Friday the 13th

Well, there you go. November 13, 2009. After saying that I didn’t believe that 13 was an unlucky number and Friday the 13th was going to be a blessed day of great fortunes, it rained. Very hard. With raging wind and angry thunders. Of course I always loved bad weathers, so at first I was loving it, still thinking it would a lucky day.

That night, I got home quite late and pretty tired, but out of habit, I turned on my computer anyway. AND found out that the internet didn’t work. I tried everything. Restarting the wireless network, restarting the computer, disabling the wireless connection and re-enabling it after 15 minutes, nothing worked. That’s when I noticed that the modem was dead. The green and orange lights that usually danced and twinkled, signing joyous news of internet availability, were dead. Shit! What happened?

It didn’t take long for me to spot the problem. The modem’s adaptor was wet! Oh no! I looked up and there it was. A small part of the ceiling right above the adaptor was damp. It was leaking. Clearly, the rain had found a way to trickle happily on my modem’s adaptor. Nothing I could do at nearly midnight. I had to wait until the next morning to go to an electronic shop and buy a new adaptor. I was displeased, but I wasn’t in a total bad mood (yet). So I decided to watch TV instead, all the while hoping that it was just the adaptor that needed to be replaced. Hopefully, the modem itself was not affected, because replacing that would be expensive. Oh well, I’d worry about it tomorrow, I thought. Then I turned on the TV.

Blue screen.

NOW WHAT???

My daughter offered an explanation, “When I got home from school, the decoder smelled funny, Mom. Like it was burned.”

GREAT!

I tried to switch the TV in my bedroom with the TV in the living room, hoping that it was the TV that got burned, not the decoder. Wishful wish. It still didn’t work.

NOW I’M PISSED!

No internet. And no cable TV.

My only option would be to use an indoor antenna and settle for those crappy programs on local Indonesian TV channels. I wasn’t willing to do that, of course. I’d rather be without a TV than settling for craps.

So finally I just did the next best thing. Get drown out in alcohol. Thank goodness for the 2006 Californian merlot on my shelf.

The next day, it was official. The modem’s adaptor WAS murdered by water. But the modem itself, thankfully, was fine. I managed to find a cheap replacement at Poin Square and the modem instantly worked again. The green and orange lights immediately started dancing and twinkling again, sending joyous news of internet availability.

However, the Indovision satellite dish and decoder weren’t that lucky. They were killed by thunders. In fact, I found out that my next door neighbor’s Indovision was also slain to death yesterday by those thunders. And to fix that, I would need to call Indovision Customer Service. One of the worst Customer Services in the world. You would be put on hold for at least 30 minutes, get transferred to different departments, and when you finally obtain a confirmation that their technical staff would come by to fix the problem, they couldn’t tell you exactly when.

Indovision Customer Service would only give you a date, but not the time. So in other words, on that particular date, they would expect you to simply wait around the whole day, like you had nothing better to do, until their technical staff appeared at your door. If they appeared at all. Sometimes, they would call saying that they were stuck in traffic, or some lame excuses like that, and would need to reschedule. A great service from one of Indonesia’s leading cable TV providers, Indovision. NOT!

So my oldest daughter wisely reminded me that before calling them, I needed to be in a good mood. She knew me well enough that I was capable of starting the World War III with anyone or anything when I was in a bad mood. Good advice.

Right now it’s 17.58 on November 14, 2009. I haven’t called them yet. I’m still very grouchy and irritable. But at least the internet is working, so I can post this blog and release a bit of my temper on virtual paper.

What are the conclusions? There are four:

1. Don’t fuck around with Friday the 13th. It does have its own power. It can use it to grant you great fortunes or screw you. We have no choice but to believe it.

2. Make sure all of your electronic equipment are dry, especially during the rainy season. Check for possible leakage on the ceilings, cracks on the windows, etc.

3. Never call Indovision Customer Service (or any Customer Service in this country) when you’re in a bad mood.

4. God, if He exists, has a cruel sense of humor. As if it’s not enough that He’s been screwing my life so much in the past 10 years, He too must take away the two things that can cheer me up instantly – internet and cable TV. He must be laughing His fucking ass off right about now. Are You happy now, God? Glad I can make You happy.

PS: Dear Lady Rain and the God of Thunder, I like having both of you around, but when the two of you are fighting, stay away from me. Or better yet, just break up with each other. Thank you.