Pause for Laughter

I think everyone – me, you, and this blog – are in need of some levity.
About ten days ago, I realized my wireless computer keyboard was disgustingly dirty and set about cleaning it. There was water and sponges and scrubbing and vigor. There was also apparently some damage done.
I brought the keyboard and the computer back together and chaos erupted. Eventually, the computer just went quiet – a cataclysmic event equal to the blank blue screen – and I shut down the computer. It turned on just fine, but made no sound.
I removed the keyboard from the area, hooked up a new one, and rebooted. Repeatedly. No sound.
I used my netbook to access the desktop's hard drive and confirmed it was working. Just not talking. My assumption was that the sound card had died tragically.
Usually, such a thing would evoke panic, but this time I was rather distracted by surgery, so I just used my netbook and iPhone. It sucked in terms of speed, but wasn't that big of a deal.
Finally, I came across something I could not accomplish with the tools at hand. To burn something to cd, I dragged out my monitor and enlisted sighted assistance. We went through the process of making the CDs, then my partner happened to look down at the speaker icon and saw it was Xed out in red. She clicked. Talking happened.
I went without my computer FOR TEN DAYS because mute somehow got hit when my wireless keyboard went nuts after I graciously cleaned it.
Oy.
Now my computer just does it's usual dying routine about once a day. That I can live with because my resurrection rituals work under those circumstances.
And then there was the man at open mic. I was sitting in a chair when someone started, I thought, speaking to me. I did the usual, "Are you speaking to me?"
He affirmed that he was and asked if I was going to play the drums that night.
"Um, no. Why?"
"I can see your drumsticks."
I thought, reached under my chair, pulled out my folded up cane, put it back together, wiggled it, and said with a laugh, "Not drumsticks."
He apparently didn't think I was all that funny because that pretty much ended the conversation.