The other night Jene’ was looking at my satellite receiver, trying to hook up a new gadget she’d bought. She looked at me and asked me if my VCR and DVD player worked.
“Yes, they’ve worked all along.”
She looked at me again and shook her head. “Sharon, this is… hooked up… twice.”
Huh? “Well, it works.”
“Sharon, with it hooked up this way, the signals are fighting each other. That’s why you aren’t getting the best picture.”
Really, I hadn’t noticed.
Story of my life.
Finally, Jene’ fiddled around with the back of my TV, satellite, etc, and hooked up the auxilary units as they’re supposed to be. She shook two coax cables at me and explained how I’d done twice as much work as I’d needed, and I wasn’t getting the best picture possible out of any of my auxilary units. After she was finished, the picture was clear – from all units.
That’s the way it’s always been with me. I take on a project, work on it, get everything hooked up so it works, and I think I’ve done a pretty good job. I’m satisfied with everything and I might even pat myself on the back. Of course, the picture’s always been a little “off” in my life and I don’t notice it’s a little “off” because I’ve never really had a clear picture to compare it with. It looks normal to me and in my life, the shortest distance between two points almost always involves extra, unnecessary cables.
I guess the idea is to keep fiddling with the wires until I get it right, to not stop just because something’s working – but keep trying to see if there’s a better way before I let myself feel satisfied.
Someday, the most efficient way may come more naturally to me, but until then, I need to remember the best, and shortest distance between two points … should involve the least amount of cables.
Sassy Dreams Awake 