Withdrawal

My notebook suddenly died on me on Tuesday night. One second it was working perfectly; another second the dreaded blue screen came out. After five years of almost continuous usage – I always had the notebook powered on either at home or at work – the hard drive finally gave way. It even disappeared from BIOS, preventing the system from booting. ARGHH!

A visit to the university technicians the next day confirmed the worst. The hard drive was definitely a goner. So, there was only one thing to do: buy a new one.

The bad things about losing my notebook:

1. Losing all your data. Yup, despite having all those external hard drives, most of my files including class notes and five years’ worth of digital photos weren’t backed up. A hard lesson indeed. I’ve never experienced a catastrophic hard drive failure before.

2. Withdrawal. I’m lost without my notebook and broadband Internet connection.

3. Since the university has this brilliant policy of not issuing computers to non-PhD holders, I have to beg the department administrative staff or sneak into the head of department’s seldom used office to use their computers to check my email etc.

The good things about losing my notebook:

1. Catching up on my reading. I’ve finished two books already and am currently on a third. It is a really wonderful thing particularly that I have two more books arriving from Amazon soon.

2. A perfect excuse to just sit around and do nothing. Well, that’s also only because the semester hasn’t started yet.

One thing that has not changed is my bedtime. Even without the computer and the Internet, I still do not sleep before 2 a.m. The Children of Húrin the other day had me up until 3.

My new notebook will arrive on Monday. May it last at least another five years.