LIFE WITHOUT THE INTERNET, A HORROR STORY

I'm late, I'm late, for a very important date. Yes, I'm late posting today. I've been without Internet Service for two weeks and am at the library now, reading emails and other good stuff.

It started one creepy Friday evening. I turned on my computer. I clicked on the blue “e” with the golden crown. The screen popped up. Blank, except for these words. You’re not connected to a network. Then it gave instructions how to fix the problem. Gasp. Nooooooooo! That can’t be. It worked earlier in the day. But now those little green lights on the modem in the window were winking at me.

Okay. I took several deep breaths. No big deal. It’s happened before. I’ll just unplug everything, wait a few minutes and plug it all back in. I paced the floor, thinking of all the stuff I needed to do on the Internet. A few minutes later, I connected all the wires and waited for Google to show up. No luck, so I tried again. Three times I tried. Those stupid green lights just danced and laughed (don’t say lights can’t talk. These were evil lights.)

I know when I’m beat, so I turned off the computer and told myself it would be all right tomorrow. The next day, however, I decided a wicked genie evidently cast a spell on my Internet Service. (To protect the innocent, I won’t  tell who it is/was, since I’ve since cancelled with them.) Since I was having no luck with making contact, I called the company and after I pushed the right numbers a few times, I finally talked to a very nice young man. He apologized and apologized, and assured me they were working on the tower and service would be restored in two to twenty-four hours. Well, that was 12 days ago.

I must have Internet now, you think, since I’m posting this, right? Yes, I will tomorrow, but with a different provider. They are supposed to install, or whatever they do my service Thursday afternoon. Yay! At the moment, I’m posting from the local library. They have been angels about letting me use their WIFI any time I want to. I’ve been to the library almost every day. And you know what? I’ve enjoyed the quiet, the no interruptions, and the occasional child that wants to show me his/her toys and reminds me of why I write for children.

I also have discovered that life goes on without the Internet. My house is now much cleaner. You can almost see the flowers in the flowerbed where weeds once choked them out. I’m working on putting pictures in albums. I have a slew of them. And I’ve been writing, though slowly, which is just me.

Maybe I needed a break. Maybe I needed a reminder of the real world. Oh, but I miss the cyber world. Hope to be back tomorrow.

 

What do you do when your Internet takes a vacation?

Happy Reading!