them Elvis and Shirley, after a joke Crown Prince Frederik made about naming the boy Elvis (since the twins share a birthday with Elvis Presley), and Shirley Bassey, another singer with a January 8th birthday, but I'm calling them Lilleprinsen ("Little Prince") and Lillepigen ("Little Girl"), after the nicknames the Danish press gave their older siblings Prince Christian and Princess Isabella. Regardless, it's a far sight happier news than what really covered the airwaves over the weekend. Also, I found a Swarovski crystal ring that resembles a certain famous British royal engagement ring at the mall and splurged on it for myself. It was only $25, so that's not too bad, and it has two more "diamonds" around the edge than Catherine's, so there. I love wearing it. It's so sparkly.

Finally, I am including a meme I snagged from apple_pathways , which means you finally get to hear my voice!

( Here's the meme: )

Mood bored Music Always Something There to Remind Me - Naked Eyes Tags: books, christmas, getting artsy, holidays, laptop, memes, mst3k, princess things/royal watching, update

So, thanks to my paychecks, I have a new laptop! I'm still working on getting everything set up the way I want, and Victoria died (for good) while I was transferring my files (a moment of silence, please). Right now I am sans a few of my pictures, but I'm hoping that a guy at church can go into Victoria's hard drive and get the rest of the stuff onto the new laptop, like how he got the files off my old, died-before-I-bought-a-replacement Gateway and onto Victoria in the first place.

Now I'm really taking suggestions on names for the new laptop. gonzo1385 suggested Elizabeth, and I'm a fan of either Eleanor or Adeliza, so comment here with your idea... Katherine/Catherine, Anne, and Jane are already taken by Katharine the iPod, Anne the new iPod I haven't bought yet, and Jane the car.

Also, tomorrow morning I'm going to San Francisco (yes, again), this time to see the historical tall ship Lady Washington, which is currently touring the California coast. The Lady Washington is a replica of the 18th century Lady Washington, and is famous (at least to me) for the blue-and-gold paint job it got in 2003 so it could play the HMS Interceptor in Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl. I was excited about it at first, but now I'm kind of blah about it, but Shannon's already arranged for a car that seats five (me, Shannon, Tahleen, Lauren, and Shannon's friend Chris)... I think they might also want to go to Alcatraz, which has never held my interest at all. Not sure what I'm going to do...

Location daybed Mood indifferent Tags: laptop

Found a great computer today. $450 at Best Buy. 250 gigs of hard drive space, Bluetooth (which theoretically means I can send files to my phone, which = awesome ringtones!), and it's nice and small. The only thing is that it has 2 gigs of memory, and apparently Vista uses one gig, and so the Best Buy Guy suggested getting more gigs of memory, but that's also more expensive. Also, I think that 2 gigs is what Victoria had, and that wasn't slow at all. Again, the new laptop will have the name of an English Queen, and suggestions are welcome. I'm thinking Adeliza and Eleanor are kind of cool...

I got a call today from my boss at Boyer (tutoring), and she gave me a new group of kids on Thursdays! I've also got a new kid on Tuesdays and Fridays. I told her I was actually going to call her about how to get a new group, and she said that they like me at Boyer, and so I'll probably be getting more new groups of kids. So continued paychecks = new computer in a few months!

Also, my daybed came in today (totally cute!), but it's missing the bolts needed to put it all together. It's also got some paint dings, so it needs a new coat of paint or whatever. Still can't contact Uncle Curt about offering him back his futon, but I can't do anything until we get the bolts anyway, so it's kind of moot for a few days. Can't wait to try out the (never before used) mattress - it's totally soft.

Anyway, time to get ready to leave for work...

Location Dining Room Mood happy Tags: laptop, room remodel, work

Took the power cord to Radio Shack, and it's not the power cord. So I talked to a Gateway rep, who says it's more than likely the DC port. So I called the local computer repair shop, and they said they "don't recommend" fixing DC ports, because "they don't hold."

So Victoria is dead, and now I'm in the market for a new laptop. Again.

Problem is the job situation seems a little up in the air right now... the kids are starting to finish their tutoring time, and I don't know if there will be another session of kids, and if I'm in the mix to get a new group. Also still haven't heard about Very Perfect Job (I've left messages with my mom's friend, and still haven't heard back), so I'm starting to write it off as a missed opportunity and looking into getting into this fall's credential program...

Location living room Mood slightly stressed Tags: argh, laptop, work

I took Victoria's cord to Radio Shack after work to get it looked at, and it isn't the power cord. Now I basically get to pay $65 to have somebody look at it and tell me that the connector pin is more than likely broken, which is basically what the Gateway tech just told me. Or I just write it off and start saving for a new laptop, though GatewayCasey did suggest finding someone who could do tiny soldering work and have them fix the pin.

Which brings me to another point. I think having a credit card is really unnecessary. Why would I basically agree to pay more money than something is worth? Just so I can have it now instead of later? My dad suggests that I should only buy something if I have the money to pay for it. So why wouldn't I just wait until I have the money and pay cash? I know it's important to build good credit, but I just don't see the point.

Oh well. Time to call Uncle Curt about what he would like me to do with his futon...

Location Dining Room Mood disappointed Tags: argh, laptop

I think I may have killed Victoria the Laptop. Something's up with the power cord (one of the many reasons I will never buy another Gateway again), and it's not registering that the power cord is plugged in, even though it is. I know I've been hard on laptops in the past, but I have been so beyond gentle with this one. This sucks.

I'm going to try to pop in as often as I can on the family laptop, but who knows when I'll get mine fixed... hopefully my dad can have the cord looked at tomorrow while I'm at work.

Is it wrong to hope for my stimulus check, now that it'll help me buy a new laptop*, should I need one, even though I've fought against the stupid bill ever since I first heard about it?

*If I do end up getting a new laptop, it will, of course, be named for an English queen. I'll take suggestions later on.

Location Living Room Mood frustrated Music Monty Python's Flying Circus Tags: argh, laptop