It was near midnight, yet a bright light continued to glow towards a face with tired eyes.

How did my life end up like this? Thought the young man named Vince Dalton wearily. He had been ordered to undertake an essential task due to recent mistakes by his upper management.

Wrong budget estimations and impossible deadlines were the excuses provided to him. But, yet again, the success of his department’s project falls into his lap as the technical lead.

[What an honor!] he sarcastically thought.

Vince Dalton has been working for this software and network infrastructure consultation firm for a few years now.

There was plenty of hope and determination in his heart after graduating from university at the age of 20, especially the guaranteed spot in this current company following a successful summer internship he participated in during his senior year.

Three years have gone had passed. Most past worries such as stable jobs and income were close to gone yet were replaced with emptiness and exhaustion.

[Life was no walk-in-the-park when I had to work a minimum wage job while pursuing a degree in both business and IT, and yet I felt more alive then than I do now.] Vince pondered.

It was the rush of learning new skills and meeting new people that he remembered fondly. Then, year after year, working at a new company with more and more responsibilities gave him an environment where he could thrive.

The increasing pay was good, but it didn’t dent the massive debt he accrued to finance schooling, but some pocket money was welcome.

[I still remember the first time I ever built a computer of my personal desktop configuration. Months I endured saving money from performing menial jobs around our neighborhood to afford the basic components of a desktop computer.] He reminisced.

The computer itself was for selfish purposes, such as playing online games with friends to escape the monotony of school. Still, that initial exposure to computer technology paved the way for his current skills and livelihood.

“If I have the chance to go about my life differently and excitingly, I would gladly give my current life up to ensure I won’t stagnate as I was now. A life of fulfillment and progress is what I want instead of bailing out my department with blood, sweat, and tears over and over again. I swear it.” He suddenly said out loud.

[I’m going crazy. Good thing I’m the only one at the office tonight.] Vince thought embarrassingly.

Suddenly, his computer screen became so blindingly bright that he had to shut his eyes. He found himself still sitting down in front of a computer screen the next moment, but he found it to be different.

Vince looked around and saw a mid-tower desktop computer that seemed recently built to his left.

The project he was working on was gone and replaced with a browser on the YouTube homepage. He glanced at the bottom right corner of his Windows operating system and stood up from surprise.

[“It’s 2011?!”] he exclaimed in shock.

EDITED