Well, I'm bored, and this journal is in dire need of updating, so here's what I've been up to since Monday.

Besides school, the only notable thing going on in my life (which kind of says something about my life, really) is that I've been rebuilding my computer.
What that means is, when my laptop was first made, a disc was created which contained all the software, settings and such that were the laptop's defaults. Running that disc on my laptop basically wipes all files, programs etc. that were put on there since it was bought, essentially restoring it to the factory defaults.
Why would I do that, though? It's supposed to speed up the laptop because it gets rid of all the unnecessary crap, and my computer was pretty damn slow.
So all of my important files were backed up, and the disc was put in. An hour or so later, and it looked much the same as it had the first time it was switched on - which, by the way, was about three years ago.
After that, the next step was to get rid of all those stupid programs that come pre-installed on a newly-purchased computer. No problem.
Next up was to get connected to the internet again, and download all the programs I used before the rebuild. Again, no problem - Firefox, iTunes, and Yahoo messenger were easy enough to set up.
Now comes the fun part - updates. Microsoft likes to release updates - patches, security fixes, all that jazz - all the time. And my computer was missing three years worth of updates. As I write this, my laptop has been completely up-to-date for all of three hours.
After that, it gets even better - the copy of Photoshop I had on my computer was installed by a friend, meaning after my files were wiped, I'd lost a valuable program. My first though was to download Gimp, since people seem to love that - but no, compared to Photoshop 7.0, the interface was as unhelpful as possible. So Gimp was uninstalled.
Luckily, I've got about four different opportunities to get another copy. The first is to get the installation files or 7.0 off the friend who originally gave me the program; the second is another friend who is perfectly willing to pirate Photoshop CS4 (although I'm rather apprehensive about this option); the third is my cousin, who owns a (legal) copy of CS4, and may see about getting a second registration key for it; and the last (and most appealing option) is a website selling the entire CS3 collection for a pittance.
Oh, and until I get a copy of Photoshop, my tablet is completely useless. Hooray...

Anyway, enough whining - I need some kind of entertainment...

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