Confessions of a Klutz
I feel like a bit of a failure for not updating this blog more often. But I won't let that fact get me down, I'll simply try harder in the future. In a way, I suppose a lot has happened since I last posted, but then again, it doesn't really feel like I've been up to a whole lot. Weird how time feels so distorted sometimes, huh? There have been a couple of downers....for instance, the destruction of my laptop screen. As my friend Kristin would say, "Okay, here's the story."
Last Wednesday, I fell asleep before I intended to. Harmony and I were waiting up to watch reruns of a show we both like that comes on at 11. I fell asleep while we were watching Batman Begins to kill time. Falling asleep, in itself, is not such a terrible thing. However, my laptop was on my bed. Why would a klutz like myself have her laptop on her bed? I actually have a very good reason. I live in a concrete cell, a.k.a. dorm room, and the only place I can access the wireless internet is from my bed because it's closest to the hallway, and therefore the internet. The thing about the way I sleep is this: I sleep hard. I come by it honestly though. Yep, I come from a long line of women who are good at sleeping. Thirty-minute cat naps turn into four-hour snoozes and I can sleep through anything except our fire alarm. (And that's only because it's as loud as the sirens rushing to rescue us, and it happens to reside on the wall right above my bed. Joy.) So when I dozed off during the movie, it turned into an all-night affair. Jacket still on, makeup still on, and no alarms set. Thankfully I didn't oversleep the next morning. However, I woke up an hour earlier than necessary to the sound of my laptop hitting our concrete floor. Even in my mostly-asleep state I knew what had happened, and it caused a sick feeling to creep into my stomach. I half jumped, half stumbled out of bed and recovered my computer. From the outside, it looked fine so I breathed a sigh of relief and jumped back up into bed for another hour of rest. (You may be wondering why I'm doing so much jumping at such an early hour. That's because my bed is approximately four feet off the ground to allow for maximum storage space.) Upon further examination after my eight o'clock class, I realized that my screen was cracked. Not just a little bit, either. The sick feeling returned.
See, I'm clumsy and I know it. I've been this way my whole life, I'm convinced that it's genetically embedded in my DNA. Usually, I can just laugh off whatever awkward situation my clumsiness lands me in. But this time was different. This time my clumsiness resulted in collateral damage. Although a laptop isn't required for college, it becomes a very important tool. I can go to the library to work on assignments, but that means working around the library's schedule. It's do-able, but I'm a bit of a night owl, so it tends to be more on the inconvenient side of things. Fortunately, I serve an amazing God who plans for the messes that I make.
The first thing I had to do was to tell my dad. Some friends suggested that I start out with some worse, fake news to lighten the blow. Their example was "Dad, I'm pregnant. Just kidding! I really just broke my laptop!" The first problem with this was the fact that it was false. I'm horrible at lying. I have the guiltiest conscience EVER. Ask my friends, especially the ones who keep requesting that I sell it on Ebay. Apparently, it gets in the way of the fun prank plans they make. (All harmless and in good Christian love, I assure you.) The second problem was that after about a millisecond of hesitation, he most likely would have chuckled a, "Yeah, right" in reply. He knows, as well as everyone else who has made my acquaintance, that news like that couldn't possibly be true due to my strong convictions about such matters. So the fact that it was a lie, that it had a bad connotation, and that I was sure my dad would have no problem driving all the way up here to reprimand me for the millisecond where he thought he might have a heart attack, vetoed that idea. So instead, I prayed. I prayed I would have the courage to be straight forward with him and God would soften my dad's heart-and put him in a really generous mood right before I called. So I called him and blurted it all out in the first minute of conversation. I have that guilty-conscience ramble thing going on.
The next step was to contact the computer company and see if the extended warranty would cover the damage. ( I didn't invest much hope into this possibility.) After half a dozen phone calls from both my dad and myself, I was given an answer I had discovered the moment I turned the device on after the accident: the screen was most likely cracked, and a result of accidental damage. I was awfully glad they helped me figure that out. Just a little sarcasm :) Of course, they don't cover accidental damage. I guess I need something more like klutz insurance for a situation like this. I should look into that. Anyway, that door was closed.
Next, I consulted a couple of friends who happen to be technology gurus. I love this about them. I am truly thankful for people who have a love for figuring out how technology works and learning all of the little details about it-mainly because I'm clueless. I know very little about technology, probably because we don't get along very well. Electronics are usually pretty hostile around me for some strange reason. So these two guys are a huge blessing in my life. I called on them for help and within the hour I had a Facebook message with a link to a web site for a screen they had found. Hooray!
I still have to take my laptop by computer services to make sure the screen is the only thing I [unintentionally] destroyed. As long as that's it, I plan to buy the screen and call upon my techie friends once more. Except this time, I think I'll offer some sort of reward for their effort...like puppy chow. Or maybe a nine course meal. They definitely deserve it.
Oh, I can't forget this part. Another blessing God sent my way during this less-than-joyful situation was a temporary replacement laptop, which I am using at this very moment. My dear friend Elizabeth S. just recently purchased a new one, and upon hearing about my dilemma, she immediately offered me the use of her old one. She is a lifesaver. I love Elizabeth S. dearly, but not just for this reason. She has been a huge blessing in many more ways than just this, and I thank God for placing her in my life.
There are a lot of other little blessings God has sent my way these past couple of weeks, and it tickles my soul. Weird expression, I know. I kind of just made it up. (Or maybe people use it and I just don't know it, that's also entirely possible) Nevertheless, I think it accurately expresses what it feels like to have God show up and say, "Hey, here I am! And I brought you something! Here's a little blessing to keep you uplifted." I can honestly say that my soul has been thoroughly tickled. Thank you, Jesus!
Other blessings from these past couple of weeks include:
Last Wednesday, I fell asleep before I intended to. Harmony and I were waiting up to watch reruns of a show we both like that comes on at 11. I fell asleep while we were watching Batman Begins to kill time. Falling asleep, in itself, is not such a terrible thing. However, my laptop was on my bed. Why would a klutz like myself have her laptop on her bed? I actually have a very good reason. I live in a concrete cell, a.k.a. dorm room, and the only place I can access the wireless internet is from my bed because it's closest to the hallway, and therefore the internet. The thing about the way I sleep is this: I sleep hard. I come by it honestly though. Yep, I come from a long line of women who are good at sleeping. Thirty-minute cat naps turn into four-hour snoozes and I can sleep through anything except our fire alarm. (And that's only because it's as loud as the sirens rushing to rescue us, and it happens to reside on the wall right above my bed. Joy.) So when I dozed off during the movie, it turned into an all-night affair. Jacket still on, makeup still on, and no alarms set. Thankfully I didn't oversleep the next morning. However, I woke up an hour earlier than necessary to the sound of my laptop hitting our concrete floor. Even in my mostly-asleep state I knew what had happened, and it caused a sick feeling to creep into my stomach. I half jumped, half stumbled out of bed and recovered my computer. From the outside, it looked fine so I breathed a sigh of relief and jumped back up into bed for another hour of rest. (You may be wondering why I'm doing so much jumping at such an early hour. That's because my bed is approximately four feet off the ground to allow for maximum storage space.) Upon further examination after my eight o'clock class, I realized that my screen was cracked. Not just a little bit, either. The sick feeling returned.
See, I'm clumsy and I know it. I've been this way my whole life, I'm convinced that it's genetically embedded in my DNA. Usually, I can just laugh off whatever awkward situation my clumsiness lands me in. But this time was different. This time my clumsiness resulted in collateral damage. Although a laptop isn't required for college, it becomes a very important tool. I can go to the library to work on assignments, but that means working around the library's schedule. It's do-able, but I'm a bit of a night owl, so it tends to be more on the inconvenient side of things. Fortunately, I serve an amazing God who plans for the messes that I make.
The first thing I had to do was to tell my dad. Some friends suggested that I start out with some worse, fake news to lighten the blow. Their example was "Dad, I'm pregnant. Just kidding! I really just broke my laptop!" The first problem with this was the fact that it was false. I'm horrible at lying. I have the guiltiest conscience EVER. Ask my friends, especially the ones who keep requesting that I sell it on Ebay. Apparently, it gets in the way of the fun prank plans they make. (All harmless and in good Christian love, I assure you.) The second problem was that after about a millisecond of hesitation, he most likely would have chuckled a, "Yeah, right" in reply. He knows, as well as everyone else who has made my acquaintance, that news like that couldn't possibly be true due to my strong convictions about such matters. So the fact that it was a lie, that it had a bad connotation, and that I was sure my dad would have no problem driving all the way up here to reprimand me for the millisecond where he thought he might have a heart attack, vetoed that idea. So instead, I prayed. I prayed I would have the courage to be straight forward with him and God would soften my dad's heart-and put him in a really generous mood right before I called. So I called him and blurted it all out in the first minute of conversation. I have that guilty-conscience ramble thing going on.
The next step was to contact the computer company and see if the extended warranty would cover the damage. ( I didn't invest much hope into this possibility.) After half a dozen phone calls from both my dad and myself, I was given an answer I had discovered the moment I turned the device on after the accident: the screen was most likely cracked, and a result of accidental damage. I was awfully glad they helped me figure that out. Just a little sarcasm :) Of course, they don't cover accidental damage. I guess I need something more like klutz insurance for a situation like this. I should look into that. Anyway, that door was closed.
Next, I consulted a couple of friends who happen to be technology gurus. I love this about them. I am truly thankful for people who have a love for figuring out how technology works and learning all of the little details about it-mainly because I'm clueless. I know very little about technology, probably because we don't get along very well. Electronics are usually pretty hostile around me for some strange reason. So these two guys are a huge blessing in my life. I called on them for help and within the hour I had a Facebook message with a link to a web site for a screen they had found. Hooray!
I still have to take my laptop by computer services to make sure the screen is the only thing I [unintentionally] destroyed. As long as that's it, I plan to buy the screen and call upon my techie friends once more. Except this time, I think I'll offer some sort of reward for their effort...like puppy chow. Or maybe a nine course meal. They definitely deserve it.
Oh, I can't forget this part. Another blessing God sent my way during this less-than-joyful situation was a temporary replacement laptop, which I am using at this very moment. My dear friend Elizabeth S. just recently purchased a new one, and upon hearing about my dilemma, she immediately offered me the use of her old one. She is a lifesaver. I love Elizabeth S. dearly, but not just for this reason. She has been a huge blessing in many more ways than just this, and I thank God for placing her in my life.
There are a lot of other little blessings God has sent my way these past couple of weeks, and it tickles my soul. Weird expression, I know. I kind of just made it up. (Or maybe people use it and I just don't know it, that's also entirely possible) Nevertheless, I think it accurately expresses what it feels like to have God show up and say, "Hey, here I am! And I brought you something! Here's a little blessing to keep you uplifted." I can honestly say that my soul has been thoroughly tickled. Thank you, Jesus!
Other blessings from these past couple of weeks include:
- Baking cookies and having a Veronica Mars marathon with my dear friend Tesa
- Late-night rerun watching with my awesome roomie and bff
- Riding a bike for the first time in years
- Leading a group of amazing freshmen in discussion about the awesome God we serve
- Making shadow puppets, also with my awesome roomie and bff
- Nice kids who live down the hall (You girls know who you are)
- Bible study on Mt. Nebo- just the girls, coffee, a package of Oreos, and a jar of peanut butter. (We let the boys come too, but they went to a different site for their Bible study)
"Come thou fount of every blessing,
Tune my heart to sing thy grace,
Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise.
Teach me some melodious sonnet,
Sung by flaming tongues above,
Praise the mount! I'm fixed upon it,
Mount of thy redeeming love."
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