One of my lovely sons, after much encouragement on his side and much resistance on mine, persuaded me that it was high time to exchange my old pc computer for an iMac. And bless him, he actually got it delivered to my home to prevent me from changing my mind. It lay under my desk in its box for a month or so, until my idleness during lockdown made me unpack it and install it with the help of my son's long-distance instructions. To my relief, he arranged things so that at all times he could see what was going on on my computer, and help me start learning how to use it. I tried very hard not to give way to my usual panic at learning about any new piece of equipment, so am now fairly at ease with it, although occasionally casting a sad eye back to what I could do on my much simpler pc.
Gradually over the next few months I have learnt a complicated new computer language, with many false steps and many odd deletions. But no false stop and no deletion was as bad as what I did last week. By some mischance, instead of merely deleting one name from a folder on which I invited people to have access to one of the video series I have recorded for China, I apparently deleted all the 20 video recordings (about 30 hours in total). Despite frantic calls to my son to see whether I could retrieve them they have apparently disappeared for good from my computer. They include the videos in which I record my life as a five element acupuncturist, from my first days at acupuncture college to my last visit to China, a time which coincides with the growth of five element acupuncture.
At first somewhat disturbed at having destroyed so many recordings about my life, I now realise that it has given me a chance to look at that life from a different viewpoint a few months further on, when I am a little older and the world has turned on, too, in many ways which have been so difficult. All this, Brexit, Covid, Afghanistan, global warming, all these traumas we are going through have impacted upon me, and like all things, have affected the way I, and the elements that form me, particularly my Fire Element, with its dominant Small Intestine official, have had to learn to adapt. So I am trying to see this as an opportunity to look at my life again from a different perspective.
Happy update a week later!
Good news! I have managed to retrieve all the video recordings I thought I had deleted in error. I had the happy idea to ask my Chinese friends whether they could post the videos I had originally sent them back to me, thinking this might be a bit unlikely but worth a try. And now here they all are back at home on my computer.
But I'm still going to record some more thoughts about My Life as a Five Element Acupuncturist to add to the original series.
Back up (take a copy) of everything. Some people even back up their backups.
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