Looks Like Disaster

You already know how much it annoys me when the computers don't behave like they should. It's shocking to me sometimes what a house of cards my life is, all precisely perched in a trembling tower...on my laptop. When the laptop misbehaves, the shuddering terror of lost files races all through my life.

All the photos. I love the ones from this Christmas in particular. What if the back-up didn't get them all? It was acting funny too.

My finances. I'd have to reconstruct at least the last few weeks to figure out where we're at. Oh God -- I'd have to reconstruct all of 2008 for my taxes. When will I do that?

My novel. Does Liz have the most recent version? If the back-up won't work (it still won't run), when did I last throw the novel on the jump drive?

The emails. Ohhh...all the emails I've saved but haven't quite dealt with yet. Our house sale, the move, correspondence with editors, agents, friends. The hundreds of little tasks predicated on information in those emails.

See, I ended up reinstalling Windows Vista, because I had corrupted files and it was getting worse and worse and ... that's what the online stuff said to do and that I wouldn't lose my files. But I did lose my files. Nowhere to be seen last night. And I couldn't restore without reinstalling my backup software, which took time.

Finally, exerting heroic self-control, I went to bed, to deal another day. And in the night it came to me. A folder called "Old Windows" was promised at some point. I looked this morning and there it is. There is everything. My world is restored, the light pours through the clouds, the birds spiral in wheeling delight.

Now I just have to figure out how to get the programs to run again...