I've been accident prone and stupid lately. What with falling flat on my hands and knees on the stairs or hitting my head against the upper bunk or oversleeping class, but I think today's takes the cake. It's so stupid and ... stupid that I don't even know what/how to title the entry.

Basically I was enjoying my hot ramen for lunch because it's a cold day here in Leuven. Mmm, warm, steamy, hot soup. Good stuff, right? Until I decide to share it with my laptop. Yup! I spilled my soup all over my desk, in the electronics area. Basically my laptop. My Mac. My baby!!! Ahhhhhh, I think I nearly had a heart attack and proceeded to have an emotional rollercoaster ride for the rest of the afternoon.

So as soon as it happened, I turned off the computer, unplugged everything and started wiping and cleaning. It was a mess because it was all over one side of the table, had to wipe my speakers, save my white printer paper, etc. and it was on the floor as well. I didn't realize it was on the floor, so I was tracking it everywhere in the room with my slippers. Well, long story short, it was a lot of cleaning and cursing and thinking, what the hell was I doing?! Even now when I try to think back to what happened, I can't remember how it happened. It didn't fall out of my hand or anything, it just tipped and spilled. But how did it tip? Why did it tip? I have no recollection. Sigh.

Anyway, so after that I called my sister to try and figure out what to do with the laptop because I had no one else to call (sigh). So after hearing that I should either air dry it or take it to an Apple service center, I decided to take it to a center just in case they had better advice. There's an Apple Reseller downtown near the train station, so I walk out in the cold (AND RAIN) to wait for the bus. I get to the Reseller, and the salesman tells me I have to take it to their service center, which is a 15 minute walk away. 15 min. Ok, not so bad, so I take his directions and head out into an area I have never been before. It was also where the Stella Artois and assorted other manufacturing companies were located. They even had a port-ish area with a canal and boats! I have to admit, I was a little sketched out and scared because it was kind of desserted and didn't look so ... um ... friendly and clean and happy like the rest of Leuven.

After wandering around a bit in the area (because salesman just told me how to get to the area, but not where the shop is actually located), IN THE RAIN, I finally find the service center. Turns out what they advise is pretty much the same thing, use a blow dryer to dry it for 30 minutes and hope it turns on. If it doesn't, then I take it back to them, pay 70 Euros for an inspection fee, and wait 5 to 7 days. Definitely not the alternative I wanted - expensive and long and no guarantee on how much more it'll cost to fix it (what if I had to replace the logic board?! AHHHHH). So, I trek back home and proceed to blow dry my laptop.

And pray pray pray that it would turn on. After 30 minutes of drying, I plug in my battery, cross my fingers, and hit the power button. Wow, hearing that startup chime has never been sweeter. Seeing the password screen has never made me happier. Then I tried to type my password. Nothing. Nothing came out. Well, technically not true. One or two keys actually worked, but everything else was dead. !@#$@#$!#$%! Ok, I told myself not to panic. It turns on, right? Just the keyboard's not working. I can go and get an external USB keyboard, plug it in, and all will be well (for now), right? So, I head out to my local computer store (which is pretty close by, thank God) and get the cheapest USB keyboard I can find. I come home, plug it in, turn on the computer, and type my password. IT WORKS! Yessssssss.

Then I realized I needed to plug in my ac adapter because I was using my crappy battery. *Plug* Why isn't the light coming on? WHY ISN'T THERE AN ORANGE LIGHT?! I unplug, replug, clean the plug area, plug, nothing. I couldn't believe it. By this point I was so frustrated at the computer, angry at myself, and all this negative shit, that I just couldn't take it anymore. It's like up and down, up and down, up and down, all in the matter of 2 hours. The soul cannot take it, at least not mine. So I call my sister and BAWL like no tomorrow because I'm just so mad and angry and UGH, and suddenly, mid-bawling, the light comes on. AHHHHHHH!!! I stare at it for a few seconds unsure if it was a fluke or me hallucinating or it really came on. And after it stayed on for a few minutes, I proceeded to bawl with relief.

Sigh. So right now basically all is well *crosses fingers* except the keyboard. And since it's my fault, it won't be covered under warranty. Since for now I can get by with an external keyboard, I think I may wait till I get to the States and hope it's cheaper there to get it fixed. But yah, that was my stupidity for the year, I hope. I am keeping liquid away from my computer from now on. Ahhhhhhh. SO STUPID. Why am I so CLUMSY?!

And of course this has to happen in a totally foreign country where I don't have the computer store and employees to help me out. Sigh. Just my luck. Woo.