Xbox Undead

So I tried to log into FFXI from the Xbox 360, as my computer, despite a defrag and nothing apparently wrong with the video card or anything, still seems incapable of letting it do more than chug along at infuriatingly slow speeds. This was last night as a "just before bed" thing. Turns out that I need an Xbox Live account before I can log in.

So dodgyhoodoo sets me up one this morning ... and it keeps telling me "invalid user ID or password" for my PlayOnline account. Except it isn't, because I log into my account with that password all the time and I double-checked the user ID twice. So I honestly don't know what to do at the moment. Except resign myself to the fact that my little FFXI garden has died the utter death and I'm going to be stuck not playing again until I can do something about whatever mess my computer appears to be in right now. I honestly don't know what its malfunction is, but it's looking more and more like I need a new machine that I can't by any means afford.

And, as you can possibly imagine, I so much don't want to go to work today. I'm exhausted, I'm sore and on the whole, I'd rather have a root canal. I suppose what'll happen is I'll drag myself through today, come home, crawl into bed and hopefully go comatose for an hour or two before dinner. It's all I can think of to do. And maybe I can snooze on the bus or something.

But I guess I'd better move or I'll be late. Life just gets better and better, no? Still, there was online RP last night and it can't be all bad if there was RP. Hooray for darkdanc3r ... and for dodgyhoodoo for trying so hard. Even if he does keep me awake with the snoring...

Things Fall Apart

Still trying to fix this idiotic problem I'm currently having with my computer and FFXI. The latest thing I tried, at dodgyhoodoo's suggestion, was reinstalling DirectX, figuring that as it deals with my 3D imaging (or something; please keep in mind that I am no good at this crap), reinstalling it might help.

Might being the operative word. It still doesn't work. And between that and various other tiny bits of borkage (occasional freezes, the iTunes skippage, lots in Sims 2 freezing if I put anything much in them etc), it's probably the RAM. Of course, we're not sure which stick is borking, if indeed it's only one, and of course the RAM I'm running is old and slow and therefore probably difficult to obtain and I can't afford new RAM right now anyway, so ... I'm kinda screwed. No FFXI, no Sims 2, I probably can't even pick up Photoshop to run some new icons or whatever should the mood take me ... on the whole, a good chunk of hobbyage has just died the death because my computer is kind of shitty. At least the paycheque I'm getting a week Friday ought to cover the cost of at least one new stick of memory, if not much else besides. So looks like I'm rebuilding on the installment plan. Yay.

And of course, the worst thing is that even if I did get a new system - let's dream and say I could afford it - I'd really be building this one from scratch because most new boxen nowadays come with Vista and FFXI doesn't run with Vista. *sigh*

I know I shouldn't complain. With one thing and another, the Frankenbox has had a damn good run with the parts it currently has. It's not like I've only had it for a few weeks - it's been over a year for most of the bits. But seriously, it's frustrating. I just want a computer that works. Is that too much to ask?

Oh, and the job still sucks. Overly demanding people barging into my office and asking for things without asking whether I might be a) on my way to lunch or b) about to leave the office to go home. The typing of grammatically flawed, redundant clinic letters. Trying desperately to clear a backlog of utter and complete insanity. And let's not forget that fucking awful chair and the resultant back pain. I suppose it almost doesn't matter that my computer is dying by degrees because pretty much all I can do when I get home is curl up in bed and sleep for a few hours until dinnertime. And of course, I've heard squat fucking all from my agency about getting me the hell out of this nightmare.

It's the profession, I suppose. Admin get the worst of the shit in general, and when you're dealing with the NHS, you get even more of it because sick people and doctors are not the world's most patient people and they tend to be not very nice to their admin people. Which helps me deal with it on an intellectual level but does not make the feeling that I've been beaten with a very large iron bar (both physically and emotionally) go away.

I need a week on a Caribbean island. Is that too much to ask?