Stuff happens. We spend all night writing a ten page paper, hit save, and shut down the computer. And somehow we’re surprised when overnight, the Internet devours our work and it’s not there anymore. We’re sure we saved it -- even after it autosaved every single minute we spent working on it -- and somehow, it’s gone. The kicker is that we’ve grown up hearing about the need to back up our work. It doesn’t matter if your second copy is online, on your desktop, an external hard drive, the body of an email to yourself, or even a printed copy locked in a waterproof and fireproof safe, the important part is that a second copy exists. And of course, the only times we forget to make that second copy is when we need it the most. Here are 32 adult things I’ve remembered to do this week while neglecting to back up my work.
- Sleep at least 6 hours every night
- Do my laundry before I ran out of underwear
- Cook all 21 meals at home instead of eating out
- Take all of my vitamins every day
- Read a book
- Renew my library books
- Check out new library books
- Make a grocery list before getting to the store
- Check my email
- Actually reply to emails
- Water my outdoor plants
- Water my indoor plants
- Cry because I drowned a succulent
- Panic about buying a new one before anyone notices
- Repot some of the plants that look like they might also die
- Take out both the trash and recycling
- Submit my timesheet on time
- Study (this is a literal miracle, to be honest)
- Take off my shoes when I enter the apartment
- Drink more water than coffee
- Eat one serving of ice cream instead of the entire pint
- Realize school starts in less than a month
- Panic about classes
- Spend 8 hours shopping online for clothes I’ll never be able to afford
- Write some more things and forget to save them
- Wonder where my work went
- Forget to sync my phone and laptop, see number 26
- Accidentally hit send on a risky email (proof I am adulting: emails are actually important)
- Check my PO box
- Find month-old mail and immediately recycle it without opening it
- Go back to the grocery store because even with a list, I forgot stuff
- Continue to adult responsibly, except for when it involves backing up important documents
