ranting and raving
Ranting first.
So my computer was kidnapped for some 6 hours yesterday for alleged "upgrading". A-ha. Not that I had any complaints about working with good old Windows 98, but as I subscribe to the concept of free upgrades I more or less willingly parted with it. Well, it looks like the guy in charge at our telecom department has also recently fallen victim to some dubious kind of occupational therapy to stop him staring at the wall behind his desk for (office) hours on end or idly poke around in his nose. Off he goes, fiddling with hapless computers.
The "upgrading" he performed turned out to actually have been a downgrading. He did install Windows 2000 which I assume is a step up from 98, but apart from that I got my computer (who by the way is now ten times noisier than before, think small aircraft preparing for take-off) back with a version of Internet Explorer so ancient I could only read my Gmail in basic Html and without MS Works in which I write about 95% of my texts for work, not mentioning other things that he'd failed to save/re-install. After a little hissy fit in view of the futility of the whole operation I (illegally, as we're not allowed to download anything from the Internet. Hah! Subversive element, me!) downloaded IE 6, restored my desktop to its earlier appearance, saved my e-mail signatures again in my Outlook Express and hunted down a CD with Works. Time to remind myself of rule # 1 in this zoo, I guess: NEVER. EVER. ASK. YOURSELF. WHY!
Oh, and I didn't actually knit any items of clothing or armour in those painfully long internet-less hours. I prepared for - I'm not joking - an origami workshop yours truly has to give to school kids next Thursday by folding some hearts, clover and pigs. Crane (the animal, not the machinery), frog, box and kimono to be revised next week. That pretty much sums up my origami repertoire.
Now for the raving: I saw Match Point last night. It was abso-f***ing-lutely brilliant! Great actors (Jonathan Reys-Meyers: swoon!), totally gripping plot (I thought I'd internally combust from suspense towards the denouement) and great locations (London: aaaaah) Even if, unlike me, you're one of those people who say they can't abide Woody Allen's films, you should definitely go and see it. Same as in his last few films, Mr. Allen himself doesn't make an appearance, if that's any incentive. The protagonist's self-inflicted misery and the Big Questions the film tackled reminded me of (the books, not the films!) Intimacy (for the cheating bastard bit) and the Great Gatsby (for the rise in social status bit). It's a very sensuous and passionate film and you (i.e. I did) identify with the protagonist's dilemmas up to a certain extent but it's also shocking and very depressing. Well, maybe I shouldn't call it depressing or you won't go and see it after all. It's value for money, I assure you.
Purchases: I don't have any major confessions to make. Yesterday I raided the Body Shop again (final days of sale) in my lunch-break and later hit Marionnaud en route to the cinema to buy a discounted Biotherm "Define Eyes" eye pencil in a rather bright um...turquoise. Other people obviously don't think it's a good idea to buy eye-liner to match their new turquoise down coats or else that colour wouldn't have been the only reduced one. Today I was good and just bought a birthday present for one of my great-aunts. Oh, and the February issue of my favourite glossy, UK Marie Claire.
So my computer was kidnapped for some 6 hours yesterday for alleged "upgrading". A-ha. Not that I had any complaints about working with good old Windows 98, but as I subscribe to the concept of free upgrades I more or less willingly parted with it. Well, it looks like the guy in charge at our telecom department has also recently fallen victim to some dubious kind of occupational therapy to stop him staring at the wall behind his desk for (office) hours on end or idly poke around in his nose. Off he goes, fiddling with hapless computers.
The "upgrading" he performed turned out to actually have been a downgrading. He did install Windows 2000 which I assume is a step up from 98, but apart from that I got my computer (who by the way is now ten times noisier than before, think small aircraft preparing for take-off) back with a version of Internet Explorer so ancient I could only read my Gmail in basic Html and without MS Works in which I write about 95% of my texts for work, not mentioning other things that he'd failed to save/re-install. After a little hissy fit in view of the futility of the whole operation I (illegally, as we're not allowed to download anything from the Internet. Hah! Subversive element, me!) downloaded IE 6, restored my desktop to its earlier appearance, saved my e-mail signatures again in my Outlook Express and hunted down a CD with Works. Time to remind myself of rule # 1 in this zoo, I guess: NEVER. EVER. ASK. YOURSELF. WHY!
Oh, and I didn't actually knit any items of clothing or armour in those painfully long internet-less hours. I prepared for - I'm not joking - an origami workshop yours truly has to give to school kids next Thursday by folding some hearts, clover and pigs. Crane (the animal, not the machinery), frog, box and kimono to be revised next week. That pretty much sums up my origami repertoire.
Now for the raving: I saw Match Point last night. It was abso-f***ing-lutely brilliant! Great actors (Jonathan Reys-Meyers: swoon!), totally gripping plot (I thought I'd internally combust from suspense towards the denouement) and great locations (London: aaaaah) Even if, unlike me, you're one of those people who say they can't abide Woody Allen's films, you should definitely go and see it. Same as in his last few films, Mr. Allen himself doesn't make an appearance, if that's any incentive. The protagonist's self-inflicted misery and the Big Questions the film tackled reminded me of (the books, not the films!) Intimacy (for the cheating bastard bit) and the Great Gatsby (for the rise in social status bit). It's a very sensuous and passionate film and you (i.e. I did) identify with the protagonist's dilemmas up to a certain extent but it's also shocking and very depressing. Well, maybe I shouldn't call it depressing or you won't go and see it after all. It's value for money, I assure you.
Purchases: I don't have any major confessions to make. Yesterday I raided the Body Shop again (final days of sale) in my lunch-break and later hit Marionnaud en route to the cinema to buy a discounted Biotherm "Define Eyes" eye pencil in a rather bright um...turquoise. Other people obviously don't think it's a good idea to buy eye-liner to match their new turquoise down coats or else that colour wouldn't have been the only reduced one. Today I was good and just bought a birthday present for one of my great-aunts. Oh, and the February issue of my favourite glossy, UK Marie Claire.
posted at 3:07 PM
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