... And Two Months Later

Here I am. Did you miss me? No? Your loss, I suppose.

So, I did get the new parts for my computer - I can run every game I have on ultra high now *Drools*

Didn't finish the poetry unit, which has sapped all remaining motivation to complete this course ... so I haven't even started with the next unit.

Tomorrow, after my hair cut appointment, I am going to go to the op shop just down the road to volunteer ... so that I have some sort of work to stick on my resume ... then after a month I'll try to get some employment.

I've been thinking about contacting an old friend and seeing if they want to go to the pub to reminisce about the past, etc. and bitch about our mutual ex (several years apart). Ugh, requires using the phone though ... maybe I can arrange it all via text? I hate phones! Infernal machines of panic inducement!

What ever I do, I MUST GET OUT OF THIS HOUSE!!!

PsychoScissors out.

Late ... Whatever.

So, I had a look in the settings for Dragon Age: Inquisition and found it could be run in window mode, so I ran it while I also had task manager up so I could monitor the memory usage. I found out that windows had shaped my 8GB of RAM to 2GB, which I promptly rectified. I also found during loading it would cause the CPU and Disk Usage to spike to 100%. My computer DOES actually meet ALL recommended requirements to run this game, so I ask myself WTF? I figure the CPU spike is more caused by the fact that it is an APU, which means it is also the Graphics card, and since this game is both graphic and CPU intensive ... well, it's clearly too much for it to handle. I find that when the Disk usage spikes to 100%, it's usually when some background system operation goes rogue ... so maybe a second hard drive would do the trick?

Anyway, I managed to get Inquisition to run satisfactorily for the moment, but I am thinking of purchasing, as well as a new graphics card, a second stick of RAM and a second hard drive - neither of these things are particularly expensive, especially compared to a new graphics card.

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I don't know if I will be able to finish the poetry unit I am doing for the writing course - I have tried, but I can't seem to write anything to the rule set for certain types of poems. Three weeks left, which is supposed to be used for peer review and redrafting, and I can't write a thing! Ugh, this blows! What of the ones I have written? Well, they have been critiqued by some poetry expert and I can't figure out how to rewrite them!

Maybe I should just can the whole thing. It's pointless anyway, I have no plans for using the certificate for anything. But I have already payed for the bloody thing ... twice over .... must finish ... blegh.

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So, school holidays start next week. The Chook will be at his father's for the first week. I had planned on relaxing some and catching up on things I had let slide for the last few months as I stared at the screen, attempting to write poetry. Now it's shaping up to be more sitting in front of a screen while attempting to write poetry.

My motivation for doing almost anything has gone, this isn't cool. I crave sleep, but my head won't let me - unless it's a half hour nap on the floor of the lounge - maybe I could write a poem about that? LOL (not really that funny, now that I think about it).

Pfft, whatever.

PsychoScissors out.

Books are awesome, but I like playing games too, so ...

I have decide to lay off purchasing new books for a while. As much as I love them, I really need to start saving up for a new graphics card for my computer. What I currently have had done an admirable job until a couple of days ago - I finally purchased Dragon Age: Inquisition. I have to run the game on low settings for it not to be jumpy, not cool. If I'm going to buy a new graphics card I don't want to skimp too much, I want it to be able to run new games for the next few years at least! They aren't cheap either ...

I drew a new title for this blog a couple of weeks ago. I really should get around to scanning it in so that I can put it up already!

I have tried Cadbury's new Vegemite flavored chocolate. While I wouldn't go so far as to say it is disgusting, I do think it tastes 'wrong'. I love Vegemite and chocolate, but they really don't taste right together.

Can't think of anything else at the point in time.

PsychoScissors out.

New Computer and Catch-up

Well, I ended up buying parts for a new computer. I did some research and found a suitable build for the price I was willing to pay. It took a while to get to me though, the company I purchased from was having a supplier issue. I was very happy when it finally came and it is working well.

Windows 8 is annoying, but I'll get use to it. I have uninstalled several of the apps that came with it, I don't need it sucking up my internet allowance. The app store has been disabled and unpinned too. I also find the menu annoying - I just type in the name of what I'm looking for instead.

Playing games on this thing is a dream, it doesn't have all the best stuff in it, but it is far superior to what I had. Serious gamers would probably laugh at me having an APU instead of separate CPU and GPU, but it was cheaper this way and I have the option to upgrade in the future if I wish. I just need to make sure I don't go crazy with gaming again, I'm usually pretty good - I go months without games usually and when I do play, I usually only play for a couple of hours - but sometimes the old gamer comes out and I spend days, weeks even, just playing computer games. Not cool.

A couple of weeks ago I had a nasty fever and the Chook was home sick too. We both spent several days at home doing sweet stuff all and feeling sorry for ourselves. I then had to work hard to catch up on missed study time ... and I didn't make it on time.

I got most of my work done, then I had printer issues - it didn't like my netbook, at the time I didn't have my new computer. So I ended up handing in almost all of my work two days before it was due. I finished two more assignments on the due date. When I went to hand them in I tried asking for an extension, but the secretary didn't know how to do it and the coordinator (who I knew DID know how) was busy on the phone. The only assignment I had not handed in was writing 3 short fiction pieces. I only needed two extra days so I hoped that a late assignment wouldn't matter too much, considering it IS done via flexible learning.

Well, that's me all caught up.

PsychoScissors out.

Edit: P.S. Forgot to say that someone replied to the letter to the editor in my previous post. He pointed out that secular religion is an oxymoron and said that we need our constitution to be reformed to allow freedom of or from religion.

Fair thee well XP, we had a good run...

Ok, so some of you may know that Microsoft's support was removed for Windows XP recently. Well, I was happy enough to continue to use it, removal of support does not mean you can't use it. Unfortunately, I had a glitch today and I was unable to fix it - I used my phone to browse the internet (since this was one of the services effected) and was unable to find a solution. I tried a repair install to no avail. So I did a complete wipe and re-install. This would have been fine, since they have supposedly made it so that when you go to activate it doesn't need to authenticate, but it doesn't recognise the internet connection through my mobile internet dongle ... I've had this problem before, I fixed it by lugging my computer to my parents house.

But now that I have this problem, I thought that maybe I should just upgrade my OS - I don't want to go down the linux path - so that leaves Windows 7 or 8, which are the same price. Then I got to thinking, that would probably be wasted money on my computer. My machine is aged to the point that if the motherboard, CPU or video card failed, I could not find replacement parts. I have new RAM and power supply, but the RAM would be incompatible with a new system. So for a new system I would have to replace, at the minimum, CPU, motherboard, video card and RAM.

While I know how to build a system, I do not have the time or patience to slog through all the info about all available parts and to figure out what I want vs. what I can afford. Pre-built systems are not what I'm after either, because they come with the things I don't need - adding to the cost. I don't need a DVD burner, case or hard drive - I have these things already, in perfect working order and compatible with future systems.

Ugh, I'll have to grab out my netbook to do my course work, until I can figure out what to do about my desktop. I just hope the operating system on it doesn't crap itself too - it runs XP as well! I'm pretty sure I have Open Office on it. Luckily I was able to put all of my recent work on to my external hard drive!

*Sigh*

PsychoScissors out.