Today's rambling: Lost, huh?
Written on Wednesday, Jul. 30, 2003 at 12:56 a.m.
while feeling a bit

So Mom called the Gateway folks today, asking what the heck happened to my laptop that was supposed to be back within a week. It's now been about four weeks, and no sign of my beloved computer. Want to know what the Gateway folks told us?

It's apparently been lost in shipping.

LOST???

Oh, it made it to the repair place--in TEXAS--but I guess on the way back, it was lost. I'm just a little incensed by the whole thing. Gateway products have proven themselves to be highly unreliable in the first place (though to date, my laptop had been a perfect angel). But now to be so careless as to frickin' LOSE a computer? I'm ready to raise hell.

They're going to get back to us by the 8th, but they'll probably 'forget'. It's not so much the loss of the computer itself that pisses me off--I mean, they will most definitely be supplying me with a new one if mine HAS been lost--but I had personal stuff on there. Not just songs, 'cause goodness knows I can get those again. I was getting tired of that playlist anyway. But I had stories on there, and graphics and things. I am SO pissed. Assuming they do find my computer, I hope they have enough sense not to try charging for it. I'm sure they wouldn't be that stupid, but at this point I'm looking for any excuse to tear into them.

*snorts* Lost a computer...

On a happier note, I went out driving again today and did much better. Even paranoid Mom wasn't gripping the door handle in terror today. :P I got skittish at one point because I was driving in front of a cop and was afraid I'd end up doing something wrong, but then I pulled off into this little neighborhood (which, as it turns out, was where an old friend of mine used to live). At first, I was asking Mom whether she wanted me to turn left or right, but by the end I was just choosing paths myself. Actually, the main reason for starting that was because I was hoping to choose paths that the cars behind me wouldn't follow. *chuckles* I get nervous with cars behind me right now, because if I end up driving too slow or making a mistake, I don't want to irritate them.

Still, I only made a couple of little mistakes today, but for the most part all my turns were smooth, and I stayed within the speed limit and didn't feel as out of control as I did yesterday. We're going out to practice again tomorrow, and hopefully I'll be even better than I was today! Crossing fingers, anyway. I'd better improve, since my test isn't that far away!

There was a message from Tim when we got back, asking whether we were making reservations in Clarion and blah blah. So he and Geoff are coming out with us! That'll be fun. My roommate's going to be there on the 21st, because she's the president of the Over-Achiever's Club (that's not its real name, hehe), and that's going to end up being a huge pain because I'm the one bringing the carpet. I was hoping to be there first so that there wouldn't be any obstructions or whatever. But now that I've got two men with me, that shouldn't be a problem!

Tim said he'd call me again when he got home from work ('cause I was supposed to look something up online for him), and around 9:30 or so the phone rang. But it was Geoff. It was a surprise for me, because his sister had just come in from Pittsburgh a few days ago (according to Tim) and so Geoff was doing a lot of family stuff. Well, ever since he's been out of work, he's been doing a lot of family stuff. I'm not complaining, because I think it's great that he seems so family-oriented, but of course it keeps him away from me which is never a good thing. ;) After prodding him a little bit, he told me what they'd all been up to these past couple days, and it turns out they all went down to see the National Constitution Center. His 15-year old nephew went (and I think maybe his 10-year old 'step nephew', hehe), and after that...

They went to see 'Pirates of the Caribbean'.

Now, to give a little bit of background information, I was trying my best about a week ago to get that man to go to the theater with me, but he had no interest in seeing that movie. To be fair, he confessed that he hadn't really wanted to go this time, either...but he ended up actually somewhat liking it. :P "I hate you," I mock-hissed (though honestly, I was rather jealous, heh). He teased a minute later that I'd never get to see it, and I was like, "No, I probably won't." But I said that I was planning to just get Mom to drop me off at the theater, because I don't mind going by myself. This prompted Geoff to say that next Friday he'd take me, but I was like, "No, I'm not going to make you go." Grrrr...I think pretty much everyone on the planet has seen that movie except me. Even a guy who didn't even WANT to see it! Motivation #553 to get my license.

I no longer have any desire whatsoever to see 'The Haunted Mansion'. I can't believe they cast Eddie Murphy to be in it. He's like, one of the most terrible actors on the planet! And his brand of humor is just annoying. I could count the number of times I chuckled at 'The Nutty Professor' on one hand. The only reason I went to see that second Dr. Dolittle (Doolittle?) movie was because it had the Croc Hunter in it. *laughs* I know, like that's any better than going to see Eddie Murphy. But augh! I can't even express how much I dislike him!

Anyway, it was so difficult not to say anything tonight about my driving practice or my permit! I'm bound and determined that getting my license is going to be a surprise (or if I fail, it'll be a surprise that I did all this stuff without their knowing about it), but it's difficult! I know Geoff would be surprised enough just knowing that I've been going out the past two days to practice driving, so whenever there was a lull in the conversation I just wanted to blurt out the story. :P But I was good and kept quiet, hehe...

We were watching the 10 o'clock news "together," and then after that was over The Simpsons came on. I was about to get up and change the channel (our remote is broken, so we actually have to--gasp!--get up to change the channels now), but Geoff was like, "Watch this with me." I'm sorry, because I know a couple of my friends, at least, like that show. But I've never found anything about it that was worth watching, and I wasn't particularly enthused about watching it tonight, either. But I was too lazy to stand up, lol, so I just sat through it. No, there were no "Wow, I actually like this!" revelations. I still don't like the show, and don't expect I ever will. But it kept him on the phone for an extra half-hour or whatever, so I guess sitting through that show was worth it. :P

He and his family are all going swimming at his oldest brother's house tomorrow, heh...Meanwhile, I'll still be here with nothing to do. I almost wish I did have family at this point! At least, if nothing else, there'd be someone to argue with! His oldest brother has 2 or 3 dogs, and apparently he and his second wife used to talk about them almost as if they were children. To Geoff, this was bordering on the insane...because, as he put it, humans are more important than dogs.

I merely said that humans really aren't any better than animals half the time anyway, and left it at that. He agreed, but then he was like, "But if there was a fire, of course you'd save the human before the dog." (using 'you' in the general sense, hehe...) I can't say that I wouldn't save the human first, but to be honest...I might not. It's not that I wouldn't WANT to make sure all the other humans in the household were safe, but animals are dependent on us. What if the dog was in a crate or something, and wasn't able to get itself out of the house? At least the people in the house have more of a chance of getting out...and, if I discovered that the other person wasn't able to get out (like, say it was a baby), of course I'd go to their aid. But if it was another able-bodied adult, I'd totally go for the dog first. It's not crazy, it's just...well, logical. You go for the inhabitants who are the most dependent on you, whether they be babies or animals.

Anyway, that's all I have to say about that.

I'm not really in the mood to stay online for lengthy amounts of time tonight. I'm a little tired (probably because my sleep last night was crappy), but I don't know that I'm tired enough to go to bed. And I'm too afraid of messing up to start the next bit of my craft project, so I'm at something of a stalemate there! Maybe I should start on that second skirt. I'm trying to force myself to do one task at a time, instead of being so scattered and unorganized, but I want to do something right now that I know I can accomplish. All this stuff I've been doing requires tiny detail, and I'm just not skilled enough with a sewing machine to do it.

I ended up bruising my hands yesterday trying to wrestle with one of the knobs on the sewing machine. In order to wind the bobbin, you have to loosen this one knob thingy on the side wheel, and the instruction manual says to turn the knob toward you while holding the wheel still with your other hand. The diagram shows the woman's fingertips barely even touching this knob, yet I was holding the damn thing in a death grip and still couldn't get it to turn. You know that fleshy part of your palm below the thumb? Even though it was yesterday that I was doing this, both hands are still aching. I have no idea how that knob had been turned so tightly, but even Mom had to take several tries before she was able to loosen it.

Who'd have ever thought that such a domestic chore would cause so much pain? :P