That Bulb Needs Changing.

That bulb needs changing.

Yes, that is correct. And I think this one line is going to sum up my experiences as an adult. This bulb could be a metaphor, or in fact, it could be a real bulb. What I am trying to indicate is that being an adult means that something, somewhere in life, is broken and needs fixing. Always. All the time. I don’t think this is a phase, I think this is a requirement for adult life.

As soon as you enter your late twenties and early thirties, all the appliances in your house conspire together to never let you be at peace. They talk and collude. They create a problem small enough to be annoying, but not big enough to warrant immediate action. It exists in that perfect sweet spot of constant background annoyance.

It has been an okay-ish day. My "micro-manager" gave me feedback on how I failed to peer into his brain, picking the exact words he would have used in an email to the client. Yes, that is an actual expectation. (Sam Altman? Elon Musk? Can we get moving on Neuralink? It would be really helpful for people with bosses.) 

Anyway, I am sitting on my round sofa, finally forcing myself to read a book. I had been in a slump for weeks! I am trying to focus. I was determined to ignore the constant pings from Teams. I am so distracted that I kept stopping, having to re-read lines. There goes another ping. Stop. Sorry for digressing.

Then, mid-sentence, a bulb in the three-bulb chandelier, if you can even call it that, simply turned off. No warning, no flickering, just poof. It was that perfect signal flare.

And this is my cure, writing about it. I have a hypothesis: All the bulbs in my house have decided to be that slight irritant in my life, and no matter how recently I have changed them, one of them is always not working. I have had electricians come check; I have changed bulb holders, I have changed the bulbs themselves. But nope. One of them is always not working.

And this, my friends, is a metaphor for life as an adult. Something always needs fixing. Kitna bhi try karlo bunny, kuch na kuch kharab reh hi jaega. That is just life.