Computer Antics.

I tried to get offline tonight, as I had had enough, I went through the sign off, procedure, it would not log off, I kept trying, it refused to log off, I tried just closing the window of my Internet Service Provider, AOL, America OnLine, it refused, I hit the little X in the upper right hand corner, nothing, I was despairing, and about to go into the worst tantrum imaginable, but then, I thought, "I have Zone Alarm, don't I?", so I got the control panel up and clicked on the STOP ALL INTERNET ACTIVITY button, it was forced offline, and reported to me that the connection had been lost.
I have no idea how this could have happened, I have emailed a tech I know, to see if he can explain this mystery to me, I emailed :-
My computer simply REFUSED POINT BLANK to go offline tonight, till I hit the STOP ALL INTERNET ACTIVITY on my firewall, HOW THE HELL COULD THIS HAPPEN? WHAT CAUSED THIS TO HAPPEN? CAN YOU EXPLAIN THIS TO ME?