Geeky Turn On!

That one song by Barenaked Ladies everyone knows

 So it's been one week since I went to the gym, and true to my word I've been going every other day: Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, all during the morning. Me and Sam hit it off really well, and we had a coffee on Saturday afternoon. We had a LOT of fun just talking, shooting the breeze. Honestly, I like her! Like a lot!

Hehe, one week. I really like that song by that band, the Barenaked Ladies. If there's ever been a sweet name for a band, it's that one right there. And that song's pretty awesome; I remember hearing it in the Digimon movie. Gotta look up the lyrics later!

Huh, it's been over a week since I last went to a dark place. I've been feeling good lately, about myself, my body, my family and friends; Jesus, that gym really is doing me wonders. Wow.

I've also cleaned up my room. Cleaned up the carpet, I keep my bed made every day, I emptied my trash can and have started emptying it every Sunday. I said I'm making a change, and I'm making it.

I honestly hope I can keep this momentum going. But can I? I worry that I'll muck it up somehow. I mean, I think about how I had done NOTHING with my life after I turned 22. I'm 34 now, and I graduated college at 22. What did I do in between those years? What did I flipping DO?

A whole lotta nothing, that's what I did. A whole lotta nothing. Twelve years of my goddamn life, GONE. I coulda done so much with those twelve years! I coulda started a career, hooked up with someone, I coulda traveled, I coulda-

"Daisy, honey?" I heard Sarah call me from upstairs. "You have a visitor!"

Who could that be? I walked upstairs to the living room to see who it was; it was Amy, and she brought her laptop.

"Hey, Red," she said, looking a bit embarrassed. "Um, I know it's a lot to ask, but, uh, my laptop broke. Could you, uh-"

"Gimme it," I said, and she gave me her laptop. "I'm taking Amy downstairs, OK, Sarah?"

"I'll prepare some refreshments!" Sarah said as I led Amy downstairs.

"Your mom's nice," Amy said.

"Yeah," I said. I laid the laptop on my desk. "What am I looking at here?"

"This morning my laptop wouldn't turn on," said Amy. "And, uh...I don't know why."

"Let me try," I said as I pushed the power button. The button flashed, but I couldn't hear the fan spinning, and the screen was blank.

"Could be the hardware," I said as I flipped the laptop over. That's when I noticed a slight bulge. "The hell?"

I took my screwdriver and removed the bottom panel. I gasped; the lithium battery was swelling!

"What the actual heck?" I said. "Yo, Amy, do you use this laptop a lot?"

"Yeah," she said. "Mostly I just read, listen to music, watch videos, write songs."

"I see," I said, pointing to the battery. "Check this out."

"Oh boy, that's bad."

"Yup," I said as I CAREFULLY removed the lithium battery. "I honestly kind of hate these non-removable batteries, ya know? With a removable battery, you don't get this baloney."

"I can see that," she said. "Jesus, I had noticed my computer was getting hot a lot recently; I never thought it'd affect the battery, too."

"I'm gonna need to check this fan," I said as I took out the cooling fan. I plugged it in to my electric cables, see if it turned on. It didn't. "Yup, busted."

"Damn, the fan wasn't working?" Amy asked, looking shocked.

"Yup," I said, taking another look at the laptop. Lousy Toshibas; no wonder they don't make laptops anymore. "This motherboard is smoked. Nah, I can tell you your laptop is officially bricked."

"Man, I've had this laptop since 2013," she said. "I can't believe it died already."

"Wow, no wonder," I said as I CAREFULLY placed the lithium battery in a paper bag. It needs to be disposed of properly. "Laptops usually die out in five years; you must have taken good care of yours to last you eight."

"Shoot," Amy said, sitting on my bed and burying her face in her hands.

"I'm sorry," I said, sitting next to her and placing a hand on her shoulder. "I don't think I can save it."

"It's fine," she said, sighing. "I guess I shoulda bought a new laptop a year ago."

"Sorry," I said, not knowing what else to say.

"Eh, it's whatever," she said, shrugging. "Guess I'll be doing some shopping."

"What brand are you getting?" I asked.

"I guess I could buy another Toshiba," she said, shrugging. "After all-"

"Guess again," I said. "Toshiba doesn't make 'em anymore. Even if they did, no way in hell would I let you buy a Toshiba again. They've always sucked at making computers."

"Sooo, what should I get?" Amy asked. "A Mac?"

"Macs are super expensive," I said. "You can get a Lenovo for a tenth of what you'd pay for a Mac."

"Is Lenovo a good brand?" She asked.

"It's so-so," I said. "Like any brand, the better computers are the more expensive ones. But in my opinion, you get what you pay for."

"I'll consider it," she said. "Honestly, just give me a Word processor to write songs in, reliable Internet, maybe not crash too much, and I'm happy."

"That could be literally anything," I said, chuckling. "Me? I can't rely on anything I haven't built myself. This computer you see here? I built it."

"Sweet," Amy said. "Yeah, I remember Todd telling me about it; that's why I came here. Figured you could help."

"Sorry," I said, feeling down. "I wasn't-"

"It was beyond saving," she said. "And hey, it's just a thing, right? Easily replaced, especially since I saved my songs on the Cloud."

"Yeah."

"Thanks for trying," she said, giving me a side hug. It felt nice. "So, how are things with you and Sam?"

"We went for coffee on Saturday," I said, blushing. "I really like her, but I don't want a repeat of what happened with April, you know? I wanna take it slow."

"Smart move," she said. "Hey, so this Friday the band and I are performing down at the bar; you should totally come check out the show."

"You had me at 'this Friday, the band and I are performing,'" I said. "You KNOW I'll be there!"

"And why not bring Sam?" She suggested. "Make it a date?"

"Oh, wow, like a DATE date?" I blushed. "Wow, what should I wear?"

"Casual wear," said Amy. "I hope to see you there, Red!"