Three Things: Technology, Health, And Theatre

I've been decidely absent lately because there's a lot going on that I haven't told you about, and the thought of sitting down and typing it all out from the very beginning seems daunting. So of course, I resort to focussing on the boy-drama that somehow manages to infiltrate my life all the time.

I guess I'll start with something that's been going on since...spring of 2007? My MacBook. Did you know that I managed to complete an entire semester of school without it? By the way, school without a computer may be difficult, but it's not impossible. Things started going funny when I was in Spain, but I couldn't take care of it until I was settled back in the country, so I took it into a Mac shop for repairs in August. I was convinced something was wrong with it, so when the tech guy told me to just buy more RAM, I didn't believe him. I went about searching for cheap RAM anyhow, until one morning during the first week of school when my precious, precious laptop decided to go into (what I now know as) "kernel panic". It looked like the thing was being possessed - the screen went black, it whirred madly as white text scrolled from the top saying things like BAD and FAIL. I freaked out, called a local computer store and brought it in within a half hour. They told me a couple days later that my hard drive was dying and that it needed to be replaced ASAP. A dead hard drive? I thought I just needed more RAM? Anyway, Apple wouldn't believe my claims that these guys were right because they're not "certified Apple technicians" and since the first Apple guy said nothing was wrong, then indeed, nothing was wrong. In order for my wish to have my hard drive replaced by Apple under warranty, I'd have to get a second Apple opinion. Too bad the Apple opinion would cost $65. Deciding that $65 was far too much to pay for a diagnostic, I spent hours and hours on the phone with customer service at Apple to no avail. My lappy sat, half-dead, on my desk for about two months. It was nearly the third week of November when I finally found a student-friendly (i.e.: cheap) tech-shop with an Apple technician in residence. He agreed, my hard drive was indeed dying and the first Apple guy was an idiot. A month and $170 later, my hard drive had been replaced, (most) of my data had been backed-up and restored. But the story doesn't end there. My luck with my lappy has been rife with complications - the tech guy spelled my name wrong when installing the new hard drive, he didn't save all my data (see: lost photos (CRIES) and music all out of whack), and then my battery malfunctions and dies too. So right now, JANUARY 2008, after FOUR MONTHS of computer-less agony, my laptop is still in the shop. I get to pick it up today - hoepfully, it's in working order and I don't have to throw it against the wall (because I've come close in the past). From now on, I'm doing it old-school and burning everything to CD.

In medical news, cancer sucks. Someone I worked with passed away in October, my paternal-grandmother got diagnosed with it in November, someone else I knew passed away in December, and I have an appointment on Monday that'll tell me whether or not I have some form of it too. It's not as bad as it sounds, really, and I'm okay. I've gotten abnormal results back from a couple tests I've had done in relation to my lady parts, which resulted in me getting a colposcopy and biopsy in December. My roommate went to the hospital with me and I was so very grateful. My follow-up appointment is Monday. They assured me at the hospital that it was a fairly routine procedure, that this does not mean "pre-cancerous" in any way, and that they're just "nipping it in the bud" if it is something bad. I'm trying to curb my skepticism and believe them. Either way, it's out of my hands. What's done is done and there really isn't anything I can do about it. I haven't spent much time thinking about it because there's no point in that right now. I just get to find out in a couple days and decide how I feel about the results then. I do hope however, that they *did* nip it in the bud, that I'm okay, and that I'll be able to have children when I'm older.

In other dramatical, but of the theatrical variety, news, I'm on stage in less than two weeks! This has been my first production with a community theatre group since high school and I'm super excited about it. It's just a little comedic one-act, but I'm looking forward to being on stage again and performing after a year and a half of being stage starved. The play is a comedy, and though I'm used to being in dramas, I've had a lot of fun with it. Hopefully the audience will too. My experience with the Vagina Monologues in the past has served me well; I get to talk about orgasms again. Don't say I didn't warn you! Ooh, ALSO: I've been auditioning like mad since I moved back here; I did well during my first one and was considered for a role, but my class schedule prevented me from attending rehearsals, so that was a no go. I got a call-back for a musical audition and though nothing came from it, that satisfies me for now. I got a part in a short-short and filming it was a great learning experience. I auditioned with the community group again and got a part in the play I'm in now. Last week and this past week, I auditioned for a mainstage production. What I'm involved with now is a one-act festival; the shows are comprised of three one-act plays, a few sketches, and we only have four runs. A mainstage is a PLAY-play. A full-length show with Acts, not just Scenes, and eight runs as opposed to four in a bigger theatre. This year, the theatre is putting on Wilde's "The Importance of Being Earnest". My audition went well (at least, I thought it did) and as of an hour ago, I'm officially playing Gwendolen Fairfax (i.e.: THE LEADING LADY)!! I'm so excited I could scream, but I'm at work right now, so I haven't been able to tell anyone except write it out on here ol' bloggy. Let it be known though, that I'M SO EXCITED I COULD SCREAM. I haven't been involved with a mainstage in YEARS - and to think, I've still got it! They like me, they really like me!

Ahhhhhhh!!
2:11 pm