Well, just as the title says, life has been pretty crazy for me lately.

For starters, I don't know if anyone really noticed or cared, but I was without internet access for a week or two. I have no idea what the root of the problem was, but I kept getting a message saying "The Computer can not connect to AOL Service" (or something in the way of that). An automated suggestion I got was to reset some location setting but whenever I would get to the point where it would try to get local access numbers it would try to dial into the network a second time and start the process over again! I would then get 1 of 3 other automated suggestions, none of which worked. It was at the point where I was ready to call AOL and try to talk to someone because I was under the impression that it had something to do with the AOL server and not my computer but just became even more confused when I discovered my mom's computer could still get online (And I ended up using it for a couple of days) before a solution that was so simple I had been blind to it this whole time hit me: uninstall and reinstall AOL (I was actually prepared to whip my computer clean and start over from scratch but then I thought, why not just AOL first.) which somehow worked. A case of "the simplest solution is best", I guess.

Secondly, I now am proud to say that I now have Flash! What is so crazy about that you may ask? Well, I ordered the program back in SEPTEMBER when I was taking an "Intro to Flash" class and for some reason my computer simply would not install it even though I was 100% positive that I had all of the system requirements met. I don't know what made me try to install it again, but for some reason, after I had reconnected to AOL I gave it a shot and it worked. I think it had to do with the anit-virus software I had before but recently got rid of because I was having problems with upgrading to the latest version. Now that I have Flash I think I'm going to take a much closer look at some tablets so I can do some animating.

Work has been crazy, too, and not in the best way... part of it is a very long story I don't want to get into (call it "stress-induced rockiness") but the real craziness came this last weekend. Our city was having its local celebration and there was an Art Fair right outside of my work so, needless to say, we were insanely busy the whole time.

On the lighter side, I got to spend some "quality time" with my dad while he took part of his vacation. On his first day off he took me to this awesome deli near his work that specializes in sandwiches (I LOVE sandwiches!) for lunch. I got a BLT that turned out to be absolutely MASSIVE as well as an equally massive piece of Marble Cheesecake. The next day we went canoeing at this lake we used to go to when I was very young. As a kid, my mom and dad would paddle the canoe while I and my sister would sit in the middle, but this time it was just me and him. We had a good time and he said I did a good job with paddling. I was also amazed that my arms were not sore the next day! Then, on Saturday, he took me to see the fireworks our city was shooting off for the celebration to make up for not taking me to see any on the 4th. We got to watch them from the patio of a restaurant and we split an appetizer and I got a brownie sundae!

I also got to see Ice Age 3: The Meltdown the other day with one of my sisters. I don't care what any reviews say (though... they've actually been positive, haven't they?) I found it to be both adorable and hilarious!

One final little "cherry" for this week is that I finally, after much frustration, trial and error with my Action Replay, have Shaymin in its cuddly-cute Sky Form in Pokemon Platinum! I’ve also been having a blast with Starfy, it is just as fun and cute as I was hoping, I’m glad I bought it!

I have one question before I close this entry, though.... Do you think I should give writing fan fiction a shot? I guess weather or not people read it depends on what series I'm writing it about, but still, do you think I would be able to do a good job if I were to try it?

Also (ok, ok, two questions...) do you think it would be considered copy write infringement if I were to use coloring book pages from the animes and such I like to practice coloring with Photoshop?