HAZ ORDERED A LAPTOP. O__O.....
I am deep in the throes of Buyer's Apprehension (okay, read that as 'terror') at the moment, along with a heady admixture of Want!It!RIGHT!NOW!ness. I got my income-tax refund in this morning and did what I've been planning on for several weeks now-- bought me a laptop.
It's a Sony Vaio NW, 320 fat gbs of storage and 4gbs of RAM with a nice sizable screen. Not tiny and lightweight; it's a chunky, strong laptop with decent reviews and a reputation for sturdiness, with a CD/DVD burner and Windows 7 and some nice bells and whistles... and the freakin' thing was affordable, thanks to NewEgg's lovely sales. I mean, $150 less than home-website price? I watched it come on sale, get sold absolutely out, then go back to normal price, then come back on sale... and the timing was good. So I snatched it up.
I think I picked a good one, but if anybody out there has any feedback, let me know, okay? From what I can tell from reviews on their customer service, the computer department has decent CS (but the TV/small appliances department sucks.) I looked at a hell of a lot of laptops first, both online and physically (I went to Best Buy so I could get an idea of physical screen-size; wouldn't buy from there, thanks no) and here's hoping that this one pans out to be a good choice.
FEAR AND APPREHENSION, AARGH. Oh well; it'll be here Monday. My poor 7-year-old Toshiba Sattelite, Thoth, is dying by inches; he's been a good laptop and I'll hang on to him and eventually get his wonky switch and power-cord port fixed. But it's retirement time, I think.
In other stuff: last night my co-author nightengale posted Chapter Six of Book Two ("identity, cows, assistance") for Three Thieves, the Detective Conan/Magic Kaito fan novel we've been working so hard on. That thing is so much fun to write-- talk about a buzz, watching Em go ballistic in response to something I've just written and then pinging off the landscape myself over HER stuff is... Let me just say that I wouldn't trade it for ten more years added to my lifespan. It's good. ^_____^ We're currently, dunno, a good handful of chapters ahead of what we've posted, and we're getting into some very interesting ground indeed.
More other stuff: Got Estrella War to go to in just over a week; I'll be heading out the morning of Tuesday the 9th to camp with my brothers in the Great Dark Horde. The class list looks gorgeous this year, lots of hands-on things and toolmaking groups; gonna be a busy war, what with running the camp-kitchen, taking classes and working security shifts. Busy wars are the best wars; the ones where I have too much time on my hands are the ones I don't enjoy. This one should be a lot of fun, I should run my feet off and have my hands busy all the time, and and AND I bought myself a damn tent-heater. I won't freeze at this one! Or not too much.
And even MORE other stuff: My mom is... well. Saying that she's 'not getting better' is just-- I can't do that anymore. I apologize to my friends local and not if I've been a bit hermittish or bad-tempered lately; stuff has been happening and I don't really want to go into it. I'm just glad she's in good hands and that I'm here and not there. That's selfish, I know. But I got a hard look recently at the results of not living up to my own standards in regards to family (and yay, self-hate issues, fun) and I think that I'm gonna have to deal with being selfish for a while and hope my family understands. Mama is safe and in good care. I can't help her, nobody can; but she's not hurting either. I'll go back to visit when I can bear it, but it's not going to help anybody if I do it while I can't, and right now I can't.
Anyway. I'll try to be less of a surly recluse and more of a friend, hm? Don't worry. And thank you all for being patient.
BETTER other stuff: Going on Sunday to Lann's down in Sierra Vista to help get kitchen stuff ready pre-Estrella as well as sew mightily on two flannel tunics, one flannel underdress and possibly a tawny-gold silk court tunic-- I totally forgot I had that fabric in my closet and only just unearthed it. Seriously, I'm so glad I do 14th century Welsh; no corsets, no boning, practical fabrics! Wearable patterns that make good use of every inch of yardage! So tomorrow I'll be shopping for a new tent (my old smaller more winterized tent has a serious rip/leak in the bottom and a broken pole) and the next morning I'll drive down there. Should be fun; I enjoyed my last visit hugely.
Okay, time for me to go back to work. I'll report on the new Shiny when it arrives on Monday, and y'all can laugh at me as I flail from sheer excitement. ^____^ Hey, it's good for me.