virtual stocking-stuffers

I've been bemoaning my lack of regular Internet access for nearly two months now, and more recently, my complete lack of even a working laptop (it's totally busted and can't even detect its own hard drive -- the techie classmate from whom I begged for help has also given up trying to repair it by now) has ruined my best-laid geek plans. And it's not only the difficulty of doing research and typing class requirements that bugs me about this, nor even the sudden disappearance of my online social life courtesy of Facebook and Yahoo! groups. Once in a lucky while, my email account becomes a virtual Christmas stocking of sorts, brimming with goodies from the intellectual to the mundane.

Barring viruses and spam, I'm occasionally truly, madly and deeply grateful for email. Like when a client referred by a former colleague contacts me online out of the blue, asking if I could do a freelance editing job. Or when a friend forwards a link to some rare movie or video clip that I'd been hunting for ages, or sends virtual tickets to an event worthy of my time. Although I'm wary of unsolicited viral marketing, I have once or twice managed to give myself a treat through those targeted email promos with discount coupons or freebies that I had personally signed up for. Sometimes, when I'm bored to death, even those ubiquitous chain emails can make me laugh.

Thus, being deprived of email for several days, I opened my Gmail account again with regret. A friend had posted the URL to the World e-book Fair, where hundreds of thousands of e-books (only of works already in the public domain, though) could be downloaded for free. They even have an extensive International Law library, with everything from research study reports on cybercrime to declassified CIA documents. Sadly, the free-for-all was already over by the time I dropped by: the download party lasted only until August 4th, and the website now advises visitors to come back for their fifth run next year.

Oh well. I console myself by thinking that once I collect my earnings from those freelance stints, I can buy myself a new laptop and come back to cyberspace with a vengeance. This time, I'll make sure to hang up my stocking early...and be very, very good so that I can check it everyday for new treats.