Mobility At Last!
Ladies and gentlemen, behold the companion of my future life.
Isn't it beautiful? My family is ready to disown me for marrying outside the Dell family, but what can I say? I was introduced (thanks Kirsten!) this spring, and fell in love. We'll be announcing the engagement in the first week of August, once I get my July paycheck. ;-)
But seriously. DVD player/burner, wireless internet connection, 60 GB of hard drive...all packaged in a sleek and silvery 4.5 lbs of metal and plastic. This thing isn't even a foot long, and only 1" thick! My desktop is now three years old, running very slowly, and I have to write a novel next spring for Practicum. I refuse to sit at my dorm desk for a hundred hours next spring, novel or no novel. To quote Anne, "There's no scope for the imagination!" Ergo, I'm going mobile.
Ah, think of it. No more evenings and afternoons locked in my dorm room to write papers--I shall be free to roam the Dining Hall or Beans in the Belfry or (that's the beauty of it) wherever I am! My only ball-and-chain will be my cell phone! Since this computer is so small and light, I shall be able to shove it into the old satchel with that carefree what-is-it... the flicking of dust specks from my irreproachable lace cuffs, to quote Wodehouse. I shall be D'Artagnan; I shall be Sir Percy; I shall be Benedick and Henry V and Cicero in one! Of course, I shall not bring the contraption to my three Hake classes this fall. Who would dare to bring anything but a tasteful journal (better be leatherbound) and a pen--preferably a fountain pen--to Dr. Hake's class? Even Henry V is not intrepid enough for that.
So. Very well. But outside of class, what joy! Of course, I would not offend the Longaevi by introducing anything that smacks of modernity into their gazebo. I can't even wear shoes in the gazebo! For them it is the pen likewise, though they were prefer a quill and parchment. For them it is Latin and candlelight, or silence and the starry evening sky. For them my blue crystal goblet and my warm shawl, and deep breaths and bare feet. However, Longaevi belong to the dawn, the twilight, and the evening; my days belong to academia. Therefore they will understand and forgive.
Oh, huzzah! It's late--I know it's late. I should be quiet and go to bed. But I am thinking, you see, of my gazebo. I have not thought of it in a long time. I am thinking of Lake Bob spread out at my feet, and the trees looking at themselves in its reflection, and a sky, an October twilight sky, a great blue window--God's window, I have heard it called--over my head, and I can look up from the little white building with its lacework of wood, and wave at the sky, and say, "See me? Here I am! I'll be home soon, whenever you call! Just call me; I'm here: I'm waiting...working...praying...hoping!"
Oh dear, I am in love. Only, you know, he isn't a computer. He is God! Come moons and Junes and jeweled realities! I call all the world to witness that my God loves me. Me! Me? Impossible, but true!
posted by Praelucor at 12:05 AM
5 Comments:
Oo, oo, congratulations :). I got my laptop, Inspiration, last June and it has become such an intrinsic part of my life. I think every writer should have a laptop sooner or later... after all, writing must be able to go mobile and wireless, and pen to paper is just a little too cumbersome...
I didn't bring my laptop camping, though. It's a little too expensive to risk bringing along on such an adventure. I drafted my first story by hand beside the pool.
Confession, though... umm... I do bring my laptop to Hake classes. I like to type my notes. You can't do a quick find with handwritten notes, and I can read Times New Roman so much better than my scribbles :).
I do prefer to type than to handwrite... typing is so much faster, and when I handwrite my mind is a few sentences ahead and then I frustrate myself and start skipping things. Maybe I just need to take a deep breath and slow myself down...
Yay! That is so cool. I can't wait to go up to Beans to study with you. I miss that so much! :)
Kirsten
You are so right. I didn't comment when I read your post earlier, because I was frankly jealous. I spent a while staring at the screen running the numbers and realizing I still wouldn't have money for my own laptop by Fall. I know I got a lot of writing done over Christmas break this past year because I brought my school laptop home and was able to type while sitting down in my "cave" every evening. I've missed that, because I'm trying to write Erthe while sitting at a desktop in the busiest part of the house. There's something unbelievably cozy about drafting a story while sitting in a cushy armchair with a comforter over one's lap. I would lose myself in it for hours and wake up when I got hungry.
I'm sure there must be options that are not quite so expensive. I should investigate.
Hee hee, I drafted today's blog post on a receipt from my library, starting on the back and carrying over to the front when I ran out of room. I'm sure Ms. Sayers won't mind that I covered up the words "Dorothy Sayers, Gaudy Night" with my own musings. But laptops are nice too.
Laptops are admittedly not essential for writing (after all, Homer survived without one)... and to writers who prosper without going mobile, congrats on finding a thrifty way to do it :).
Sarah, when I did the research for Dell laptops last year, they were coming up in the $1400 - $2000 range. A little bit steep :P. Maybe you could get a used one for a lot cheaper, but then those come with their own problems... perhaps it's just like the car thing. The longer you wait in getting one, the more you appreciate it when you do get one.
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