Just My Type

I found this gem of all gems when we moved 

buried under other relics in our basement.

In case you are Gen Z and haven’t seen one before…

it’s an electric typewriter.

And not just any typewriter…

an IBM Selectric,

a high school graduation gift to me from my grandmother.

This typewriter 
was state of the art technology for the time
with its ink cartridge AND white-out tape cartridge.

So should I make a typo?…

who mua?

No problem.  

I could fix the mistake in just 5 easy steps…
Simply

remove the black ink cartridge,

insert the whiteout cartridge,

type over the mistake to blank it out,

put the black ink cartridge in, 

go back and type over it. 

It was 
Far Out
Right On
Off the hook technology 

or

for you Gen Zers
it was

Boom 

Drop the Mic

ingenious technology.

I remember thinking….

what could possibly be better than this?  

A "g could be an "r" 

in just 5 simple steps. 

So off "we" went to The University of Vermont….

me and my electric typewriter.

Hand in….qwerty

where I quickly put it to good use... 

not just for typing my own papers

but

I used it to make some fast cash typing other kids’ papers. 

I posted an index card advertising my extreme typing skills on the dorm bulletin board and 
my dorm phone phone rang off the wall…

yes wall.

I found that most kids would rather spend their time chugging beers 

than typing term papers.

My charge = $1 per page.  

The cash I earned from typing papers was a windfall  …

especially on Monday nights at  the Last Chance Saloon in Burlington VT…

where beers were a quarter. 

1 typed page = 1 buck = 4 beers = 

1 zig zag walk home

I also typed PaulA’s papers at UVM but didn’t ask him for cash...

I gave him the boyfriend discount.

My services were basically free.

Just as long as PaulA agreed to 

date me, 

marry me and 

give me 3 kids…

there would be no charge.

Anywhoooo.....

I pulled my electric typewriter out of the basement rubble…

wondering if it would work again.

I brought it upstairs, opened the big black case, 

pulled the typewriter out and plugged it in.  

It started right up with a loud  

hummmmmmm….  

Then I pressed a couple of keys and 

amazingly

the ink cartridge actually worked.   

My typewriter was probably wondering where I had been all these years.

After all, we were old friends  and it had bought me 

many a beer.

Apparently I can still get the ink cartridges online…

which I plan on doing 

so

 I can be transported back in time.

Back to the good ole days….

when a typewriter could get me 

4 beers for a buck…

and the man of my dreams.