Side.

There are gestures in life that seem so small, so insignificant, that they barely move the dust on the scales of existence. And yet—and yet—they evoke a deeper truth. A truth that whispers: you could have done something useful with your life. Now take the gentle touch of the side of your keyboard. A gesture that balances on the delicate edge of tenderness, boredom, and total cognitive implosion.

There you are. The cursor blinks like a sarcastic metronome on the blank document. The world is burning outside. Emails are piling up like garbage bags after a strike. But you, you decide to touch the side of your keyboard. Not the keys. Not the space bar. No. The piece of plastic next to it. That smooth, matte wasteland that registers no input and knows no gratitude. Your finger rests on it like a pianist taking a break—except without talent, audience, or music.

What do you want to achieve with this? Are you seeking solace? Are you testing the temperature? Are you trying to develop empathy for objects that play a marginal role in your life? Maybe it’s a form of meditation. Maybe it’s the digital equivalent of an empty pat on the back. A nod to technology, a gesture of: “I see you, misunderstood edge of my interface.”

Keyboards, those modern altars of productivity, expect nothing more from us than clacking discipline. But you? You break the code. You touch the keyboard in a place no one ever writes about, except me now, under protest. It is rebellion without consequences. Art without an audience. A statement so powerless that it is actually impressive again.

And what do you feel, at that moment? A light pressure? A texture? The soft echo of your own existential emptiness? Or just… plastic? Because let’s be honest: it is just plastic. But with your touch, it gets meaning. Or at least: an attempt at meaning. And that, my friend, is what modern life is all about.

So keep going. Stroke the side of that keyboard like it’s answering you. Act like it understands you. Act like it’s not just an object you bought on sale with a mouse pad with coffee rings on it.

Because in the end we are all just sides. Just outside the main story. Hoping for a little attention.
Or at least… on a firmware update.