of all these worldly devices (II)

this was supposed to have been a post, the contents of which read like the final-telegram-to-civilisation that they are:

computer power supply/adaptor failure STOP 70% remaining battery life must last indefinitely STOP sending assistance now will only encourage the dependency STOP so do not STOP no likely communique for some time STOP have staunched blood flow and am suturing cord as we speak OVER AND OUT

after a jittery night and much lying awake during the early morning hours, set out for the Apple Centar Yugoslavia, for which i had searched out an address almost upon arrival here, but to which i had never actually gone. first, a note about its address: Ulica Maksima Gorkog 47. everything following "ulica [street]" is, of course, in genitive; however, because the proper noun "Gorky" *looks* like a (masc.) adjective, in ending, it is declined as such (with "-og" instead of "-a"). so cool. even from within the desperation of the moment.

arrived there around 8:30am (by which i subtly reveal to you that the Centar does, in fact exist), but nothing opened until 10. wandered around Lekino Brdo/Šumice for a while before hiking back up the hill, just as three (3) employees were lifting the metal gate over the door. contents of store were what one would expect, except dialed down to a single, narrow room. for this reason and this alone, i'm sure, Apple is frenziedly dreaming and manufacturing more and more minute versions of their entire stock. when i presented my dilemma in all its life-or-death clarity, i discovered that the last adaptor/cord had been sold yesterday. how much more cruel is the chance that has just been missed than one which long ago wore itself into impossibility!

the attendants were unclear when they would be getting another shipment. for reasons i imagine have something (but not everything, given the "regional peculiarities") to do with import regulations, it seems that the store receives irregular batches of two or five or nine pieces; it sounded as though they could not even request whether these were ipod skins or G5 monitors. thus, while they *expected* to have more of my desired item in about a week, this sounded to me like a mere Simon & Garfunkel bit of lyrical hedging. left with only the intention of returning on Monday, when the "Servis" department, 100m down the road, would be open (although i highly doubted that my current one was repairable, this failure being among Apple's known problems), i took my leave.

walking back into town, my panicked brain culled new data and available resources. i had, in a rare moment of measuredness the night before, already stipulated to myself that there would be no offer of first-born children or anysuch. it seemed that i could either have an accomplice in either North America, Sarajevo (the Apple Centar there opened *the day* i left), London, Tokyo, or France purchase a replacement on my behalf and mail it to me. the delay would be unfortunate, but manageable, provided that i picked up a new vice to distract me in the interim. i had already consulted trusted sources about all of these matters.

suddenly, in a flash of something almost resembling rationality, i recalled that i had seen ibooks and powerbooks in the store. as candidates for sellage. with all of their accessories. that meant that there *were* power adaptors in situ, unrealised. with one phone call, i had presented my watertight proposal involving the obvious solution to the problem at hand. for some ridiculous reason, this had to be cleared by a manager or something. after less than 30 minutes, i received a call.

it turned out that the buying-of-some-unlucky-(new)-ibook's-adaptor strategy had been approved, under the condition that i (1) paid in cash and (2) received no receipt for the transaction. that (3) the price quoted was also more than on Apple's website made me suspicious of the whole affair, but i decided to head back down to investigate.

the reality i found upon return was, alas, much less blacker-than-the-blackest-Cold-War-market than the one for which, on the bus, i had prepared my defense. that is: the price for this item simply was, despite almost everything else in the store being comparable with those in NA, higher. and, because the item was "not in stock," they couldn't be "selling" it, "now could" "they"? in the course of the conversation, while testing the amazingly procured (the will is a fierce and winged thing) new object, i concluded that i might be able to submit a further claim to Apple, possibly retrieving some of the cost—and that, at very least, the unbecoming peace of mind (arising solely from the indulging of impatience) of the instant solution might even be worth some of it. besides, there was always the newest true love to spurn (easy come, easy go; besides, i attribute the difficulties at hand to have been caused, largely, by shameful headless heel-falling activity of yesterday) by sacrifice to what would now be a matter of adhering to budget. ($66 per month is clearly not adequate for my expensive lifestyle, in which figure prominently: breaking things and/while trying to be fast.)

so, in short, i have only escaped to tell you that, regrettably, this will not be the last you've heard from me for the upcoming many weeks. i apologise.