It started last summer. Actually,
maybe it was the beginning of last year. Here's the setup. Many years ago I
bought a handbag made by Eagle Creek. First, it held everything I needed to
carry with me, yet was still small enough that I wasn't tempted to carry more
than I needed. Plus, the manufacturer said it has a lifetime repair guarantee.
Should a zipper or the brackets holding the straps break, I could mail it to a
designated repair place, and it would be fixed. So I bought a second, identical
bag, so when I had to send the first one off for repair, I'd just start using
the second, and vice versa.
After years of happily doing this, I
noticed that the times between breakdown were getting shorter. When the zipper
on bag2 broke just a few months after repaired bag1 had been returned to me, I
started using repaired bag1, but didn't send bag2 to the repair shop. Why
not? Did I think the repair people were getting tired of fixing my bags? Did I
think they weren't replacing the broken zipper with a new one, but were simply
straightening out the old zipper so it would work—for a while? Whatever, bag2
sat on my desk, and still sits there.
Meanwhile, last summer, the main
zipper on bag1, which used to zip either to the right or to the left, is now
only zipping in one direction. Which means, oh, I won't go into the OCD details
of why this matters. The fact is, both bags need fixing now, and I can't send
both of them to the repair shop unless I have another handbag to carry my
essentials. And I'm not buying a new bag.
But it's not just these two
broken-zipper bags. About a month ago, I wanted to wear a long-sleeved shirt,
but when I went to open that drawer of my bureau, it wouldn't move. Ah, that
explained the odd loud, unexplained noise I'd heard the night before. I jiggled
the drawer—no change. I removed the drawer above and the drawer below, but
there was no way to access whatever had broken inside to block that drawer from
opening. I should add that about a year earlier, a piece that ensures smooth
opening of the top drawer had also broken, but that drawer still opens and
closes. I should further add that this bureau is older than I am. Blond wood,
Heywood Wakefield, circa 1940, one of the first pieces of furniture my parents
bought after they got married, I think.
My first impulse was to replace it
with an identical bureau. An Internet search revealed that all such bureaus are
used, and who knows what shape they are in, if I can "inspect" them
only via computer screen. Further Internet research revealed that no bureaus I
can inspect in a store have exactly the dimensions of my old bureau. Plus, they
are really expensive. Finally, I took a long (subway plus bus) ride out to Ikea
in Red Hook, Brooklyn, where I saw a couple of bureaus that might work, but I
have to write out their dimensions and compare them to what I have to make sure
I am making the absolute correct choice—especially since what I really want is
a replica, not something different. (Is this more OCD?)
And wait, there's more. A couple of
weeks ago, my printer stopped working because the yellow cartridge was empty.
The cartridges of this Epson printer do seem to run out frequently, Was it
annoyance over this apparent fact that prevented me from going out that day or
the next to buy more cartridges? Whatever, it took over a week for me to buy
the required cartridge and another few days to replace it. Once I'd made the
replacement, I clicked "Copy," the first task I needed done. The
printer made its usual sounds, paper came out—but nothing was on it. Meanwhile,
I'd left the printer open (so I could remove the old cartridge and take it to
the stationery store to show what I needed; doesn't everybody do that?). Had
that caused some harm to the printer's innards? I don't know, because I have
neither taken the printer to a repair place nor called Epson for repair help;
I'd have to dig out my receipt to see if the printer is still under warranty,
and the longer I wait, the more likely it won't be.
So, three major parts of my daily
living are broken, and I'm making little to no progress in getting them fixed.
What is wrong with me?
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