The really good news is: we've found a new laptop much, much cheaper than expected (using Apple's Higher Ed discount instead of the normal student discount), and better yet, for only £40 (no, seriously, this is really cheap - normally it costs £199) we got an extended 3-year warranty for it. Huge sigh of relief.

Also, I was so relieved that we managed to find a way to get a new MacBook for about the same price it would have cost to buy a PC laptop w/MS Office, etc. I know there are lots of people who are passionate and satisfied PC users, but I've had Macs all my life, and I like them so much better on a purely instinctive level. Maybe it's only based on great marketing, maybe it's just laziness and habit on my part, but I'm so pleased to be able to stick with Apple after all. The computer should arrive within the next few days, and I can't wait.

Meanwhile, I just finished re-reading Elizabeth Peters's Silhouette in Scarlet for the first time in about 17 years, and I enjoyed it even more this time because, having visited Stockholm, I could envision exactly where all the scenes took place. (And drool with envy in some of them! Oooh, Gamla Stan...) Now I've just started re-reading Justina Robson's Selling Out, which I was lucky enough to read in manuscript the first time, and I'm loving it just as much the second time 'round. I adore the world of Demonia (so murderously fun!) and especially the Great Library of Bathshebat, where the sign inside the door reads:

No duelling. No summoning of imps or other manifestations of elements potentially damaging to the records, including but not limited to: elementals, wisps, sprites, ifrits, goblins, vile maidens, bottleboys, basprats, toofigs, magshalums, witches, elokin and major, minor and inferior spawn. No praying. No cursing, except by staff. The library is closed on public holidays. Donations welcome.

It may be my new favorite fictional library...and it's got one of the best fight scenes in it, too, despite the rules clearly marked on the sign!