At The Same Point

I recognized him the moment I stepped into the Notebook Service Centre. It wasn't that hard, actually. After all, he had the same hairstyle, same uniform, same demeanour as he did, one full year ago.

Even the flow of our conversation barely differed from back then, and I accurately predicted his responses to every question I posed. It was almost as if... he hadn't moved from that spot at all, in all the 365 days that had since passed.

Now that's really scary, and I'll try to explain why.

Between the Thomson Muggers, we always said six months was the sweet, magic number to watch for. Every six months, we agreed, you could look back at the changes in your life and you would be amazed at how many developments were impossible to predict.

We tested it by looking six months into the future, and then trying to pinpoint the major changes that lay ahead. Our awkward, amateur prophecies almost always met with the same results - there was simply no way we could describe, with any hint of usefulness, how our lives would develop in the near future.

Of course, we had rough checkpoints to guide us. We could say that in six months we would begin our exchange programs, for example, but beyond that there was no way to predict what type of problems we would face, or how enriching the experience would be.

The futility of trying to wrestle the future into obediently revealing itself further sank in every time we TMs met. Upon catching up properly I would notice changes both subtle and stark, like how Alex had acquired a refined air of independence after her exchange, or how Ivan was looking more and more like a walking corpse after all his medical mugging. There was always change, and we merely had to spot it.

That's why the Notebook Man unsettled me. How did he progress in that one year since? Wouldn't meeting all the people who had streamed into his office, have changed the way he responded to them? When did his replies even begin to acquire their own stifling scent of routine / formality?

Could he still be an employee here, 6 months later, doing the exact same job? Or how about 5 years later? Would I one day break the TMs' Law of Personal Change too, and end up stagnating in terms of personal growth?

It would be nice to for one to always be able to look back and recognize all the little achievements and positive changes, wouldn't you say?