Sometimes the Worst Thing That can Happen is the Best Thing that ever Happened to You
The biggest casualty of my recent run for public office was not losing the election but losing my computer as it degenerated into nothing. First one thing doesn't work right, then something else, and even the fixes are no longer possible, until finally, one is kicked off the network for having viruses.
But early on, I said if it made it past the election and on through the Day After Thanksgiving sale, it would be the best one could hope for -- an early Christmas miracle, if you will. So when the final crash came, I was psychologically prepared -- and one of my most frequent contacts during the campaigning, was with the folks who run the MacMouse enterprise and organization in Honolulu, on South Street off of Queen.
I've heard of the reputation that the Apple operating system was much more stable, reliable and predictable, and after being less than 5% of the personal computer market, has re-emerged, or just stuck around long enough, to be recognized as the "true leader," of its class. Knowing Julia and Mike throughout the campaign, gave me the confidence in trusting their judgment that Apple was worth the premium -- if any, and Mel, another credible and competent Hawaii blogger, swears by them.
But one machine of the many I saw for consignment resale, above all the others, impressed me as a work of art -- which I summarily dismissed as "out of my range," if the lesser entries were in my ballpark. But surprisingly, the premium for the cheapest and the one that was the best to my untrained eye, was 10% -- which I thought was the undisputed value.
I guess few people look at computers as I do -- as how well they "fit" -- as well as the tech specs. By today's standards, the processing power seems puny -- but writing text is not a heavy demand of resources, and in fact, is the least. The broadband access seems a bit slower but once there is a response, it seems to be total and complete rather than halfway -- as frequently happened with my PC experience.
The model I found so compelling is the G4 -- which is unlike any other computer I've seen. It seems to be a hybrid between the desktop and the notebook -- and then some, because unlike either of the other versions, seems to be ergonomically and aestethically designed. One can only get them used now -- because it was discontinued.
But reloaded and enhanced, it is quite the computing experience I'm just relearning -- that what used to be at the bottom, is now at the top, and what was on the right, is now on the left. So Thinking Differently is the appropriate first entry with my new capacity.
posted by Mike Hu @ 10:22 AM
5 comments
5 Comments:
Sounds like a great new computer. I am in need of a new one myself, hopefully will find a good one in after Christmas sales.
I especialy like the title of this post. In my own life this has been quite true, from very small things that go wrong and annoy me, only to then provide an unexpected blessing in my day, to the very large crises that I've weathered that have taught me some profound lessons and made me who I am today - I person that I am proud to say I like very much!
Whatever happens is reality -- and how one responds to that reality defines one's life.
Winning and losing is really a judgment rather than a definitive assessment of an outcome. In everything, there are many ways of winning -- and many ways of losing, and one doesn't know for certain which is which, and so going by what "feels" right is as good as any.
One knows when it doesn't feel right too. At every juncture, the choice is simple -- what feels right and what feels wrong, and by those simple choices, one ends up in a place one could never have imagined beforehand.
If you feel good about your life, there must be a reason.
Another migration I had to make was moving from AOL as ISP to AOL on the web -- which means the emails now come with advertising, which is integral to being on the web these days.
The only exceptions are web pages one creates and declines the option to advertise on. Those email programs that come truly free without advertising are so unappealing and useless that they are no longer viable options. In fact, it seems that if one chooses those options, the email program deliberately scrambles, truncates and unformats one’s writing so as to make one seem utterly foolish.
Some internet browsers allow one to do no formatting at all -- which is quite a handicap for writers. Nothing but the most rudimentary and gutteral exchanges -- which an unfortunate few, think is all that is possible.
So whenever one has to change, he nootices all the changes and choices he’s come to take for granted -- as the only way things are and can ever be. Most changes take place because of that urgency, rather than people getting up one morning and deciding to do everything differently, freshly, intelligently. They just go through the motions thinking nothing is related to anything else, and hope today will be like every day before. There is this great inertia, weight and burden of their lives -- with no exit, but countless diversions, distractions, entrapments.
Change, movement, momentum are alien concepts threatening to disrupt their lives and security; they create layers around themselves to make them immune from that contact with reality as it is happening and unfolding. They retreat to the world of the past, to the knowledge of the familiar and old, invariably calling it the best of all possible worlds. We just need to go back, they offer as a prescription for the future. They see the new only with the old lens and standards -- not considering that the new can be something else entirely, without the limitations of the old understanding -- formed in an earlier time.
In individuals, that is seen as dragging one’s baggage around, suffocating any possibility for experiencing life anew, differently, freshly. Those are the 5% worth determining -- the true leaders of these times, as in every other.
What is different in these times is that that 5% gets to communicate with one another as their 100% of human contact -- rather than living in despair of ever meeting another intelligent person in their lives. People would often ask, “Is there intelligent life in the universe?”
Now, a better question is, “How do I make my presence known to the intelligent life in the universe?” Is it by calling everybody else, “Stupid?” by which I display my own intelligence, or is that stupidity made manifest?
Is intelligence that which cannot discriminate one quality from any other? Or is intelligence sharp discernment of those things that actually matter -- even though they’ve never been observed and discussed before? Knowledge is only of the known, and what is desired, is the unknown.
I wonder if my writing has gotten better in these past few days -- or just looks different.
I always enjoy it!
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