I've probably taken enough jabs at members of my family. At the very least it is time for me to tell a story about someone else. Again names have been changed to protect their identity. Also some of it has been fictionalized so that it sounds way cooler than it actually was. This is the life creative fiction lives.
Tom Chadkins laid in bed with his covers kicked aside, sweating. His roomate had gone home for the weekend, it felt as though the room had doubled in size with his absense. The cracked window allowed a chill to crawl silently throughout the room. The hum from his computer echoed off the white cinder block walls.
As Tom laid there gripped with fear, he thought about those blocks and the life that they had lived. They had surrounded hundreds of residents before him and had undoubtly seen much. Too much. He imagined them getting painted over every few years and then being told that they were new. That must be how they tolerated such a life, with the hope of a new begining not being far around the corner.
The chill had climbed the bed and found its way to his brow, yet Tom still felt as though he was choking on flames. He thought about the science of such imagery. He assured himself one could never choke on a flame. For the flame to exists it must have oxygen, if there is no oxygen to sustain oneself, then there would be none for the flame. Unless of course the flame was using all of the oxygen before your body could use it, but surely even a child knows that is not choking, that is asphyxiation.
He felt the fire circulate throughout his chest. His heart fluttered in pain like a butterfly with razor blades for wings flew freely through his blood. Sensing his life may be nearing its conclusion he looked to the bricks with envy wishing for a new begining rather than an end. Tom held his breath and closed his eyes. Waiting for the butterfly of death to deliver its final blow.
The mariposa de muerte - named such by Tom for many reasons, none more important than alliteration - teased him for hours. Keeping him from a resting peace while simultaneously teasing him with hopes of fresh comencement of life. His panic would calm enough for him to dream of what he would do with such an opportunity. Such as spending more words on compasion and less on criticism.
After hours of torture Tom gave in. He released himself from the mortar that made him a part of this world. He drifted away never expecting to feel the chill dance across his brow again. He smiled as his eyes relaxed and his flame was smuthered.
For a man who had experienced many illnesses in his life, from migranes to bouts of diarreah, Tom was completely oblivious to the symptons of heart burn.
His new and terrifying experience combined with his solitude and insightfulness of a brick's life had led him down a path of hopelessness. The path was dark, but will be brightened by the laughter as we all follow him back to life.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Sunday, April 20, 2008
One more technology story
Last post was a story about a woman who we referred to as both L Tompkins and Linda T. This seemed to be an effective practice in protecting her identity so we will use the same method to protect the next persons identity.
Phil T is an old fashioned man living in a cutting edge world. He is the type of Man that would still use a rock to shave had his wife not purchased an electric razor for him for Christmas. He may not understand most technologies but to survive he has been forced to adapt and engage in their practices.
The first time I saw a cell phone was a phone he was given by his employer and was a size of a brick and a half. Being compact was clearly not a design concern in those days, like they are now. They would later upgrade him to a phone that was just under the size of a full brick whose outgoing audio piece would flip open and closed to shrink the size of the phone. Both of these phones were never to be used for anything other than emergencies and if he was called for work related reasons. I never saw him make an outgoing call from either of these phones, for all I knew they were incapable of doing so.
My sophomore year of high school was the first time that our household had internet access. I use that term loosely because at 28 kb/second it was 50 times slower than what the standard is for today. Phil T would occasionally use the internet to check his email, and once a year to file his taxes, but that was about the extent of his use. He was very cautious of the internet after hearing all of the horror stories of viruses that can be contracted via the internet.
My Freshman year of college I was set free. I was on a network that had internet access up to 100 times faster than what I had previously known at home. This opened up an entire new world to me. Most notably the ability to be signed on to instant messenger without tying up the phone line.
Less than two weeks into my first year of college Phil T happened to be signed on to the internet. The way his internet service provider worked is that when you signed on to the internet it automatically signed you in to the messenger as well. I decided I would try to have a quick chat with him. I typed "Hey D__, how r u doing?"(I have left out the final two letters of the first word to protect his identity)
After about 5 minutes there was no reply.
"D__, it's me, your son...In Seattle. Just type something in the box below and hit send...It is called instant messaging."
immediately after I sent the message he signed off. I imagined how panicked he must have been. I'm certain he thought he had encountered a super sophisticated virus who knew private information about him. As a precaution I would not be suprised if he bypassed logging off, and just unplugged the computer form the wall.
Later that day I called Phil T and asked him if he was online earlier in the day. His reply was that he had been but shut the computer off when he felt like there may have been a hacker on his computer. he claimed that they knew his name and that I was in Seattle. When I informed him that it was in fact me he fell silent. I could faintly hear his whiskers rubbing against the receiver. After 15 seconds of confused silence he asked "Where did you learn to hack computers?"
Phil T grew up in a world where phones were used for emergencies and special occasions only and now found himself in a world that had begun to use phone for casual correspondence and now to be replaced by the internet. Only a few months later to be replaced again by phones, only cellular this time. Things moved too quickly for him to keep up, and to this day is apprehensive about buying into any new technologies for fear that once he figures it out he will be asked to adapt to a new one. This is a legitimate fear, and in most cases would be true. I just find it interesting the ability of my generation to adapt to the rapid technology changes in our world. And Phil T's concern with those rapid changes and ultimately his lack of trust in them. The poor guy barely answers his cell phone.
Phil T is an old fashioned man living in a cutting edge world. He is the type of Man that would still use a rock to shave had his wife not purchased an electric razor for him for Christmas. He may not understand most technologies but to survive he has been forced to adapt and engage in their practices.
The first time I saw a cell phone was a phone he was given by his employer and was a size of a brick and a half. Being compact was clearly not a design concern in those days, like they are now. They would later upgrade him to a phone that was just under the size of a full brick whose outgoing audio piece would flip open and closed to shrink the size of the phone. Both of these phones were never to be used for anything other than emergencies and if he was called for work related reasons. I never saw him make an outgoing call from either of these phones, for all I knew they were incapable of doing so.
My sophomore year of high school was the first time that our household had internet access. I use that term loosely because at 28 kb/second it was 50 times slower than what the standard is for today. Phil T would occasionally use the internet to check his email, and once a year to file his taxes, but that was about the extent of his use. He was very cautious of the internet after hearing all of the horror stories of viruses that can be contracted via the internet.
My Freshman year of college I was set free. I was on a network that had internet access up to 100 times faster than what I had previously known at home. This opened up an entire new world to me. Most notably the ability to be signed on to instant messenger without tying up the phone line.
Less than two weeks into my first year of college Phil T happened to be signed on to the internet. The way his internet service provider worked is that when you signed on to the internet it automatically signed you in to the messenger as well. I decided I would try to have a quick chat with him. I typed "Hey D__, how r u doing?"(I have left out the final two letters of the first word to protect his identity)
After about 5 minutes there was no reply.
"D__, it's me, your son...In Seattle. Just type something in the box below and hit send...It is called instant messaging."
immediately after I sent the message he signed off. I imagined how panicked he must have been. I'm certain he thought he had encountered a super sophisticated virus who knew private information about him. As a precaution I would not be suprised if he bypassed logging off, and just unplugged the computer form the wall.
Later that day I called Phil T and asked him if he was online earlier in the day. His reply was that he had been but shut the computer off when he felt like there may have been a hacker on his computer. he claimed that they knew his name and that I was in Seattle. When I informed him that it was in fact me he fell silent. I could faintly hear his whiskers rubbing against the receiver. After 15 seconds of confused silence he asked "Where did you learn to hack computers?"
Phil T grew up in a world where phones were used for emergencies and special occasions only and now found himself in a world that had begun to use phone for casual correspondence and now to be replaced by the internet. Only a few months later to be replaced again by phones, only cellular this time. Things moved too quickly for him to keep up, and to this day is apprehensive about buying into any new technologies for fear that once he figures it out he will be asked to adapt to a new one. This is a legitimate fear, and in most cases would be true. I just find it interesting the ability of my generation to adapt to the rapid technology changes in our world. And Phil T's concern with those rapid changes and ultimately his lack of trust in them. The poor guy barely answers his cell phone.
Monday, April 14, 2008
Physical and Perceptual Changes
(The name of the main character in the story has been changed to protect her identity.)
L Tompkins came to me for help in preparing a DVD for viewing. I rolled my eyes and called her a "n00b" in my head. If you've ever: asked your child how to email, typed "http://" before the web address, thought the CD ROM was a cup holder, or claimed to have "baked" or "cooked" a CD you've undoubtedly seen this look before from your child, or anybody that knows anything about electronics.
Back to the story. I followed L Tompkins to the DVD player...
(Lawyers have brought it to my attention that the identity of L Tompkins has not been properly protected. To correct this we will now refer to her as Linda T. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused for said person.)
I placed the DVD in the tray and pressed a few buttons on the television remote to get it to the proper feed as she desperately tried to follow so she could later mimic these steps in hopes of a similar result.
What Linda T did next would forever change my perception of technology. Linda T reached her arm out and began tapping the television screen; the part of the television that read "Play". I sat still on the couch watching intently as confusion began to cross her face. She tapped the screen again this time gently dragging her finger from "P" to "A".
She did not waste much time going from gently and soft to a stern poke, quickly followed by forceful stabs. I continued to sit quietly on the couch as to not spook her. I was in fact watching an event I had never seen before. I had heard stories of older people's encounters with new technology but you never think you will get to see one happen right in front of you.
I watched her confusion turn to audible frustration comprised of grunts and disgruntled breathing patterns. She looked at me with the eyes of a truly innocent child. I found myself in bewilderment at what Linda T thought was possible. To her the DVD did more than change the format in which she watched her movies. It had made possible a physical change to occur to the television, like adding yeast to bread.
In her mind the television, close to 15 years old at the time, had been transformed by the DVD player into a interactive screen. She-like all before her-had been tricked by what the world had told her to expect from technology. That it could physically change things in this world.
What she taught me was that technology will never directly cause change in this world. It can only change how we choose to change the world.
L Tompkins came to me for help in preparing a DVD for viewing. I rolled my eyes and called her a "n00b" in my head. If you've ever: asked your child how to email, typed "http://" before the web address, thought the CD ROM was a cup holder, or claimed to have "baked" or "cooked" a CD you've undoubtedly seen this look before from your child, or anybody that knows anything about electronics.
Back to the story. I followed L Tompkins to the DVD player...
(Lawyers have brought it to my attention that the identity of L Tompkins has not been properly protected. To correct this we will now refer to her as Linda T. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused for said person.)
I placed the DVD in the tray and pressed a few buttons on the television remote to get it to the proper feed as she desperately tried to follow so she could later mimic these steps in hopes of a similar result.
What Linda T did next would forever change my perception of technology. Linda T reached her arm out and began tapping the television screen; the part of the television that read "Play". I sat still on the couch watching intently as confusion began to cross her face. She tapped the screen again this time gently dragging her finger from "P" to "A".
She did not waste much time going from gently and soft to a stern poke, quickly followed by forceful stabs. I continued to sit quietly on the couch as to not spook her. I was in fact watching an event I had never seen before. I had heard stories of older people's encounters with new technology but you never think you will get to see one happen right in front of you.
I watched her confusion turn to audible frustration comprised of grunts and disgruntled breathing patterns. She looked at me with the eyes of a truly innocent child. I found myself in bewilderment at what Linda T thought was possible. To her the DVD did more than change the format in which she watched her movies. It had made possible a physical change to occur to the television, like adding yeast to bread.
In her mind the television, close to 15 years old at the time, had been transformed by the DVD player into a interactive screen. She-like all before her-had been tricked by what the world had told her to expect from technology. That it could physically change things in this world.
What she taught me was that technology will never directly cause change in this world. It can only change how we choose to change the world.
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