May 01, 2004

The Usual...?

I forgot the password to an online account that I haven't accessed in a few months. The site doesn't have an "Email me my password" option to users because of the security risk. Instead, they ask a question that you wrote when creating the account so you can identify yourself in cases like these.

My password hint is "The Usual." I typed in "The Usual." Not the words "The Usual," but the password I use for many of my accounts.

"The Usual" didn't work. Which is a problem because the site's security is so sophisticated, so clever, that it doesn't give you a chance to reset your password. A password on this site is not a combination of letters and numbers. It is the word of life, the hand that lifts one's account from the digital ether, giving purpose to the millions of electrons set in a chaotic sea of 1s and 0s. It is the Shepard to the sheep: you belong to this name, you exist for this name, this name is your owner, and today, little sheep, it needs to hear the harmonics of your cries.

In other words, this password is pretty fucking important.

So, taking a page from the "Hack Your Way To Success In Three Tries Or Less!" (by Jerry Bruckheimer*) I started guessing entering every word that is the usual in my life.
Frosted Flakes?
No.
Unemployed?
No.
Suspects? Nope.

I kept on guessing, but after the third try, I knew deep in my heart it was a lost cause. I had forgotten another password. Or, in other words, the usual.


*Microsoft Word recognizes the spelling of Bruckheimer. The thesaurus offers "brow beating" for one of the nearest choices by alphabetic order.

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