Vortexia's Secret

So this weekend has been interesting. Mayhem came over Friday so we could ride that always-fun emotional roller coaster. I guess it ended on a good note, though, because nobody hurt the other's feelings or yelled or anything. It sucks when you're both too busy and an hour away from each other, so it requires planning and strategy just to see each other once a week. Hopefully we can change that sometime in the next several years. This lifestyle is seriously wearing thin. And I was definitely disappointed to discover that living closer to each other again really just meant that we would talk on the phone less AND see each other less because our plates were already overflowing with other crap.

Then Saturday I woke up to a college/grad student's worst nightmare. My computer was even sicker than it normally is. Norton decided to jump ship and claimed that its security certificates had been tampered with and all kind of other stuff. Also, every time I open internet explorer it crashes. I learned from Mayhem (when I called in a panic and woke the poor boy) that this is a very bad sign because IE is an internal part of the Windows system and isn't just something that you can uninstall and reinstall. It also is a sign that some seriously important parts of the computer could be in trouble as well. I'm scared. My poor computer. It needs to last another year and a half to get me through grad school. Then I can deal with having to get a new computer, moving everything I need onto it, etc etc. If any of the wonderful computer-smart people I know have any advice or tricks up their sleeves (Dan, por ejemplo) I would really appreciate any advice/help you have to offer. And my sickly overworked computer thanks you as well. For now I am using Netscape and understanding the joys of non-compatibility problems.

After spending a couple hours dealing with computer issues, I then had to do some mad cleaning of the apartment. I'm the only one who does it, and that makes me a little bitter. I think my roommate thinks the place just magically cleans itself every once in a while. All this time was supposed to be spent on finishing up a research paper and getting groceries, neither of which happened by the time my mom got here. Oh yeah, my mom came to spend the night last night. Guess I could have let you know why I had such a deadline. She had a conference nearby, so she spent the night. I was hoping to be done with everything by the time she got here, but I had to stay up late last night to finish the paper after she went to bed. But we had a lot of fun... we ate dinner and then went to see a ballet. It was kind of humorous and we were far enough away that I placed my own impressions onto the ballerinas (what are the men called? ballerinos?) Like one guy reminded me of Owen Wilson, and a couple of the other guys reminded me of Mayhem when he's being silly. It was a good ballet (probably the only one I've been to), but we left at intermission b/c my mom was falling asleep. Poor mom, she got the full effect of all the stupid people in the complex that I put up with. The gorillas upstairs were thumping and pounding late into the night, and a group of people were yelling outside for several hours. Fun stuff. But I got my paper done and now have to tackle the other things that have to get done today. Hope this made a little sense to anybody else but me. Love you guys!
P.S. Keep them in your prayers.