Empty Promises and Procrastination
“Babe, can you give me a hand in here?” my girlfriend called from the kitchen.
“Coming,” I replied, while moving my knight to b4.
In just 15 seconds — or so it felt — I sprung from my office chair. The leather’s creak was muffled by my irritated snort after losing yet another game to what was probably an 8-year-old kid halfway across the world. I was playing chess, he was playing with my expectations of victory.
When I finally made it to the kitchen, my girlfriend had her eyebrows raised in exasperation, her mouth slightly agape, with one cheek tensed as if she’d reached her limit. As our eyes met, she quickly looked away, her irritation evident.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“I asked for your help,” she pointed out.
“And here I am,” I replied, a bit confused.
“I’ve asked for your help 5 minutes ago!”
Ouch. That little trickster not only played with my expectations but also with my notion of space and time.
This situation felt familiar; being humiliated in chess, and losing track of time when someone was waiting for me. For the sake of my pride, let’s focus on the latter.
