About time, Shadow

And so it is, yet again, that I have gone far too long without writing. Some days, writing in this thing is a venture in negativity, and as such is something I would rather simply avoid. It is always so easy to focus on the negative things that somehow writing about the daily annoyances simply serves more to compound them than to purge them as I should.

The past couple weeks have been decent, if not on an upswing. It seems I’m keeping up quite nicely with the constant barrage of proverbial hands that want to dip into my ever-shallow pockets, and with a few extra shifts and a bonus from another mystery shop (100%, yay me), I may just keep my head above water for a while instead of relying on the proverbial mouth-to-mouth of similarly drowning fish for survival.

My computer, which many by now know is affectionately (in good times, not so much when it acts up) as F.R.E.D., decided to attempt an additional pocket dipping a few nights ago, leaving me to come home from work to find that it had somehow burned out its power supply and floppy drive after I had powered it down the night before. Fortunately, having four computers in the house, and a large knowledge base of computer repair, we never throw out computer components unless they are completely beyond use or repair. Between the spare power supply, and the old case, I was able to put F.R.E.D. back together again, minus a floppy drive (who uses those anymore anyway, right?), and circumvent the cost of buying a new computer right before Christmas (I know, a new computer for a power supply? I won’t five-and-dime myself repairing a 700 mHz processor, regardless of how well I keep F.R.E.D. running).

Speaking of Christmas, I am having some mixed feelings on the matter, which really is nothing new for me over the past few years. Since 2001, for many personal reasons, Christmas has taken far more of its intended meaning on me than anything to do with the commercial aspect. The snow is annoying, especially when I have to add shoveling into my nightly over-worked routine, and the cold is simply too cold for man or beast once we get into the harsh middle of winter. Despite the things I dislike about Christmas, I do still greatly enjoy being able to put smiles on the faces of those I care about … and in this, I am nearly through all my shopping, with the exception of a brother (whom I thought I’d already taken care of–darn his non-PS2-owning ways), and two children. With a little bit extra effort over the next week or so, I should be able to completely avoid the annual Christmas Rush, and be semi-contentedly wrapped in a blanket watching Tv while other scramble through overpacked shopping malls and crowded parking lots … hehehe, the joy of getting an early start.

And who knows … maybe this time I won’t leave this thing for 3 weeks before I write something