Sunday, October 08, 2006

Sunday morning...

...after a night when I was feeling a terrible urge to bay at the moon like some demented coyote...



Yesterday was, in a word, awful. Aside from the normal psychic aches and pains, I had to do battle with a virus that got into my computer. The anitvirus software found it, but could not remove it. I finally managed to isolate it and get it out after several hours of panic-stricken fussing and fumbling.

This one didn't get in via the usual internet sources, but arrived because I did someone a favor. My friend/colleague D. asked his girlfriend to write a magazine article to accompany some pictures he took. She's smart and well-spoken, but the writing styles for personal communication and publication are as different as chalk and cheese, and she couldn't bridge the gap.

So, from her Mac, she sent text and some background info to my PC. She had no idea something in the mess of attachments she emailed was infected; PC viruses don't affect (or even show up on) Macs.

It was a double-dose of frustration for me. Not only did I have to edit -- rewrite completely, to be honest -- her "literary" effort, I had to play bug-hunter as well.

On a professional level, editing comes easy for me. I can do it quickly, and ensure that the result is in the writer's particular style. But editing an amateur's work -- especially when said amateur is a friend, and essentially clueless -- is downright painful.

This seems to be the story of my life these days: I go out of my way for people, and what I get back is grief.

Okay. Enough about yesterday. I'd prefer forget about it altogether.

This morning, I made a list of what I have to get done during the week ahead. Big mistake. What little energy I could muster up evaporated as I looked at it.

No howling at the moon for me tonight, or any night anytime soon. I'm going to be too busy.

It's too bad climbing the mountain of work can't make me forget the usual psychic aches and pains....

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oooooo, MrScribbler, this is very beautiful! A perfect Harvest Moon. We had a thick cloud covering and I could'nt see it, so thanks for this one. ((hugs)) from Sunny

Doug said...

I love the coloring of that moon.

I would think that a writer would use a Mac by default. I might someday get one to mvdwjm with.

MrScribbler said...

dal -- I've used Macs, and don't much care for 'em. Of course the standard for my business is MS WORD, too, and I dislike it. I use Corel WordPerfect instead, which I do like and, fortunately, will convert files to MS Word if necessary.

Besides, Macs are too mxnqyrl for my budget.

gillardia said...

Poor Scribs. It doesn't seem fair. You are always helping others and then this stuff happens. Keep your chin up. I hope the week brings better things for you. *HUGS*

Gill