The word of the week: sabotage.
Gremlins are everywhere at work in my life lately…locking up my computer, shutting down my phone, silencing my recording equipment, stopping work and creative pursuits at every turn. I’m missing deadlines. “Restore. Recover. Repeat.” Again. One more time. It’s hard not to take it personally. Some suggest planetary juju, cosmic misalignment. “Blame it on the Mayans.” My engineer says to blame it on PG&E for power surges and voltage dips to the East Bay (more believable 😉 No P- I don’t believe evil comes in 3’s.
What I’ve learned the hard way:
1) To synch is not to back up. Back up your phone. Not doing so regularly has me stepping back into life 6 months ago.
2) Back up your computer. Anything you care about- back it up 2 places- one of which should be offsite in case of fire or failed hard-drives.
3) Keep going. Gremlins are temporary.
The best thing about loss and recovery- starting fresh. Feeling lighter. My computer is now set up only to record music, something I should have done long ago. I have removed every piece of paper in my studio to enforce this new rule. Tabula Rasa is an official dedication to a new purpose; empty is free.
But I am suspicious: gremlins, are you really gone? You may be taking a break, percolating behind firewalls, new software, partitions… regrouping.
The best coping mechanism through a gremlin attack?
Hot chocolate with cinnamon; Mexican hot chocolate. Don’t follow the directions of ‘one bar per serving’: add 3. And add extra cinnamon. Espresso shots make it a Mexican mocha. It’s OK to scream first. But then, be sure to relax, and sip very slowly, with your eyes closed to feel the cinnamon absorbing into your cells while your endorphins slowly rise to better levels.