You would think, with our recent spate of good fortune (new jobs, more work, leaving Bako, et al.) we would be in a celebratory mood. Instead, I've found myself looking over my shoulder, waiting for the other shoe to drop. Because, for the last four years, that's how it's been... every triumph, however small, overshadowed and overwhelmed by a subsuming disaster.
And it finally came last night.
My computer died a grisly death.
PC people have the "Blue Screen Of Death", we Mac people have the "Grey Shade of Death." It doesn't happen very often - Macs are inherently stable and I've only ever seen it once in the 20 years I've used them, and that computer had been doused by a broken pipe. But the computer seizes up and you restart it and suddenly a grey screen descends like a night shade and a dialog box pops up telling you in six languages to manually re-start the computer. It really doesn't matter what language you speak, it means... R.I.P. It's less a night shade and more a final curtain.
"So how is he writing this?" people may ask. On my rinky dink laptop, which has spent the better part of the day trying to function as a back-up drive, with limited success.
The bottom line is, it may be a minor issue (a graphics card gone bad) which should be rectified by Tuesday. Or... the computer is toast. In which case, I'll be applying for a checker job at the market, because I don't have the five grand to replace the set-up I need to function as I have.
I'll know more tomorrow when the sole, solitary Mac "guy" in Bako swings by to examine the situation. And don't think that's cheap.
So if this space goes dark for a couple of days, just know that's why.
And if it goes dark for more than a week, say "hi" when you check-out at Vons. Because, without a computer, I'm dead in the water and essentially out of work.
The good things in life are always too good to be true. Or they will be crushed, along with your hopes.
Consider me crushed.
