Monthly Archives: July 2007

Hello, Wall

Guess whose desktop computer won’t start up this morning?

*headdesk*

It turns on. No start-up sequence. Not even a system check. Everything was fine when I shut it down last night. No viruses were found in the virus scan I did at dinner yesterday. It must be a hardware failure of some kind.

And did I save the files I need to be working on to my thumb drive? No, I did not. I’ve asked the client to send me the last copy of the first file I returned to them last week and the original copy of the third so that I can pick up where I left off and work on the laptop. Hopefully Blade will be able to do something about the computer tonight, otherwise the second (and complete) file is stuck there unless we take the drive out and plug it into another computer to take it off. The good news is that I work with a partioned drive so that if we have to reinstall Windows (again) I don’t lose any of my important stuff, just programs and time. If the drive is dead, well, I’ll just have to completely redo the second file. And it will serve me right for not making an external backup, but still — argh, I DO NOT need that right now.

Rosy, smack me upside the head for NOT LEARNING.

And I was so optimistic about the day, too.

Needless to say, my access to email is going to be limited today. If you know my work Gmail address, use that instead, or leave me a shout here to contact you; I’ll be checking comments regularly.

Hanging In

Day two of unidentified stomach bug. I had to cancel my appearance at a lunch with friends, which disappointed me a lot because I’m going stir crazy being at home right now. I was so desperate for interpersonal communication that I sat on the steps and chatted with the mailman this morning. Thanks for the good wishes both here and via phone and email, everyone. Toast again this morning, and soup for lunch. I’m not dead yet, so I’m cautiously optimistic. Mind you, I was cautiously optimistic last night too, and woke up just as sick as I’d been the day before. We shall see. I’m done my work for the evening, so I can go to bed two and a half hours earlier than I’ve done the past two days.

The urgent project I accepted Tuesday at noon is back in the hands of the client after twenty-eight hours of insane editing, so I’m working on the more relaxed first project again. The urgent client has been told that I’m not going to be available again for a week if they need me, and I wrote a three-page memo outlining all the changes and suggested revisions/solutions to the problems involved so whoever picked it up next would have as much information as possible at their disposal, which took me two hours to do. There’s nothing like an insane urgent deadline to really refocus perspective on a regular project again, particularly when the pace had kind of slowed down on it. Of course, I have to put in some work over the weekend to make up for the two days eaten by the urgent project, but I seem to be moving through it at a very good clip, which is encouraging.

I’m glad it will be over next week, though; I miss the boy, and I know he misses us too, as much as he adores his caregiver. Today’s new word was ‘supernatural’, heard in a Rough Traders song. There is no telling what word he will hear and instantly take a liking to, to use as he pleases.

To my vague astonishment we will be seeing various people over the weekend, if only for a short time each, which will temporarily assuage my need to reconnect with the outside world. There may be Penguin bars and Fry’s chocolate tablets involved. There will certainly be corn, if I can swing it.

Ugh

So very sick last night and this morning. Possibly a bug; possibly a combination of the weather and how upset I got yesterday about a situation. Possibly both.

Tea is staying down. Am about to attempt toast. Cross your fingers for me.

Not Normal

So just when I think I’m ahead on this work thing, an emergency arises on the project I worked on last spring. Guess what I’m doing for the next eighteen hours? Good thing I’m well along on the other project and it’s only due next Tuesday. Also good that I got a lot of sleep last night. Not as good: the fact that I have been downing Excedrin Extra Strength With Codeine for a persistent headache.

But that is not why I am posting! I am posting to share this:

SPARKY: Bye bye, Leo eating cricket bugs!

[Leo is a leopard-patterned fat-tail gecko who lives with the caregiver. He dines upon crickets. The boy says goodbye to him every day before he leaves.]

HRH: Um. How many words was that?

CAREGIVER: [counts] Six.

[There is a pause.]

CAREGIVER: He’s not normal. I love him, but he is not normal.

Is Alive

Happiest of birthdays to Kino Kid and to Scarlet!

I’m not dead; I’ve just been working a lot. And reading a surprising amount, actually (two books this weekend apart from That Book, although I have no clue how that happened… I think I somehow bent time). And there has been a very welcome amount of sleep as well. And making of lasagna, and a chocolate layer cake, and the like.

As you were.