Thursday, June 12, 2008

Techno Techno Techno

I'm having one of those weeks. Last week I realised my roof was leaking. I called the Council last Wednesday and a very nice man turned up today to tell me that I had small hole in my felt. He didn't think it would be too much of a bother to fix. It's just a question of getting some scaffolding put up and patching it up (apparently). The problem isn't his time, it's the scaffolding. So it might be fixed tomorrow, it might be fixed next week, I won't know until they turn up. So I'm praying for good weather, or at least dry weather until they manage to find a scaffolder with time on his hands, though apparently it's easier to find unicorns around here.

Over the weekend, my mobile phone, the most expensive piece of kit I've ever owned, played up yet again. My phone does pictures, multi-media messaging, blue-tooth, mp3s and goes fucking wrong at every given opportunity. Two months after I took possession of the damn thing I had to download software upgrades because everytime I wanted it to do something, it froze. Talk about performance anxiety. After that, it was a bit slow doing things, but it did them. Last weekend, it stopped sending texts and wouldn't let me make calls, it threw a complete girlie strop. At one point, I had to put it down and leave the room I was that close to smashing it into little, itty-bitty pieces with hammer.

I went into the O2 Shop and complained. The tired, bored salewoman nodded sympathetically through my tirade and provided alternate uses for the piece of equipment. She even praised me on my self-control for not reducing it to glitter. Bless her heart, she gave me a new SIM card and suggested that might solve the problem failing that I had to bring the phone back to the shop and they'd send it back to Nokia to be fixed. She did start suggesting that I could try upgrading the software on the phone myself, but seeing my exasperation, changed her mind.

Today, I had spent about 3 hours trying to connect my phone to my PC, to back up the data stored on the damn thing before I sent it off to be fixed. After all that palava, I figured I might as well have a go with doing the software myself, see if I could save a lot of inconvenience. Cue more swearing, most of which is down to my inability to read instructions, it really isn't Nokia's fault I don't do as I'm told. Since I did that, I've used my phone twice and it's gone through ok. Hopefully, I have cured the problem; we'll have to see.

Apart from that, I'm writing. Or rather, I should say, I'm plotting. I've got a project on the go and all is trooping along quite nicely. I'm following the Snowflake Method, which is a rather groovy way of doing things, a touch prescriptive, but as I've never successfully completed a novel, I'm happy to experiment. My financial situation is such that it's unlikely, failing a lottery win, that I'll be able to go back to the MA this year. Writing a novel is not a consolation prize for me, it's the reason why I did the damn degree in the first place and I'm pleased to be making a start. It feels right, and it's certainly fun.

7 comments:

  1. Fingers crossed for the phone fixing!

    Snowflake method looks good. Certainly gives you direction and builds nicely. Can't wait to be able to read the actual thing.

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  2. I do think that the Cadbury's flake method may have equal merit!

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  3. hottie ~ so far, so good with the fone. Tell you what, Cadbury's chocolate is all yours.

    When I've got something finished, I'll let you know.

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  4. Phones are a nightmare. I work in that industry for consultancy and the amount of faulty handsets we see that have to go back for repair is amazing. Glad its working now though - its so frustrating when things misbehave for no logical reason!

    Well done for getting a project on the go. It sounds so easy but I think actually getting started is the hardest bit. Keep up the good work..

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  5. beth ~ it's not perfect yet, but it will do until i can get a new contract.

    I'm the complete opposite with projects, I can start but can't finish. At the moment I'm still in the planning and research which I'm enjoying.

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  6. As a one-time roofer's assistant, I'm looking forward to hearing more about the small hole in your felt...

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  7. cogidubnus ~ the Council are yet to turn up with scaffolding or anything to fix it. And forecast tomorrow? Rain.

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Hey, how's it going?

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