No One Can Have a Perfect Life!

 

(Image: Irasutoya)

A few weeks ago, I went to the Apple Store on Orchard Road and bought a new MacBook Air. This replaces my previous laptop, a MacBook Pro bought in 2018, which was having some battery problems. According to the sales staff who inspected my old device, the batteries were an old model that was no longer manufactured, and as such, could not be replaced. Given the situation, I bought a new device on the spot.

Nevertheless, as my previous laptop was still in working condition as long as it was plugged in for power with a charging cable, I continued using it for more than a month. Since I bought my new laptop, I’ve been busy with my work and studies, and couldn’t be bothered with installing it for the longest time. This afternoon, I finally succeeded in resisting my inertia and got my new MacBook Air set up in my living room.

Right off the bat, I had a bit of a problem on my new computer trying to access an Excel spreadsheet I had saved on iCloud Drive from my old MacBook Pro. Much as I tried to refresh the data on iCloud, the new machine wouldn’t display my existing files.

Feeling a bit exasperated, I turned to ChatGPT for help. Thanks to this excellent AI chatbot, I learned that the issue was caused by the discrepancy between the Apple IDs used on the two devices—my old machine was logged in with a Singapore-based ID, whereas my new one was logged in with a US-based ID. As soon as I used the same login profile on both laptops, I was able to access my previous files on iCloud Drive immediately.

I wouldn’t characterise myself as technophobic, but my IT literacy isn’t that spectacular, either. Until today, I didn’t know the difference between Apple’s iCloud Drive and Microsoft’s OneDrive, as I only use Google Drive and Dropbox as far as cloud services go. I’m a reasonably proficient user of Microsoft Excel, but I don’t know how to code.

Recently, I had to move my Anki flashcard decks for my French studies from my laptop to an external drive due to the lack of storage space, and I had to rely entirely on ChatGPT for the steps necessary to carry out the move. Because I have no knowledge in coding, I didn’t understand the script generated by ChatGPT, and had to go through hours of trial and error before finally gaining access to my flashcards from the new location on my external drive.

I’ve felt the need to study basic coding skills for at least a few years, but I’ve always put it off due to my other priorities, notably my English and French studies. As English is my primary language of communication in my career, I can never relinquish my learning activities, especially my writing practice.

That leaves me with only my French studies available to be discontinued if necessary, but the problem is that I don’t want to give them up now, not due to the sunk-cost fallacy on my part, but because I genuinely enjoy learning this beautiful language. Knowing myself, I’m sure there will come a time when I will finally relinquish studying French, either because I get bored or because the temptation to study something else—such as coding, or even some other language—grows stronger than my interest in the language of Rousseau.

Either way, I’m acutely aware that I only have so much time available in a day to pursue my personal interests. I need to stay focused only on things I truly enjoy, even at the expense of something that appears highly relevant and important for me. No one can have a perfect life, and as painful as it may be, we need to accept compromises and sacrifices from time to time.