The Shower Curtain of Broken Dreams

My first memories of using a computer involve navigating a Cartesian plane with Logo turtle graphics on old Macs at Annapolis Elementary School and pay-by-the-hour AOL 3.0. I remember the fear that shook my soul every time my dad would let me go on AOL for an hour and I'd learn at sign off that I'd been online for 1 hour and 3 minutes (OH NO, WE'D BE BILLED FOR 2 HOURS!!). I remember a/s/l/pic? (AOL chats were largely the reason I usually went over my hour limit. I was busy describing my imaginary bikini to some guy that was probably 37 and creepy but said he was 14/m/florida/no.) I remember making a Geocities page with an obscenely colorful background and a bandwith sucking amount of moving graphics. I remember being sad when the character I had named after my crush-of-the-moment died during a rousing game of Oregon Trail. I remember Ski Free and thinking that THIS TIME I would FINALLY outrun the Abominable Snowman that inevitably chased you at the bottom. I remember MS Paint. Wait. Do you remember MS Paint? Unlike Logo, AOL 3.0 (+ awesome chat rooms!), Geocities, Oregon Trail, and Ski Free, I still use MS Paint. Religiously.

I currently work for an organization with a pretty large architecture department. All the in-house designers try to get me to use Adobe InDesign for ALL my compu-design needs. I hate Adobe InDesign with a passion. I've never used a program that is so completely user unfriendly, and I consider myself relatively skilled with computers. Unfortunately, my job requires that I actually do use InDesign for a number of projects and publications, but that's where my use ends. (side note: I can't imagine if my mom tried to use InDesign, God forbid. Like many people over the age of 50, my dear mom doesn't have the greatest computer skills in the world... though, to her credit, she seems to have finally mastered e-mail!)

Anyway, as a result of my InDesign hatred and my love for all things classic, I still use MS Paint for all my compu-picture drawing needs. I love it! I recently received accolades from my friends for the graphic I attached to the following letter to my landlords. For your viewing pleasure, I give you The Shower Curtain of Broken Dreams:

Hi Julia,

I was really hoping that we would be able to go all six months without having to write you that anything went wrong in the apartment... and we almost made it!! Unfortunately, while I was showering this morning, the shower curtain rod detached from the ceiling and fell on me! It looks like the little plastic piece that was holding it into the ceiling just snapped (maybe it was old?) and it's now just hanging from the wall at an angle. (I've attached a rendition!) Sam, Rachel, and I decided that, since the shower is really difficult to use with it hanging at the angle that it is and it doesn't look like it can be put back up without glue or a new fixture or something, we are just going to use a philips head screwdriver to detach it. I hope this is okay. It doesn't seem like a huge problem, but we thought you should know!

I hope you're getting excited about moving back in in about a week! We've really enjoyed living in the place and we'll miss it when we move out!! :)

Have a great day!
Sarah

MS Paint is so handy. Long live it.