Frustration, thy name is babbins

The baby is going through some kind of mental growth spurt, because she has been wicked hard to put to bed lately. Usually naps go very well, but today I've been trying for over two hours.

She better be a genius baby, that's all I'm saying.

I suppose it could have been my fault. We played some, but I hardly tuckered her out. Still, it's a change.

Gah.

In other news I started an online writing portfolio at matthewgallagher.wordpress.com

If I'm going to get a good writing job, I need to assemble a portfolio, and since people I asked aren't giving me any advice, I'm just doing it myself. A lot of my work is trapped on an old hard drive. maybe I can get zach to walk me through installing it on my new computer. Right now I've only got a TVTV sketch up there, but it's cool.

It's not really a portfolio format, but it seems people are just using blogs for this kind of thing now, so I'll make what I can out of it. Super fun.

RNCC et al

Well, we just had the Republican National Convention come to town. That was a good time. I didn't get to go, or anything, and most business was probably scared away by the psychotic protesters, but that's the world we're living in. Where nutroots liberals attack a bus full of cub scouts and it doesn't even make the evening news.

Speaking of protesting, we had a few student protests. They were walk outs. It got me thinking, why do students always protest something by skipping classes? They skip class to stage a sit-in, or skip class to go to a rally, or skip class and just go home. It's so transparent, one wonders why anyone pays any attention to student opinion. You never see students coming to school early to stage a protest before class, or stay after school, do you?

Nope, you don't.

On a brighter note, I got to see Dennis Prager in person, and I even navigated the trecherous fancy-schmancy St. Paul Summit neighborhood to do it. Nora got to go, which was awkward, because Dennis was speaking, and as cute as Nora is, she doesn't realize that people aren't there to hear her go "Da!" So I spent an awful lot of time stuffing things in her mouth to shut her up.

A good time was had by all. Prager even joshed me for bringing a baby, but then he patted my shoulder letting me know he was joking...at least I think he was joking. Hmmm...

So, on the job front there's really no news to speak of. Except that I've become even more terrified of getting a job like Tipper's. My hope is to start writing more, not because I think I can make a living at it, but because I want to do something productive. I do want to get a portfolio together, and to start my writing group, the Dead Hemmingways, and to finish my book. I need rejoin the Loft so I can go to author events and mingle, and pimp my book. Tipper gets frightened when I talk about it, like someone will steal it, but in truth you should talk about your book to anyone who'll listen. You never know who has the power and interest to help you.

Besides, it's not so much the concept that's so good, but the writing, if I do say so myself, and yes, I believe I do say that a lot...starting now.

Graphics card side effect

Like I said, if my computer system isn't destined to come together, I'm just writing off the gaming. And that's had an interesting side effect, I've noticed. All of the sudden it's like I want to live, or something.

Out of the blue I starting writing down dialog for www.transylvania-tv.com sketches, and it's actually reasonably funny. Then I started looking for jobs! WTF!? Like, actually looking for jobs. I even applied at a couple places.

I think it all boils down to the fact that I'm sick of being poor. The compy was just the final straw. I had to compromise and buy a cheap tower, and now I can't even afford a new graphics card. It's totally gay.

I got harassed yesterday for buying an inexpensive bottle of scotch. And I'm not saying I shouldn't be. We're poor. We need to make a strict budget, but I resent having to. I'm old enough that I shouldn't have to do this crap. If I want a 2k Mac or a 3k gaming computer, I want to be able to just buy it.

So it's really time to make some changes.

Nay, I say!

I hate to be a nay sayer but I don't think my old card is working. That or it's working, but my Acer doesn't like it. Or the third option is it's working, my Acer will take it, but it'll take some futzing that I don't know how to do.

Dunno.

The only options, if it doesn't work, are this:
- Buy a new board and have a compy guy install it. Approx coast: $160
- Return computer, take the 15% open box fee up the butt. Honestly, not even sure if it's an option. But what then? Buy a new computer? A new graphics card? I'm poor.

The last option is stop playing, and don't sweat it. And honestly, that's probably the one I'd take. I don't need this much hassle over a game. I have other things I could be doing with my life.

P.S. - Ate at Perkins recently. Got to stop that. Aside from being greasy (yes, I know. Eat light!) it's wicked expensive too. WTF?

New computer means new post!

Yes, I haven't posted in a month. My computer asploded. True, I've been using a laptop ever since and posting would have been very simple, but not simple enough!

My new computer is an Acer Aspire. It's everything I'm looking for, except I got screwed on the graphics card. Despite being 450 numbers higher in type (my old graphics card was a 6600, this is a 7050) that apparently does not translate into better performance. the 7050 is an integrated card, which means it's slower, by, like, 5 times. Grrrrr. And because it's integrated I might not be able to add anything new, but then again, I might. Cross your fingers.

I can play Pirates of the Burning Sea on it, but travel on the Open Sea is nearly impossible. It's possible it's just server lag, but I'm going to try to add my old graphics card anyway, just because it's better.

My back up plan, should that not work, is to try and swap computers with Nate, should we ever find ourselves in the same state again, or want to pay for S/H.

Dag yo, I get sleepy sometimes.

My fault for net going to bed at reasonable hours. But before the wife starts crying foul over the MMO, much of the time I'm just screwing around on the internets.

I was writing up an entry in my character's journal the other day. I keep one on my guild's forum because it's fun, and it's the only rp-fiction I've ever liked doing. When I finished I realized I had been writing for about 40 minutes. That annoyed me. How can I write something completely valueless, and be content doing so, but when I try writing my book my eyes roll into the back of my head. So I tried writing at work, and once again I got bored and irritable. I don't know why. Maybe because I feel like I'm not writing as well. I want to keep plugging away at it. I've really got to get my writers group started. I think that'll help a lot.

The theaters have been closed, due to the pox!

Nora has the chicken pox!

Sorry, those three babies she hung out with yesterday. I didn't know. O:-)

Anyhoo, that has destroyed all weekend plans, but that's okay, we didn't really have any. At least she should be over it by her first birthday party. Lucky we pushed it back, eh?

It's August 2, by the way. E-vites are going out.