Life in the Dark Pit of Merde

By Devina Gunawan

Ma vie sans internet – I only have one word to describe you: merde.

For the past couple of days I got no internet at home. For some reason the router stopped working, or the connection just died, or something. I clearly am not a tech savvy person, nor am I that observant when it comes to technology.

The smartest people around could not figure out what was wrong with the internet, so my life ended there and then.

I relied on my phone and its dying data, and only God’s grace could save me. This only meant few things: Facebook messenger (if it decided to connect), Viber, Instagram (if it decided to load), Twitter (if it decided to load), and Skype messages.

I know that sounds like much, but really, when those are all you have, they mean nothing. Considering that most of them do not connect or have to load forever, I was undeniably miserable.

For those who know me well, I love to work. And if love is not strong enough of a word, I am consumed by work.

I love having something to work on, be it random project, baking, an article, a collaboration, website, social media exploration, etc. And for the past two to three days, I got nothing.

To make matters worse, I was sick. Not the kind of sick of “Two pills of Advill would do,” but the kind of bedrest, nausea, migraine, sore throat sick. It has been the “I can’t eat nor speak” sick.

So I decided to turn on the TV, and I found:

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (which, I should have memorized line by line by now)

And it was kind of – nice- in a way that since I was sick and it was difficult to get my head up, to lie down watching baby Radcliffe trying to act. I remembered when Harry Potter was my life.

But it was nice. I had nothing to distract me from the movie. No work, no Twitter, no Facebook, no e-mails, no, nothing.

Afterwards, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban started. So I guess it was a marathon.

I probably would start screaming tomorrow when I got to check my inbox and see what work has got in store for me. And I probably would write something about how I had lived few days without internet and how I survived.

In a way, it was a good, clean break. I really could do nothing due to being sick, and I really had no access to my work. There was simply no way I could spend my energy on anything, I only had rest.

Which, I did.

And I had seen the power of internet, of globalization upon me. That it is indomitable. Impossible to crash.

Even with the whole world telling me to stop thinking about internet, I still can’t help myself but feel like I need it.

I do need it for work. Yea, excuse numero un.