We are all creatures of habit, from the moment we first appear. And the older we get, the thicker the habit, until finally it gets to the point where we cannot break it, or we need professional help to even make a dent in it. In our Senior Years, it is a real challenge. Here I am stuck in the middle of an exhausting habit struggle. It’s not serious or life-threatening but it’s a damned nuisance, time wasting and highly irritating.
About 18 months ago I bought a new laptop computer. At the time, I did what I thought was very clever. I told the technician to make it an exact copy of the old computer I was using so I didn’t have to start looking for things in dark places or dig around deep in the belly of the box. And he did it. The very first time I sat down in front of it I was at home. I continued as though I had driven over one of those speed bumps that you hardly feel. And my computer life was a smooth drive for 18 months.
Then came the crash. The technicians and recovery staff have managed to cobble most things together but there was no instruction to ‘make it as I like it” or “make an exact copy” this time and here at 80 years old, I am struggling to find myself, so to speak.
Take this morning. The routine is to switch on computer and click on Radio Mozart or Radio Otto. I found Radio Mozart after a 15 minute search, but Radio Otto took an hour and I’m not sure if the version I found is what I had and liked. I found my bank account quite easily but it comes out backwards. I prefer the bad news first. All my icons have disappeared and of course all my writing that wasn’t backed-up has gone forever.
And yes, the word-count button on the top of the article templates that I use is no longer there. I could run on forever…
