With the way technology has been going, I’ve started to deviate. I’ve been using computers all my life and I’ve always used them for computery things. I don’t use them for everything, but what they’re good at I make sure to take advantage of.
But I see where things are going and it’s really done it for me. So I bought a typewriter and copped my mom’s turntable. I started buying books (and reading them) and good notebooks (and good pens to write in them). And overall I’ve tended towards what some people would call nostalgia but what I would simply call not-computers.
Being around them my whole life has I think given me an appreciation for everything that doesn’t exist on a feeble LCD screen. Like a book with pages I can turn, not click. Words I can scribble over, not backspace. Music that I can touch.
I could sit here and read this essay online, but I don’t need a computer to read. An old-fashioned piece of paper will get the job done. It’s like everyone wants a computer that does it all these days. And in the future, when we can go to our local store to buy an android to be our maid or babysitter or slave, I see the populace saying “ooh” and “ahh” with glazed eyes and salivating mouths; with premonitions of a greatly improved life now that technology has continued to propel us into the future. I don’t think many see how unnecessary it will be, and by that time, no doubt, how inessential we’ve made our humanity.
found new uses for the word “duh;” used it successfully.
also,
dug up my mom’s old turntable in the basement while I was home this week. just need a new needle and I’ll be able to play the record I bought in Philly last weekend.
seriously, being able to hold my music just makes me piss my pants with joy.
I could only let her go after she transformed
wrote her down on paper;
let her float away, just long enough
to capture again
in a new place and time
even if it was only in my mind
pen and scribbles told me, finally
she had to go.
I’ve missed that feeling that something might last just a bit longer
to spend the better part of the night with a girl
who seemed like she wanted to stay
we used to have a thing and we don’t anymore
but it didn’t all feel so temporary
and that’s all that really mattered.
I feel like my 21st birthday isn’t going to be that great
these days, getting drunk is only fun around people who find me hilarious no matter what and none of those people live in this town.
