p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="6173f6ddeb6579c3a2ac1251648c5f22"It was unusual for Simon to be up so early in the morning. He stood as still as a statue, holding his coffee just below his lips as he peered out of his bedroom's window, absorbing the dull mix of browns and greys that made up his local environment. Beep, he heard. Beep, beep. Simon sighed, looking at his computer - currently automating a relatively simple task. It was mundane and average, but Simon couldn't help his lips curling upwards a little, despite the sadness currently within him. It still gave him great joy - computing that is, not the beeping, to see a program that he had designed working so flawlessly. One could only imagine the hours it would take to write the same message at the end of a text file again, again and again - yet, here was his work, doing it within minutes: It was perfection. Simon had always been a perfectionist; sometimes it worked to his advantage and other times it did not. Case in point, last night./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="00b2b6f3e09f3a092f2443f00f87b29e"The assignment was due by eight o'clock, Tuesday morning. However, Simon was monumentally fucked. He started like he would start any other assignment. "Chose a language." Python - simple, easy to read and intuitive. "Chose an editor." PyCharm - he wasn't going to use VSCode ever again after it ruined his last project. "Build a tool that can be used by ordinary people to mark local takeaway locations - and give them the option to order food directly from the tool, if possible." Easy. Finding the restaurants would be as simple as using Google Maps within the tool and ordering the food could easily be managed by an API. Simon coded fast and efficiently. It was all a walk in the park. However, it looked too bland and he couldn't just leave it - what if people wanted a pretty tool instead? He spent night after night adding more and more designs to the tool then, finally, he ran it. Something was wrong. It displayed no errors but did not start: A logic error. Simon checked the clock that night, thinking he had plenty of time to fix the issue, only for happiness, hope and dreams to plummet; he has a few hours. He tried everything: Rewriting the code, moving the function calls between each other, checking the mathematics - nothing worked. Seconds turned to minutes, minutes turned to hours and soon Simon's parents were shouting at him to wake up for school. He cried in the early morning and failed in the late./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="6af3e290277ce6113567506acecb07bc"Simon's lips dropped to melancholy whilst he stared at the computer, still beeping away with its processes. It truly was the end - he had failed the entrance exam into the greatest Computer Science college in the whole of Great Britannia herself, because of his desire for perfection. He hadn't spoken to his parent's since he'd failed and they hadn't spoken to him, but their expressions said it all: Nothing but absolute disappointment and, to a lesser extent, anger. Simon broke down and the night slowly drifted towards day style="box-sizing: border-box;" /Simon scanned his room, placing essential items into a lightweight bag and carrying whatever small items he could find on his person./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="691a7eea8065c8c990e770d31493d45a""I take it you're leaving?" Simon spun around to see his grandfather watching him, a slight smile on his lips./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="864c008c9247ed8f849b54379ca6e2bb""Why, are you happy that I am?" The old man simply smiled more./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="446062fb36cbd3a83b9948e7ff5e3808""No, Simon. I'm just smiling at you," They paused, "Come closer, I have some more advice." For a split moment, Simon almost giggled like a child. The only thing preventing him from doing so was the loss of that child-like innocence he used to have, and that split moment was soon replaced by the current mood./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="725c87c8d69381fbb22c6bf574f02c12""Well, I'm closer." Simon looked down./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="6aba9e2662405c85f4deaf73a899454a""Good. I remember doing this all the time when you were little. Now, here's my advice," They took a breath, "There are three types of people on this damn forsaken planet. Those who are destined to be controlled, those who seek to control and those who are destined to control." The tone of their voice morphed swiftly to a warning tone as all traces of their past smile vanished. "Avoid the second at all costs." Simon looked back up to see his parents standing behind his grandfather./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="c3308ad18472eee496b8c83a0ea85ab8""I take it you're leaving?"/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="00b2b6f3e09f3a092f2443f00f87b29e"The assignment was due by eight o'clock, Tuesday morning. However, Simon was monumentally fucked. He started like he would start any other assignment. "Chose a language." Python - simple, easy to read and intuitive. "Chose an editor." PyCharm - he wasn't going to use VSCode ever again after it ruined his last project. "Build a tool that can be used by ordinary people to mark local takeaway locations - and give them the option to order food directly from the tool, if possible." Easy. Finding the restaurants would be as simple as using Google Maps within the tool and ordering the food could easily be managed by an API. Simon coded fast and efficiently. It was all a walk in the park. However, it looked too bland and he couldn't just leave it - what if people wanted a pretty tool instead? He spent night after night adding more and more designs to the tool then, finally, he ran it. Something was wrong. It displayed no errors but did not start: A logic error. Simon checked the clock that night, thinking he had plenty of time to fix the issue, only for happiness, hope and dreams to plummet; he has a few hours. He tried everything: Rewriting the code, moving the function calls between each other, checking the mathematics - nothing worked. Seconds turned to minutes, minutes turned to hours and soon Simon's parents were shouting at him to wake up for school. He cried in the early morning and failed in the late./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="6af3e290277ce6113567506acecb07bc"Simon's lips dropped to melancholy whilst he stared at the computer, still beeping away with its processes. It truly was the end - he had failed the entrance exam into the greatest Computer Science college in the whole of Great Britannia herself, because of his desire for perfection. He hadn't spoken to his parent's since he'd failed and they hadn't spoken to him, but their expressions said it all: Nothing but absolute disappointment and, to a lesser extent, anger. Simon broke down and the night slowly drifted towards day style="box-sizing: border-box;" /Simon scanned his room, placing essential items into a lightweight bag and carrying whatever small items he could find on his person./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="691a7eea8065c8c990e770d31493d45a""I take it you're leaving?" Simon spun around to see his grandfather watching him, a slight smile on his lips./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="864c008c9247ed8f849b54379ca6e2bb""Why, are you happy that I am?" The old man simply smiled more./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="446062fb36cbd3a83b9948e7ff5e3808""No, Simon. I'm just smiling at you," They paused, "Come closer, I have some more advice." For a split moment, Simon almost giggled like a child. The only thing preventing him from doing so was the loss of that child-like innocence he used to have, and that split moment was soon replaced by the current mood./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="725c87c8d69381fbb22c6bf574f02c12""Well, I'm closer." Simon looked down./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="6aba9e2662405c85f4deaf73a899454a""Good. I remember doing this all the time when you were little. Now, here's my advice," They took a breath, "There are three types of people on this damn forsaken planet. Those who are destined to be controlled, those who seek to control and those who are destined to control." The tone of their voice morphed swiftly to a warning tone as all traces of their past smile vanished. "Avoid the second at all costs." Simon looked back up to see his parents standing behind his grandfather./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="c3308ad18472eee496b8c83a0ea85ab8""I take it you're leaving?"/p