Temper, Temper

Some days I have a temper and very little patience. Most of the time I’m quite mellow and can let things slide off my back with relative ease but sometimes little, seemingly harmless, things find their way in and cause me to have a melt down. This can consist of a simple crying fit but other times it can escalate into gnashing of teeth, colorful words, and the hitting of inanimate objects.

forgotten passwords are the root of all evil
forgotten passwords are the root of all evil

Today the cause was the computer, as it usually is. The computer and I have a love-hate relationship. When things are going well, we’re the best of friends; it brings such joy into my life. but when things are not going well, they go downhill fast.  It doesn’t help that my computer knowledge is very subjective. The mature thing to do would be to wait for my husband to get home and show me what to do, but there’s a big(stubborn) part of me that craves the satisfaction that comes from figuring it out on my own. So I fought with the computer for over an hour, doing the same things over and over again hoping that this time it would work.

 

“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results”

 

When my son asked, “Mom, did you just growl?” I thought maybe it was time to  relent a bit and at least let him help me. He tried, but he couldn’t get it to work correctly either (is it wrong that I found satisfaction in that fact?) I should have closed it down and left it for later but instead, I took it as a personal affront to me: the computer was out to get me and I wasn’t about to let it win!

tell me that file is invalid one more time. I DARE you.
tell me the file is invalid ONE. MORE. TIME.

I ended up having a tantrum just a few minutes before Husband arrived home from work. He found me close to tears and so worked up that I couldn’t form words enough to tell him what was wrong, just “THE COMPUTER!” after some deep breaths I was able to communicate to him my dilemma. he clicked around a little, and solved the problem in under five minutes.

oh, COME ON!

I desperately needed to decompress after that, not even being able to reap the benefits of the fixed computer. instead, I slapped on my headphones, hit my Tranquil playlist and tried to calm myself down (that playlist works wonders for me. maybe I should rename it Saving Grace) The whole thing was ridiculous! I find comfort in the fact that I must not be alone in my strife, or there wouldn’t be smileys like this:

computer6

Richard has said that he’s stubborn, bad tempered, moody, and once in awhile even has one of those throwing-the-chair-out-the-window moments that usually results in saying hurtful things that he can’t take back. while I doubt he sinks to my low level, it’s comforting to know that he loses it too some days. I wonder if he knows what it feels like to growl until your throat hurts, or how your body can ache after an adrenaline surge?

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7 thoughts on “Temper, Temper

  1. I feel your pain. I can never decide whether to be glad that Hubby can walk in, fiddle around, and solve my technical problems by virtue of having male genitalia alone, or pissed about that fact. Lol

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  2. My sympathies! I don’t knowhow many times I’ve threatened my computer with a hammer for not cooperating! Sadly, my temper is like Richard’s -I tend to throw things when I lose it.

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  3. I also feel a perverse consolation when other people can reproduce but not solve my problems — so I am *not* crazy … hope your computer has now decided to cooperate.

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  4. I’m so glad I didn’t read this until now because it made me laugh loudly. I can so commiserate with you. Yesterday afternoon my computer froze up. I had to just press the off button until it turned off. Computers don’t like this. Now it’s scrambled with strange messages. And it’s still freezing up without warning. The 18-yr. old male on the premises was no help. I thought they were all genetically predispositioned to program dvd recorders and solve all tech issues. Time to visit the Geek Squad. Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

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    1. yes, I thought my 14 yr. old son would be able to solve my dilemma lickity-split but he ended up knowing even less than I did! in his defense, I did browse through the help section first. when my husband sat down to work his magic though, he asked me why I didn’t use the customer service chat option “b/c I didn’t want to feel stupid in front of a stranger”. duh. isn’t that obvious? 🙄

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  5. I find few things more frustrating than a computer when I’m having a problem. We can be going along as great friends and then it turns on me. I had a geek husband but he is no longer around. My son can figure some things out but he doesn’t have the natural geek gene. I’ve stooped to research and customer service.

    I worked with Linksys on my wi-fi for a day and a half last week. The good news is they didn’t charge me, the bad news is it is almost as bad as before I worked with them but randomly now. I don’t know if you’ve ever had a “random” problem but they are impossible. Just when you go to show someone the issue it works perfectly. I haven’t thrown anything yet but I scare the dog when I yell at the computer.

    My son always makes comments like “you are the only one who seems to have these problems” and it makes me crazy. Of course that is why he says it. I’m so much fun to tease 😉 Similar to what Servetus said, I am oddly thrilled when the problem happens for him.

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