Saturday, May 30, 2009

Which one of us is Lazarus in this scenario?

My computer died last night. I mean, doornail dead. I use a MacBook--it was not turning on; the battery was not dead; it was making this strange weary-robot noise and then just going quiet. I've used Macs my whole life (my dad was an Apple guy from the early '80's) and have seen--and learned ways around--a lot of computer glitches for someone with an only moderate interest in technology. And this was new and Husband's calm but thorough internet searches (performed on his own functioning laptop) turned up suggestions that did nothing to revive my little machine.
I despaired.
I had a bad feeling about it. I thought about all the cookies my computer remembers so I don't have to. I thought about all the recipes and blogs and fabric stores I have bookmarked. I thought about the schoolwork from last year that I never backed up. Then husband mentioned photographs and I had a near-meltdown.
Then I went a little catatonic.
Then I had a glass of wine and Husband went to great lengths to cheer me up and it worked--lost data flew from my head completely for a good, good portion of the evening.
Then we watched two episodes of the Wire and during that time I managed to completely forget about the busted laptop a couple times.
Then while I was brushing my teeth I tried one last time to turn the computer on and guess what? It worked. Like the tragic-heroine operatics I performed earlier in the night had never taken place. And I am writing this on my trusty guy right now.
I learned something about myself last night: I am too attached to my computer. I was also reminded of something that I never seem to remember during those moments when it would most come in handy: I have an all-too frequent tendency to lose perspective.
I must say, I did not cry. But I did grieve, on some level. And that's worse than throwing a hissy fit, I think. Because I wasn't grieving the lost photos (Husband has our honeymoon and there is really nothing priceless in my album: mostly meals we've eaten and nights we've drunk--har har), I was grieving the lost convenience. I know it's a tired cliche, and I'm sorry that I don't have a photo to make it wink, but this thing is totally a crutch for me. I have no job! I spend hours looking at the internet every day! The loss of the laptop would create a vaccuum and I was terrified to think that I had no idea what could possibly fill it. I am terrified that a malfunctioning computer could shake me so.
Writing this, I realize also that the computer makes me feel connected to the world, of which I'm not really a part at the moment. I mean, of course I'm a part of it, but I sometimes go whole days without seeing anyone besides Husband. I thought this recent sewing jag, productive as it's been, was solving the problem of my unemployment. I thought what I hated about not having a job was the feeling that I don't contribute, financially, to our lives. I thought I would make our house look pretty without spending (much) money, and that I might even sell something I made. And I still might. That's not really the point, though.
The point is that I spend too much time looking at the computer. I felt resurrected when it came back on--it's surpassingly pathetic, but I felt a little bit like I died when the computer did. I won't be able to look myself in the eye for like a week after writing that sentence. Which only proves the point: I must step away from the laptop for a while.
I will allow myself to write these posts, because I've loved writing them, loved writing at all in the last week. But Facebook has got to be stopped lest I succomb completely to stalking people I barely knew in high school and playing Farm Town until I become a virtual millionaire farmer, the lamest accomplishment I can imagine for a thirty-two-year-old married woman of above average intelligence who boasts both sparkling conversation skills and big boobs.
I want to join the world the old fashioned way. I want to sew lots of cool-looking things and give them away to the people I know well and love now. I want to live in such a way that a dead computer bums me out but ruins nothing.
Part of that will mean less internet, part will mean an external hard drive.

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