Did I call it or what?

The DSL connection has been non-functional since the 29th, but it'll be a couple more days before I'll have the mental bandwidth to try to get the phone company out to work on it. If things go true to form, this means I will find that it's started working again when I get home tomorrow evening.

I finally came up with the mental bandwidth to deal with the phone company and came home all prepared to tell the downstairs tenant that I was going to try to get the repair people out tomorrow and ... the connection is working. (In fact, I'd decided I couldn't stand it any more and had just packed up the laptop to go over to a local cafe that has free wi-fi so that I could get some online work done ... and then I made one last visual check of the modem status lights.) AARRRRRGHHHH! Not that I mind the connection working, of course. This just means that it will conk out again as soon as it becomes desperately inconvenient again.

5 Things Make a Post

1. It really is sad how my world gets out of joint when I don't have my normal internet access. The iPhone is a life-line but it is not a substitute for an actual computer connected to an actual network. Fortunately, a new scientific study has concluded that online social networks are actually good for you, rather than being bad for you. That's a load off my mind. :)

2. What I do not need is any extra stress currently (see grumbling about DSL network problems). My mother is in the hospital again (well, she may be out again by now), this time with anemia (which may well have been a contributory cause to the mental vagueness) and blood-calcium-level issues. On top of the toll that the myeloma has taken on her. And general physical frailness (but so also anemia). And there's very little I can do about it besides worry and stress out. And wait. And not be sure what I'm waiting for. Arrrrrggggghhhh.

3. I popped off to the DMV on my lunch hour today to get a new driver's license with a picture that won't make the TSA guys at the airport look at me suspiciously (or, alternately, feel compelled to make personal comments about my body masquerading as compliments). The process was quite quick and painless, although they say "expect it in the mail in 2-3 weeks" which means I may or may not have it in time for the Thanksgiving trip.

4. So far I've kept to my IWriSloMo pledge to write something on my novel every day this month. I won't be doing duplicate postings on this journal, since I'm mostly just doing daily check-ins on page counts, with only a few passing references to process. I'm happy to talk about writing methods in person. And I'll be delighted to talk about my writing methods after I get a novel published. But in the mean time I feel very self-conscious talking about the process when I don't have much to show for it. (And I dislike talking about the specific details of any particular story I'm working on because it tends to expend my "need to tell the story" energy that needs to be directed at the actual writing.)

5. We'll see if I can get in a good evening of sewing tomorrow -- I really want to do an outfit for the 1910s tea party, and since I bought a pattern and trim and everything, it would be a shame not to. (Although I picked a blouse style that can pass for everyday, so as not to be too wasteful.)