Schlemiel, Schlemiel, Potato Peel

Predicaments. I get into them often. Why? Don’t know, don’t care. That’s material for indepth psychotherapy. I just want to know how to exit them with NO FRUSTRATION!

To write I use my laptop, since my desktop and I parted ways several weeks ago after a long complicated relationship. The nice lady on the tech help line told me it was going to leave me soon anyway, that I needed to look for a replacement. I’m looking. Too many choices. So I am relying on my old friend dumped by someone else. We were managing fine until now.

I wanted to write about derrieres, a French word needing an accent. My desktop and I had accents all figured out. I am clueless with my laptop, however, and it does not freely share info, so I investigated. Not a good idea without all the facts. Assumptions get one into…predicaments.

Who knew there is a combo of keys to flip the screen upside down? New experience. Keeps the relationship interesting. Good thing I remembered what my left hand was doing so we could return to our comfort zone. Another day I might exercise my brain with an upside down composition, especially now that I am curious why that is even an offered feature. But not today. There is a deadline.

Guess I don’t know everything my left hand was doing. The screen is right side up, thankfully, but it is dark. That’s an easy fix on my smartphone, but I am clueless again on just what it takes to turn my laptop on bright. After a bit of prodding fate intervened. Fate has a grand sense of humor.

The laptop shared a screen boasting a word of the day. The screen would not move, no way, no how. Before going to extremes to get what I wanted, word nerd curiosity made me find the featured term.

Schlemiel – an awkward, unlucky person for whom things never turn out right. One has to chuckle at my laptop sharing that word with me on this day.

I really do have something to say about derrieres. Another time.

This first appeared in my Close to Home Column in The Prospect-News, the local weekly paper where I live – Doniphan, MO.

About Teresa Pearson Lee

Retired after 33 years of teaching English and French (one year in private school in Memphis, TN and the rest in public school in Doniphan, MO. Enjoying new adventures - all those things I put off for lack of time, energy, now I can try them! Pottery, writing, traveling, camping, kayaking, dancing, listening to some of the best live music ever, and making lively new friendships. All christened with an appreciation for great red wine! Created and operated KC's on the Current, then sold it and managed it for new owners. You might still find me at the reservation desk when spring rolls around. Born and raised in St. Louis, MO near The Hill. Though a transplant to Southeast Missouri, still a city gal at the core with a deep love of the natural resources in these Ozark foothills. Currently I am a content coordinator for Poplar Bluff Living Magazine and a columnist/stringer for the local weekly The Prospect News. My rescue Siamese helps with most of the proofreading; he has a great ear. I relish the solitude easily had in the Mark Twain Forest but thoroughly enjoy lively outings for music, wine, conversation close to home or in my beloved hometown. Technology is my greatest challenge but so worth the shared connections. There may be a need for solitude but there is little loneliness. The material in this blog written by Teresa Lee is her property and cannot be used without express written consent to do so.

View all posts by Teresa Pearson Lee →