First, the bad news.

Ken leaves tomorrow. That's just bad, although there's the good of work and money. I suppose the bad is, I will be heartbroken and bereft whilst Ken is gone for a month. Oh shut up. Allow me my drama for once.

The next bad news is that when we got home today and I turned on the G4, I did not receive the happy Mac icon. I received a blinking question mark. This can never be good. Ken tried everything he could, to no avail. We have several hard drives in it, and the one with all of the applications (Codex) won't mount. The one with all of the files (Eisteddfod) (okay, there's drama in how we name things. Hush.) mounts fine, and I discovered that I had Internet access, so I was able to use an e-mail address we've never used (a yahoo.co.uk account) to send the mostly done Sage journal.

We tried to take the G4 to the Apple store (happily open until 6:30 on a Sunday), but there was an accident on the fwy and we got stuck in traffic. So I'll have to take the thing in tomorrow or the next day.

I was able to get into today's e-mail online, and discovered that my submission to Sword & Sorceress XXI wasn't chosen for the anthology. It was a long shot, I'll admit--very long for that antho series, and with some subtexts that no doubt have Marion turning in her grave--but it made it to the final cut, and has been held for over a year, so I had a lot of hope. Plus the story, "Soulsearching", is very close to my heart and one of my best, I think. I'll start sending it 'round when I have a fully working computer again, of course, but the emotional state I was in when I read the e-mail meant I was in tears. Sucks.

The final piece of bad news, which isn't bad, but upsetting, is that the regular backups we've been making to iDisk online haven't been working. That's downright scary. Fucking scary. The bright side is that it's made us realise we have to come up with alternative methods of backing up. I'm still pissed.

Normally, days like this would totally stress me out. I did have my moments, believe me. But overall, I find myself optimistic. (I think Ken's leaving hasn't sunk in entirely, however...) I'm sure the computer will be swiftly fixable. And in the meantime, I have a ton of sewing, beading, weaving, and embroidery to do, as well as a ton of TV to catch up on. I'm almost excited by the prospect. Computers were supposed to make life easier, but the Internet is a timesink.

Plus, I have the Palm and keyboard for writing, and I will write, even without my files.

Cat's here to keep me company, and so are my adorable cats (and I get such glee from the pun). We're healthy, have a house that's being paid for, have wonderful friends and family. What's to be grumpy about? The rest will sort itself out.

(Yeah, this is partly a pep talk to myself. But it's working, so stay with me here.)