So, not only do I still not have my laptop back (and my latest call to the shop wasn’t returned today), but I’ve had more issues this week – this time with Mum’s new PC. I had spent some time over the weekend and earlier this week installing software and making sure that everything was running smoothly and all seemed to be well. So, with that in mind I went and picked up Mum’s old machine, so that I could transfer across all of their (Mum, Dace, Siobhan) data, bookmarks, etc. Before I start this transfer process, I have the machines set up and I had Dace and Newby (one of his rowing mates and also a previous flatmate) over to have some pizza, talk smack and play some games. Just as we’re gearing up to play a three-way network game, the new PC dies. I spend the rest of the damn night trying to figure out what’s wrong while they play games. Yesterday I took it round to the tech guys (different ones from the ones dealing with my laptop) and got it theoretically fixed. Looks like it had some bad RAM in it. Anyway, once I got it home it was still messed up, only different problems were cropping up instead this time. This morning I gave up, and took it back around to the tech guys this afternoon to get them to fix it. To top it off, my discussions with the people dealing with my laptop indicates that my laptop isn’t going to be fixed any time soon (I don’t know why I believed that it would only be a few days…), and given my inability to work I’m going to have to get a new laptop. Earlier in the week I discussed it as a potential option with some of my Dad’s officemates and sorted out which machine I was going to get. I put in the order today, although I think I put it in a bit too late to be getting it tomorrow, as was the original plan if I still didn’t have my Ferrari back. This isn’t exactly my ideal situation, but too much of my life is tied up in my laptop for me not to do this at this point.

In other news, I’ve been sleeping a bit funny this week, it’s been a kind of hit-and-miss with getting a decent night’s rest. I’m hoping it’s just a passing bout, probably due to my stressing over my computer issues right now. I’m sure everything will get sorted out in time.

On Sunday the planned golf went out the window as the afternoon weather was rubbish. The morning was fine (I managed to dry some washing on the line), but it just turned to custard, which was a shame. After dinner at Mum’s I went around to Grandma and Grandad’s for a cup of hot blackcurrant and a bit of a chat. We also watched some golf on TV. Grandad had also picked up a book from the library for me on writing games, which is very cool! I’ve already read the first couple of chapters and it’s certainly an interesting read. Hopefully I’ll finish it off before I have to give it back, otherwise I’ll need to find it again later somehow – I doubt I’ll have time before I leave if I don’t finish it over the next few weeks. In other golf news, Grandad and I had some practice on Monday afternoon (hot blackcurrant and a chat at home afterwards), then another lesson on Wednesday morning (with our usual coffee afterwards) and then out on the course to play a few holes today. Unfortunately for me I played like absolute crap. To be fair to myself, I did have a few good shots that were pretty good, but overall it wasn’t very good. After golf today I went back to Grandma and Grandad’s for dinner, then we sat down and watched Lost in Translation. Lost in Translation is one of my favourite movies and I had convinced Grandma a few weeks ago to buy the DVD. ^^; I already own a copy, but my copy is back in the US so I couldn’t lend it to them. Anyway, they both really liked it, which made me very happy. ^^

When I was around at Mum’s picking up her computer this week, I also picked up a present from my uncle Eamon, who lives in Wellington. It’s a very awesome t-shirt that I’m to wear in Japan as a very obscure reference that no one will get. ^^ It’s designed the same as a lot of those “COLLEGE” t-shirts that you see a lot of in the US, only it has the name of my primary school across the front in the same typeface and CHCH (contraction for Christchurch, the city I’m from for those of you that don’t know) on the back. Absolutely mint.

On the work front I haven’t been able to do terribly much this past week or so due to technical difficulties, however I did manage to do some accounts and put together some invoices for last month’s work – even if it was less than I was hoping it would be. Next week I’ll have a computer of some kind and I’ll hopefully be back to being effective. The only other kinds of work I can do is the email-management side of things, which has been a relatively new and interesting experience for me. Being a co-ordinator, essentially – not too dissimilar to some of the work that I was doing at Ignition in Florida.

Before Mum’s new PC died I did get to play some games with Dace on Tuesday, which was good fun. I’ve been able to see him a fair bit this week, even if I haven’t been able to do as much with him as I might like due to dealing with computer crap. I’ve also got to see my friends a bit more, which has been nice… and thanks to Ian’s laptop, we were able to continue with our Pizza Night this week and watched a bunch of Eureka this time. Actually while I’m talking about pizza, I got a little postcard voucher in the mail on Saturday for a free snack-sized pizza from Hell, since I’ve been ordered so much off of them since I’ve been back in NZ. It’s been a good option, reasonably cheap, extremely good (much better pizza than in the US) and also a solid vegan option for people like Rach, which is a pretty smart move on their part, I think. Anyway, I used it to try out one of their dessert pizzas… and it was delicious!

Not being able to work has allowed me to back-populate my journal a bit more, which is good because it was sitting at about three and a half months behind. I have had some days where, other than running a few small errands and doing laundry, I’ve just written journal entries and watched some anime for breaks. Silver lining, I tell myself. Silver lining.