Using a PC - UGH

Nov 11, 2007 - 07:54 AM PST


Ok. I am writing this in Notepad now. I hate when IE decides it's gonna explode right in the middle of an inspired moment of furious typing. Now if I can only remember what I was typing....

Oh yes. Now I remember. (Laugh if you like, but when you get to be my age, you tend to wonder if you're remembering, or having flashbacks of that ONE hit of acid you were slipped on Prom night)

In any case... I was merely conveying the pleasant feeling I have being at home and trying to get caught up on all my work. I have things to do, but being here allows me the time to update this thing, and give it the attention it desires er deserves :-) .

I was also figuring out this new "sit-blog." It's called Quarterlife. Does this refer to the percentage of one's time spent blogging, or at what point they are in their lives? It seems this vignette promotes the premise that "We Blog To Exist." I found this somewhat confusing. It brought to mind the "Tree in the forest falling" metaphor. Do we blog to exist, or merely blog to document our existence? Do we live to work, or work to live? Do we sleep to wake up, or wake up to sleep? Who cares anyway? I do, however think we can all agree that our blogs define us, online.

While I have questioned the usefulness of the internet for some time now, I have used it for a VERY long time. (To give you an idea: When I first began using the internet there were no such things as graphical browsers that you used to point and click. Every operation required several keystrokes or commands OMG yes, we had to know how to type.) In the beginning, I found it so useful in finding content (once I learned how to look for it) that I assumed that it would become an integral part of our lives someday. On the internet, I could communicate with friends (by the way, one had to have somewhat more than minimal intelligence to even FIND the internet.) who enriched my life by merely having the ability to communicate in an open forum. When that thought occurred to me I had NO idea that spilling out ones hopes, dreams and feelings would become a part of that content and communication. Have we become so disassociated with our own physical environment that we must look for entertainment in every nook and cranny in the electronic Ipod-cable-blogo-game-world, rather than create our own physical and emotional interaction? Do we concern ourselves more with our online persona, than with our physical selves? How much weight (no pun intended) does our online reflection really carry? If we are all honest, and I know at least some of us are, it can truly carry alot of weight. If we are honest, we can truly make an impact through this medium, but... is this the best way? Shouldn't we be outside living life? Getting some excercise, playing with our children? "Hey Devin. let's go outside.. throw the ball around a little" Dev - "Ok dad.. just let me finish killing this guy.. in Halo"

Kids today (oy vay don't EEEEVEN get me started) grow up in an electronified world where each and every savory experience must be either documented, or gleaned from a medium powered by either a nine volt battery or a one-hundred and twenty volt power cord. I refuse to fall into the cliche' of the generation before me and begin lamenting over the "5 mile uphill trudge to and from school (yes both ways) but I have to ask the question: Have things gotten better? We are now able to relay information at the speed of light, but are you really any more informed than I, or my parents were? Many say yes, but I have to wonder if perhaps we are still looking for more entertainment, rather than learning, both about each other and the world around us.

That being said, I've also found that it is a tool or a drug, or a hobby, or pastime. Regardless, it is what it is. Whether you think it is good, or bad, the fact that you can use it to document your life and allow you to define yourself, gives me the uncomfortable feeling that 1984 may have finally arrived.