Well It All Went To Shit Pretty Quick...

After a fair share of suppressed irritations this week I finally cracked today and ended up in an irrationally foul mood over a very minor insult to my pride. I had plans of catching up on my blog today (I think I've failed the challenge) and even writing spares to put in the files for future use. What I achieved was a very impressive silent sulking session and some half arsed distraction thanks to google.
So accepting the first possible chance of escape and solitude I high tailed it home and surrounded myself with a 'Cheer The Hell Up If It Kills You' kit and thought I'd share with you the things that I assembled.
Firstly as you can see above I plonked my butt in front of my fav table ( I tend to sit on the floor as I find it more comfortable, I guess because I can pretend I'm still a kid that way) with my laptop and a glass a wine. The laptop to distract me and the wine to sedate me. I also put on A Cook On The Wild Side, one of Hugh Fernley Whittingstalls first DVDs. I find it soothing for some reason. Perhaps because it reminds me of living in England and has nice country scenes to look at. Maybe because Hugh doesn't get overly excited so there is no sudden rise in volume, no bickering, shouting or tension and he speaks mostly in a low tone. Also I enjoy the subject of food, self sufficiency and exploring which is the main topics throughout and lastly I have watched this DVD so many times that I can tune in and out at will. Basically it makes nice soothing background noise to help me relax without serious attention.

Next of course I lit the fire. Warmth is happiness and the fire also makes soothing back ground noises. The heat also makes me sleepy or at least takes away my tension, a bit like a back massage without the horrible prospect of someone touching me haha.

Food is very important, it's hard to be depressed on an empty stomach. My favourite snacks at the moment are burger rings and although I always choose savoury over sweet I like to have some chocolate around. Usually it's just to look at as one or two pieces is usually plenty for me but if I don't have any I crave it fiercely.

I've got my current colouring page on stand by for when I get bored of the technology. I started this one last night while watching Pretty Woman on TV. My red has pretty much run out now which is sad. I guess I will have to decide soon whether it's worth buying a new set of felt tips or just moving onto a new hobby. Either that or I will have to go back to the pencils. I'm a pedantic sharpener though and spend more time creating a point on the pencil than actually colouring.

Lastly, and also on stand by, is a new project. The plan is to write in all the things I want to do/see/eat while in the UK. I saw recently a chinese method for how to index a notebook which really intrigued me and this seemed like the perfect project to use it one. I will write all the things that I want to do, index at the back and then when I'm in the Uk I should (in theory) be able to easily refind my ideas when wanting to fill a day. I am also planning to leave enough space under each entry to add a date of completion and hopefully the signatures of those who completed it with me, making it into a home made souvenir/diary/autograph book.
So there you have it, my method for calming myself down. I'm feeling pretty chill now which just proves it works considering I was ready to hurt someone or something barely an hour ago. Wine and heat will do that for you haha
Do you have any unfailing ways to calm yourself when you get angry or do you ride it out? 

This Might Just Kill Me

I've made a decision! Which usually means something nonsensical or expensive is about to happen. In this case it might just be both! I'm going to do a 30 day blog challenge. Well I'm going to attempt to do a 30 day blog challenge. My laptop seems to have dementia. Some days it will work quite well and other days it suddenly seems to forget how to do even the most basic of functions. I know it's going to be a bad day when I get mouse lag. Today is one of those days, not a good start.

The main reason for me doing a blog challenge is to decide the fate of my laptop. If I can get through a week at least without throwing this at a wall then I am not allowed to buy a new laptop. I'm supposed to be saving money to go to the UK so $700 or so on a new model that I may not actually need is hard to justify. After all this laptop does work, at about the same rate as a two legged draft horse but it's not actually dead. Yet.

On the other side of the argument though is that a morbidly slow laptop is pretty useless for updating while traveling (or updating at all). Think airport stopover, you find a plug and place to sit and want to email your family to let them know you are safe/well/got the flu but it takes 20 mins for your machine to start up and find the internet and by then they are calling your flight.

Of course in that instance you could argue that I could just use my phone and I would simply for the fact that I could send 3 emails before my laptop even loaded firefox but I shouldn't have to. I could travel sans laptop but I'll be away 10 months and borrowing someone elses for that long is tedious and I would still need to take a hard drive for my photos etc. 

I could try and get this laptop fixed but considering the price of tech repair and the fact there are no guarantees that it'll stay fixed I think it'd be cheaper to just go straight to the new option. I have asked tech savvy friends to give it a go over and tbf it did clean up it's act for a few days but a few days isn't forever.

It rather sounds like I've already made up my mind doesn't it! What do you guys think? Should I just go for it and then save doubly hard until I leave or should I soldier on with what I'm using?

What a Weird Weekend!

I'm finally back!  My comp has been away for awhile now as it's on the go slow and went away for servicing. It's better than it was but still not brilliant tbh but then I have been told "What can you expect from something you only paid $200 for over 2 years ago...' I guess tech these days doesn't last as long as I think it should. Although I think the actual problem is that I really HATE the windows 8 system on my current model so just want to upgrade at all costs to anything that doesn't run a shitty block system. Unfortunately I have been spending up large on other things lately so it will just have to be added to the wish list along with the S6 Edge that I'd like to replace my poor cracked S4 mini with!

In better news say hello to my new camera! It's still sitting on my desk though waiting for it's battery to charge. I'm dead keen to get playing with it but I guess I'll have to wait (please hurry up battery!) I actually don't have any idea how to use it and since I currently take all my photos on my phone it will be something of a learning curve! Expect some better pictures in the near future (if I can work it) although 'better' is perhaps a matter of opinion as the subjects will still be much the same.

Also on the subject of 'new' and 'tech' I have acquired two second hand phones to play with. I am hoping to teach mum how to use one for music and checking her fitbit etc. They are windows phones though so I have no idea how to use them myself yet... They have the same stupid block system as windows 8 which is the most user UNfriendly system ever invented and my patience is rather thin already. They are most likely to be returned where they came from before tomorrow as, after a quick play, I haven't worked out how to even turn them on or off which should be a 3 second discovery.. I think the new windows can make even the most tech savvy person angry to their core but maybe I'm just having a real hate on windows. I can't be the only one?
Do you have a tech wish list like me? If so let me know what you are dreaming of in the comments.