Showing posts with label college. Show all posts
blue screen of death (in another word, life)
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Sore throat. It started the other night when the a/c was broken and we had to leave the windows open. Someone was burning brush or having a campfire and the smoke, and it irritated my throat. Then I was distracted with problems, but it came back full force last night. So I don't know if it was related to the smoke or if my immune system couldn't keep up with the stress. Oh, I know--stress related heartburn.
I was having really scary computer problems, like, blue screen of death problems. If I'd had a Windows cd I probably would have wiped the drive and reinstalled Windows 7. As it happens, though, I don't have an installation cd so I had to work around it. I ran diagnostics, virus scans, repair utilities. Finally it grabbed enough of a toehold to install some automatic Windows updates, and two rounds of that seems to have fixed whatever error had occurred. I was just on the verge of installing Ubuntu when it started working properly again. Windows was scared, I guess.
So I made a repair disk and now I'm backing up my data. I might keep Ubuntu handy in case Windows goes kaput again, and I'll probably try it out via thumb drive. I've always wanted to try it. There were a few days of panic as I tried and failed to do schoolwork on my other two computers. One is 8 years old and barely runs, but the newer (yet still old) laptop has a bad DVD player. I kept having to hop back and forth and work around the kids as they claimed their computer time. Finally I looked at my syllabus to see what exactly was urgently due this weekend, and I saw I had already done it. Oh. Okay. Whew.
A sequel to Skin & Scales is starting to gel, but I don't know when I'll be able to write it. S&S is getting a few downloads and starting to collect reviews, and the two free shorts are still getting regular downloads. I'll be submitting S&S to my library system's HQ for possible inclusion in the collection. That would be pretty darn awesome. I need to buy some more copies to have on hand for sale.
I'll have to fit in a nap somewhere today, as the teenager pulled some shenanigans last night which kept me awake till 5 a.m. Ah, high school. Hopefully this is a lesson learned and not the beginning of a pattern. It's a good story, but I won't tell it until she's grown.
So that's what's happening here. I'll be working on my website later, getting links and pages working and adding stories if I have time. Fun stuff.
Life is good
Here's the real link to the interview I posted yesterday. For some reason I linked to Dane's post about the interview instead of the interview itself, on his author blog. Gotta be smarter than the Internet, Sherri.
Author Interview: Sherri Cornelius | J. Dane Tyler.
What a crazy week it's been! Most of it wasn't good, obviously, what with the Boston Marathon bombing so close to the anniversary of the OKC bombing, and the tornadoes earlier in the week, and friends going through health issues that I can only imagine. I could lose myself in debilitating empathy, which I would have done a few years ago.
What I find happening instead is extreme gratitude. My world is peaceful. I have all my limbs and no cancer. My family is healthy and untouched by violence. I finally feel I've overcome the bulk of my self-destructive tendencies.
So yeah, my life is good. It's not perfect, but at least I'm safe, warm, and fed. Oh, and I was accepted into the Bachelor of General Studies program! Things are moving in the right direction. I have to call the school now and set up my class plan. The only thing I'm concerned about is the money sitch. I can't really afford to pay more than about a dollar out of pocket. This might mean taking fewer classes to stay within the Pell grant I'll be getting. I won't be taking out any loans this time. Learned my lesson on that one.
Time for me to get my day started. I hope you all don't let the week get you down too much. Enjoy what you have while you have it.
Author Interview: Sherri Cornelius | J. Dane Tyler.
What a crazy week it's been! Most of it wasn't good, obviously, what with the Boston Marathon bombing so close to the anniversary of the OKC bombing, and the tornadoes earlier in the week, and friends going through health issues that I can only imagine. I could lose myself in debilitating empathy, which I would have done a few years ago.
What I find happening instead is extreme gratitude. My world is peaceful. I have all my limbs and no cancer. My family is healthy and untouched by violence. I finally feel I've overcome the bulk of my self-destructive tendencies.
So yeah, my life is good. It's not perfect, but at least I'm safe, warm, and fed. Oh, and I was accepted into the Bachelor of General Studies program! Things are moving in the right direction. I have to call the school now and set up my class plan. The only thing I'm concerned about is the money sitch. I can't really afford to pay more than about a dollar out of pocket. This might mean taking fewer classes to stay within the Pell grant I'll be getting. I won't be taking out any loans this time. Learned my lesson on that one.
Time for me to get my day started. I hope you all don't let the week get you down too much. Enjoy what you have while you have it.
The country mouse in the big city
I'm so tired, but in a good way. I visited an old college friend last night. Maybe it's just a quirk of mine, but I always expect people to look completely different if I haven't seen them in a while, and I also expect them not to recognize me. As you might expect, she recognized me just fine, and she is still every bit as beautiful and gracious as she was in college.
It surprised me how much we had to talk about. We probably have more in common now than we did back in the day. We picked up some Starbucks and pizza to take back to her apartment and got a little silly as girls can do. Of course the evening wouldn't be complete without one of my trademark inappropriate remarks, but it made my friend laugh hysterically, so I guess it may have been worth it. I don't know why I do that. I don't have the balls to pull them off. Those remarks are why I have a love affair with my delete key. Wish I had one for my mouth.
But the night was great. Jen has a strength she may not recognize but which is quite obvious to me. She projects femininity and beauty in a way I wish I could. Her apartment smelled divinely neutral and so did she, and I hope to have many more evenings just like it. (Minus the trademark inappropriate remark).
It surprised me how much we had to talk about. We probably have more in common now than we did back in the day. We picked up some Starbucks and pizza to take back to her apartment and got a little silly as girls can do. Of course the evening wouldn't be complete without one of my trademark inappropriate remarks, but it made my friend laugh hysterically, so I guess it may have been worth it. I don't know why I do that. I don't have the balls to pull them off. Those remarks are why I have a love affair with my delete key. Wish I had one for my mouth.
But the night was great. Jen has a strength she may not recognize but which is quite obvious to me. She projects femininity and beauty in a way I wish I could. Her apartment smelled divinely neutral and so did she, and I hope to have many more evenings just like it. (Minus the trademark inappropriate remark).
I feel fantastic
Why is my dryer suddenly making everything smell like fish? There's been no fish anywhere near my house in months. And if there had been, why would it be in the dryer? Seriously, why?
I'll be visiting with an old college friend this week. I'm nervous and excited at the same time. Excited for the normal reasons, because I like her. Nervous for some normal reasons and some abnormal ones: I'm embarrassed at my behavior in college; I used to be hot and now I am not; I'm not involved in musical theater (or music, or theater) in any way, and I feel guilty leaving it behind; I hate accommodating the stupid fragrance allergy ("Please jump through these hoops for me. I can't guarantee it will be worth it.").
But you know what? I feel fantastic. I think I may have gotten my fingernails under the edge of the fragrance/sinus/migraine problem. I'm meditating and avoiding fragrance and not dwelling on it. Wallowing in self-pity really does make it worse, and so does stress. I'm not saying it's not still a problem, but I have enough experience with it (almost a year) to know what to expect, and that makes it easier. I'm not mad about it anymore, and I think that's the main thing. Jen has been understanding about it, so for that I am grateful. Not that I expected any different. I remember her as a classy, friendly girl, and I can't wait to see her again.
I've only re-met one other college friend, and that was a few years ago. We talked and visited many times, got good and caught up, but fell out of touch as happens with people like Danny and me, and my last email went unanswered. He might have changed jobs by that time, because it was a work email. I felt like I should have tried harder to keep up with him, but finally realized that it was only half my responsibility.
I feel fantastic
I'll be visiting with an old college friend this week. I'm nervous and excited at the same time. Excited for the normal reasons, because I like her. Nervous for some normal reasons and some abnormal ones: I'm embarrassed at my behavior in college; I used to be hot and now I am not; I'm not involved in musical theater (or music, or theater) in any way, and I feel guilty leaving it behind; I hate accommodating the stupid fragrance allergy ("Please jump through these hoops for me. I can't guarantee it will be worth it.").
But you know what? I feel fantastic. I think I may have gotten my fingernails under the edge of the fragrance/sinus/migraine problem. I'm meditating and avoiding fragrance and not dwelling on it. Wallowing in self-pity really does make it worse, and so does stress. I'm not saying it's not still a problem, but I have enough experience with it (almost a year) to know what to expect, and that makes it easier. I'm not mad about it anymore, and I think that's the main thing. Jen has been understanding about it, so for that I am grateful. Not that I expected any different. I remember her as a classy, friendly girl, and I can't wait to see her again.
I've only re-met one other college friend, and that was a few years ago. We talked and visited many times, got good and caught up, but fell out of touch as happens with people like Danny and me, and my last email went unanswered. He might have changed jobs by that time, because it was a work email. I felt like I should have tried harder to keep up with him, but finally realized that it was only half my responsibility.
I feel fantastic
