The new power supply worked fine in my new PC, but the old one had obviously taken out something on the motherboard before it died. The nice man who put in the new PSU advised me to take all the drives and cards out and then see if the PC would turn on, but I didn't get any signs of life. So, I've decided that 3 years is not a bad service record for a PC, and it's time to get a new one. I've gone with the same company that made the old one, Armari, as they do a great job of installing all the latest drivers, and making the inside of the case look tidy. For the same price as the original, I can now get dual graphics cards in SLI configuration, and 2Gb of RAM, along with one of those new Core Duo Quad processor thingies from some little company no-one's heard of.

Big bust-up with Mum last night. She's right in the sense that I've been living here for a year now, and I've not exactly got anywhere. She insists that I could get a job in the UK no problem and put my hand to anything, of course, as I'm so talented (...) but when it comes to helping out in St Vincent, I'd be no good. She's been looking after business there for so many years that I guess she's reluctant to give up any sort of control, even if it meant just not being there while things got done. And to be honest, I don't want to be working for her in that sort of arrangement. The chance to get free board and lodging in return for some manual labour is not off the table however - my cousin Roger has a place out there, on the beach, and he'd be more than willing I'm sure to have some extra hands on deck to help with clearing land, building the new flat under his house, and so forth. He's even mentioned building a bar on the beach.

The other reason I haven't gotten anywhere is the lack of progress with my depression. Sitting around at home doesn't help, I know, but I've not seen any other option so far. My doctor's advice is keep taking the pills, and get some exercise. She reckons that more therapy is just introspection which doesn't help. I've been meaning to hook up with the lady who did my counseling but somehow I can't see that going anywhere either.

I'm hoping to get up to London shortly - lots of people to catch up with, and lots of things I need to get from Nick's loft :) I'll update here when I sort things out a bit. Nick's been off to see his new nephew in Austria, and to a friend's wedding in Paris, so I'll hopefully visit when he gets back from this European Tour.

Powered by ScribeFire.

Just been checking out my friends' FaceBook profiles (the latest thing, dontcha know). DJ Marky Mark Murray cracks me up - under "Religious Views" he lists "St.Pauls from the Millenium Bridge..." :)



Grats to him for making the GB Dragon Boat team by the way \o/



Anyway, you can now find me (or not as the case may be) on FaceBook...

Powered by ScribeFire.

Woke up this morning, made a cup of tea, and then turned on my monitor and fired up Vanguard. I leave my PC on all the time - usually running Azureus during the night. Anyway, I started chatting to my guild-mates, and suddenly I hear a *pop* from my PC. Through the grille on the side I see a flash of orange light, a wisp of smoke, and then everything goes dead.



So I'm finally forced out of my fantasy world and into facing all I've been neglecting for the last month. You might well ask what it is about games like Vanguard that's so appealing to me. Well, the ability to pretend the Real World doesn't exist for a while, I guess. Also, the chance to meet and play alongside some nice people, and *be* someone in that world. I'm a member of the largest Order Guild on our server, and I've built our guild HQ, and people ask me for advice and help with quests. I've a fair number of enemies on the other team, and get attacked on sight by a fair few of them, which has it's own prestige. I have a decent house-building business going. It's a world where I can achieve something - albeit ephemeral and virtual, but still meaningful to a large number of people.



So, in the real world, nothing much has been happening to me. Kurt and Gaelene have a new baby boy, Bruno and Karine have a little girl, Mandi and Angel have been to Kenya, but I've been sat in front of my PC for a month, while the grass grows longer outside and Mum busies herself with being busy (and trying desperately to involve me).



Well, I have been out on my driving lessons, which are going really well. My instructor says I'm on track to finish her syllabus by my tenth lesson, and then I should need another ten just for practice, going around doing all the test routes. I'm finally finding that some stuff becomes more automatic, and I'm more able to concentrate more on the road around me, the signs and cyclists and young mums pushing prams into the road in front of them.



So who knows, maybe I'll have my license before I go back to Canada in August? Mandi says that Angel's child-minder is off for the two weeks in the middle of August (11th to 27th effectively) so that will be the perfect time to go. It's a shame Kurt and Gaelene will probably be moving away from Toronto now that little Connor is here, as Angel loves babies. I suspect though that she will forget all that when she is up at Heather's cottage, with her two favourite pastimes - swimming and fishing - on tap 24hrs a day.

Powered by ScribeFire.