Can’t live with it, can’t live without it…

The other day I found myself in a terrible spot. But before I describe this, let me give some background into why this was such a terrible spot. Despite my job (Computer System Administrator) and my lack of qualified and/or survival skills outside of my industry, I long for the simpler days of the world – no connections, no computers, no TV — just you, your family, and what you make with your own two hands (even if, in my case, that doesn’t amount to much). Never mind that I own a computer, smart phone, TV, DVR, Xbox, etc — I still long for simpler days.

So, the other day – I found myself in a weak cell zone, with a dying battery, no working computer, no net connection, and nothing to read (the battery died on my paper back and I left it home to charge). I had nothing to do, except sit and wait for an hour. I found myself (despite my surroundings) thrown back to 1997, with nothing to entertain me except to draw faces on my fingers and attempt to act out Hamlet.

I didn’t get far as I never paid attention in College Lit. So there I sat, with faces on my fingers and still nothing to do. I was in my simpler time — and I panicked. With no phone I had no games, no net access, no PodCasts for the drive home, no GPS, and no way to contact anyone to come rescue me. “What ifs” began flashing through my brain at a furious pace and I found myself trying to figure out if I could plug my car charger into a standard outlet (you can’t) or if anyone had an adapter I could borrow (they didn’t — stupid iPhone users).

Needless to say, I survived — barely. In fact, I did something positively quaint – I sat down and wrote this post. Yes – wrote. On paper. With a pencil…well, a pen anyway’s. I learned two very important things — paper really collects my thoughts and my handwriting sucks. So does my print actually.

So enjoy this relic from the past. I still hope and long for a simpler time, but next time I don’t want to be there by myself.

This post was actually written on paper. Well, the first draft anyway.
The astute observer will notice there are differences between the analog post and this final digital post. That’s the magic of editing.