For the first time in a very long time I managed to do everything I had planned. And more! Sunday started pretty grim, but as the saying goes, things aren’t always as bad as they seem.
First, I had a chat with Deea as soon as she jumped on Facebook, still sleepy and not entirely coherent, but enough to make me feel like a dumbass. What looked like a novel missing a chunk of text turned out to be a mistake on the behalf of yours truly: the text was there, but while I searched for one of the characters using a certain name (and found nothing), it didn’t occur to me that the name might not be the right one to begin with. In fact, it wasn’t the wrong one either; when I introduced this character I was thinking about naming him Adam, but I went with Athos and forgot about it. The moment when I had to use him again, I could clearly remember that his name was Adam. Of course, before this point, Crux had no reference of the name Adam to throw at me… So I guess that’s good news! No extra stories to be added and I can still claim that the novel is finished!
More good news came a couple of hours later, when my inbox suddenly received a new message from Webs.com. And then another. And another...
The first made me laugh because, after submitting a message to their help center, I got back this little gem of a reply, telling me to try all the idiotically simple and logical steps I had already tried! Such as re-typing my password or making sure the spelling of my username / e-mail address is correct. …I know there are a lot of cretins with internet access, but seriously? That’s your advice? Oh, such valuable tips! And, on top of it all, the message ended in “and if you still can’t access your account, reply to this e-mail with the details!”. I spent 10 minutes writing in detail that I had already tried all the steps and your solution ends with “Give us the information AGAIN“?! Who is managing this company anyway? Monkeys?
The second and third messages came at the same time. And they were the same: Welcome to Webs.com! Please click the link to verify your account! …Now, I may be exhausted but I’m not a complete imbecile. Wasn’t I supposed to receive that e-mail… hmmm… let’s say… 4 days ago!? When I actually signed up for this stupid free server and hosting? And furthermore, why in the hell would you send me 2 identical messages out of which only one confirmed my authenticity while the other just told me “ERROR! Check your account settings!”. Oh, you mean the account I can’t access. Sure, I’m on it!
Overall, however, I did manage to validate asociety.webs.com and log in. Which means that tomorrow I will be correcting the awful mistakes in those texts. I do speed writing when I’m inspired and, as it seems, my hands / brain coordination isn’t so great…
But let me get back to my initial thought which was: BEACH DAY! Yes, I went out on deck; changed into some raggedy clothes and flip-flops, with Pratchett’s book, my camera and a can of beer I found in the cabin when I moved in. I was inspired enough to grab my backpack which served me well as a pillow and some ice cubes from the fridge in a bag (because the beer was warm), I went forward and just enjoyed 2 hours before the sun set. The air and weather are fantastic here, and I was actually happy I couldn’t smoke (‘cause we’re still fully loaded with 8000 m3 of gasoline and the next thing you’d probably have read about me would have been my obituary).
I went through 50 pages only because I was enjoying myself too much. Nothing but the waves and the breeze and quality literature. I’m only a tad frustrated that I couldn’t find Reaper Man in English because the Romanian version is hilarious! I can only imagine that the original is hysterical; I own a copy in electronic format but it’s just not the same as a paperback.
To conclude, I’m really glad I actually forced myself out of my room. Normally I wouldn’t step outside unless we are entering or leaving a port, but it was about time that I felt the sun on my skin again. Thought of the day? Must do this again!
First, I had a chat with Deea as soon as she jumped on Facebook, still sleepy and not entirely coherent, but enough to make me feel like a dumbass. What looked like a novel missing a chunk of text turned out to be a mistake on the behalf of yours truly: the text was there, but while I searched for one of the characters using a certain name (and found nothing), it didn’t occur to me that the name might not be the right one to begin with. In fact, it wasn’t the wrong one either; when I introduced this character I was thinking about naming him Adam, but I went with Athos and forgot about it. The moment when I had to use him again, I could clearly remember that his name was Adam. Of course, before this point, Crux had no reference of the name Adam to throw at me… So I guess that’s good news! No extra stories to be added and I can still claim that the novel is finished!
More good news came a couple of hours later, when my inbox suddenly received a new message from Webs.com. And then another. And another...
The first made me laugh because, after submitting a message to their help center, I got back this little gem of a reply, telling me to try all the idiotically simple and logical steps I had already tried! Such as re-typing my password or making sure the spelling of my username / e-mail address is correct. …I know there are a lot of cretins with internet access, but seriously? That’s your advice? Oh, such valuable tips! And, on top of it all, the message ended in “and if you still can’t access your account, reply to this e-mail with the details!”. I spent 10 minutes writing in detail that I had already tried all the steps and your solution ends with “Give us the information AGAIN“?! Who is managing this company anyway? Monkeys?
The second and third messages came at the same time. And they were the same: Welcome to Webs.com! Please click the link to verify your account! …Now, I may be exhausted but I’m not a complete imbecile. Wasn’t I supposed to receive that e-mail… hmmm… let’s say… 4 days ago!? When I actually signed up for this stupid free server and hosting? And furthermore, why in the hell would you send me 2 identical messages out of which only one confirmed my authenticity while the other just told me “ERROR! Check your account settings!”. Oh, you mean the account I can’t access. Sure, I’m on it!
Overall, however, I did manage to validate asociety.webs.com and log in. Which means that tomorrow I will be correcting the awful mistakes in those texts. I do speed writing when I’m inspired and, as it seems, my hands / brain coordination isn’t so great…
I went through 50 pages only because I was enjoying myself too much. Nothing but the waves and the breeze and quality literature. I’m only a tad frustrated that I couldn’t find Reaper Man in English because the Romanian version is hilarious! I can only imagine that the original is hysterical; I own a copy in electronic format but it’s just not the same as a paperback.
To conclude, I’m really glad I actually forced myself out of my room. Normally I wouldn’t step outside unless we are entering or leaving a port, but it was about time that I felt the sun on my skin again. Thought of the day? Must do this again!
A romantic date with a book in the middle of the waters seems like the perfect weekend break for someone with a pretty busy life. But really though, you should do this more often for yourself, that there may be weekends to look forward to every now and then.
ReplyDeleteYou're right. Just as right as all the people who tell me to quit smoking and exercise more. But I'm chronically lazy - I'm a geek. Still, it felt good being outside and enjoying a good book - I'll try that more often. The only thing that's annoying is that ships are generally dirty and I came back covered in grease and smelling like I spent a day in a dusty attic. :))
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