White-girl Rapper

"After all, computers crash, people die, relationships fall apart. The best we can do is breathe and reboot. And when that fails a little gizmo called a zip drive can provide a surprising amount of comfort."

I love "Sex and the City". It's one of my catch-all, fail-proof ways to get happy when I'm not.

The problem is when my life starts to mirror it.

There's an episode where Carrie's computer crashes, and she loses everything she'd written, for years. You watch this episode, laugh, and assume it will never happen to you.

You're wrong.

It will happen to you. One of these days, your computer will die an early death, and you will lose everything. Whether it's music, pictures, or five years worth of writing that you could never begin to recreate, you'll lose it.

I did.

Last week my computer died. Not for long, as I was able to save it's rotting carcass for a bit, at least until I can get a new one, but all of the data I had on it was wiped, completely. Not even my computer geek could get more than a few symbols and snippets of words from it.

Losing that much writing, that many starts of books that you swear you'll go back to at some other point, is painful. It feels like someone close to you has died. Like you've died.

Needless to say, even now, a week later, the sensation that I might burst into tears at any second is still very present.

Luckily the current project was on my little thumb drive, so at least I didn't lose that. But the rest of it...It's just gone.

Moral of this story? Back yo shit up.