Ran my roll right down to the nub on Friday/Saturday, following a pretty abject couple of weeks at the tables. So I decided to abandon March's lofty goals: no aiming for priority, no pressure to earn four figures, cold showers can take a walk - and so on.
That was my thinking on Saturday evening, at least. Fans of the old switcheroo will be delighted to hear that since Saturday evening I've gone on a bit of a tear and have decided to abandon the idea of abandoning March's lofty goals. So I'm back on track, somewhat.
And not only am I (somewhat) back on track, I've decided to add another goal before the end of the month: Write a book.
Now, this is (somewhat) grander than it looks. Despite another goal for the month being "Write a book" I am not actually going to write a book. What I will be doing, though, is collating 87 of my previously published (poker) columns and turning them into some sort of coherent, book-type narrative. This means peppering the columns with clarifying annotations, bookending them with an introduction and postscript and one or two other bits. This would take roughly 5,000-8,000 words and, along with the columns, give me a book of around 65,000 words.
Then, God knows. Perhaps nothing. Perhaps send it to my agent who doesn't really talk to me anymore. Perhaps send it to a different agent/publisher who will talk to me. Perhaps publish it as an e-book. Perhaps self-publish it as an actual book. We'll see, I'm just happy to be working on it right now and I'm sure the rest will either fall or not fall into place.
Thanks, as ever, for reading. Expect an update along the lines of "Actually, I've abandoned the book" within the next hour or two.
Nice. Never a dull moment in the life of @SR23 . Stop abandoning stuff though... except for the cold showers, good call on the showers.
I'm going back to them, Miss Frett, and when I do I'll be shutting up about them. Probably.
My life is duller in the flesh than it is on the page and at the moment I've abandoned all my recreational peccadilloes and am pretty much straight edge. Sad times but I'm sure it will change once I've purged myself of all this industry. Thanks for stopping by.
I'm going back to them, Miss Frett, and when I do I'll be shutting up about them. Probably.
My life is duller in the flesh than it is on the page and at the moment I've abandoned all my recreational peccadilloes and am pretty much straight edge. Sad times but I'm sure it will change once I've purged myself of all this industry. Thanks for stopping by.
If I'm offended by this does that make me sexist? Or is it a legitimate gripe?
I think it was* Ralph Waldo Emerson who said, "Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to assist you."
Good old Ralph.
As previously mentioned, over the weekend I decided to get a book done by the end of the month. I started work on it yesterday morning. I worked on it last night. I worked on it again this morning. Everything was going uncharacteristically smoothly as if, oh I don't know, as if the universe was conspiring to assist me. Then my computer froze. So I restarted it and it froze again. It's practically brand new, this computer, and none of my work was saved elsewhere and I couldn't access it or do anything with my frozen, stupid computer.
Bad old Ralph.
Ordinarily in this situation I would shout, kick things, hit things, grind my teeth, swear lots, chainsmoke, lament the loss of my oh-so-precious work and keep doing the same things with my computer (turning it on and off, essentially) in the hope that, this time, they may actually work.
Ordinarily.
And although I did do all of those things, I pretty quickly stopped doing them and assessed the situation. Take a walk, I thought, and figure out what to do.
So I took a walk and figured out what to do. Or at least figured out what not to do - that the worst thing to do would be to go back home and start swearing at an inanimate object again. I quickly decided that I didn't need that computer to work on for the next few days, that, actually, I could work with a pen and a notepad or on my old, cheap, unreliable computer. And even though there's a fair bit of (self-inflicted) pressure to get a book done by the end of the month there are still ways around a frozen, stupid computer with all my work to date on it, I just need to figure them out. In fact, my computer going baps-up could even be a boon: more thinking time with a notepad and a pen might well make for a better book.
There is a point to all of this.
Years of playing poker have led me to able to deal with things ever-so slightly better, with more rationality, less emotion and the ability to step back and assess things more clearheadedly, form a plan, then execute said plan. Even if that plan is doing nothing. Especially if that plan is doing nothing.
Often I think the amount of time I have spent on the virtual and real-world felt has been a waste of time but perhaps it hasn't. Perhaps it's made me a bit of a better, more functional person. And once I thought this - whether true or not - I began to feel a great happiness; felt happier, in fact, than I had done in years.
So I went home, ate an award-winning steak with Mediterranean vegetables, had two glasses of Argentinian Malbec, a bowl of ice cream, watched my happiness continue to balloon and thought, not for the first time, "I'm living better than Henry VIII or any of those medieval royals. I earn less money than practically anyone I know but live like a king. If people who were alive on my street a hundred years ago came round now and saw the luxury that I live in - the fridge, the television, Boards of Canada coming out of my computer, the smoke from exotic cigarettes coming out of my mouth and the Argentinian Malbec going into it - they would think that I was some sort of out-there aristocrat."
And that's quite something. It certainly took my mind off my partially broken computer. Good old Ralph.
More nonsense to follow as soon as it happens.
*I think it was, because I just looked it up - for the second time - and it was.
Often I think the amount of time I have spent on the virtual and real-world felt has been a waste of time but perhaps it hasn't. Perhaps it's made me a bit of a better, more functional person. And once I thought this - whether true or not - I began to feel a great happiness; felt happier, in fact, than I had done in years.
So I went home, ate an award-winning steak with Mediterranean vegetables, had two glasses of Argentinian Malbec, a bowl of ice cream, watched my happiness continue to balloon and thought, not for the first time, "I'm living better than Henry VIII or any of those medieval royals. I earn less money than practically anyone I know but live like a king. If people who were alive on my street a hundred years ago came round now and saw the luxury that I live in - the fridge, the television, Boards of Canada coming out of my computer, the smoke from exotic cigarettes coming out of my mouth and the Argentinian Malbec going into it - they would think that I was some sort of out-there aristocrat."
And that's quite something. It certainly took my mind off my partially broken computer. Good old Ralph
I went to the waxworks in Blackpool as a youngster, and had my picture taken sat smugly next to Jimmy Saville. That really touched me. My brother enjoys posting it on my facebook wall each and every birthday.
Then my computer froze. So I restarted it and it froze again. It's practically brand new, this computer, and none of my work was saved elsewhere and I couldn't access it or do anything with my frozen, stupid computer.
when this happens its almost always a failing hard drive or corrupt operating system files, or both (a failing hard drive can easily end up corrupting files). Brand new hard drives can fail. If its not a solid state drive corruption could also have been cause by an impact. Solid state drives tend to fail completely, all at once vs a disc drive that tends to fail more gradually.
The most simple way to get data back would be to plug the hard drive into another working computer using a USB cable (assuming you don't have a desktop - you can usually plug it straight in to a desktop without a usb cable by opening the case and finding some spare cables inside the box). This way the only files/parts of the disc that need to work are the parts that store your data instead all the operating files too so its much easier to recover files. It should act like any other USB drive.
There are a couple of different types of connection your hard drive can have, but the most common/likely is SATA. There is a link to a SATA to USB cable below.
Comments
I'm definitely a bag half full kind of person
Cheers, Dues, glgl in achieving 126% of your March targets, too.
That was my thinking on Saturday evening, at least. Fans of the old switcheroo will be delighted to hear that since Saturday evening I've gone on a bit of a tear and have decided to abandon the idea of abandoning March's lofty goals. So I'm back on track, somewhat.
And not only am I (somewhat) back on track, I've decided to add another goal before the end of the month: Write a book.
Now, this is (somewhat) grander than it looks. Despite another goal for the month being "Write a book" I am not actually going to write a book. What I will be doing, though, is collating 87 of my previously published (poker) columns and turning them into some sort of coherent, book-type narrative. This means peppering the columns with clarifying annotations, bookending them with an introduction and postscript and one or two other bits. This would take roughly 5,000-8,000 words and, along with the columns, give me a book of around 65,000 words.
Then, God knows. Perhaps nothing. Perhaps send it to my agent who doesn't really talk to me anymore. Perhaps send it to a different agent/publisher who will talk to me. Perhaps publish it as an e-book. Perhaps self-publish it as an actual book. We'll see, I'm just happy to be working on it right now and I'm sure the rest will either fall or not fall into place.
Thanks, as ever, for reading. Expect an update along the lines of "Actually, I've abandoned the book" within the next hour or two.
I expect to see "I've abandoned the plan to abandon the book" within 48 hours, & I'm on the Unders.
Never a dull moment in the life of @SR23 .
Stop abandoning stuff though... except for the cold showers, good call on the showers.
My life is duller in the flesh than it is on the page and at the moment I've abandoned all my recreational peccadilloes and am pretty much straight edge. Sad times but I'm sure it will change once I've purged myself of all this industry. Thanks for stopping by.
My life is duller in the flesh than it is on the page and at the moment I've abandoned all my recreational peccadilloes and am pretty much straight edge. Sad times but I'm sure it will change once I've purged myself of all this industry. Thanks for stopping by.
If I'm offended by this does that make me sexist? Or is it a legitimate gripe?
Female name, female avatar, excessive use of emoji's and always exclaiming (that might be sexist)...
Anyway. I get it. Easy mistake to make.
Splendid stuff Steve my good man.
I think it was* Ralph Waldo Emerson who said, "Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to assist you."
Good old Ralph.
As previously mentioned, over the weekend I decided to get a book done by the end of the month. I started work on it yesterday morning. I worked on it last night. I worked on it again this morning. Everything was going uncharacteristically smoothly as if, oh I don't know, as if the universe was conspiring to assist me. Then my computer froze. So I restarted it and it froze again. It's practically brand new, this computer, and none of my work was saved elsewhere and I couldn't access it or do anything with my frozen, stupid computer.
Bad old Ralph.
Ordinarily in this situation I would shout, kick things, hit things, grind my teeth, swear lots, chainsmoke, lament the loss of my oh-so-precious work and keep doing the same things with my computer (turning it on and off, essentially) in the hope that, this time, they may actually work.
Ordinarily.
And although I did do all of those things, I pretty quickly stopped doing them and assessed the situation. Take a walk, I thought, and figure out what to do.
So I took a walk and figured out what to do. Or at least figured out what not to do - that the worst thing to do would be to go back home and start swearing at an inanimate object again. I quickly decided that I didn't need that computer to work on for the next few days, that, actually, I could work with a pen and a notepad or on my old, cheap, unreliable computer. And even though there's a fair bit of (self-inflicted) pressure to get a book done by the end of the month there are still ways around a frozen, stupid computer with all my work to date on it, I just need to figure them out. In fact, my computer going baps-up could even be a boon: more thinking time with a notepad and a pen might well make for a better book.
There is a point to all of this.
Years of playing poker have led me to able to deal with things ever-so slightly better, with more rationality, less emotion and the ability to step back and assess things more clearheadedly, form a plan, then execute said plan. Even if that plan is doing nothing. Especially if that plan is doing nothing.
Often I think the amount of time I have spent on the virtual and real-world felt has been a waste of time but perhaps it hasn't. Perhaps it's made me a bit of a better, more functional person. And once I thought this - whether true or not - I began to feel a great happiness; felt happier, in fact, than I had done in years.
So I went home, ate an award-winning steak with Mediterranean vegetables, had two glasses of Argentinian Malbec, a bowl of ice cream, watched my happiness continue to balloon and thought, not for the first time, "I'm living better than Henry VIII or any of those medieval royals. I earn less money than practically anyone I know but live like a king. If people who were alive on my street a hundred years ago came round now and saw the luxury that I live in - the fridge, the television, Boards of Canada coming out of my computer, the smoke from exotic cigarettes coming out of my mouth and the Argentinian Malbec going into it - they would think that I was some sort of out-there aristocrat."
And that's quite something. It certainly took my mind off my partially broken computer. Good old Ralph.
More nonsense to follow as soon as it happens.
*I think it was, because I just looked it up - for the second time - and it was.
The most simple way to get data back would be to plug the hard drive into another working computer using a USB cable (assuming you don't have a desktop - you can usually plug it straight in to a desktop without a usb cable by opening the case and finding some spare cables inside the box). This way the only files/parts of the disc that need to work are the parts that store your data instead all the operating files too so its much easier to recover files. It should act like any other USB drive.
There are a couple of different types of connection your hard drive can have, but the most common/likely is SATA. There is a link to a SATA to USB cable below.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/StarTech-com-SATA-Drive-Adapter-Cable-Black/dp/B00HJZJI84
if you have a laptop then google "[the model of your laptop] how to remove hard drive"
desktops are much simpler usually so generic desktop instructions will probably do.
you should be able to see fairly easily if the above linked cable is the right kind for your hard drive after you remove it.