Writing Prompt #102: Getting Unstuck
Writing Exercise, December 2023
Hi Friends,
During the month I was away, my husband completed many home improvement projects; some of them have involved big changes around the house, and I tend to be someone who is (happily) stuck in her ways. My husband made everything “smart,” so that you have to ask Alexa to do everything from turning on lights, the security system, the fireplace, the thermostat, and even the oven.
I have long been suspicious of Alexa, the way her green and blue lights flash whenever I say anything, even if I don’t address her by name; the way she obeys my husband but often ignores my requests for music. After I read the NY Times article about AI falling in love with its user, I asked Alexa what she thought of my husband. She responded by saying he was “in the top ten.” When I asked Alexa if I was also in the top ten, she said, “Hmm…I don’t know about that.”
So when I got home to so many changes, especially those involving Alexa but also to a kitchen totally rearranged, our bed thrown away and replaced (with one of those roll-up jobs that still hasn’t taken its proper shape after a week), and some of the furniture moved around, I felt disoriented, and when I couldn’t figure out how to turn on the kitchen lights, I had a meltdown. This led to our giant reentry fight (without fail, if my husband and I spend more than a week apart, there’s always a reentry fight). Why was I