Aww, It Ain't REALLY Broke...

...so I'm not fixin' it!

You ever have something that you know was broken, but you just got attached to it so you never actually fix it? I know for a lot of you you're thinking in terms of broken relationships; that's not exactly what I'm referring to... but it qualifies.

Anyway, I have this strange attachment to broken things. It's like, when something gets broken, it develops a unique personality to me; its brokenness gives it a distinction that nothing else of its type can obtain.

I had a computer that I got in 2000. It was an eMachines computer running on Windows ME. It was hit by so many viruses that I lost track; the DVD-ROM drive, which didn't even have a burner, stopped operating YEARS ago. New programs came and went and it didn't take long for my comp to find itself outdated. But I never went out and fixed it up; I got attached to it just as it was. I used to talk at it and push it along and pray that it wouldn't crash on me. And for 7 years it didn't; that's miraculous because nowadays even the most advanced computers don't last more than 3 years.

(Rest in peace my friend.)

I grew up on broken video game controllers, and because of that I can now juice anybody with ease; the handicap ended up giving me the advantage. Even now, my controller has a loose piece rattling around inside it, two broken trigger-buttons. But when I'm desperate, two quick shakes and a good smack and I'm plastering everything on the screen, lol

I have a broken dresser drawer; I just use it to hold my keyboard or my drum machine or whatever it can fit. I never believed in functional fixedness, and the drawer just helped me reinforce the belief.

I wear some rusty sneakers from about 5-6 years ago; they don't have any holes, just cuts and scrapes, so they fulfill their function. Why waste the cheese? It's called resourcefulness; styles come and go, but a shoe is a shoe.

It's cool when people come to my house, maybe visiting or something, and they try to use my stuff. I've become so adjusted to my broken empire than it becomes second nature for me to operate everything... but no one else can do it, lol. It reminds me of that drawer on Sanford and Son that wouldn't open unless Fred or Lamont hit it just right; everything around me has that "just right" property.

Brokenness is in the mind of the operator, I guess. Either adjust or upgrade. But upgrading costs waaaay too much, and I'm a thrifty young man, lol...

We'll Save Broken Relationships for Another Episode... B-J