Demise of the Machine

It was not the best computer.  It wasn’t even the second, third or fourth best computer.  But it was my computer.  The computer I got when I first moved up to Daytona – for him.  It was payment for a voiceover gig I had gotten for a German bread company back about 5 years ago.  At the time, it had everything I needed for a voiceover recording, and for playing my World of Warcraft.  Sad, I know.

I had enough memory for the video I needed to put my voice over, the software to record my voice, and the video card to play both the game and the Bread video.  I loved it.   I took good care of it.  I upgraded it when needed and made it my own.  I gave it a second monitor –a wide screen job with (almost) HD quality.  I kept its RAM free by adding external hard drives to keep the large (and important) files from jamming up its processors.  I even dusted the inside every now and again, since I had dogs, and rugs, that brought in hair, dust, dander and the like.

It got operating software upgrades from Window 97, to XP to Vista to Windows 7.  Even when I had to figure out the Windows XP partition of the Win7 software – I was there.  Through video cards and web cams; Soundcards and Skype - I did everything I could to keep it in working order.

Yes, it had begun to run slow.  I purchased some extra memory for it, but that was just not enough.  However, it had been there for me, and I was loyal.  I spent many afternoons and evenings on my little HP; Checking my social networking page of the moment, my tweets, my Guild’s inbox and my Outlook calendar.  I enjoyed those times…

Little did I know that HE would be the demise of such a reliable and sturdy machine. 

Over the years, my little HP had moved with me to three apartments and a house, surviving each move – and probably gaining more with every change.  It would be the last house, nay – home, that would end its mechanical life.

Over the three years my now husband and I have had our home, the computer has been an area of contention.  I will admit that I am a computer nerd.  I was the gamer – Sims, Everquest, WoW, FaceBook games, you name it, I loved it – still do! I was even one of the first group of members of the XBox GamerChix!  However, our computer was in a spare room, which we used as a home office.  Hubby had his ‘media room’ with the flat screen, the cable, the video game consoles (The 360, GameCube and Wii) and his comic book collection.  We were happy.

Until the roommate moved in and took over his Media room.  (We discussed it – It wasn’t just me taking over – I swear!)

There were a lot of arguments and fights throughout the time we had a roommate.  I learned to accept it, but I never realized that part of my demeanor had either provoked or dragged the fights on.  I’m a Scorpio – what can I say?  I’m stubborn!  We would argue about little or nothing, for the most part.  I would apologize, he wouldn’t accept it but would soon apologize to me.  (I still don’t understand all THAT logic…) 

But one night, in particular, he got VERY angry with me.  We had words in the bedroom and he slept on the sofa.  Not much different from other nights, but I probably pushed a little too hard.

I woke up and went to the office to check my email and… no computer.

I looked all around, and let it go.  I went about my business and acted like it did not bother me (which it did – horribly!).  I went to work, didn’t fight him or bring it up, and came home –to my computer.  It was not hooked up, of course (he doesn’t know how to do that, God bless him), but it was there.

So the second time we fought and the computer was missing, I let go.  I assumed (Stupid idea) that it would be the same deal – go about my day, don’t argue with him, and the computer would ‘mysteriously’ return.  Nope. No go.

He kept his silence for much longer this time, despite my smart remarks and anger.  I know that I was NOT the angel in this situation, but I was acting like it at the time…   A few days later, after his anger subsided long enough (and the sofa got too much for his back)to speak with me, he told me that he had tossed my little HP into a pond outside our local Target. 

I didn’t believe him at first.  I couldn’t believe that he would just toss something worth that much money into a pond.  I didn’t think he could get anywhere without our car – to which I had the key.  I knew that, in the past, he had never come up with such an elaborate story (and yes, it was elaborate to his standards) .  But as days went on, and the computer didn’t appear as it usually had, I wondered.

A bit over a week went by.  No HP.  Until I got home one day.  I saw it and thanked him, not for returning it, but for not throwing it away. 

We went out for dinner that night, and I guess he wasn’t happy with the conversation and we fought.  It continued until we got home and the computer that had been so graciously saved, took a header into our pool.  In the middle of summer.

Oh, I was not happy. 

The rest of the night, though not a blur, is something that needs not be written about.

But jump to two months later, and you will find an husband and wife whose communication is probably close to 100% better than before ‘the dive.’  We watch movies together, talk about our days (though I would like that to be better), and just have a good time.  I like that, and didn’t realize that it had been missing until ‘the dive.’