Addiction

I think I'm addicted to Facebook. I've been using it for about a month now and I'm having a bit too much fun with it. It has been just a bit much fun adding friends, sending items for gardens, buying my friends fish and drinks, and having way too much fun gossiping about people changing their relationship status.

Who are my friends on Facebook? My boy. My sister. Everyone in my team at work. My boss in Sydney. My friends from my old job. My sisters friends. People from school I haven't seen since my 21st birthday. My work clients. Friends I've lost touch with and haven't seen since they left the country in 1999. The HR consultant who employed me in my current job. Every single person on my list, I've met at least once.

MySpace is sooooo 2006. I keep getting random friend requests from people I've never heard of, and the amount of spam I get on MySpace is absurd. I'm just not interested. If it wasn't the only way I've got to keep in touch with some of my younger cousins, I wouldn't be there at all anymore. I prefer the layout of Facebook, so much cleaner. Nothing on Facebook has made me want to throw the screen out the window from the vile clashing of colours and flashing images.

I'm enjoying reconnecting with people I don't see enough. It has been really fun hearing about people I haven't seen for a very long time, and finding out just what they've been doing with their lives. Some of the choices have really surprised me, and some have done exactly what I thought they would. For me, the best bit is seeing people happy with the choices they have made. That or they are really good actors.

Missing in action

My posts will be few and far between for a little while. My still very new laptop has cracked it, and the hard drive has died. This means I have no computer right now. I'm not going to be blogging on the work one. I'm waiting for the nice people to rescue my data for me, and then I'll need to reinstall everything. Aaaaaargh.

I've still got some posts that I wrote last week, and I'm pretty happy with one of them, so when I retrieve them, they will be posted.

Is it bad that I invited myself to mum's for dinner so that I could use their computer and internet? Actually, don't answer that, I think I know...

Word of advice - don't buy anything from Hewlett Packard, especially if you need to ring their help desk. It is very badly named.

Thisisme's terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.

Today I flew up to Sydney. I got to sit in the gate lounge at the airport until after I should have landed because the flights were late. I can live with a late flight.

Then I stood at the baggage carousel and watched a bag that looked just like mine go around and around in circles. Shame the ID number on the tag didn't match mine. To the person who had a bag that looked just like mine, I hope you enjoyed taking my luggage home with you. I didn't enjoy getting to my hotel room with no clean clothes, no toothbrush and no book to read after I finished "Ines of my soul" by Isabel Allende. Much less magic, much more realism, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

And, then, the taxi driver. He gets a special post all to himself.

So I thought I would jump online with my trusty laptop, and at least keep myself amused with some surfing, some blogging and The Vicar of Dibley Christmas special. My laptop didn't turn on.

Right about now, I was ready to burst into tears. I wasn't dressed for work, didn't have work shoes, didn't have the work I packed in my suitcase, I didn't have clean undies or a toothbrush. I was frustrated with the laptop, now downgraded from trusty to tempermental - pretty quick change after 2 and a bit months.

The joy of my boy who was seriously considering getting on a plane to bring me some clothes, the outstanding service and support from the Qantas and Mercure staff were all bright spots in my day.

Discovering just how reliant on my computer I am - disturbing. Is it time for a 12 step program?

Dear Internet

I miss you. Please come back. Not coping. Need internet NOW!!

I'm writing essays on my laptop, but I just haven't been able to make my laptop and the internet talk to each other. Sitting on communal computer. Can't write properly.

Not coping. Please send internet now.