New Laptop and Old Infection

So, a few weeks ago, I went to start up my laptop. I'd had the laptop now for nearly 7 years which considering that the avarage lifespan of a laptop tends to be about 5 years was a good long usage life. Well it decided that the Hard Drive had had enough and completely corrupted and stopped working totally. Of course I was a bit put out by all this. Who wouldn't be? I use my computer for a number of different things from art to making my MikuMikuDance videos, gaming and generally communicating with the outside world. My laptop is basically like a way of running my life and things I do. I never realised it but I rely on a laptop more than ever these days. When it broke, it was like I had lost a way of doing the things I enjoy and the way of managing things like my banking or my social media things. It felt strange. Not "oh my god how will I ever cope?" but just odd.

I was worrying though as laptops, like most things out there, aren't cheap. Especially when you want one to do certain tasks. I could have gone down the gofundme or using other crowdfunding options. That didn't settle well wth me. I think things like gofundme are for charity, like medical equipment or helping someone who is dying to achieve a dream or pay for a funeral and not for someone who could easily save up to get a creature comfort. I managed to save up some money and get myself a new laptop from a store online for a decent price. I usually have Toshiba laptops, starting in 2006 with my Equium A100 to the last one which was a Satallite Pro, so it was a new way around by getting a Lenovo Ideapad instead. So far though I am very impressed with this smart little machine and I'm noticing things are working a lot better (its running my games and MMD software a lot more fluidly and with little to no lagging) and its becoming something that I am happy to have treated myself to. And it's already getting the sticker treatment too (Decepticon insignia is a must).

I am glad though that I shopped around before making a choice of what machine to get. I did initially think of getting it from Argos. Then I decided to get on my tablet and research it. What was a good laptop that was under a certain amount and I found something that is twice as good as my old computer was and actually cheaper than my old one was back when I got it. The moral of the story, don't go for the first thing you see. Shop around. Look at specifications and compare. Get what will be able to run and use everthing you want it to do. What I do with my laptop may not be the same thing that someone else uses theirs for.

OK so I did need some talking in to it and reminding that it wasn't selfish to get myself something nice. Strange mental thing I end up with is convincing myself that it would be wrong to get something for myself that I wanted, stems from a low self esteem I think. So I am now once more poised to start making new and better videos, better and more photo filled blogs and if my lungs still misbehave and I end up you know where, I am set there too (I take my laptop and external HDD with me so I can amuse myself with TV series, films and other things to keep myself sane).

As I mentioned though, my lungs are being awkward again. I have just finished a 2 week course of antibiotics (Co amoxiclav/Levofloxacin) and things are pretty much as much as they were, maybe the coughing has gotten worse and I am struggling a bit more when doing stuff. The coughing is probably whats wearing me down the most as its a labourious thing. Trying to cough up the gunge that is deep down at the bases of my lungs and it doesn't like to shift easily because of the scarring and the stiffness that leaves my airways with. It doesn't help that I tend to stay in one position most of the night when I sleep which means that the mucous and secretions tend to pool so when I do actually move its like in a cartoon when a house gets picked up and thrown about.

I'm finding things a bit harder though. Even things like getting up to shower can really be tiring. I managed it with help but it left me feeling tired and pained (my sides are being the worst at the moment as everything is strained and sore. I think we may need to go back to the drawing board on the infection front. There are two options usually, go in (yeah theres a can of worms to open...) or see what home interventions we can try (usually home IVs or something like that). It's not the most pleasant but I would rather try and manage at home rather than lying in a hospital bed where sleep is the most difficult thing to try/

I'll call the doctor on Monday and see what we can do. I'll keep you posted.

Loves
Wendy xx

The Good Parts

So, if you follow me on Facebook, you'll know that I spent the last few months working on something truly unique. Well not at the beginning of the build but definitely during it. I am talking about my Lego Simpsons house (or technically it was the cheaper "Lepin" version as the real Lego ones retail for £200+ and I got my Lepin kit for less than half of that). I really wanted the Simpson's house from the moment I saw it (The Simpsons was something we watched a lot growing up) and even though I had a cheaper alternative, I was very happy.

So the day it arrived in a big box (containing no less than 50 bags of bricks) I was immediately immersed in building. The original version took me about 2-3 days to do but I wasn't happy with a few things, mainly layout and noticed that there were some rooms that were not in the design. In particular, the whole front of the house wasn't really accessible and seemed to mainly be focused on 2 rooms. It needed a lot of reworking. So I started at the bottom and kind of built on the fly a bit.  I think the longest part was planning the shape and devising a floor plan, making sure it all fit together and increased the little details that were so lacking before.

I opted to have a hinge so that it opened out and lift out trays upstairs, each featuring one of the bedrooms with little features like Marge and Homer having a separate bathroom/ensuite set up and the other bathroom respectively. I also managed to recreate Bart's treehouse, a little back yard BBQ set and both the red and pink cars. I still have 3 assorted crates of Lego left for furture builds, so you may want to stick around for those.

I've also been drawing more. Thanks to a new TCG game we've started playing based on our very favourite "robots in disguise" so there's that to look forward to as well as some ideas for MMD videos (MikuMikuDance animated videos are great fun). But I am currently saving to get a new laptop for that as mine, well it's given up the ghost it seems and gone to the great office in the sky. It's kind of sad because I've had that one for 6 years and it's been company for me during some admisspns. But it was starting to slow down and not work as well anymore, these things never last forever but I do try and get a few years life out of what I have.

It's also been 4 years since I met a certain encouragable little guinea pig who I'm very happy to say is still healthy, happy, chatty and generally his usual crazy self. Yugi is our senior pig now. Actually I think having the two younger pigs in with him has kept him lively and happy. He plays a very definite "big brother" role with Marik and Bakura (who towards the middle of the month we'll have had them for a whole year), particularly little Bakura who follows him everywhere, not unlike how Alphonse would follow Patch around. It's both amusing and so cute to watch them together and then watch as Bakura starts to popcorn about excitedly squeaking his little head off. I love guinea pigs because they're so quirky and full of character, after 10 years of keeping them, I'm still to meet any 2 who are the same, so much for people saying there's no personality to small animals.

Maybe having a pet is part of what keeps me going when I feel as crappy as I have over the recent weeks. Along with, of course, friends and family. I'm lucky. I have so many wonderful people and creatures around me that know how to pick me up when I feel down. It's cliché to say it, I know.

Loves
Wendy xx