Fixing Broken Things
The light blue square ipod nano has been my favorite thing for a number of years. Much of my ability to cope in some of the most stressful times could be attributed to the number of playlists and podcasts that were endlessly streaming while I ran column after column and experiment after experiment in my last few months in graduate school, and also the very functional clip that made it so easy to bring along on my workouts and increased my exercise that has helped me cope through transitioning as a post-graduate human being. Therefore, one can imagine my distress when it became a lower functioning electronic than I have been used to.
It was a mystery for a while, because the screen would flicker between black and display, initially causing me to think that it was a power issue. However, I could still play music, sync to my mac to change playlists, and I could still finger swipe through the menu (when it was working), therefore it didn't seem quite broken enough. Without the screen though, I would have to blindly navigate to get to what I wanted and sometimes I couldn't find it at all. This was highly frustrating because every now and then it would still work adequately and give me just enough hope to not replace it.
Finally though, the screen stopped working altogether.
Instead of completely giving up, I ordered a repair kit.
Upon it's arrival, I was pretty excited to see if I could fix it. I'd not fixed any type of electronic before, and I was extremely invested in my ipod. I went through all the necessary steps: heating up the display to loosen the adhesive, prying up the black screen out of its casing, using a very small glasses repair screwdriver to get out the painfully small screws, carefully prying up the electronics piece and then with as much if not more care replacing the screen with the part that had come in the mail. Amazingly, I closed back up the casing and took a deep breath. I pushed the power button and to my utter disbelief and complete surprise it worked like brand new!! I felt so ecstatic that I had fixed my favorite thing! The exclamation points are not enough to express how excited I was to have this back in my life, so just trust me, I was very happy and very hopeful.
Within a few days, strange things started happening. The electronics seemed off and the screen would show up inverted, almost like I was looking through the back of the screen and instead of saying "playing" it would say "gniyalp" but all mirror style. It also required me to be really careful about how the screen was, because if I didn't hold it just right, the display wouldn't show up at all. Within a few more days, it was completely broken, and this time, seemingly beyond repair.
I now listen to music on my phone. I'm confused about what happened and why fixing it didn't work. Everything seemed like it was going so well, and yet, it still ended up not working properly. I think that I realized that I didn't have enough expertise to fix it completely - either the part was wrong, or I didn't understand where and how everything needed to go. It seems so strange to go from an almost completely fixed ipod to nothing. I get mad at my inability to fix it. What I'm left with is an extremely sad feeling that I have to accept that it's broken but somehow it's easier to say than do. I guess some things that are broken, just can't be fixed but as a person who is so unwilling to accept defeat I'm just left dazed at how it all went down.
For now, my phone is fine. I miss my ipod terribly though.
Stage Two.
It was a mystery for a while, because the screen would flicker between black and display, initially causing me to think that it was a power issue. However, I could still play music, sync to my mac to change playlists, and I could still finger swipe through the menu (when it was working), therefore it didn't seem quite broken enough. Without the screen though, I would have to blindly navigate to get to what I wanted and sometimes I couldn't find it at all. This was highly frustrating because every now and then it would still work adequately and give me just enough hope to not replace it.
Finally though, the screen stopped working altogether.
Instead of completely giving up, I ordered a repair kit.
Upon it's arrival, I was pretty excited to see if I could fix it. I'd not fixed any type of electronic before, and I was extremely invested in my ipod. I went through all the necessary steps: heating up the display to loosen the adhesive, prying up the black screen out of its casing, using a very small glasses repair screwdriver to get out the painfully small screws, carefully prying up the electronics piece and then with as much if not more care replacing the screen with the part that had come in the mail. Amazingly, I closed back up the casing and took a deep breath. I pushed the power button and to my utter disbelief and complete surprise it worked like brand new!! I felt so ecstatic that I had fixed my favorite thing! The exclamation points are not enough to express how excited I was to have this back in my life, so just trust me, I was very happy and very hopeful.
Within a few days, strange things started happening. The electronics seemed off and the screen would show up inverted, almost like I was looking through the back of the screen and instead of saying "playing" it would say "gniyalp" but all mirror style. It also required me to be really careful about how the screen was, because if I didn't hold it just right, the display wouldn't show up at all. Within a few more days, it was completely broken, and this time, seemingly beyond repair.
I now listen to music on my phone. I'm confused about what happened and why fixing it didn't work. Everything seemed like it was going so well, and yet, it still ended up not working properly. I think that I realized that I didn't have enough expertise to fix it completely - either the part was wrong, or I didn't understand where and how everything needed to go. It seems so strange to go from an almost completely fixed ipod to nothing. I get mad at my inability to fix it. What I'm left with is an extremely sad feeling that I have to accept that it's broken but somehow it's easier to say than do. I guess some things that are broken, just can't be fixed but as a person who is so unwilling to accept defeat I'm just left dazed at how it all went down.
For now, my phone is fine. I miss my ipod terribly though.
Stage Two.
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