Why I procrastinate

[cleolinda]

So. Throat hurts, but in a really weird way only on the left side, so I actually called the dentist to make sure it wasn't a wisdom tooth complication. (It wasn't. Felt dumb. Oh well.) Am tired and achy and in the middle of trying to update the news for the first time in three years weeks, my computer flipped out on me. I knew I was in trouble when I was over at the Buena Vista publicity site trying to download Hidalgo publicity stills for the Digest--now, remember, these are huge. I'm talking 10 MB per still. I'm talking life-size pictures, here--and the first message popped up: "You do not have enough room on your computer to save this file. WHORE."

Then an alarm message popped up:

You only have 7.85 MB of space remaining on your computer. This is a critically low amount of space. Seriously, are you stupid? You need 200 MB just to run me, goddammit, how many times do I have to tell you? And seven megabytes? Are you kidding me? That's not even enough to rub two MP3s together! What do you have on here, anyway? One-of-a-kind Orlando Bloom goat porn? In bitmaps? In triplicate? GOD.

So I spent the night (and today) cleaning files off my computer and transferring them to CD-RWs. The problem is that I've had an extremely high corruption rate, and so I'm scared to have files exist only on CD. Also, I only have 10 GB of storage space to begin with. (Yes, my computer is getting on five years old. Hush, or she'll yell at me again.) But I realized that the latest "Error! Move all critical files to another disk" isn't a disk error--it's an ACDSee (image manager) error, and when I move things straight from the file folder, I don't get that. So if I do get that, I can ignore it. Or something like that.

So now I have 223 MB free on my computer.

That's still pathetic, you know.

Hush.

And that's not even why I actually procrastinate--that's why I ended up putting off the news update, but here's why I continually procrastinate: it pays off. jedi_funk found an error in the Oscar pool ballot I coded yesterday, which really was inevitable given my coding inexperience, and so now I have to email 20 people and ask them to resubmit their picks for Sound Editing and Sound Mixing. Now, had I gone all out publicizing the pool and posting the announcement on the dailydigest feed and on the Yahoo Group newsletter, I would be super-screwed right now, instead of mildly screwed. (Seriously, we have more pool players than we've had the last two years combined, after the pool being up for 24 hours.) In fact, I like to think of procrastination as a bit Darwinist: that which is really not that important never gets done anyway, and that which is flawed won't make it too far before something better gets done in its place.

Which is also to say: the Oscar pool is ready and, as far as I can tell, bug-free. Get your ballots in early, because I'm not going to have a lot of time on Sunday to collate these things. :)

Comments

[edda.livejournal.com]

Bit-mapped Orlando Bloom goat porn is a holy and sacred thing. Never, ever feel the need to apologize.

And yes, inanimate objects yell at me all the time. I'm actually kind of glad to know I'm not alone. My blender, just the other day, came off like a very upset but extremely proper gay British butler and started to smell like smoke. I was making a milkshake. (Damn you and your song, Kelis!) He huffed, "Well, you hardly need that sort of thing with your figure, I should think." Then he turned into a screaming Hispanic hoochie mama and started screaming "Ay yi yi yi yi!" at me like I was stealing her man.

I just poured everything out and mashed it up with a spoon. I'm better now.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Of course inanimate objects talk to me. People only get concerned when I start talking back (which I do).

You know, I suddenly understand why my children's book assignment ended up being about a little boy whose household appliances give him advice.

[edda.livejournal.com]

Bwahahaha!

[claire-redfield.livejournal.com]

TEN gigs? Oh, honey, I am so sorry...

[la-sonnambula.livejournal.com]

First the computers start talking trash, the next thing you know we find ourselves living in the matrix.

I enjoy The Lucky Penny very much. Especially your lively description of the sock monster. It'll be a great character to be animated by Pixar. Your icons are wonderful and I took a few (I credited you), thanks for making them.

I'm a lapsed FameTracker. My username is Chanson. I haven't really checked the threads for a few months now, and find it overwhelming to catch up. I've always enjoyed reading your posts while I was there. You are invaluable as a source of LOTR information.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Chanson! Hey!!

I'm having the exact same problem--I got busy with grad school and now I can't catch up. (I'm also scared to wade into the Oscar thread at this point. Last time I poked my head in, there was a full LOTR backlash. Maybe after the Oscars, fresh start and all that...)

Speaking of LOTR, did you see my journal entry about Stuff That'll Be on the ROTK EE? It's around here somewhere... here it is. (http://www.livejournal.com/users/cleolinda/24401.html) I've seen a few more things since, probably need to update it.

And glad you liked the story (and the icons). The story's about to get ripped apart in workshop (woohoo!) and I need to make some more icons. Next stop? She-Ra, I think. :)

I am ANGRY at this process

[la-sonnambula.livejournal.com]

I don't know how you do it. You go to grad school, maintain all these sites, make icons, write fiction - are you Wonder Woman? I read about your experience with the LOTR thread, sorry you had to go through that. I was checking the Passion thread these two days. It's pretty intense and scary.

I hope those scenes make it to the EE DVD, or better yet an EE theatrical release. I saw the extended versions of the first two LOTR movies and it was great, but of course my bladder was saying uncle by the end of the movies.

The story's about to get ripped apart in workshop

By the losers who can't freewrite two pages?

Re: I am ANGRY at this process

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

I don't know how you do it.

I'll tell you how I do it: badly, and haphazardly. Witness the "Daily" Digest news page, which hasn't been updated in three weeks. Sigh.

I feel bad about the whole LOTR thread thing--I felt bad that they yelled at me, and bad that they had to. I think I mostly just got my feelings hurt, probably because I had faithfully posted all these news items and pictures over the months, and then got yelled at like a noob. LJ has toughened me considerably since then. ;)

I wouldn't touch the Passion thread with a ten-foot sterilized pole. I just--I don't even want to know what that looks like right now.

I'm pretty sure all the LOTR scenes will make it to the DVD--well, there were a couple last time that I had pictures of that didn't, I take that back. (Yes, I actually have a picture of Young!Aragorn and Arwen "frolicking," as they say on the commentary, in closeup.) I did read about a 2005 boxed set that would have scenes that didn't even make the EEs--probably a "deleted scenes" section, not actually integrated into the movies.

The story's about to get ripped apart in workshop

--By the losers who can't freewrite two pages?

Oh, I mean that in the best way possible--it's sort of daunting on one hand, but this does seem to be a good-hearted crowd, good at helping each other. It's just that they're lit students and total greenhorns in terms of writing and thought a children's book wouldn't involve any actual, you know, writing. :)

[alysscarlet.livejournal.com]

Ahahaha! I feel your pain as I also own a 5-year-old computer. I talk to it encouragingly, and stroke the monitor occasionally and it seems to stumble on....

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Of course I needed to know! The whole pool wouldn't have worked if you hadn't told me! I'm not angry at you--I'm angry at me and the stupid code I messed up. And hey, you found the problem pretty quickly. :)

Mine's also a Dell. I bought more gig, but I can't figure out how to install it, and I'm beginning to wonder if they didn't sell me something that won't fit anyway.