DRAMA!

A few weeks go, we got new next door neighbours. At first I thought they would be quite cool, as I spotted them moving guitar cases into their houses. Hoorah for musos.
However, their coolness was but a farce! Ever since they moved in, they have had parties on both Friday and Saturday nights, without fail. Look, there's really nothing wrong with parties. I went to a party once. It was grand.

But there is something wrong when it's 2am and all you can hear is a bunch of drunk idiots singing, "We're going to Jackson" and playing guitar over and over again. There's something wrong when you realise that they aren't musos, but rather the members of an absolutely terrible metal band that don't play melodies so much as they create a lot of whiny feedback noises.
They also have a spa. The system that turns on the bubbles is freakishly loud - it sounds like some sort of giant vacuum cleaner with teeth. They enjoy jumping into it and screeching drunkenly and loudly at each other over the noise.

A few times, my parents (gosh bless them) have gone outside to yell, "SHUT UP, YOU IDIOTS." Fair enough - they usually get up at 5am. Sometimes I have to rise at 6am for work. Usually they've complied with this.

The other night was a different story. I was online in the wee hours of the morning playing Runescape (what else?) and trying to ignore the usual round of drunken hollering next door. "SHUT UP!" I heard my mum yell at about 1am. They were so drunk that they didn't hear her. After a while of more yelling, mum and dad suddenly dashed downstairs. I missed it, but apparently they heard a fellow yell, "I'M GOING TO SLIT MY WRISTS," which was followed by a heated argument. I'm pretty sure I heard someone yell, "Put it down, PUT IT DOWN!" so I can just imagine what was going on. By this time, four people were screaming at each other out on their front yard, drunk as all hell.

A car screeched loudly, followed by a loud thud. Later, I realised that one of the four people next door had gotten into the car and driven off...drunk. Then someone else drove after them. They were also drunk!

I heard Dad telling them that he'd call the cops. Mainly because they were getting quite aggressive and two drunk people were driving around somewhere. One of the girls, who was very erm, vocal, said the following things to my parents:
(to my mum) "SHUT THE FUCK UP YOU FAT SLUT!"
(to my dad) "YOU'RE A FAT BALD BASTARD AND I HOPE YOU DIE FROM CANCER!"
Mmm, charming. Dad rang the cops and my parents retreated inside, quite amused by the whole thing.

The cops arrived a while later. One of the fellows who had driven off beforehand (drunk) had returned, and was now telling the cops to fuck off. Drunk driving and swearing at the police is the smart thing to do, guys. No seriously. You can't go wrong there.

In the end, the police carted the seriously drunk people off in a paddy wagon at around 3am.

The next morning, the stupid neighbours put on their spa and played very bad thrash metal as some form of revenge. Which is pretty pathetic because it was 11am in the morning and didn't really bother anyone. Dad himself was mowing the lawn! Losers.

They're idiots. I hope they move out soon. Mum overheard the aforementioned, eloquent girl say that she wants to poison our dog. If she lays hands on my dog, my awesome, fat, cute dog, I swear to god I will kill her with my bare hands.

Dad reckons I could take her on.


Anyone else had wacko neighbours?

Vista woes

So as you all well know, I am sitting here typing at my beautiful, shiny, glorious new laptop. I really love it.

One point of contention, however, is Windows Vista.


(courtesy of Penny Arcade)

And as a computer user who has used Windows XP extensively for, oh, I don't know, the last 8 years or so, it's a bit of a shock trying to get used to a new system. In a few years, everyone will be using it I suppose.

As much of a nerd as I am, I have to admit that I'm not completely into the niggly little tech details of computers. So I won't be able to tell you how well it utilises RAM or something.
However, I will give you...

the n00bs review of Vista.

First Impression
"Oh dear god! It's trying to be a Mac!"
It's just the little things. Like the translucent wipe when you minimise a window. Or the chunky, shiny icons on the side of the page. And apparently, the loading icon is the same as the Mac's.
Basically, the interface focuses more on graphics. I can't tell if it's a good thing or not. I nearly exploded with frustration when I used a Mac last, but I did like the pretty graphics. Sort of like an arty, attractive teen who writes nonsensical poetry which they claim to be deep and meaningful. Vista is a weird compromise between the familiarity of a Windows interface, and the pretty confusion of a Mac.

IE
Shock horror, I've actually been using Internet Explorer and not Mozilla Firefox. This is because Internet Explorer has basically included my most often-used feature in Firefox - tabbed windows. Apart from that, it annoys the living daylights out of me because of erm, the lack of File/Edit/etc toolbar. Instead, the various features of IE are accessible by little icons. Quite frustrating for the enterprising Vista n00b.

STOP. HAMMER TIME.
I'd heard that Vista was a bit over the top with security, and it doesn't disappoint. There are no less than FIVE icons in the little tray on the bottom right hand corner. Do I really need that much security? Not to mention, at least two windows pop up whenever I want to download something - it doesn't have a security certificate, do I want to continue? You're about to download something and it could have a virus! Do you want to continue?
This insanity is brought to you by a new thing called Windows Defender, a program designed to unnecessary scare the n00bs and patronise computer users who aren't dumb enough to think that downloading a program called ThisIsaVirus.exe is a bad idea. Sometimes it's useful, like when I've realised that in the midst of my clicking spree that I've clicked the wrong button, but most of the time it's pretty unnecessary.

Cool bits
Oh my god. It has Mahjong.

Also the scrolling menu is very useful. All the programs are accessible just by clicking a button and scrolling down a little section. I used to hate waiting for the other portion of the start menu to load if I had a lot of stuff installed on the computer, and then fiddling around and making sure it didn't disappear if I moved the mouse in a certain direction. So thumbs up, efficiency.


Lame bits
I had to wait 15 minutes on the bus for it to configure security settings. Not only did I look like a complete loser on the bus, just staring at this blank screen that said "Configuring security settings", but it wasted a good chunk of my laptop battery.

Some of the icons have changed. It took me a few hours to find Windows Explorer, because it doesn't look like a little yellow folder anymore.

So there you have it, guys. Vista is both irritating, yet efficient, and plagiarises other programs so blatantly that you have to wonder why, and then you realise that no one is dumb enough to sue Bill Gates. Have fun.

Love.

I'm in love.

I met him this weekend. I didn't expecting that I would ever feel this way about someone.
He's beautiful. Every part of him, from his clear, bright eyes, to his sturdy body that I love to hold - so close, so warm.
He speaks to me warm murmurs, sensitive to my touch.
Everything about him is so new and mysterious. The unknown about him excites me.
When i think of him, all I feel is bliss.

And all I want to do is snuggle up in bed with...


...

MY NEW LAPTOP.

Hot damn, it's awesome. I haven't felt so excited over a new piece of technology since I got my Nintendo DS. It's a shiny, pretty Asus with a huge hard drive (hehe, huge, hard) and lots of lovely RAM. Oh and a built in webcam, for taking many silly photos I assume.

Oh come on guys, my old computer is 7 years old. And it's a Celeron (oh noes). And I can't take it on the bus with me can I?

I am currently typing this blog entry to you from the comfort of my own bed. Living the dream, as it were. Sigh.

Ellie + Laptop = 4EVA



sidenote: haha, you thought i was talking about someone else didn't you.