polychrome_pen | Entries tagged with laptop

DO NOT WANT. I can't believe that my computer is messed up again. Upon installing Windows Updates (which I think I shall now live in fear of for the rest of my life), my "Documents" folder seems to have become corrupted. >_< I thought that things would finally run smoothly after the tech people installed not only a new hard drive, but a new motherboard as well! Apparently not. That leaves, what...a software issue? I don't have any non-standard programs on there (hell, I don't even have AIM), so does that leave some kind of fatal flaw in the OS (Vista) itself? Or is it just because I'm cursed enough to end up with a Gateway computer?

But anyway.

I'm excited too because our new IBS-II lecturer is British! Since I love British accents, it makes the class ten times more interesting to listen to.
Other than that, school has ratcheted up a notch on the difficulty scale. Between re-listening to some lectures, labs, quizzes, the poster project, and upcoming Midterms (February 19-22), I've had barely any time for pleasure reading/watching, piano, and sleep (of course).

However, I have been listening to the Pocahontas soundtrack on my drive. I had forgotten just how awesome that music is - and the movie too. It's a truly beautiful and sadly overlooked gem among the Disney canon. I've been dying to re-watch it now, but have no time. ~~Though I'll probably try and work it in somewhere because the desire to see it again is eating me alive...~~

Oh, and I finally used my eBay gift card from Christmas! I now finally own the complete US release of the Marmalade Boy DVD box sets. It's seriously one of the best romance anime out there (even if it's basically ancient by today's standards). I'm especially happy because I was able to get sets 3 and 4 (both sealed), which are both out of print.

And for some reason I've been in a writing mood too. Not that I'll probably get any writing done in the near future (well, maybe a little if I can actually get myself to sit down and actually start something. But lately I've been writing a little personal retrospective lately on where the seeds were sown and who I developed the ideas with for some of my stories. It's scary just how many of my ideas were born from the creative collaboration between myself and an old friend. ^_^ I miss that collaboration and person very dearly now that they're gone. It was wonderful to have someone to discuss ideas with on a daily basis.

Current Location: Home - the family computer!
Current Music: Pocahontas - Just Around the Riverbend

Kyaa! My B&N book order (made using a beautiful Christmas gift card) finally came! I found so many great deals because of their post-Christmas warehouse sale too!

I got:
Talyn by Holly Lisle
Dragon Rider by Cornelia Funke
Children of the Lamp: The Akhenaten Adventure by P.B. Kerr
Edge Chronicles: Beyond the Deepwoods by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell
Kilala Princess 4 by Rika Tanaka and Nao Kodaka
Disney Fairies: Dulcie's Taste of Magic by Gail Herman
and Tamora Pierce's Trickster's Choice. This was originally supposed to be Sunlight and Shadow from the Once Upon a Time book series, but the book arrived all beat up, so I returned it to the store and decided to wait until the new edition comes out this summer.
But I'm so excited to get this order - it has a lot of stuff I've been wanting to read for a long time. However, I just had to laugh when I realized that out of seven items, only one was marketed for adults. XD Oh well...

School has been hard so far (as expected). I also had to have the motherboard replaced on my laptop since apparently out of the 200+ computers that were given out at the beginning of the year, mine has been one of the consistent "problem children." So hopefully the current "behavioral correction" has fixed it for good. It's a little sad that the people in the tech office know me by name now. Now I have to reinstall Photoshop so that I can finish my drawing too.

We have another group project, too. Geh, I was hoping to be rid of these by this point in my schooling.
I've been having a hard time buckling down and focusing this semester as well (not quite as bad as last semester though!). As usual, most other things look more interesting that schoolwork. :D I've been incredibly tired as well. Between studying the Top 200 Drugs and trying to re-listen to the lectures from several of my classes, I haven't gotten nearly enough sleep (and coffee can only make up for so much!). Probably didn't help that I started the week off with a deficit in my "sleep bank" either.

And ever since

tanz_fanatika has been watching Card Captor Sakura, I've been dying to pull out my episodes and finally finish the series!

Current Mood: drained
Current Location: The Room
Current Music: Random Radio Classical

Laptop + Me = FAIL.

So, we have our first midterm coming up on Monday: Integrated Biological Sciences. It's pretty heavy stuff, and I was prepared to spend all day (since it was our "Fall Break" today - note the sarcasm) with the material (after getting Tillie's coffee and a scone! ^_^) at home until "OMG One Note hates me!!!111"; yes, you guessed it - more laptop troubles. One Note kept crashing on me after about 10:30 am, so guess what? I got to drive all the way back into school on my DAY OFF and spend almost two hours in the Tech Office trying to fix that piece of crap. I eventually ended up having to delete the entry (which contained all my notes on that topic) because it was corrupted. Luckily, however, the teacher for that class puts up their notes (because they use Windows Journal to present the material) after each class, so I was able to get most of the material back. But still - this marks my third or fourth visit to the Tech Office in the little over a month since I've been back to school...
I dread going through three more years with this laptop. @_@

So yeah, I'm pretty stressed with Midterms just around the corner and my lovely inability to focus on school rearing its ugly head again (ten times worse than ever - I'm almost ready to just take the wireless card out of the laptop due to the distractions it presents (I've started to keep the wireless connection off during those times I mark off for studying, and it seems to be helping, so we'll see).

I spent the remainder of the afternoon at the Health Sciences Library and got through all the the Glycolysis lectures, which was a pretty good chunk of material. I think I'll return to the library on Sunday to finish up going over the lectures. Oh, and I think I pinched a nerve in my shoulder when I was pulling our my power cord (and it hurt like HELL). Which is not surprising considering my back has felt out of sorts and super tight lately (I've been thinking about scheduling a deep tissue massage or something, 'cause I'm dying here).

I also eagerly await next Thursday, which will be the end of Midterms. I think I'll treat myself to a coffee and a little bit of retail therapy and Borders or Barnes and Noble.

In other news, because of the new addition to our church, there's a special (ie, one performance only) choir singing. I missed the first practice (not even because of work! I just forgot!) two weeks ago, so I was determined to attend this week. I did, and had a wonderful time. It brought back so many of the fun memories of singing as part of a choir (and reminded me just how much my baritone has atrophied *sigh*). It's been almost three years since the last time I really sang with a choir, so the experience was a little melancholy too. I mean, I adore piano, but singing was something I always loved. Ah, if only I had more time (and a little more musical theory knowledge!) I would try to lead choir myself. Oh well...-_-

Anyway, I'm super tired, so I think I'll get some sleep.

Oh, and if you're not a member of disney_faeries then I don't think you've seen my latest drawing yet.

Current Mood: exhausted
Current Location: home

Heh, I've been meaning to make an update for the last couple of days, but when I have 10-12 hour days of Pharmacy school orientation, it's a little hard to motivate myself to get up and going to write a post when all I really wanted to do at the end of each day was fall into bed and sleep.

Thursday found me at school at roughly 7:50, where I grabbed a cup of coffee and attempted to avoid mingling with my peers. I'm really not the large-group mingling type, but I did have a chance to catch up with Ashley, which was nice. :D Sometimes it amazes me that we've been in school together since 4th Grade...XD

After that, we endured three hours of faculty/staff introductions which, while not bad, were overly lengthy. I mean, nobody's really going to remember all these people and names. I feel fortunate that I can even remember most of the faces. After a quick break, we spent more time with our faculty and student advisers (and having to endure the inevitable icebreakers...-_-). Following that (and a sub-par lunch - I polished off those sandwiches in a couple of bites!) we got the books that we ordered and also had to fill out a myriad of forms. Later that night we listened to a presentation from someone from Longs Drugs and had another sub-par dinner (pasta). When I got home, I read some more in The Realms of the Gods by Tamora Pierce (in a desperate attempt to finish it before Tuesday, when real classes start) and attempted to run through my piano pieces (which was only accomplished through the assistance of a beautiful Diet Coke...XD).

The next morning we had a presentation on the curriculum and internships/rotations, followed by a facilities tour (where I got to see Rachel! It was good to see someone from the Public Library where I used to work - she now works at the Health Sciences Library now too). After a much better lunch, we got our new photo IDs made (I love that it says "Pharmacy Intern" now!) which was a hot and sweaty process because we had to walk over to the main campus in business casual clothes in probably 100 degree weather. Suffice to say I was displeased by the end of that experience.

But next - oh the joy! We were distributed our NEW LAPTOPS. Yes, every entering pharmacy students is the proud "owner" (leaser, in reality) of a beautiful little Gateway tablet PC. I'm already very addicted to it - folding the screen over and surfing the internet just through the screen is really fun. But I'm really excited to try the tablet features with Photoshop. ^_________^

After that, however, we had to complete a few competency assignments with the laptop, which ran overtime and made us get out later.

Anyway, it's been a busy few days. I'm really tired of hearing the words "professional" and "networking" too. I certainly don't feel much more professional than I was before, but I suppose that will come with time. I'm very excited to be starting grad/professional school because it seems to have finally weeded out most of the "dead wood" in college. XD Though I do miss being able to wear my shorts and sandals.

Current Mood: determined
Current Location: Home - on the couch, with my laptop!
Current Music: Old English Hymns