Mishap

Last week, the worst of all worsts happened. My OCD finally got the better of me and caused me to... *ack!* ... spill water all over my laptop.

I was cleaning my desk because it was getting too gross for its own good, and mistakenly placed my red tumbler beside my laptop to make space for the other stuff I was clearing away. As I was further disorganizing my disorganized mess, my clumsy elbow connected with the the tumbler and water came a-spilling out to my keyboard.

First emotion: Shock. I was literally stunned, frozen in place. I had no idea what to do. But panic set in when my screen blanked out. Then fear. I broke my laptop. All my files. All my data. All a few days before two major program launches. I was shaking in my shoes! (Yes, not boots. I don't own a pair kasi.)

Yet, despite the fear, panic and shock of the moment, I was able to function. Adrenaline kicked in and I was unplugging anything and everything that could be unplugged. One of my roommates finally took notice of my stress and helped me out be researching what do on such occassions on google. He said I should remove the battery and leave it computer off for at least five days.

FIVE DAYS?1?!? Color must have drained out of me completely because suddenly it was Judd on the adrenaline rush. He turned my laptop over to remove the lock on the battery pack and started tilting the laptop to its side so whatever water was left in it could be drained out.

I could not imagine life without a computer. Life at least for the next few days at least. No. Actually, I refused to imagine it. There were too many things to do, and an idiotic mishap like this could not, should not cause any delays.

So off I was to harass our floor's admin officers. I needed a service unit, and I needed it ASAP! I don't know if it was because I'm good friends with our admin and IT people, or if I just really looked like a complete mess that afternoon, but they couldn't have given me a service unit faster. I had the unit 6 PM, and before that I was continuously working thru my BB.

So all in all, only a few manic minutes were spent mourning over the loss of my laptop. The rest of the afternoon was spent over work overdrive.

I guess what it taught me is, really, how I value what I do. If it were anyone else, they would've run crying to their big boss and asked to go home that day because there wouldn't be anything left to do. But in my case, my boss didn't even know about the problem until it was solved! There was no stall in the work flow. Emails were still answered, files were still sent, everything still operated like clockwork. Overall, I'm kind of proud of how I handled the entire mishap.

It's been more than five days and I now have my laptop, dried and not fried, back with me. Those who are curious would be happy to know that all files and emails are intact and in perfect working order. :)

And note to self: Keep tumblers empty when within a 12-inch radius of any electronic gadget.