Can you remember back to before there were computers? What did we do with all that spare time we now take up sitting on a chair in front of a dumb little screen, typing away s if it were important, as if it really mattered?
Sometimes I think computers have wrought some bad things in this world. In fact, I know they have. Maybe we would all be better off if we took a hammer and smashed these boxes. Or just simply had our internet provider come shut it down. I've wondered if this is the route I should take. Would I read more? Would I cook better dinners? Would I spend more time at the gym or talking with my family? I don't know. I don't remember.
It would be kind of neat to find out tho. maybe the thing to do would to shut it off for a couple years, then come back and say, 'Surprise! It's me! I'm still alive. Are you?"
I don't know if I would be strong enmough to just simply and quietly fade away into the nether world. Or if I'm destined to sit here day after day, typing cute little messages to people who probably do not care one whit. Would anyone even notice? Sad to say, but possibly not. Frightening thought, isn't it?
I'd notice if you stopped....lost a few blogmates along the way.
ReplyDeleteStill, you have a good point. I used to walk everywhere when I was a kid. I suspect I've put a few pounds on cause now I don't walk anywhere...I just sit and type!
Four Dinners, of course I'm not abandoning ship. i think I was just a bit off kilter, mood wise, when I wrote that.
ReplyDeleteI think y'all are stuck with me, like it or not.
I didn't have a computer until a couple of years ago. All those years I was going to see you at Constant Reader (how are the drama queens doing anyways ha ha. Everyone says I should wear being banned from a bookclub as a badge of honour. Especially Mister Anchovy...when I told him about the melodrama of a couple of the moderators...he was howling with laughter. He thought it was the funniest story he'd ever heard! He made me feel pretty cheered up by the whole histrionics of those ladies) I never had a computer. I would use public libraries, internet cafes etc.
ReplyDeleteWhen I look back, it's amazing the level of participation I put in at The Cormac McCarthy Forum and my online bookclubs for 10 years without actually having a computer in my apartment!
I actually think I began to participate LESS online activities once I owned a computer.
I use this computer for editing films and for writing e-mails and still...visiting my bookclubs when i get a chance. And for all the blogging. I have found that the people I've met through blogging have added such an incredible level of enjoyment to my life...by hearing their recollections and the pace of writing and visiting via blogs is very meditative in some ways. I enjoy discussing books so much online...and movies...in ways that there doesn't seem to be in "real life". Like...not the same kind of time frame spent on discussing or perhaps it's that there is time to process what folks say and return? I don't know.
Um...Four Dinners...if you see this...I know I'm a bit behind...but I have a trick for sitting at the computer. I use one of those big exercise inflated balls as my chair. At first it feels wobbly but then after a while you realize your tummy muscles are actually doing quite a workout. In half an hour of sitting on one at the computer it's a decent core workout.
Candy, my dear dear friend, I do indeed remember when you would go to the cafes or library to write in our book club. As for our online bookclub, I miss the excitement of you, mama! And tell Mr. Anchovy I thank him for making you laugh about all that stupidity.
ReplyDeleteCandy, I'm trying to put on some makeup to go get my photo taken for my license renewal (I forgot to include that in my to-do- list for today.) And I began to picture you sitting on that ball while posting and rolling here and there, willy nilly and I began to laugh out loud, kind of ruining any attempt at putting on makeup Oh my thats funny!
ReplyDelete