E is for External #AtoZChallenge

The D key on my keyboard doesn’t work. Worse, I have to press it down so hard to make sure that a D shows up when I want it to that the letter has rubbed all the way off–so much so that you can see the light from the keyboard pretty clearly. The D key is also cracked, which you can’t see, but which I can tell because of how hard I have to press it. Oh, and this all started with my E key sticking and now my R key also doesn’t work that well. You know, I go to type “press” and it comes out as “pess.” Super fun with chatting.

The point is that it sucks. It’s hard to type anything. This has been bugging me for ages. I mean, at least a six months, easy. If not a whole year. Ahem.

(I know: this is horrible.)

I visited my best friend (who is a computer guru) over the holidays. I told her my keyboard wasn’t working. “LOOK AT MY D KEY,” I said. And she agreed that it was horrible. So, of course, we didn’t fix it when I was there, which I didn’t even really notice until school was about to start in February, and I had to do all my course prep.

Fast-forward to March 11. It’s announced that we’re going to teach remotely. That means instead of doing the bulk of my typing on my work desktop, I am now doing it at home. On my laptop. With the busted D key. And the not that great R key. And the sometime sticky E key.

Fast-forward to March 18. I broke down and ordered an external keyboard.

And then, while cleaning off my desk, I found my external mouse.

So now I have an external everything, and life–and especially remote teaching–is so much easier.

For this year’s A to Z Challenge, I have decided that I’m going to focus on my survival/coping strategies while practicing social distancing. What are the things that make it bearable? What helps alleviate my stress and fear–or at least what distracts me from both? Tune in tomorrow to see what I have chosen for F!