|
Recently, I said goodbye to an old friend. We
had gotten into a rut, so I had to end our three-year
relationship. It was really my fault. I kept pushing,
pushing, asking for more. I know I was too
demanding and in return, I kept getting slower and more
labored responses. So, in the end, I guess maybe my
patience just wore out. During this troubling time, my
frustration level skyrocketed. The whole situation started
to affect my job performance. I had to work longer hours to compensate.
That was when I knew I had to call it off. It was
really the best thing for both of us. After all, some
relationships are only strong for a limited period of
time. If you push beyond that, you end up ruining
what you once had. You destroy all those good
memories and replace them with the bad. I didn't want to
do that.
So I packed up my things. I took my old
memories with me. I remembered all the great games we
played together; all the quiet research time and
special projects we shared. None of this was lost even
during the bad times. I realized I had to just reframe
those memories in a new environment. To keep the good,
I had to discard the bad.
So, sensing my distress, a colleague set me up
with a new partner. Sure my co-worker made
everything sound so simple and easy. Don't be afraid. Get
back on the horse. I was hesitant. No relationship is
ever that uncomplicated even at the beginning.
Still, everything started out well. I was
impressed with my new partner—that impressive ability
to quickly process a large amount of information was
a welcome relief from the slow plodding of my
previous partner. I could see a lot of talent there too.
The sleek and stylish presentation was enticing. But
I'd been burned before, so I tried not to be taken in
by the flash (as appealing as it was).
As it turned out, I had good reason to be
hesitant. After only a few hours together, my partner and I
ran into serious difficulties with a peripheral friend.
Perhaps because of some errant loyalty to my
previous relationship, my old peripheral friend and my
new partner just didn't seem to speak the same
language. Their inability to connect was troubling for me.
At first, there was almost no communication. Then,
after some adjustments, messages got through, but were garbled in the translation. This
convoluted communication was almost worse. There was
the surface appearance of functionality if you
weren't paying attention, but it really wasn't working at all.
If my co-worker hadn't stepped in again to help mend and mediate here and there, that might
have been the end of it for both of us. The ramifications
of the change began to sink in for me.
It's been two days now, and I suppose my
partner is settling in. Although a few other expressions of
discontent have arisen, it's been mostly symbolic—we've had no serious problems. I still worry about
my peripheral friend though. Things still just aren't
the same between us. That comforting sense of
reliability has been shaken. I realize that part of me still
misses my old relationship. It was sturdy and
dependable—reliably churning along. But when I bask in
the sleekness and quickness of my new companion, I know that I did the right thing in the long run.
Okay... I doubt I'll stay with this computer for
the rest of my life. Like many relationships, ours will
be subject to changes, upgrades, and finally
obsolescence. But right now, I could really enjoy this
new love affair a lot more if I could only get my
e-mail program to open.
|
Department
