Dear MM, I feel the shadow cast by your pain from here. There is no going back. You have hurt the thing you love. Your Virus will forever bear witness to your folly and thoughtlessness. It is as if you are a wicked person through and through.
On the plus side, here are some consolations
- these are, after all, only objects. You could have severed a finger or poked out your eye instead
- that part of your psyche that deals with object attachment will, in weeks or perhaps days, accommodate to the new reality and you will learn to love your virus with a love modified by the pity and the tenderness one may feel for an invalid loved one
- when it comes to time to upgrade your gear (ans such a time is as inevitable as damage and entropy), you may find that the damage serves to make the upgrade decision easier. You may experience thoughts such as 'you know, my old Virus was really beyond loving any more - it will be a kindness to let it go, and welcome in this lovely new Access Bacterium|TB'
- you have undergone an invaluable learning experience, and can glory and delight in the sensation of human growth
- it is the sound that matters, not the appearance. It is only the visibly distressed Stratocaster, and not the factory-fresh one, that can produce the genuinely blue notes that shake your soul to its very foundations. Your Virus has been wounded in action, and has been transformed into an honourable and noble soldier in the cause of music creation
I hope this helps. I got a bit upset when I noticed the first of those very micro scratches you were trying to avoid on my Virus KB. I have cut out a piece of IKEA plastic cushioned drawer liner to forestall further distress. Yet only yesterday I had to slap myself on the wrist for popping a cup of tea onto the Virus, and remove it damn quick, stupid.
