Went by the local laptop computer store after work, and they'll be able to order the parts and replace my laptop keyboard. *Phew* That's a relief. I also ordered 4x the memory I have now, so maybe in a week or so this will seem like a whole new computer. It's much cheaper to fix and upgrade this laptop than to buy a new one, but I've been "window-shopping" online today too, so I have my comparison shopping list ready when I have enough money saved up to really actually buy a new one.

A dear friend of mine is also a master vocal coach, so my long-term plans are to give her the old laptop in trade for ongoing vocal lessons. All these years singing, and I've never had much formal training. So maybe it's high time I work that into my priorities, if I dream of making my living singing someday. And I'll have both a good computer for me for now and a good computer for trade later.

My co-worker Cheryl is just the funniest, cutest gal. She left a decorative, um, how do I describe it? electric-thing on my desk Friday afternoon. It's one of those things when you plug it in and turn it on, generates a sort of "lightning" inside glass? This one is a spiral in green glass, which my boss decided is my "electric plant" like the ivy house-plants that everyone has up on top of their cubicles everywhere. I went and bought a power-strip over my lunch hour, and the best place to put the electricity glass spiral was up on top of my overhead shelves. So now there is dancing green electricity above where I work, which will probably make it easier to tell people how to find me in the cubicle maze that is our wing of the building. When Cheryl left it for me, she attached a note quoting a joke from the movie "Office Space" that "we have an 18 flair minimum around here!" I counted up the truly silly toys and "flair" around my office—I think I only have eleven actual toys, so I'll need to bring some more from home soon. *grin*

And I got to be the benefactor for another co-worker, much like Cheryl gifting me the electric ivy. Craig has been using these broken headphones to listen to the radio, for months if not years, because "he likes how long the cord is." So I picked up some new headphones, a headphone extension cord, and tied them up with ribbons and left them anonymously on his chair this afternoon. He was thrilled beyond words, nearly dancing around the cubicles with his new toys. His quote, "I don't even have to wait for a commercial to go to the printer, because I can walk all the way down the hall with my headphones on now!" He's like a little kid with a new toy today, which just thrills me to see. He even ceremoniously dumped the broken ones in the trash, which made me even happier.

I love my job!

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Recently Listened to: Tori Amos, "To Venus and Back" (Disc 1: Live and Orbiting)