My computer is trying to gaslight me.
Don’t know how many of you remember the old movie Gaslight. In the 1944 film, a man tries to drive his wife insane through small acts: pictures disappear from the walls of the house, footsteps are heard in the sealed attic, and the gaslights dim and brighten for no apparent reason.
I have to admit my computer has yet to do anyone of these things, although, because we live on the first floor of an apartment, I do hear footsteps overhead. No, my computer is far more subtle.
Five months ago, the something went out on my old computer and the service people told me it didn’t make sense to spend money to have that repaired. Now I wish I had because that computer bore me no ill will. I bought a new one but the CD drive didn’t open unless I pried it with a knife. Not handy. I took it back. The replacement didn’t work either, but the third one worked well until it crashed December fifth, as I was in the middle of editing my work in progress. Also not handy. The computer had to be sent back to its place of birth for a new motherboard and power source. Also, the operating system was corrupted. I must have a truly corrupting influence to have done this much damage to an operating systems in five months.
The following is an example of what happened next.
tHE ONLY COMPUTER i HAD TO USE IS A LAPTOP WHICH IS HARD FOR ME TO USE BECAUSE IT DOESN'T HAVE THE ERGOnOMIC keyboard which has made my carpel tunnel really bad AND it often goes into CAP lock for no good reason. I could say that it makes lots of mistakes as well, but I believe I'm the one who does that.
When I finally got my nearly new CPU back, I discovered that everything came up in Spanish—instructions on how to use my browser, messages and instructions from AOL—appeared in Spanish. This is not a terrible problem because I speak Spanish. As much fun as this was, I got tired of seeing my dates written 15/10/09 so I went into the thingy-deal (which is a phrase we really computer literate people use to describe technical stuff) and changed the language in which the computer and I communicate. Life is fine now, but I’m wary, expecting the computer to pull another trick on me.
You don’t think I’ve used all this as a reason NOT to write or clean house or exercise, do you?
SO, this is my question for this month. What is your favorite excuse for doing what you really should be doing but don’t want to?
I’d love for you to share because I’m always looking for new ones.
5 comments:
Oh, don't mention computers...I fried my laptop last Jan. and blew up my desktop in Dec. This has to be a better year!
I grab the 'How To books for escape...
FB has become my excuse for not doing what I should be doing.
My desktop gives me fits, so I completely understand your adventures. I hope you've got it all ironed out now. :)
I go outside to escape the manic computer!
I'm with Zelda. FB and the whole internet set consume much too much of my time.
First, I apoogize for being so late in answering your comments. My husband and I went to AZ, then when we got home, both came down with bronchitis.
Oh, my, Carol--you've really had bad luck with your computers! I won't mention them again!
Zelda and Sandy, this is exactly the reason I haven't joined FB. I know my ability to spend unlimited time. Sarita--yes, everything is taken care of now.
Thanks for stopping by.
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