15/08/2002 - 10:41 p.m.

Lord of the Flies

At camp this summer, I had the opportunity to meet what might be the ugliest bug in Iowa. Very very big, very very ugly bug that would fly around the golfcarts and terrorise campers, but that's about it. Rusty called him Eldon. In spite of his uglyness, he was a very sweet, downright friendly bug. Here is a picture of Eldon, well, not of him (my picture is too blury to show him in all his glory and I thank the Canadians for this one), but at least of one of his friends or relations.

We originally thought maybe he was something grand, something new, something that we could name and he and his kind could live forever as Eldon. Well, we were wrong. He's a dobsonfly. Which is all very unexciting really.

Today I got myself a brand new computer for college. Well, not exactly, it arrives on the 21st, but I plunked down the money today. It's a Gateway and it's coming with a DVD player, also a free FOTR DVD (and when I get the expanded DVD in November I'll have three seperate copies, YEA!!!), and also The Sims. I have lusted after The Sims since it first came out. The idea of playing God has always had a certain appeal to me. I got Sim City and have not yet tired of it, but it's not quite the same. Other than that, I don't know what the computer does. Well, I do, but I don't much care. Word processor, Internet, ability to play DVD's and games and I'm set for life really. It's got an RW, but I haven't the slightest idea how that might work.

The Gateway people were two of the most eccentric salespeople I've ever come up against. The guy who showed us computers was very very new (he used to work for another company and had just switched to Gateway) and was very loud and boisterous. The other employees would just sort of edge round him, like they were all afraid of him. He was very straightforeward, but in a way that you thought maybe it was all too good to be true and we were probably getting cheated.

The little lady who sold us the computer was rather peeved by him (the loud guy was her boss), but then, she seemed peeved by everything. If we asked her what kind of software was really necessary she'd be peeved, when we told her we only wanted the 1 year warranty she was peeved, when we opted not to get the surge protector (because we have oodles of them) she was peeved, when she found out we live practically two blocks from her, she was peeved. Or maybe that's her way to show she's happy.

I don't much think so.