Winter’s log, earthdate 201505.20

Today I’m starting reasonably early – well, it’s 4.15pm, so I suppose that qualifies as “early” to some 🙂 I had a very hard time dragging myself away from Photoshop this afternoon – last night I downloaded a whole heap of new brushes, and I’ve been busy most of the day today testing them all, adjusting styles for them, etc. – some of them are gorgeous, a few are fantastic, and a lot of them are just “meh! *shrug*“, if you know what I mean. I just wish the headers here were big enough so that I could put some up for you to see, but they’re not (of course there’s always screenies, I guess… maybe later, if I remember ‘K?) You know how I make myself Bookmark Wallpapers for my desktop? Well, I made one for the “the other side” of Windows today, you know, where all those trillions of little folders sit around crowding out your screen?… I did try using  Stardock’s “Fences” a couple of times – it’s a handy little untility that allows you to organise those messy folder icons – hide some, sort them into “use a lot” and “seldom need”, and stuff like that… and it really does keep your desktop nice and neat and tidy! But I’m a very visual sort of person, and if I put folders “away”, I tend to forget about them – you know, “out of sight, out of mind” – and you can bet your bottom dollar that as soon as I put something “away”, in a neat and tidy “safe place”, I’m going to desperately need to use that something, and I’m not going to remember where that neat and tidy “safe place” is! I’ve tried creating “subject folders”, like one called “Games”, and I put all my games in there, which is all well and good, and it tidies up the desktop nicely – but do I ever look in it again to play those games? er… no. I’m aware that they’re there – I haven’t totally forgotten them – but it just seems like too much of a hassle to go poking around in the “Games” folder, looking for Bejeweled, or one of my Solitaire games, so I just go and find something online to play instead. Ditto with Documents… and all my Rift “notes”, wot I’ve made over the years. I used to have a “Programs” folder there, too, but… I’m lazy, so I just stick programs I’m currently using directly onto the desktop – they’re easier to find, rather than have to start wondering if I put it in the “Programs” folder, or the “Currently Using” folder, or the “Handy Utilities” one, and then go and look in all three, only to find that I’ve put it in the “Important Files” folder instead! So, no, Fences aren’t for the likes of me – but I’m weird, and have that reputation to maintain – but if you think it sounds interesting, go and have a look – you might find it very handy 🙂

I did play Rift this morning for a while – until the siren song of the new brushes became too hard to resist – and I’m sure you’ll all be very pleased to know that Addain has been rescued from his Goblin infested hillside, has in fact completed that quest chain and about to start on another one. I received yet another two Dimension keys from my Minions this morning, so I went looking to see if anyone had created any wonderful new areas – that is, I went looking for inspiration…The one area that I had time to investigate is a Dimension area set in Dusken – it’s quite large, and does have a magnificent big building in the middle of it – largely in ruins, and with plants and grass coming through the floor (but those minor things are easily disguised and/or removed) What I found of great interest was the fact that they’d installed several other fairly large houses close by (well, it is quite a big area!) Lots of food for thought there, and as well as keys and plants and household items, I have houses just about coming out of my ears, too! Big ones, little ones… huts… tents… you name it, I’ve got it! 🙂 So… maybe… if I can keep myself away from all those brushes… I can start building again (*Winter picks up her coffee cup and peers inside it. Winter looks sad… it’s empty! 😦 *) Oh well…

Julian and I sat down to go through the form(s) for changing/adding to my name after lunch. We have all the paperwork needed (we think) but there’s still the issue of the “assumed name” business – honestly, if I’d known how much trouble it was going to cause everyone further down the track, I would never have agreed to it! F’rinstance, the kids can’t get a copy of their Year 12 results (which has wrecked quite a lot of job opportunities for them) because there’s no way that they can prove that they were Lisa and Katherine Xxxxxx back then! There’s no documentation, no way of verifying anything. In hindsight, it was a silly and largely useless exercise, but… what’s done is done, I suppose, and we’ll just have to deal with it. We wrote an email to the Registrar of Births, Deaths, and Marriages, explaining the situation – as I said earlier, I prefer to err on the side of honesty, as does himself. So now we just have to sit tight and wait for a response… Hmmm… we probably should also have asked if I’d need to get a new Passport and Driver’s Licence if I get that extra name tacked onto my current one…

Weigh-in this morning. I haven’t bounced back up again yet – that’s happening tomorrow – but I weighed in at 90.7kg – one point down on yesterday’s weight. I expect to go back into the 91kg zone momentarily!

So, wuz hapnin’ tamarra? We have an Estate Agent coming over tomorrow morning – a female one, this time. In the past, when we’ve been looking at houses, we’ve always found that the female Estate Agents are much more conscientious and professional – willing to “go the extra mile” – than their male counterparts. For some reason, the men seem to be more interested in showing off their cars, and in holding forth about how many places in the area that they’ve sold, than actually finding something suitable for you to look at. Mind you, it’s been quite a long time since we’ve nosed around the Real Estate market – maybe things have changed… though not much, if the first guy was anything to go by. He got back to use within two days with a list of about 8 Auctions coming up (been and gone by now, I’d reckon!) and absolutely nothing since! So hopefully this woman tomorrow morning will come up with something that we can actually go and look at… Oh, and I have a hairdressing appointment in the afternoon, so I expect we’ll be kept fairly busy most of the day – which is good, because it means all the more news and gossip for all of you! 🙂 My favourite eldest daughter’s big TV production interview thingy was today – it’s her Major Project in TV Production. She rang me when she got home to tell me how it went, and she said it got off to a reasonably shaky start, but quickly settled down. It took several “takes”, but they finally got a good one – so hopefully it’ll turn out to be a High Distinction for her, too! 🙂 (She got her Minor Project in TV Production marks back yesterday – she got 83%, which is High Distinction (*says Winter proudly! 🙂 *)) So until tomorrow night, when I’ll fill you in on all the day’s doin’s, and just how far back up the scales I’ve bounced, please try to bee good, remember that imagination is more important than knowledge, and above all – stay safe! 🙂 ciao, all! 🙂