stella martinez gets a line

Ummm... here I am... middle age, middle class, and midway in my career, straddeling between a cathartic artistic blowout and the desire to take up residency in my bathtub. What does this mean? Uncertainty and confusion, elation and configuration. And now, for the first time in my life, I am in my possession of my own computer....a laptop, no less. This brings new meaning to that part of my lap that pooches up at the top of my thighs.

I can already tell that I am going to have a love affair with my laptop, whom I have affectionately named Nell, once I get over my initial disappointment. Which is, Nell is not going to have a designated access password. This depressing tidbit of information was dropped on me by my two techno gurus, Jacksonian and Tomas, who both claimed that a password would be superfulous, inconsequential and not necessary. My protest and surprise was met with an incredulous shrug of the shoulders and a smirk that implies, Why would you need one? Why bother? This is like telling Alibaba as he stands before the magic cave that he can bypass his famous Open Seasame line. Just bring in a crane and pry that sucker open...Or akin to driving up to NORAD and winking at the guard for admittance and he swings open the gate with a smile. This is the age of Terrorism and television... blind fear weds contrived imagination....passwords are as necessary as proteins... they are the building blocks of secrecy... a password means there is something to protect. .. something worthy enough to hide. But alas, I don't insist and watch passively as the vision of some determined detective, furtive husband or dejected lover clandestinely opening my computer, scouring the room, frantically looking for some clue to the hidden combination that will unlock my cyber identity.... trying three, four, ten times and then... ah ha... Abracadabra... the flicker and flare to my inner most mystery.....I watch as all this gets erased, pretending it's no big deal. But Nell ...I can only imagine what is racing between her electrons and vibrations... the disappointment of realizing she has been partnered to a woman who will never enter information worthy of protecting. Oh dear, less than one week into the relationship and already I've got to make it up to her....