This STINKS!

SIGH. Lone Reader, I know the world is full of woes that so surpass mine. Darfur, Gaza, all square states in the US, etc. but I have to say, having your computer die really, really sucks.

"But Velma", you ask, "how are you blogging at this very moment?" It's my stripped down, word processing-only lap top. All my music, my pictures and oh yeah, MY WORK is on the main computer. I won't bore you with the details of the slow-motion crash, but it has made me realize how very much of my life revolves around that damn machine.

The second weird thing is that my ex-husband is kinda hacker-like. I tried everything I knew to get the computer working again. (Let's be real here - she unplugged and then restarted holding down various keys. - Ed.) Eventually I called him for advice. He very, very kindly came over to help. and worked on it for 9 hours. There's something very tender and sweet about that, you know we were together since I was 19. We grew up together and all. It's also a little weird to be sitting on the couch, watching Top Chef (which is so damn good I can't stand it) while the ex is toiling away at the computer. It's deja vu all over again, and that's more than a little freaky and sad. sigh.

Now my task is to begin extricating files from the dying beast. For some reason they've all jumbled into about 5 folders - so I'm going through documents one at a time, to see what must be saved. Some of the applications won't open, so I have to rely on the file name or sometimes the very small picture. (Do I have that picture of my dog somewhere else? Eh, prolly...) I can't currently get my music, which is a pretty big time and financial commitment to have up in the air.

I'll get things sorted out, I'll get all my super important files off the beast, strip down all three hard drives, install a new system and move on. But will I be the same? Nah. It's like Katherine said in Judy Blume's Forever - you can't go back to holding hands. Does that quote fit this situation? I'm not sure, but I like it anyway.

Pray to the computer gods for me and enjoy the thaw, Lone Reader!

Love, Velma