Back to Simpler Times

I’ve been bitten by the nostalgia bug lately. Blame it on the old school issue that’s coming up. They say regression is a form of escapism, a release from the pressure of current times. Though, who wouldn’t want to escape in tumultuous times as these?

I’ve been regaling quite a lot with video games. No surprise, then, that I’ve been asked to wax sentimental about the earlier Pentium 133 games. Back then, my computer could hardly hack the requirements. These days, I’m finding it hacks them a little too well. So well that my computer refuses to recognize inferior programming code.

No matter what I try, it’s always about compatibility issues. Some would but with some aspect of performance greatly debilitated. You either have to have a miraculously antique system to run it, or a heavily handicapped modern one.

It’s a lot like that in the office as well. The new struggle to work with the limitations of the old. The old in turn do what they can to keep up. It’s not always a pretty picture. No matter how hard you try to get the two to work harmoniously, the new will always have to slow down. It’s not like you can revert back to old school either. Progress forbids it.

It’s a matter of teaching an old dog new tricks. It’s not entirely impossible. Just very tedious — an act that can try the very limits of your patience. It’s the enthusiasm to learn that makes it easier.

And for the new? It’s always helpful to look back on old times, just so we don’t take for granted how easy we have it now. The farther back you look. The more you realize how simple things were. It’s amazing how our efforts to simplify things complicate them all the more.