The Chaos Theory

Which theory is it that says everything is moving from order to disorder? Is it called the chaos theory? Well, if it isn't, it should be. I have my own chaos theory in my house, which is that the number of things that go awry in our house is directly proportional to the amount of time that Erik is gone.

It started with my computer, which is where it always starts. In China, the messages would come into my inbox, hover for about 10 seconds, then zip away into cyberspace never to be seen or heard from again. Back in Singapore, I have the opposite problem. My inbox now suddenly thinks that it filled up a GB of space in a month, and cannot possibly work up the energy or memory to send or receive anything. It's kind of like it had a bad case of the runs and now it's constipated.

On Saturday, I went to wash some sheets and discovered my washing machine wouldn't work. On top of a day fighting allergies, absent-daddy-weary children, and household pests, this was the final straw. In a fit of melodrama, I closed the washer, slammed the top of it a few times with my fists, and let out a fierce yell which may have been heard as far away as Indonesia. Then I calmly took my sheets over to my neighbor's and used her washer.

Not only was my washer shot, it was the actually the outlet that also controls my dryer and my dishwasher. Of course, because that fits in perfectly with my Chaos Theory!

Yesterday, when the printer ink ran out I thought, "Ok, I can handle this one." But when another wardrobe door came off in my hand I just had to start laughing and say, "Are you kidding me universe?"

Thankfully, the opposite of the Chaos Theory is the Whisperer Syndrome, which states that when Erik comes within a two foot radius of any appliance or machine which has previously succumbed to the Chaos Theory, it will right itself without explanation. The unfortunate by-product of this is that I am made to look like an idiot for thinking it didn't work. I can sometimes hear the object snicker in my direction. I don't care. I just want them fixed. And since Erik comes home this afternoon at 4, after traveling for about 36 hours, I know he'll make it all right. That's how great he is.