Lost In The Tech Age

I forgot my password

Can’t seem to remember it

I did not forget the whole thing

Oh no I did

What was my username?

What? I forgot that too

Damn

Now I can’t work on my website

Got to call the tech guy

Now he asked what is my customer id

I said excuse me what’s that

I spend time entering possible combinations

I know one of them has to work, has to

I try different letters and numbers

My frustration grows as I keep getting that same wrong password window

The browser mocks me YOU FORGOT YOUR PASSWORD

So many numbers and passwords form debit card, locker, bank number, depart of Ed employee number social security, checking account myspace, gmail, hotmail, facebook, twitter 

It’s all too much to keep in my head

My computer remembers all my log in information

But from time to time some how the info gets lost on my hard drive

What is my secret question?

What’s the answer to my secret question?

Which email account did I use to register for this site

I want to see my home page

Should have wrote down the stuff on a sticky note

Or put it in a word file

I smack myself in the forehead

I curse myself

I forgot my password to my email

How can I check my email to get the new temporary password?

My nightmare continues

Did I use upper or lower case letters?

Did I use symbols and numbers?

I start to pull out my hair

Wrong password

Wrong username

Wrong password

Wrong username

It’s highlighted in red

I watch the page reload and hope this time it will work

my faulty memory

I think maybe I should just say fuck it and start a new account

But what about all my emails all my friends and followers

I image tons of important emails coming in that I can’t check

People leaving incredible comments on my facebook page

Having one hundred new followers on twitter

Having hundreds of hits on my flickr photos

I take a deep breath and sigh

I watch the little dots appear on the screen in the password box

I cross my fingers and toes

I try and try like some hacker trying to break a code

I want to explode

Finally I remember the email account I used

I check the email

Get my username and new temporary password

Go back to the website

Type everything in again

It’s a miracle I can see all my shit

I create a new password but again I don’t write it down

Set to repeat the same thing over again

my phone is dying

talking fast
the battery won’t last
my phone is dying
it keeps on crying
it beeps and beeps
to tell me the battery is depleted
A new charge is needed
this phone call will end
can’t talk with my friends
all my phone numbers are locked inside this device
keeps singling me it’s out of life
my charger’s at home
I say fuck this stupid ass phone
Cell phones attached to waistbands
hanging out in pockets
swimming around in bags and purses
the cell rings I begin another frantic search
then curse when on its 5th ring the phone still can’t be located
Then the worst thing imaginable happens
the phone gets lost
The dreaded upheaval
It needs retrieval
You feel it in your chest
when your phone can’t be located you get stressed then depressed
Losing a phone is like losing your child
it's like a lover
always with you close by at your side
you call your phone from a prehistoric landline
and hear it ring again and again you hear your own voice message
you retrace your steps
go into stores
call the subway lost and found
but it still can’t be found.
The only number you remember is your own and your mother’s
Instantly you’ve lost all your contacts
all your friends your associates
if you’d simply blue toothed the numbers to your home computer
You sink to think of all the calls you’re missing
Yet you can still retrieve your voice messages
which merely serves to cause more anguish
you make a list of the people in your phone
suddenly you feel so alone
you weep and cry and moan
you could die
you want to hold a funeral service for your lost phone but you can’t call anyone to come
You dread the possibility that you may need to make new contacts and friends
you listen to your voice mail as people call again and again
they start to worry that something is wrong
you visualize all the texts coming in all un-replied
you see how much you have relied on technology
all your ring tones and mp3’s gone for eternity
You become religious and pray that the person who found it will have mercy on your soul they will call you to tell you they found your cell
But your phone is lost
how can they call you?
you hope and pray that maybe they will call one of your friends and they will
tell them who you are
You have nightmares that somebody is putting their grimy little hands on your phone
looking through all the nude pictures you sent to your lover
crank calling your contacts
these are the hard facts
you put up flyers around the neighborhood that read
“missing” with a snap shot of your
blackberry
iphone
flip phone
your sidekick
your rumors
you call your mom’s number
since suddenly she’s your only friend
she doesn’t even know what texting is
Your heart is broken - all hope is lost
you think maybe I should tell my service provider about all this
it’s too late international charges have been racked up
calls to Santa Domingo
London
Columbia
Tanzania
places you never heard of
all the service provider can do is offer you a new phone if you re-up for another year
You go to work depressed
try to recreate some semblance of your numbers
you ask a friend at work for her number
you become a detective, “Hey do you happen to know Lori’s number?”
You manage to get three numbers from there
you call each friend and accumulate more numbers
you wonder how you could make such a blunder
Your contacts are now at six
you sit shiva and cry because this time your phone has really died