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Learning Function

Strange thoughts can cross my mind in a hotel bathroom after a long flight. It is that moment when the world fades out in the gathering darkness of a strange city and all that matters is a warm shower before going to bed. The shower is so futuristic that no matter which way you turn the shower head refuses to activate. The water flows into the tub and out of reach, alternating between cold and hot. 

 I sit on the edge and soak my feet resigned to give up and go to bed grimy from long day. I don't want to call the front desk and present myself an idiot needing help turning on the shower. I wonder if anyone else in this hotel is struggling just as I am. If unlike me they have the courage to ask for help. What separates someone like me from those who can magically grasp the secrets of strange faucets and get them to yield water at will. Am I all alone in this.

Events like this take me back to my college days when I was struggling with engineering drawing unlike anyone else I knew. Is there a part of my brain that is undeveloped and therefore, I simply do not see what is obvious to others. I have similarly struggled with doors and locks that need something beyond what is "normal" to open. Each such incident brings in its wake a feeling of time standing still and gathering weight as it does. Nothing will move to moment forward to the next step - to that instant when the door opens, the faucet starts to flow, the shower sprays warm water and so on. I did figure out the shower that night but it was an interminable passage of time.

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