I say it all the time, but it's so true: there hasn't been a day since I arrived to the Land of the Rising Sun that I haven't been challenged (read:humbled) in some way. And there hasn't been an area that has challenged me more than that of technology.
So far I have:
1 - Crashed my external hard drive.
2 - Dropped my ipod in the toilet.
3 - Crashed my computer.
4 - Blew a circuit breaker.
5 - Broken 3 pairs of very expensive headphones.
6 - Lost 3 metro cards (one of which had $50 on it) while riding the subway, and had to figure out how to get out without a card.
7 - Earned a $400 phone bill because I read the bill wrong and thought calling home was SUPER cheap. (Not really technology related but further demonstrates my stupidity).
8 - Lost the domain to my other blog because I smartly failed to renew it.
9 - Crashed my internet.
10 - Lost my cellphone 2 times (the last time for good).
This absent minded buffoonery has gone from being a charming side affect of expat living, to clear evidence of my mental retardation. I just don't understand how one person could have so much go wrong 6 months.
I'm feeling a little like Job, tested.
Generally when I am met with a challenge, I try to summon grace enough to meet the challenge head on and over come it. But after recently loosing my cellphone, I snapped. Enough is, believe it or not, enough. I'm officially all out of grace, class and composure. (Albeit temporarily). Exhibit A: After retracing my steps for the 3rd time, I came home after 2 hours of searching for my phone and had a tantrum. There in the kitchen I stomped and yelled like frustrated 5 year old. Then I laid down, right there in the middle of the kitchen floor and pouted. How old am I again?
But, I get it. All of these things that have "afflicted" me over the last few months are inconveniences. It's not life or death. All will be well. Blah, blah, blah. I get that. But at the same time, it sucks big fat hairy balls. All of these minor life inconveniences are compounded by the fact that I'm in a foreign land, with a limited grasp of the language. So something as small as asking a store clerk if anyone has turned in a lost phone, turns into a small theater production in which I have to act out loosing my phone, hope they understand the meaning, and listen for buzz words in their response to check for comprehension.
Natasha: [pantomiming dropping a phone]
Clerk (speaking in Japanese): ".....phone....where.....no.......ok?"
Natasha: [pantomiming again]
Clerk (speaking in Japanese): ".....phone....store...you....no...phone?"
Natasha: Hai. Hai. (repeating in Japanse) "phone...store...me...no...phone."
Clerk (speaking in Japanese): Sorry. No phone.
You see? When life's little inconveniences become amplified by virtue of being in a different country, it is not only frustrating but downright demoralizing.
Tomorrow I hope to get phone #2. Then if all goes well I'll try to buy back my lost domain name from some guy named Andrew who's email address is seriously "makethatmoney@emailaddress.com". His sole employment seems to be buying expired domains and charging the desperate idiots who want them back triple the original cost to make that money.
Bring on the boils.
2 comments:
So sorry for your technology woes :(. Although, I have to admit, that I did laugh that you dropped your IPod in the toilet. And, on the bright side, you could probably get the most tripped out technological wonder cell phone since you are in Japan. Or you could get a robot to fix all of your problems - I hear they have a lot of those other there :)
Yes! A ROBOT! That's what you need! ... do you think maybe you're having these problems specifically because you're dealing with the larger task of being in a foreign land whose culture is so different from ours? like your attention is so focused on just getting by that you're having trouble just getting by?
that said: i sincerely hope things look up for you. no boils. let's not get boils.
Post a Comment