... And what became of the Dryad. [thank you!] == (OoC)

The Dryad was not mistaken when she trusted in the piper. When the warm days came again he went to the oak-tree to let her out. But, to his sorrow and surprise, he found the great tree lying upon the ground. A winter storm had blown it down, and it lay with its trunk shattered and split. And what became of the Dryad, no one ever knew. – Frank R. Stockton’s “Old Pipes and the Dryad”

So I am pushing a month since I have been in world. My laptop has been having some serious issues. Motherboard issues that have manifested first in the destruction of my heatsink fan, and sound card. No matter how much you want to, you just can’t baby a computer having that kind of a problem, so off to the big manufacturer for fixing it went, which means six of the days it has been gone has been lost in shipping, and two more of those days were lost in a weekend when no repairs are done.

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This process has been rather agonizing for me. Being separated from my laptop is like being separated from a limb. Without it, I just can’t seem to do the things I want or need to do, and swiftly a sort of depression sets in. I know, that for people waiting on things from me that things have been more inconvenient. It’s been hard on me too.

So, if I am starting this blog while I am out of world, I may as well take a post out to tell my family in Second Life Thank you for the support, and patience, and understanding.

Much to my frustration, I was crestfallen and heartbroken, when my computer that I had anxiously tracked it’s FedEx return itinerary, came back in the exact same condition I sent it away in. Exact same. They didn’t even touch it. They didn’t read the notes. They put it back in a box and mailed it back out to me. It may have been a shipping and handling error. I keep my Laptop in pristine condition, it doesn’t look like it is almost a year old, and is used for most of every day of the year.

Whatever happened, I am in the same situation I was in when this all started at the end of the year. And, due to a weekend and a lost day trying to deal with customer service, my laptop has not even gone out for re-repair. Hopefully the labels for the expedited overnight FedEx shipping will come tomorrow…. Hopefully.

In the meantime, what I *am* using is an old Frankenstein’s bride made of used parts long left in a closet, just gagging for a sequel, running on an unregistered version on Windows XP. It is a miracle the thing meets system requirements for Second Life. (and it does, just barely) but system reqs met or not, this is what I get when I try and log in.

(and this is when I can get it to open at all, Emerald crashes too.)

Believe it or not, living in a household with 6 computers total (including my dead one. One computer per person) does not make it easier to get in world. Getting comfortable physically and mentally in my kid’s room in order to be in Second Life for hour increments is just not possible. My Husband is more than willing to lend me his computer, but when only one of us can be on, a lot of things seem to get very complicated. Even though it is hard for me to be out-of-world, this is the easiest way for us to deal with it.

So, to be dryadic in my frame of reference (you know, just to be different), you could say that in order to endure the cold hard months, I’ve gone into hibernation, and if Frank Stockton’s story hold’s any truth for Corinda, perhaps she should have seen this coming.

“I shall not have to go back till winter has come, and the air grows cold.”

And so… for official RP purposes, and our unfolding story Corinda has been hibernating with me. Unlike old Pipe’s Dryad, our story still goes on. The Waiting is the hard part.