No Spirit

The computer has just been returned from it's out-of-warranty service to it's regular resting place on my desk, and I've been reading through blogs I haven't been able to keep up with the past couple of weeks.

It seems, from the little I've read, that there is an abundance of Christmas Spirit out there. Mostly in Texas, I think, which is too bad for me. I need some right here, right now. Like Mame after she lost the job she had to take at Macy's because she lost all of her money in the stock market crash. I need a little Christmas.

Send some Christmas spirit to New England.

And a little snow too. Please.

Frankly, it looks like Christmas has puked all over my house. And outside the house too. Lights, trees, greenery, Santas. You name it. It's cluttering up the house. And I couldn't feel less in the Christmas spirit than I would, say, on Arbor Day. I'm just not getting it.

I have taken it upon myself to make gifts this year. Or to craft gifts. Or to attempt to make something that someone might like, because they definitely don't want it, but it's the best I can do under the circumstances. I've been avoiding shopping since anything I spend will have to be via credit card, and I'm already worried about how I will pay the minimum AND the phone bill. I'm worried, but not in despair yet. I keep thinking that something will happen.

I'm a Pisces, and also a dreamer, so my plan for the future is fraught with a lack of reality. Oh, and Mercury is retrograde right now, so I also can't find anything that I had in my hand a moment ago and put down. Especially if it's related to one of my homemade "projects". Scissors? Tape? They were right there on the table. Where the hell did they go? I think it's not so much Mercury that's screwing me up, as it is the evil Christmas elves. Santa must've had a "reduction in force" and all of the laid off elves are now living in my basement, using my washer and dryer, and wreaking havoc with my "projects".

I'm cutting it close, and I'm not nearly ready, but I'm going out for coffee with a friend tomorrow anyway.

Maybe I'll find some holiday cheer in the bottom of a fat-free Peppermint Mocha Latte.

Shit Happens

Our computer “took a morte” yesterday. That’s French for died. It’s supposed to be French. It may not be. I don’t speak French. I’m just repeating what my Dad say’s when something stops working.

It took a morte.

Having your computer die on you is like having a baby. There’s never a good time for it. It just happens. Sometimes it’s planned. Most of the time, though, it’s not.

We didn’t plan for our computer to die. And it’s really bad timing. Very inconsiderate if I do say so myself. Not to mention, inconvenient.

We’re not sure if it’s the motherboard, the battery or if we’ll have to replace the damn thing entirely. Baaaaaaad timing. On the heels of the replacement water pump. Life without a computer at home could be good. One less distraction from the multitude of things on my pre-holiday to-do list. But how am I going to be notified of things? Like party invitations for parties where they’ll serve lots of food (that I didn’t have to make), and lots of spiked hot drinks (because I don’t have to drive).

I suppose I could get on with the cookie baking. But most likely I will be loitering around the entrance of our small town library with the absurd hours, waiting for them to open, so I can snag a computer and check my email.

Please support your local libararies.

I'm going through withdrawal.  It's like a part of me died. I don’t know what to do with myself. Pacing the house wanting to boot the thing up and knowing I can't. It's torture.

So here’s some unsolicited advice from me:
Hug your computer every day.

And back it up!

Because one day it will be gone. You won’t know when it’s coming and it will be extremely inconvenient.

And you’ll be up Shit’s Creek without a DOS window or an operating system.