digital ADD and loss

1. I consider myself a generally stable person, but when I'm in front of my computer something happens and I lose all ability to focus. In general I'm proud of being a multi-tasker. It's even on my resume. On deeper reflection though, I'm a little embarrassed about my flighty tenancies.  I do many things at once, but to what end? In the last 10 minutes I have
-searched for google images of sheep, "leap" and "jump"
-read about Rosh Hoshana and Yom Kipur
-signed a pettition about the Jenna 6
-updated my facebook picture
-asked an old professor for a recommendation
-switched e-mail accounts multiple times
-looked up this week's winner of Top Chef
These are the signs of times. My friend Casey introduced me to this awesome game called wiki-racing. Basically you play with another person on their computer and compete to see who can relate two obscure topics (selected by a third party) in the shortest amount of time using only wiki links. Players are not allowed to go to any external websites or use the back button in the browser. It's awesome. There are few games that I'm really really excited about, but wiki racing challenges me and channels my internet ADD-ness in a way that nothing else can. The adrenialine rush of being able to connect avocados to Jesus in less than two minutes  is exhilarating.

2. A few years ago my bike was stolen. I had left it in the same place for several days without a bike lock. So, I deserved to have it taken right? Debatable. I thought so, but then when I told other people they would say "No, people shouldn't go around stealing things just because they're not locked down" And I kind of agree with that. I mean, it depends on the thing. I have been known to find pens around the office and claim them as my own after checking with a few people in my immediate vicinity first. Finders keepers. I had been using my bike without a lock for weeks, and my roommate at the time had finally bought me one out of pure generosity right before it was stolen. After that I felt entitled to have whatever bike I could find without a lock. The whole experience hardened me. Whoever was stupid enough to leave their bike unlocked had it coming anyway. I wasn't on an active hunt, but I did kind of check out every bike that I saw whenever I walked somewhere. Once I found one. I couldn't believe it. Someone just left it there! The naivete! I moved it away from the rack to see if it really was unnatached and it was. I stood there for a second, and then realized how dumb it would be for me to steal someone's bike. That's not one of my proudest moments, but I'm glad I did the right thing. To this day I still have a habbit of checking to see if bikes are locked. Isn't that horrible? I don't even need a bike, but subconsciously I just pay attention to that now.

More recently my lap top was stolen. It wasn't locked. But it was in my apartment which was locked, so it felt like a bigger violation than the bike. I'm not looking to steal other people's laptops, but whenever I see someone with the same computer I'm a little suspicious. I dropped it on it's side once, so it has a unique dent, and I routinely look for a dent on the side of the powerbooks I see in my daily life. At starbucks. In the library. In pictures on craigslist. Sigh. It kind of reminds me of John Cusack's character in Serendipity--how he would look in every used bookstore for Love in a time Cholera--except my situation isn't so hopeful or important in the scheme of my life. It would be awesome though if one day in the future I got a laptop from someone and I turned it on it's side, and discovered that it was my special beat up computer returning to me.