I am a right brain person. If it involves imagination, complex ideas, music, writing (well, that’s a given), even medicine (it’s an art and a science), you can hand me the job and it’ll be done. I am not a left brain person. Most students at Caltech are left brain students, studying the hard sciences and thinking abstract mathematics and quantum physics. This might come as a surprise but I spent many years as an accounting manager, followed by a career as a professional consultant converting mainframe systems to desktop Oracle software. I didn’t do the technical database management or write programs, but I still had to chase details, test software, and, here’s the creative part, find a way to get the old system to function the way employees needed it to, only better.

This is why I have to laugh at myself. It’s been a long time since software made me cry, literally. I grew to love computers as my slaves, doing what I asked them to do without complaining, although at times the old turn it off and back on again advice was the best solution more times than I will admit. So it didn’t seem terribly daunting that as the limited functions of this particular blog (wordpress.COM) became evident, my choice was to switch to a new platform (wordpress.ORG). There I was promised divinity and functions beyond my wildest dreams.

Here is where being left brained might have been an asset. Having purchased 3 years of hosting service, the service happily uploaded the software and then left me to fend for myself. I won’t detail the ugly 48 hours preceding the solution. I can say it wasn’t pleasant, I have a new grey streak of hair, cried half a box of tissues worth. I have been bombarded with new terminology, methodology, functionality, and the inability to simply log in to the new site. Why? Because this site, running on wordpress.COM, was still running. And there was a circular loop that sent me here every time I tried to get to the new host and software (dot ORG).

It’s  been a long time since I gave up on anything. I have been thrown from horses, struggled through two college degrees as an adult, and learned to program a VCR. I know a carburetor from an alternator, designed a kitchen and fireplace overhaul (there’s the right brain in command), and learned to use an iPhone. Dealing with so called videos to guide me, chats with support, even dragging my software developer husband into the chaos still didn’t conquer the issue.

So our grand solution: live with the limited functionality of the wordpress.COM and cancel the three years of hosting a wordpress.ORG blog. I’m happier already! Here I am, posting my gripe as bloggers do, because I’d rather get back to writing another book instead of untangling the spider’s web I’d become ensnared in. More like the world wide web, I suppose.

Life is short. I don’t want to spend my time doing what frustrates me when I could pay someone else and free myself to let my right brain out to play. I encourage all people to find what they are good at and do it; know what you’re not good at and let someone else do it. Life is good again.