If ever I would leave you....

You know, I've had computers for a long time. 24 years, I think. First, it was an Atari 400, then a 130XE, then I got into the IBM-PC compatibles and it was really over. The Atari 400 was good for games like Congo Bongo, learning things like States & Capitals, and programming things like a square-headed guy walking halfway across the screen before hitting an error on line 200 which turned the guy's head into a triangle. The 130XE, however, had a disk drive attached, so I could save the crap I'd programmed and written, and Epyx's Summer Games kept me occupied for months on end.

Then one day in 1986, I was on line in Rite-Aid, which was called Drug Palace at the time--but that's a post in itself--and sort of almost blacked out. I just sort of...greened out. Had to leave and sit down. Was it all the hours spent sitting in front of the Atari? I don't know. But this past year, since I've been doing everything at the computer--photo retouching (I do that), the comic strip, writing--I've been not at all well. I have, in fact, just last week, gone past greening out and hit the floor. I was standing at the time, trying to put a parental lock on Fox News.

Living in the wild frontier of The Bronx, I have to do my own doctorin', so I'm not 100% sure it is the computer. I could be developing the heart condition that killed my father and his mother, or I could have the diabetes that his father had. (Thanks...daddy.) Then again, many women on my mother's side of the family have just passed the hell out at inopportune times for no definite medical reason at all, so maybe I got off lucky with the genes. I go on Google and look up a bunch of vitamins and herbs from time to time, but when I take most of those, I don't sleep. Not sleeping tends to make me loopy, so it's sort of a circle of crazy.

Anyway, I thought to myself, let's find out if it is the computer...go offline for a few days.

Okay, I can't go offline today, because I have a strip to do.
I can't go offline Monday, because Arrested Development returns, and I watch TV on my computer...because I'm a geek,
I can't go offline Tuesday, because I'll have another strip to do.
I can't go offline Wednesday, because...well, I'm not sure, but I'll figure out some excuse.
Thursday, another strip.
Friday is Sci-Fi Friday. Can't miss the season finale of Battlestar Galactica now that I've seen one episode.
Saturday, well...you know, I also have my Dish receiver radio stations playing through the PCTV, so...I need the computer on to broadcast my satellite radio to me in the yard. That's my excuse for Wednesday, too.
Rinse and repeat.

If I went offline, things would pile up. Most of all, I'd get no writing done. Writing on paper with a pen is not an option, because that's too involved. First, I need to find the right pen. Then, I need to write clearly, because I won't know what the hell I wrote after maybe three minutes. I also get a sort of writer's cramp. Also, writing on paper is useless to me because if I'm going to have to type something into the computer anyway...like Frank Sinatra, I'd rather do it in one take. Unlike Frank Sinatra, I'm not all cool and in the position to make weird stipulations like "I only write first drafts," because my first drafts suck.

So. That's what I wake up thinking most every morning. See you tomorrow.

(btw, today I had the added horror of having the music from Shall We Dance? burned into my head. I'm not so positive about the non-Japanese version of that movie.)

("I have a strip to do," just looks way dirty.)

If ever I would leave you....