computer woes

I wanted to be on IRC with y'all last night, really. My computer had other plans.

I did manage to log on and download the day's email and read what little of it I hadn't already read during the day. But then with the crashing. (dance-teacher voice) And reboot, and crash, and reboot, and crash... (/dance-teacher voice) I finally got it booted, and then I started ScanDisk, and ... you guessed it. It crashed. So at last it was time for...

"What are we gonna do tonight, Brain?"
"Same thing we do every night, Pinky -- reinstall Windows 98."

Grump.

It did crash once during the reinstall, but recovered. By the time the reinstall was finished, it was past midnight, and I didn't even have the energy to spend a few minutes playing with it and make sure it was all okay; I just verified that it booted up okay and then went to bed. Sigh.

I probably should just ditch the damn thing (it has been flaky since day one) and get me a new computer, but who can afford that? I gotta save my pennies for Plan G (formerly known as The Thing). It's weird though, considering that since I got the computer it has had its motherboard, RAM, and processor all replaced at some point, thanks in large part to xochiquetzl. I guess the hard drive probably hasn't ever been replaced so that might be the problem. Or maybe it's just The Evil That Is Windoze.

Hmm. Buying a new hard drive would certainly be cheaper than buying a whole new puter. And then I'd have more space. Hmm. Something to ponder.

My Poor Generation

This occurred to me recently while talking to some friends, and then again yesterday while chatting on AIM.

Have we grown up an entire generation of people who don't know what sex without a condom feels like? And isn't that kind of sad?

I mean, oh sure, there are people in this generation (which I loosely define as everyone 25ish to 35ish) who don't use condoms. I place those in three general categories: a) suicidal morons, b) the criminally undereducated, and c) people in committed LTRs. But aside from them, isn't there still a generalization to be made? That we, the AIDS generation, will never really be able to enjoy sex as a completely guilt- and fear-free activity?

Not that there weren't STDs to be afraid of before AIDS -- herpes, for example. And the ever-present pregnancy risk. But it seems like the generation before us, people having sex in the 70s and early 80s, were a lot more carefree about sex. Part of it might still have been stupidity; they either thought herpes wouldn't happen to them, or figured it was no big deal if it did. But AIDS was, as I understand it, the first STD that caused an actual wholesale change in the very fabric of society. And we grew up with that fear; how can it not have affected us?

(A tangential aspect of this topic, which I won't address in any depth right now, is the question of how this affects our writing of fanfic. Is the wild popularity of Buffy fanfic somehow related to this, because we know that vampires can neither contract nor pass along STDs and therefore it's okay to write Buffy/Spike (for example) without condoms? You could extend this to almost any sci-fi show, really; if it's not creatures that are immune (vampires) then it's in the future where you can pretend they've cured AIDS.)

It's probably fairly obvious how this topic relates to Plan G, but I'll do another post about that in a minute.

This all came up, by the way, when I was talking to some male friends and they were complaining about the way condoms decrease sensation. I'm aware that a lot of guys have this problem (but, being responsible types, they just live with it rather than risk going "bare-back"). It's kind of sad, when you think about it. For the chicks too, obviously, but somehow especially for the guys.

My poor generation
We're airborne with nothing to land on.
Baffled by bullshit,
grounded with nothin' to stand on.