"Yes, I had a breakdown."

The Saga of the Computer

There I was struggling to carry the oversized box up Mercer Street, wondering if my arms could/would break off and how on earth I was going to get my new iMac G5 home to Brooklyn. Just minutues before, I had walked into the Apple Store on Prince Street and found the first sales clerk. Our conversation went a bit like this:

Me: [Breathlessly] "I would like to buy a computer. How do I make this happen?"

Clerk: [Long pause] "Do you know what you want?"

Me: "Yes!"

If only I could have imparted the frustration and irritation that had led me to the bustling ground floor of the Apple Store in the first place, desperately trying to spend $2000. That I had failed twice to successfully purchase the very same computer from MacMall owing to my stupid bank and such things as "available funds" and the inability to ship to my work address. That I had been trying to buy the computer for a week. Justsellmethecomputer! I wanted to scream. But I didn't.

Fast-forward to Mercer Street and my arms breaking off.

There have been rare moments while living in New York that I wished that I had a car. And ironically the only reason I had the funds to purchase said computer was from the sale of my car before moving. Faced with the daunting task of of carrying 16.83 kg (that's 37.1038 lbs) worth of computer onto a crowded L train, I did what any New Yorker would do.

I hailed a cab.