I officially do not believe in The Secret or manifesting anything, even if I did before, which I didn’t. I recited that I wanted a good class, a productive class — and my computer went on the fritz. My lecture wended painfully slow and nearly content-free.
What now? I think the recitation still stays, because it focuses me and perhaps keeps my inner saboteur at bay.
Let this be a better day …
My Surface Book 2 just bricked itself. The replacement I got six months ago is. not. working.
I know it has to do with the base. After all, the keyboard wasn’t working and the power in wasn’t working either. And because the keyboard wasn’t working I couldn’t take the computer off the base. And it ran out of power before I could save my current files to Dropbox, so my querying files are sitting on a dead computer.
I am not happy. I am writing on another laptop, not really mine. I don’t like borrowing laptops for my creative work. I really don’t like an out-of-warranty computer to fail miserably. I have to figure out what to do instead of querying some agents by email (I use Query Tracker to find agents) in my free time today. Luckily I don’t have a lot of free time to occupy.
What’s next: I’m hoping that we decide to: 1) get me the new computer I’m wanting, which I can get cheap; 2) Get this one fixed; 3) Give it to my husband, who doesn’t need all the bells and whistles I need, and it’s newer than his. We may just find a way to get this fixed and stay with our current computers. This may not be fixable (although I’m pretty sure all we need is to get this off its base and switch in a new base — fixing it would cost about $500 for the base and labor. (Is it worth putting $500 in a used computer when the new computer costs $900 on sale?)
So that’s how my day is going. Hoping it goes better.
I’m late to writing today because we have intermittent Internet outages here. I’m keeping my fingers crossed because I have two video meetings today — one with one of my colleagues about internships for the summer (which are pretty rocky right now) and one to congratulate some of my interns for a good semester. (This is part of their celebration with a local placement who treats their interns well).
My home computer is malfunctioning again. Same problem as before (no cursor), except that I haven’t been able to shame it into working again. It apparently has to do with a Windows update. Why is Windows Update killing my computer?
I have become frighteningly tied to my computer during this pandemic. I interact with students and faculty, grade assignments, look up things, surf occasionally for fun, make social contact, write/revise my novels, submit queries … Right now the computer is the only contact I really have with the outside world. Because my files are on Dropbox, I can’t even access them without my fiber connection when the fiber connection goes out.
I am going to have to find some workarounds. I have a wireless hot spot, but it needs some data added to it. We’re going to do that before Richard leaves for work today. I can draft using paper and fountain pen, or even better — I have a livescribe pen that does an pretty good job rendering my handwriting into digital (I bought it for $30 — I highly advise buying gently used high-tech items on ebay or amazon).
This moment reminds me that there are always workarounds, but sometimes they take effort and money and time to find. Glasses are a workaround for those of us without perfect vision. Insulin is a workaround for people with pancreatic dysfunctions. Cars are a workaround for people who can’t walk 20 miles into work. I’m in a pretty good place for workarounds, although if my computer doesn’t start working properly, there might be an expensive workaround in my future. But one I likely can afford.
We can’t expect people with limited resources to make workarounds without help. This is why the response to quarantine has been so difficult for education. Some of our students don’t have access to computers at home. Some live in large families in apartments and don’t really have privacy. Some don’t have Internet. So we try the best we can to facilitate their education.
We need workarounds. Because plans aren’t always perfect, because things (and people) break. Embrace the workaround.
I lost 1500 words of a promising short story yesterday.
After a thorough search of my computer, it seems to have never been saved. I blame this on trying to catch my computer when it fell yesterday; my fingers must have accidentally hit the wrong keys.
I am in mourning. I know the exact plot points thus far; I even have them in outline form. I know the personalities of the main characters. I know the settings. But I don’t seem to get the right words in place to set the mood.
The story is space opera, so it’s supposed to be jaunty and humorous. But when I tried to rewrite it yesterday it just came off as sad.
There’s a part of me, a very superstitious and pessimistic part of me that thinks that I lost the story because it wasn’t any good. As this is also the part of me that thinks I’ll never get published, I’m working hard to ignore it.
Please hold me and my story in your thoughts today.
Words Like Me 