Repairs. Taking apart the computer where I read posts in gopherspace,
firing it up, making sure it all works properly, then getting carried
away with reading. I installed a SoundBlaster 16. There's an FM synth
chip I can use on it for writing music. The first time, there was
some gunk on the ISA pins, so I take it out, reseat it, pop it back
in. Was it something on the pins, or was it a driver conflict? I make
changes to the AUTOEXEC.BAT.

Regardless, it works now. I play a track someone else has written on
the synth from a DOS prompt. Type `win`. Smile when I hear the Windows
98 startup noise. Click open my gopher client. Read some writing.

A leftist, dead from an overdose. Tarot readings. Family dinners at
Cracker Barrel. Life, in a dozen places.

I'm trying very hard to stay optimistic this year.

EDIT: right as I transferred this post to my desktop, the old machine
seized up and displayed a checkerbox pattern of glitches.

A bad portent?