Well, I do have real live human friends, but the computer is here at my beck and call 24/7. I never had it that good with any human. I have, however, been trying to reorder my days. So instead of falling out of bed heading straight to the computer half asleep, I do other things first, like a little housework, watch the news (the bad news…although in my town, all they ever seem to report on is the weather. Hey! Newsflash, I’ve got windows), and watch The View.
Now, I don’t really turn to the View, but it follows Regis and Kelly. Now, I don’t really turn to Regis and Kelly, but they follow Good Morning America. I do turn to Good Morning America, although after about a half hour, they have more commercials than programming, and it’s usually around that time I head to the shower. I just never bother to turn the channel. The tv stays on that channel for most of the day. Meanwhile I’m showering, dressing, powdering and primping, letting the dog out, letting the dog in, looking over bills (groan), doing a little sketching, thumbing through an over-due library book, and sometime later, The View comes on. Usually, I’m a little hungry around then.
So I go to the kitchen while the women blabber in the background. (I don’t understand how any of them gets a decipherable word in). I don’t watch it, or even pay much attention to The View, because during its run, I’ve made it to my office, turned on my computer, and started checking email. My tv is down the hall and two rooms away from my office, but I can hear the muffled sounds coming from the box. That suffices.
I literally can spend hours on the computer. I’ll spend some time on the Internet searching for info, visiting one of the four forums that I belong to: a social site, two computer graphics sites, and one web design site. But the bulk of my time is spent teaching myself graphic design in Gimp, Inkscape, and Paint. I’d like to learn Blender too, but that interface frightens me. One day. Anyway, I did some cartoon drawings of some online buddies one day and uploaded them to the site. Everyone seemed to get a kick out of them. A couple of people decided to use them as their avatars. Cool. I do tutorials that I find at the graphics sites. Man, those can be HUGE time hogs, but I remain enthralled and determined to have something that resembles the tutor’s work. I’ve come pretty close. I really need to get back to studying the script languages.
Friends, family, and foes, call sometimes during the day, and they call me out — “you’re on the computer, aren’t you?” Why, uh, yes I am. Is there a problem? It always strikes me funny when they say that. I mean it’s not like I missed a luncheon date or something. Heck, I’d welcome a luncheon date, because even I know I spend too much in front of this screen. However, I figure being here beats sitting in front of that idiot squawk box. I might actually learn something on the computer, plus it keeps my self-diagnosed AADD in check. That’s adult attention deficit disorder for you well-ordered folk.
I’m one of those people who if left idle for too long gets lazier and lazier. And I hate being lazy. It seems the more I have to do, the more I get done, so I try to stay busy. I have gotten routine chores like housework and grocery shopping down to a finely tuned schedule, because I want as much free time as possible to be on the computer.
It wasn’t always this way. See, I’m on summer break from teaching. When I’m teaching, I don’t have time to spend on the computer. I’m too busy grading papers, calling parents, entering grades, answering emails, or comatose from all the abuse I endured that day. I’m lucky if I can check my email on those days, and without fail, I’d fall asleep before 10pm from sheer exhaustion. So my time on the computer is a gift, making up for lost time, doing one of the things I enjoy most.
I am fascinated by the technology behind it. Some of the features of the computer and various programs are just mind-boggling. I have a grasp on the concept of it all, but I still get a bit befuddled over how a chip, smaller than my fingernail can do so much, so quickly. If I had to try to carry all this information in my purse, I would have drilled my own sinkhole. Fascinating.
See, I am old enough to remember the world before the PC. Heck, before HBO and 8-track tapes. (actually, I could name some other pre-pc things from my previous world, but I wouldn’t want anyone’s fingers to cramp up while trying to calculate my age). Anyway, I’m on my 4th computer. I replaced one, crashed one, had one stolen, and now this one. My favorite was my first. A beautifully crafted Sony. I think I paid over $3000 for that one. My latest one cost less than $700 with way more features than that beautifully crafted Sony. Technology has truly evolved. Me, I may be turning into some sort of cyborg (is that the word I’m looking for?), because my social life has all but disappeared. I don’t fret when no invitations come or no one calls. It’s all good, cause I have this here computer to entertain and educate me.
Yeah, it’s my buddy.
