September 13, 2007
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1 Man.
2 I made the mistake of turning on the 11 o'clock news last night.
3 Just not a fun thing at all.
4 So I'm going to bypass all that depressing stuff for right now, not because I think it isn't important, but because my mind just didn't want to channel any of it.
5 Besides, I worked on my own laptop last night. Turns out that the school just gave me a laptop to use and at first I was hesitant but it's actually a pretty user-friendly little job.
6 I had to drag it to a meeting yesterday, one about statistics, my absolute favorite.
7 It was intimidating because at YB we never were told to bring laptops to meetings. Sometimes they would request an abacus if you had one, but that was about it.
8 So there I was in the nerve center at the Chill looking over the top of this little laptop that I had never even used. Had to hook it up by crawling around under the table, but I actually did it swiftly and almost gracefully. I pushed the power button. All sorts of little green lights began blinking on and off.
9 Took the thing about four years to load in. I just pretended I was following the demonstration but really it just kept loading. By the time I threw a password out there, the meeting was adjourned.
10 But last night at home all laptops in my house vanished with over-demand, so I had to fly the TOOOOOONDRA up to the Chill and grab my laptop.
11 After tearing out plugs and cussing for around five minutes, I turned the thing on. To my utter surprise, it fired right up.
12 As I combed around on the contraption, it read something my fingers glanced over, and suddenly this little box appeared out of seemingly nowhere and said something like, "You're a good speller!"
13 Like a little kid opening a present, I broke into a surprised smile. There it was, to my utter delight. Something completely unexpected, and I broke into a huge smile, my eyes got as big as saucers and I said to myself, "I AM! I AM a good speller!"
14 For the record, I won my sixth grade spelling bee. I wrote a great little story about it, but like most things we write I stuck it in some yellowing box years ago and I think it's gone.
15 It was all about winning that thing, and about what a hero I was for a day.
16 And in classic Kevin Arnold fashion, how I thought I'd still be a hero the next day only to find that most people are impressed with you for around twelve seconds, and then get on with living.
17 I remember that I couldn't wait to get back to school the next day, only to find I was pretty much the fifth square in a game of four square.
18 Wonder years.
19 As long as I'm just rambling here, I might add that I literally lived the Wonder Years, which is on each night at 10 p.m. these days. My dad WORKED for Wonder Bread, which had a commercial a million kajillion years ago that began, "These are the wonder years, the growth years..." and there you have your title. Our childhood was blessed with super fresh white bread, and if that isn't symbolic I don't know what the heck is.
20 Anyway I thought it was nice of this computer to meet me at last and then tell me immediately that I was a good speller, even though it's clearly never read the DN after a night of groveling with insomnia and coffee hangovers.
21 So here I am really flying on this little number. The teevee is blaring, a radio is blaring, and it's like old times.
22 The news on teevee just said, "And when we come back, a teacher who dresses too sexy..."
23 Wasn't me.
24 No really.
25 But I am a snappy speller.
26 At least my computer tells me that.
27 So that's it. A new/old laptop that just works. Nothin' fancy. And it gives you compliments.
28 If it said, "You are one sexy dresser" I woulda shitcanned it in about one second.
29 I much prefer, "You're a good speller, feller."
30 God I better get outta here.
31 Chase down your coffee and have a smile. You have things to do, so go out and do them with a nice feeling. You might be good at something too. You KNOW you are, so just gather your things this morning and tell yourself what you're good at. Then go out the door.
32 Your whole day will be sunnier.
33 That's it.
34 Have a lovely day.
35 Peace.
~H~
http://www.xanga.com/bharrington
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