New Computer, More Pictures, and Other Things

My first bit of lovely news is that I have a new computer!!  YAY!!

A few months ago, my housemate accidentally knocked a glass of Dr Pepper over onto my laptop.  Ever since then, its been going downhill - not that it was ever the best computer in the world, heh.  Going back even a bit more, it was a replacement for my Asus, which had been stolen out of my home one afternoon when I went out for some dinner. Being that the replacement was an Acer, it never really measured up to the little beast that the Asus had been.

Master fixed that problem for me last week.  Friday the 18th, my new Asus arrived, and its just ... WOW. Its a gaming laptop - which means its beefy.  The graphics card is simply amazing. (NVidia 800 series) On my Acer, I was having to run SecondLife on the lowest settings, which means that I couldn't see things like ... clouds .. shadows ...glow ... etc.  With this one, I am running on high.  I can see it all now!  WoW actually made me a little dizzy when I logged in yesterday for the first time.

Needless to say, I've been running all around SecondLife snapping pictures like a woman possessed. Windlight is an awesome thing.  Shadows are an awesome thing.  And, I always try to get clouds in the picture if I can.  Heh.  Here's an example.

I don't remember what Windlight setting I used for this one.  It was taken on the beach behind our house on Crystal Cove II.  This is a raw picture - not edited at all in any photo shop program.  Mainly, because I don't have Paintshop Pro installed on this computer yet.  I do have iPiccy in Google, and its good, but just not as good as an actual editing program.  I'm fairly proud of how this one turned out, especially since I am just learning about all of the Windlight settings and photos and how they work together, etc.  Phototools, you are my friend!

My second bit of news -- Spring has finally sprung.  To a lot of people, this might not seem like such a big bit of news, but for me, its an awesome thing.  Things are turning green, flowers and blooming, and birds are singing.  There's rain and thunder and sunshine. (Not all at the same time, granted.)  What this means for me is that (a) I am sniffling and sneezing and (b) my seasonal depression is finally starting to lift.  Yep, I have it. I've had it for ages, and it sucks.  I still don't understand how one season can affect someone so much, but winter hits me really hard.  It isn't as bad here as it was when I lived up North, but it still isn't a pleasant thing at all to deal with.  I just have to march through it the best that I can, and hope and pray that people can at least understand what I am dealing with a little bit.  The fact that I actually want to get out of bed is a huge thing!!

I am also really excited about taking a week or so and going at my house some more.  While I am not saying that I want to become a minimalist, I definitely have far too much stuff.  My spare room should provide hours of entertainment for anyone who wants to come and watch me struggle through it.  Heh.  I also need to get some clothesline strung up in the laundry room so that I can hang clothes to dry.  The wetness sensor in my dryer has gone out apparently.  I don't want to hang the clothes outside because of all of the ratty little kids that run around in this area.   And, after almost a year, I think it might be time that I actually put some pictures on the walls.  I have frames that I bought before I moved to this house - just haven't gotten them up yet.  Did I mention that I can sometimes be a bit of a procrastinator? Remind me to tell you about that sometime....

So to sum it all up ... I got a new computer, I can take pictures and see graphics again, spring is filling the air with glorious things, and my seasonal depression is starting to lift.  Life is getting better again.  Hooray.


Peace and Love,

~R