Pegged Pretty Well

I haven't had Internet access for the past month, at least.

I now know how dependent one can become on the little device in the pockets of about 80% of the population. Most of the remaining 20% are either older than 60 or younger than 4, I would guess.

The battery on my phone became useless, so that I had to keep the "immobile" phone permanently plugged in. This was an inconvenience, but not to the degree that it became after the malfunctioning battery swelled up so much that it was no longer making contact with the pins in the socket, rendering the phone itself useless.

It hadn't dawned upon me that, in order to order a replacement, I would have to log in to sites like ebay; which would require me to confirm my identity by tapping "yes" in response to a text message sent to my phone.

I had to resort to living the way I used to, years ago. I was reading books and watching TV. It was weird.

In a certain way, the quality of my life improved. After a couple weeks, I stopped reaching for the device any time I wondered about anything at all, like how much money was in my account. I would just swipe my card at the store with my fingers crossed, type of thing.

I couldn't contact anyone; nor update this blog. It felt like I was in prison, on Alcatraz perhaps, and nobody knew it, so they couldn't write to me, nor could I inform anyone that I was alive.

I would go to Elizabet's apartment and use her phone so I could at least call my mom and explain why I had disappeared.

While I was using her phone ads would occasionally pop up. One of them was from some entity that was begging for money to save kittens that were at risk. The cute kittens shown would surely die if Elizabet didn't send money. That particular one hit her phone on the 1st of December -the very day that her money comes in every month from wherever she gets it. Those poor little kitties.

Elizabet has 3 cats, and does about $150 a month in business with the "Chewy" online pet supply store.

I never got ads like that on my phone when it was working. Mine were always from Donald Trump, asking for money. Or from Ukrainian women looking for American husbands.
I guess the algorithm has got both Elizabet and I pegged pretty well...

But, at this moment, after not having slept in 24 hours or so, I will do the prudent thing and type no more, as my attitude is teetering at the top of a cliff, with a 200 foot plunge into the ocean of negativity at risk.