Sun spots or karma?

Tuesday, 5:16 pm

By Kate

Apr

03

2007

Do you ever have those days when nothing you touch wants to work?

First the coffee pot, then the microwave, then the computer. Maybe it’s sun spots. Are we having sun spots today? Because everything was just fine yesterday.

The coffee pot finally decided it would work again after refusing for an hour or so. I don’t know why, it didn’t tell me. But it suddenly began brewing away over on the counter top after I’d given up on it and already made a cup of coffee in the french press. Similarly, the microwave decided it, too, would work after playing dead for most of the day. Its little lights went on and it beeped at me as if to say, “I’m ready, let’s play.”

The computer, on the other hand, just wanted to be difficult. It refused to open a connection to the router. There was nothing different going on. Nothing new added. Nothing deleted. Just turned the beast on and the wireless router thingy wouldn’t make a connection. Everything was plugged in. I rebooted the main modem and router and they chugged along just fine. I tinkered. I cussed. I turned the computer on and off. And on and off. And on and off. I checked settings. Nothing.

Then little boxes began popping up telling me the USB connections were unplugged. But they weren’t. And then the mouse went dead. Without a mouse, life gets exponentially more exciting. So, I shut everything off and pulled it all out into the middle of the dining room floor, unplugging everything and trying to replug everything back into the proper slots to make sure it was all done properly. It didn’t end up looking any different than when I’d started. I rebooted and....nothing.

In the midst of it all, people banged on my front door. It must have been the day for cosmically aligned activism. Three different petitions and two political activists. And while I sincerely agreed with everything each one of them was trying to convince me that I should agree with, this just wasn’t the day. They wanted to talk. I didn’t. I must have looked frazzled. One of them asked me if I was having a bad day. I laughed and laughed. I probably scared her.

After the last one left the front porch, I returned to the computer and rebooted it once more. And everything worked. Just as normally as can be. Not even a hiccup and certainly not an apology. No explanations. It just worked.

Was this my karma day or something? I’m so sorry for every evil thought I’ve ever had about anything. Tomorrow will be better.