I've Got the Information Technology Blues by Ros Bayes
This piece is inspired by my day at work yesterday. You can hum your own 12-bar introduction to it.
Pretty sure this is one of the gremlins that inhabits my computer
By Inti (https://www.flickr.com/photos/inti/3128443786/) [CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0) or CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
I opened the lid of my laptop;
My head was a-buzz with ideas.
My fingers itched to start typing;
Inspiration poured from my ears.
I started the work of creating.
Astounding pronouncements galore
Flowed from my brain to computer,
De force it was truly a tour.
Long hours of perspiration,
As treasures flowed onto the page.
Was ever such wisdom created?
Was ever a writer so sage?
I pressed “file”, then “save”, and hey presto!
The document vanished from sight.
I stared at the blank screen before me.
I knew something wasn’t quite right.
Selecting “recovery” button,
A message flashed up into view.
“This caused a serious error.
Do you want it opened anew?”
Well yes, I want it opened.
How else can I save my work?
I tapped on the button marked yes;
What nasties could possibly lurk?
Gremlins, that’s what, in my laptop.
They’d swallowed my masterpiece.
No trace remained in the system;
Destroyed by their wilful caprice.
I sighed as I shut the machine down,
And paused just to get a grip.
Then I trudged down the stairs from my office
And went home for a drink and a kip.
Ros Bayes has 10 published and 4 self-published books, as well as some 3
dozen magazine articles. She is the mother of 3 daughters, one of whom
has multiple complex disabilities, and she currently works for Through
the Roof (www.throughtheroof.org) as their Training Resources Developer,
and loves getting paid to write about disability all day. You can find
her blog at http://rosbunneywriting.wordpress.com and her author page at
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ros-Bayes/e/B00JLRTNVA/. Follow her on Twitter:
@rosbwriting.
Pretty sure this is one of the gremlins that inhabits my computer
By Inti (https://www.flickr.com/photos/inti/3128443786/) [CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0) or CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
I opened the lid of my laptop;
My head was a-buzz with ideas.
My fingers itched to start typing;
Inspiration poured from my ears.
I started the work of creating.
Astounding pronouncements galore
Flowed from my brain to computer,
De force it was truly a tour.
Long hours of perspiration,
As treasures flowed onto the page.
Was ever such wisdom created?
Was ever a writer so sage?
I pressed “file”, then “save”, and hey presto!
The document vanished from sight.
I stared at the blank screen before me.
I knew something wasn’t quite right.
Selecting “recovery” button,
A message flashed up into view.
“This caused a serious error.
Do you want it opened anew?”
Well yes, I want it opened.
How else can I save my work?
I tapped on the button marked yes;
What nasties could possibly lurk?
Gremlins, that’s what, in my laptop.
They’d swallowed my masterpiece.
No trace remained in the system;
Destroyed by their wilful caprice.
I sighed as I shut the machine down,
And paused just to get a grip.
Then I trudged down the stairs from my office
And went home for a drink and a kip.
Much sympathy, Ros. I threw a wobbly yesterday because the bank had sent me a zip file I couldn't open. My son did exactly the same thing I'd done, which hadn't worked, and it worked for him. Clearly the thing to do is to get a handy millennial.
ReplyDeleteI've reached the stage in life where I've decided when these things happen that you either sit and rewrite what you've lost (5 hours' work on a new Through the Roof publication in this case) or you sit and rewrite what you've lost with high blood pressure! So I didn't let it stress me, but got it out of my system with a (hopefully) humorous poem instead!
ReplyDeleteOh dear. I thought only my laptop did this to me. Your creative juices must really have been flowing to capture that moment when you realise what usually happens .... hasn't!
ReplyDeleteOh I do so empathise with this, Ros! I don't get along with technology and I would like to borrow Veronica's millennial, as when things go wrong here, my family all run off or pretend ignorance! Great poem.
ReplyDeleteMy mother, who at 92 must be one of the more senior silver surfers, produced this reply when I forwarded your post to her.
ReplyDeleteIt’s awful I am cut off from the world
And know what the planet can do.
It can spin like a top in top gear
And that accounts why I am feeling so queer.
I may rescue myself with a cuppa
Though really I’d like a strong beer
Three cheers for tomorrow cos then
The medics can have a real go
And I just open my mouth
And say ah ah ah very clear
And marvel at surviving the night.
It might not rain the sun might shine,
Gremlins give up their power
So we ”will be jolly” and have a good day
with the gremlins all gone away.