Thursday, September 11, 2008

Totally random thoughts

Sorry - I've sort of filled this in throughout the last two days as time permitted. I think I'll leave it as is, even though it's rough and raw. Enjoy!

There's a gremlin following me around. Everything electronic that I touch is doomed to failure and I blame MySpace.

I bet you think I'm kidding.

Ever since I first created a MySpace page, I've been plagued with computer troubles. I can't visit MyPage without having MyComputer lock up. I get viruses every time I try to update the page or reply to messages. Friends and relations have no troubles with their pages, but mine is evil. I'd blast the sinister thing into the MySpace graveyard if I thought I could do it without toasting another hard drive.

So my beautiful new computer - the one I bought after MySpace burned up my last laptop - is crippled. I love my HP Pavilion Notebook PC, but I'm thinking seriously about a Mac. I am so darn sick and tired of viruses. Every time I get hit with one, I lose at least a week of writing. I can't sync my Blackberry to my PC because the software won't load. I can't load my new Zep CD on my iPod. Outlook Express freezes up on me half the time, so I shut down and restart and get the same messages over and over. I can't run a virus scan without removing and reinstalling my virus software every time. And on and on and on. It never ends!

But on to other things :)

The Emerald City Writers Conference is less than a month away. I'm so excited to be attending this conference! Last weekend, I attended my first ever GSRWA meeting and all I can say is -WOW! What a great bunch of writers! I say that not just because they've all been fun to get to know, but because there are so many productive, successful writers in the group. I find it very motivating to hear what's working for other writers, how they've persevered through the submissions process and succeeded. One writer said, "Whew! And I thought writing was hard!"

Normally, fall is a productive time of year for me. I've been going through the motions, but not getting as much done as I'd like, probably because there are some days when I still feel like I'm on autopilot. On the way to the parent/child book club today (yes, I started that up again even though I'm loaded down pretty heavy as it is) my daughter Hannah started crying about missing Grampa and I joined in. And all day Monday, I had to field the question, "How was your summer?" I totally wasn't prepared to answer that yet.

I volunteered to be the team parent for my son Sean's football team. It's a small job, but to me it's huge. Taking on anything right now is huge to me, but I have to get out there and do it. Life goes on. I also attended a PTA meeting tonight. With both parents' illnesses last year, I could never fit a PTA meeting into my schedule. This year, I want to be involved. Sean is a great student and loves going to school. My goal with Hannah this year is to teach her the self-discipline a good student needs.

There is absolutely no closure for a random post like this! LOL if this were a draft of a story, I'd wad it up and toss it in the recycle bin!

3 comments:

CJ said...

I'm glad you didn't throw it away.

And, I'd answer that question by simply saying "It was difficult." There's nothing else you should feel like saying.

So, would it help to simply stop visiting myspace? I've heard there's a real virus problem over there.

I'm thrilled to hear you enjoyed yourself at the conference. You certainly deserve it. And, you're right about the routine. At first it'll be forced and difficult but then there will be... a sort of peace in that routine.

You've been in my thoughts and will continue to be.

cjh

Melanie R. Meadors said...

PTA, huh? Just think, you could be vice president in a few years!

See, I've had the opposite experiences with MySpace. People who I know with pages have constant problems, but the different between them and us is that they are "computer geeks" and I guess they know what to look for immediately when something goes wrong or looks weird, etc. That said, people I know with Macs and Linux don't complain. MySpace has been reported in the news many many times as being one of the largest sources of viruses on the internet. I guess they weren't kidding.

I found myself looking forward to the Tara Sheraton in Framingham for some reason the other day ;).

The random collection of letters below that I need to enter for security reasons says something obscene. I'm complaining to blogger!

elysabeth said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.