passwords
Secret Passwords
By Maurice
Vocabulary
| evil | another | think/thought |
| hate | usual | episode |
| growl | switch | stomach |
| screen | appear | message |
| click | expire | password |
| server | change (2) | what’s more |
| at least | previous | uppercase |
| stare | cursor | lowercase |
| blink | input | space |
| tip | suddenly | remember |
| finish | character | presentation |
| idle | whenever | forgive/forgave/forgiven |
| mood | spirits | throughout |
| prompt | wonder | one-hit-wonder |
| heal | pass | passage of time |
| retch | inhale | touch |
| forward | weight | look forward to |
| gain | lose | lose weight |
| share | modify | gain weight |
Depression
How could she do this to me? She is ssssoooo EVIL! I HATE her! (My wife had run off with another man). I thought about this every day. All day long.
The Message
It was during this episode of my life, that I arrived at my office, 20 minutes later than usual. I sat in front of my PC, switched it on…and waited. I had slept about five-and-a-half hours last night, and my stomach was growling.
Then a message appeared on my screen:
Your password has expired.
Click ‘Change password’ to change your password.
Oh God. Not again.
At our workplace, the system server is programmed to have all company employees change their passwords. Every 30 days.
What’s more, we must include at least one uppercase letter, at least one lowercase letter, and at least one number. The password has to also be at least eight characters in length (the longer, the better). And we can’t use any of our previous passwords.
I needed to finish a Power-Point presentation for a 10 o’clock meeting.
But I just sat there staring at the blinking cursor in the input space.
Suddenly
Then suddenly – I remembered a tip I had read somewhere on the internet.
And so I typed in my new password: 1ForgiveHer
Everyone here had to type in their password whenever their computer locked because it had been idle for five minutes.
As before, I typed in my new password throughout the day.
The Result
By the middle of the week, my mood began to change. By the end of the second week, I was in good spirits.
Next
On the following month, the server once again prompted me to renew my password.
This time I wrote 1QuitSmoking4ever
I entered this password for three weeks – but nothing happened. I kept smoking about 12 cigarettes a day, as usual. Perhaps my previous success was just a one-hit-wonder. Maybe it was just the passage of time that healed me, and not the password itself.
Three Weeks
Then, at the end of the third week, I took out a cigarette, lit it, inhaled – and nearly retched. “It’s bad cig,” I thought. So I got and lit another…and another…but the same thing happened.
From that moment on, I never touched another cigarette.
The Following Week
A week later, my new password became
1EatMoreVegetables.
Since then I have been doing just that – and losing weight.
Now, I really look forward to changing passwords, like a kid waiting for Christmas. For the past two years, this method has worked for me, actually about 66% to 75% of the time.
Emailing
I have shared it with friends and relatives.
One modification they have made was emailing the message of what they want to themselves, throughout the day.
And my most recent password was this: Save4Ring
Yep. Life is going to change, once again.
Questions
1. How did the writer (Maurice) feel in the beginning? Why did he feel this way?
2. “I had slept 5 1/2 hours last night, and my stomach was growling.” Why had he slept only 5.5 hours that night? Why was his stomach growling?
3. In the beginning, he was happy to see the “change your password” message. Is this true or false?
4. Describe the password requirements.
5. Did he have an idea? What happened?
6. How did he quit smoking?
7. Later was the writer happy to see the “change your password” prompt?
8. Does it always work for him?
9. What was a modification of the affirmation?
10. What happened in the end?
A. Do you have to enter email addresses, usernames or passwords? Are you required to change them periodically? Do you enjoy that?
B. Have you heard of affirmations and visualization?
