Unplugged

I’m trying to be detached. Really, I am. For nearly two weeks I’ve had spotty Internet service. About a week ago I called Verizon to ask them why. They showed me what happens when a customer complains about service—for a week now I’ve had no Internet service at all. Let me just state, for the record, I HATE VERIZON. In all my calls to their people in the US, people in India, people in the Philippines, I got nothing but contradictions and false promises. But I’m not going to rehash the ugly, nerve-wracking conversations I had with Verizon people on the phone or with the technicians who came to my house. Perhaps I should be grateful to Verizon. This time that I’ve had in near-isolation has taught me a few lessons:

(1) I have learned that it's okay to be away from the Internet for days and days. So what if I can't do online research or order a book from Amazon? So what if I can't check my e-mail? Most of the time there's not much happening. I get the same spam e-mail, I get the same information about upcoming events, I get an occasional e-mail from a friend asking me where I am, nothing that can’t wait a few days for a response from me. Anyone who has something urgent to communicate with me will call me. At least I hope they’ll call me and not presume I don’t care. Breathe in, breathe out.

(2) I have learned that I can go to Plan B. Plan B is using the public library for my Internet connection. The trouble with Plan B is that my local library closed down for renovations late last week. So I went to Plan C, going to the regional library. However, the library has a wait list for available computers and a 30-minute use limit. It’s okay—I can get a lot done in 30 minutes. Remember to breathe.

(3) The detachment issue. I don’t need to be one of those people in meaningless constant communication with the universe. Maybe I needed to be unplugged for a while to stop my own growing obsessive-compulsive cycle of cyber connection. Maybe I need to remember what it was like only a few years ago when I didn’t have so much available. Shush . . . . be still and just breathe.

Perhaps I've had enough time unplugged to detach from the Internet a bit. The computer guy I hired just fixed everything. He had to talk to the guy in India too but at least they both spoke computer geek. He had to change settings and I think he spanked my computer but it had it coming. It’s working now but I’m going to try to remember the detachment thing. And I'm breathing a sigh of relief.