cleolinda | WE DO NOT SPEAK OF IT

So let's talk about the last few days:

Lizzie is being fussy, and I can't figure out why. Mostly I'm having problems with Firefox, which did put out a new version recently. I'll try to right-click for some reason, and the menu will try to come up, but I'll only see a bit of an outline, I can't really get to any of the choices. The same with the drop-down menus. But it's weird--I'll restart Firefox, clear the cache and all, and everything will be fine... but then, ten minutes later, I start having right-click problems again. I ran an AVG virus scan; nothing. I tried to run an error check on the hard drive itself; computer told me "recently installed software" was preventing that from running. I don't really know what to do. That, and TweetDeck sometimes freezes when I try to open it--other times it doesn't. I can't figure out what caused the initial problem was, but I'm afraid it's going to have some kind of domino effect. And the computer not being able to run an error check makes me really uneasy. Part of me want to know what the hell the problem is, and part of me is afraid to ask.

Also, my digital camera died. It's not the batteries. It's just dead. I do have the camera in my phone, I guess, but it doesn't focus well and sometimes colors come out weird (the pictures from April Fool's Day were taken in golden sunlight, and apparently my phone saw the need to put on a blue filter for no reason. Well, we did name it the iBella, I suppose that's why). I'm trying to get back to The Secret Life of Dolls, but some pictures are just going to be impossible because the camera's not good enough. We'll play it by ear.

More importantly, my mother's going to have her entire knee replaced. Turns out she didn't actually twist it at all--she had an x-ray, and the cartilage has just completely disintegrated (the phrase "bone on bone" was used, and I threw a full-body shudder). She's 57, but she's got "the knees of a 70-year-old." (Bad knees run in our family, and she's had problems--and surgery--before.) She was upset initially, but then brightened up: "I'll get a bionic knee and it won't hurt anymore!" Bless. So she's hobbling around in a brace now, on mild painkillers, until she can have the surgery--which might be months from now, because she will absolutely be off work for six weeks, and if it doesn't heal up right, she could be out for up to three months. She'd get paid for the first six weeks, but nothing after that. And she won't be able to drive at all, not for the first few weeks at least. I think she's going to try to have it in late June/early July, so I'm going to see if I can work through my panic attacks and get my driver's license by then. It sounds stupid, but--I know how to physically operate a car. I don't have to learn to drive; I have to learn to be able to drive, if that makes any sense. It's scary, but honestly, this might be the only way to make myself do it--having a concrete need to make it happen.

Meanwhile, tons of fun things on Tumblr. I had another Victorian/Goth day, and will probably have another one on Monday, then Mostly Stuff That Is Purple; for the weekend, we're going with flowers/pink/generally springtime. (I just look at what I've got in my drafts folder and try to grab 8-10 at a time that have some similarity. I just take an hour now and then, go browsing at various sites, throw some new drafts into the pile, and pick and choose later. Right now, I've got about 120 saved.)

Have answered two or three more Formspring questions--I try to keep chipping away at that backlog (54 unanswered, 422 answered. Yes, that means I have answered more than four hundred questions).

Also, we went and saw Clash of the Titans on Friday--here's how much Mom loves the original: we went to the first show on the first day it opened. She loved it. I thought it was the stupidest movie I've seen since Troy, which is to say: AWESOME. Oh my God. There is no scene that Ralph Fiennes is in that is not hilarious; Gemma Arterton is gorgeous (I hear Tonner has licenses for both this AND Prince of Persia, which I guess means they're going to have not one but two dolls of her); and Sam Worthington is like oatmeal. Boring, muscular oatmeal. SERIOUS oatmeal. VERY SERIOUS. As a heart attack, this oatmeal. I just really can't say anymore, though, because I'm trying to see if I can get A Thing out of it. I make no promises.