Well, I slept late today. Read a couple of stories that have been ages, and I mean ages, on my harddrive (copied from my old computer).

And taped part of 'OZ' for a gay friend of mine whom I'm hoping to convert. Part of the 2nd and 3rd season, all up from Keller's first appearance in Oz. Although I don't know if N. will like it -- he doesn't usually watch TV in English, and I fear that might make him stop watching after perhaps one episode. Or the violence will turn him off. I don't know, but I still want to 'convert' him. <eg>

I also copied him the first two 'Queer as Folk' episodes (UK version).

But... it seems now my TV hates me. Or the VCRs. Or the tapes. Whatever. I'm pretty much used to having a jumpy, flickering picture whenever I watch my tapes; that's just a (not so endearing <g>) quirk of my TV/VCR set it has now and then, but so far, those idiosyncrasies of theirs never prevented the duo from taping everything perfectly fine. But now -- I had the same blurs and shadows on the copies. I think. I checked all the connection cables several times. Now I guess I'll just let them both 'cool off' until tomorrow, and then I'll pop in the tapes once more and watch whether they're ok.

And here I thought I could get at least some taping done since I'm still without access to the satellite dish (and no, my landlord hasn't returned so far. Drat.).

Oh, and I had a carnival -- or rather, the -- carnival procession moving past the house in the early afternoon. Rolling drums, cheering onlookers, the lot. Carnival in Cologne. A nightmare. A friend sent me a hilarious poem about the horrors of carnival, and I felt like applauding. Never got the hang of all the forced seasonal cheer. Beer, costumes, beer, horrible music, beer, and, beware, the linking of arms and swaying from side to side! The poem compared carnival to a plague and said literally: "We know that from the X-Files, but calling Mulder won't help -- it's caused by rays from outer space, and suddenly, there's carnival!"

Too bad it isn't in English, or I'd post it there. I laughed myself silly over it!

I'm feeling a bit lonely here. A friend wanted to come see me over the extended weekend (Monday's a day off at work here -- due to... carnival, what else!), but changed her plans when I mentioned my being sick. I feel better now, but really not up to disco- and bar-hopping which she would've liked to do, so I guess it's for the better. Yesterday, I would have been at mareen's place. I miss that -- mareen, you hear me?! <g>

It's four a.m. again. I still need to do that overhaul of my website I've been putting off since --when? Oh dear Lord, october! I still have two days to make myself do it. And my mailbox is still full. This unenthusiasm has been dragging on and on for far too long now; I just laze around and avoid doing anything. I haven't written a story in months. Wonder what causes it... blaming it on winter would be inaccurate.

Sometimes I just astonish myself. Or would that be --- 'disappoint'?