When gadgets are broken I take them apart. I have been doing this since I was young.
I never took a class in construction, electronics, circuitry, carpentry, I just took things apart because it made sense. Sometimes that meant by the end of the day, we ended up with a dissected toaster, entrails of bolts, springs, carcasses of metal lying about.
I have always had some kind of intuition when it comes to mechanics and how things work. Even if it took hours and days to figure out how the push of a button led to the cooking of rice, I was enticed by the idea that everything, when put together correctly, worked flawlessly.
It’s an interesting contradiction. I am by no means graceful (see Day 26), in fact, I may be the opposite. However, I work with minuscule and delicate pieces of hardware everyday. Screws that are so tiny, they are as small as an ant. And yet, I am adroit and skilled when it comes to this.
As a secondary part of my daily activities (see Day 14 for my anti-oppression work, which is my primary passion) I fix Macs. I started because I started taking computers apart as a hobby. This was an extension of my childhood vivisection of our household appliances. Then I found myself fixing everyone else’s computers, iPods, iPhones, iPads and more. And it has turned into a surprising source of additional income.
I enjoy this work because it is detail oriented. There is the reward at the end that I have restored an apparatus to its proper function, and in many ways, the patience it requires is meditative. It is straightforward problem solving. For every quandary, there is a solution, provided you have the right tools and parts. I used to think life was like this, that people were like this. But have learned that with people and life, the flow is intentional. If something is broken, it is deliberate, and there is growth to be had from that break.
When you work on enough gadgets and computers, you end up with pieces, screws and enclosures. All discarded, because other parts weren’t working. At some point you end up with enough working parts to make a whole. And this is how I am ending up with my releases for the next two days.
On day 27 of my 365 Release I am releasing a 2nd generation iPod Touch that I frankensteined from various and sundry iPod Touches over time to finally find enough parts to make a singularly functioning unit. It works meticulously and is in excellent cosmetic condition.
I myself don’t actually own an iPod of any type mainly because when I am out I don’t want the sounds around me to be dampened. I would get entirely lost in my universe never to emerge again.
An additional feature, for those not already aware, now even the iPod Touch can be used to send unlimited texts and make/receive calls from a wireless range.
So with this iPod Touch, I am releasing many parts that make up a whole, understanding that everything is connected, everything can contribute toward creating something that works, and with enough patience, you can make magic happen.
[I created the 365 Release Project to practice non-attachment, letting go and change by giving away 1 thing a day for 1 year. The background, vision and guidelines to the 365 RELEASE project are here. The running list of everything I have released is here.]
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