So I've never had a laptop until now. Kinda cool.

The guy who took care of the transaction when I bought it sounded all jealous. But it is an "Envy" after all. It looks pretty fancy, all chromey silver with this lacey overlay pattern on it.

I've named her Kirin :) cause my desktop is Saboteur, named after Seventeen. And the Kirin is Archana's anima. I know that sounds really dorky but I never said I was normal. ;)

Slight downside, I had to deal with crappy bank issues when I went to pay for Kirin. Wasn't expecting to have to go through the elaborate verification. It was embarrassing being put through all the questioning and stuck on hold till I could pay, but I guess that's the security measures of today acting up. I DID pay a good amount of $$$ for this.

So far it's worth it but I've yet to install something that'd truly test this machine. :D Still a lot of other things to install (like IRC, AIM and DR, lolol), and also need to buy me a laptop bag and some ear buds. All in good time!

Hmm so what's been going on the last 10 days...

Dragonrealms has been absorbing lately. Talliska's been having a lot of fun with a new recruit lately, it's really put some energy back into my desire to be active in the game. Getting involved in more events and diplomatic stuff for the White Rose. Another friend Nesra recently returned... yay for cool people returning to DR.

I still need to make Talli's blog, I keep getting slacky on that. I'm sooo web slacky lately it's not even funny. Same with my writing. :( I can't write without ample alone time and have not been getting it lately.

Both Jon and I have been kinda down and lacking in energy lately, mostly due to the continued wait on the funds I've been promised by the government. It's very discouraging how many hurdles are put in front of us. I realize it's a large sum of money, but we are OWED it. It's not unemployment money, it's not some sort of free government handout. It is payment for damages done to me and my husband who sponsored my immigration, due to the exorbitant wait for permanent residency status, for health care, for the return of my IDs.

Good stuff:
- Got in all my classes at Concordia! Getting my student ID next week.
- Seems like I'll be getting access to my gov't compensation by Aug 13. Crossing my fingers it's not just another false date.
- Cool friends in Dragonrealms. :) Fun RP moments, and Manze did something very cool tonight (last night? coffee at 4 am is bad) for the Order.
- Selina moved for college and is in my timezone now! Yay! I'm really stoked about this.
- Maybe getting some inspiration back. I recently re-read Reborn Again in preparation for the continuation I promised months ago.
- Bought some exercise stuff, and may join a gym! Oooh.

Not-so-good stuff:
- Headache/sinus thing is not going away. Got an appointment to get eye exam and new glasses in case it's that.
- Still sad I had to give up RPoL, but I'm just tired of forcing it.
- Some stressful drama now and then. I find that I need a lot of space lately so I've been less present in my usual haunts.
- I missed getting a hold of Selina before she moved! Silly stuff keeping me busy and away from her. :(

This time around it seems the 'going back to college' project is going better than last year. I signed up for my classes and I'm not completely freaking out to the point I don't think I could go. I nearly missed my chance last year, so my desire to do it for real is very high, no matter the anxiety, poor self-image, etc.

Doesn't mean I'm not still worried though. I managed to gain even more weight this year, and the shame derived from that is a large part of keeps me a hermit. The first half of the year and all the DR drama I got dragged into did NOT help. I've only got a month and a half or so to shed at least a few pounds but now I'm stuck with chronic headaches and fatigue. :/

I still don't have my compensation money. I'm not going to be paying exorbitant international tuition any more, or so I've been reassured (taking that with a grain of salt, since I've been disappointed before). However, the money I'm waiting for has been delayed to the point the lawyer wrangled even more money out of the government for making me wait LONGER. Which is nice, but it's also a cold comfort, because I still have no idea when I'm going to receive this money.

Well I'm back, and I have a few things to say. (Note: I wrote most of this while depressed, and we all know how pessimistic I am when that happens.)

First of all: Linode! I have my eye on this. It's cloud hosting like Slicehost, but apparently even better price-wise. Even Drupal users are giving it praises. Looks so nice... and I am getting concerned with the lagging on HostForWeb. It's just getting incredibly bad and I'm tired of month after month being told to post my traceroute as if this is going to solve anything. :(

Lately I've been told there are load balancing issues, and they're going to fix it... but I've heard that one before too.

I'm just worried because I'm not particularly motivated lately. If I move my site, it may take me a while to set up. And that's fine for me, but not fine for other people I'm hosting. :/ I'll be doing this from scratch, so I have to install everything successfully, and I'm totally unsure I can do this well within a reasonable timeframe. After what happened with Slicehost (me just lagging on actually DOING anything with it) I'm worried it will be a waste of money, particularly since I am planning to order the $40/mo version and thus will be paying $80 a month until I migrate everything.

As for my recent vacation...