where there's smoke

nothing says Monday quite like the smell of inadvertently burning brasierres. if that doesn't give you any indication that my problems have continued, then maybe we should talk about the smell of burning computer hardware. as much as I generally dislike Windows systems, I had a tiny moment of sad when my netbook let out first one, then a second, puff of smoke and died. that stupid little semi-pink machine was never so important to me as when it kicked the bucket, leaving me stranded in a foreign country (island, no less) with no way to communicate with my family and friends. okay, I'm being a little dramatic here. I still have an international cell phone and access to my employer's iPad. and, thanks to a conveniently timed rendezvous and an amazing friend, I now am in possession of my very first smartphone -- a secondhand iPhone 3GS. typing with my thumbs, feeling like a chimp, but ridiculously grateful for the ability to connect. the whole debacle has been a crash course in "don't know what you got 'til it's gone".

perhaps now would be an apropos time to talk about the good parts of this little island adventure, before you get the wrong idea about it. 

-it's pretty. seriously have you seen my photos (okay, well, if were not friends on the facebook then you probably haven't)? the cliche applies: pictures don't do it justice. especially my wanna-be semi-pro shooting on auto pictures.

-the beaches are enough to turn a pale, reclusive vampire like myself into a bonafide sunbather with a serious yearn for salt. the waves roll gently enough that you can easily walk out neck deep and the water is so clear you might get a complex about your need for a good pedicure.

-duty free shopping. you might have to do a little haggling, but it's worth it. the netbook picked a good time to commit compu-cide. oh, and the alcohol is duty free too, so if I can't fix the problem, I can at least drown it.

-sweet heavens, the food. I haven't had a bad meal yet, and I haven't even ventured over to Grand-Case, the highly acclaimed fine dining destination city of the island. I've even been cooking... and those of you who really know me know the gravity of that statement.

-I'll take temperate, gorgeous 85 degree highs and lows with a slight chance of hurricanes over the comparably brutal NC winter I'll face when I return. I sincerely thought the weather would be a bit more hard to handle, closer to the equator. the sun definitely kicks a lot harder, but so does the breeze.

so, when my laundry machine isn't busy burning up my bras, there are quite a few reasons to enjoy this island. and I AM taking advantage of them, when I can step out from under the netbook-smoke-filled dark cloud that seems to be following me around.