Somniferous
Jul 7, 2010, 10:27 PM
Growing up, I heard the word "computer" thrown around by adults, but it was just that: an adult word, like "taxes" or "politics", and if it didn't affect my Lego-building, it didn't affect me. Our family had a computer, but our family also had a garbage compactor, and both of those were equally boring to me because they were adult things that were part of a bigger adult thing that was called "technology", and "technology" had nothing to do with dinosaurs.
But I was curious, so I eventually began experimenting with our home computer [and testing the limits of our garbage compactor]. I had taught myself to read with Calvin & Hobbes, but I quickly learned that the words I knew had completely arbitrary meanings on a computer: Command Prompt wasn't a game, and System Control had nothing to do with spaceships. I was forced to navigate via icons, which led to another discovery: cool icons generally lead to confusing programs that will irreparably damage your computer if you play with them. Also, cookies.
After much trial and error [and learning that the recycle bin wasn't like our trash compactor], I started to understand computers: I just understood them in a confused way that made everything more complicated, e.g., I could navigate the internet, but I only knew how to get to a website by setting that website as the browser homepage. We didn't have the internet at home, so I had to use the library's computer lab: this resulted in the homepages at the library's computer lab constantly being reset to "pokemon.com" almost every day for two years, and the frustrated librarians trying to figure out what malevolent force was behind this assault.
And for a few years, that's all I did on the internet: haphazardly browse video game websites----but in seventh grade, my school got a computer lab.
Giving me access to a well-furnished computer lab was like dumping a drunk octopus into a public swimming pool: something was going to happen, and it was probably going to involve tentacles and soccer moms. Local networks were accidentally crashed; viruses and pornography were accidentally forwarded to all school mailing lists; and classmates' homework assignments were accidentally deleted. That I was able to accidentally do all of this is even more impressive when you consider that: I didn't know that LANs existed; I didn't know that you could download images from the internet; I didn't know you could download anything from the internet; I didn't know that email existed; and I didn't know computers could talk to each other [at the point, I still thought the internet involved phones and robots].
In eighth grade, PSO 1&2 came out, and I discovered this website. My old account's posts are still here: I got bored tonight, plugged my old account name into Google, and followed a digital trail to my old posts--some serious nostalgia, those. My first few forum posts were the typical "have game, wat do" posts, but I quickly found/was banished to FKL. I should probably thank [or blame] FKL for teaching me about the internet, because you can definitely chart my internet-savvy progress over the course of my posts in FKL. So thank you, FKL, for introducing me to the internet; I'll never be the same [or productive] again. It's been six years since I was last here, but I'm back.
But I was curious, so I eventually began experimenting with our home computer [and testing the limits of our garbage compactor]. I had taught myself to read with Calvin & Hobbes, but I quickly learned that the words I knew had completely arbitrary meanings on a computer: Command Prompt wasn't a game, and System Control had nothing to do with spaceships. I was forced to navigate via icons, which led to another discovery: cool icons generally lead to confusing programs that will irreparably damage your computer if you play with them. Also, cookies.
After much trial and error [and learning that the recycle bin wasn't like our trash compactor], I started to understand computers: I just understood them in a confused way that made everything more complicated, e.g., I could navigate the internet, but I only knew how to get to a website by setting that website as the browser homepage. We didn't have the internet at home, so I had to use the library's computer lab: this resulted in the homepages at the library's computer lab constantly being reset to "pokemon.com" almost every day for two years, and the frustrated librarians trying to figure out what malevolent force was behind this assault.
And for a few years, that's all I did on the internet: haphazardly browse video game websites----but in seventh grade, my school got a computer lab.
Giving me access to a well-furnished computer lab was like dumping a drunk octopus into a public swimming pool: something was going to happen, and it was probably going to involve tentacles and soccer moms. Local networks were accidentally crashed; viruses and pornography were accidentally forwarded to all school mailing lists; and classmates' homework assignments were accidentally deleted. That I was able to accidentally do all of this is even more impressive when you consider that: I didn't know that LANs existed; I didn't know that you could download images from the internet; I didn't know you could download anything from the internet; I didn't know that email existed; and I didn't know computers could talk to each other [at the point, I still thought the internet involved phones and robots].
In eighth grade, PSO 1&2 came out, and I discovered this website. My old account's posts are still here: I got bored tonight, plugged my old account name into Google, and followed a digital trail to my old posts--some serious nostalgia, those. My first few forum posts were the typical "have game, wat do" posts, but I quickly found/was banished to FKL. I should probably thank [or blame] FKL for teaching me about the internet, because you can definitely chart my internet-savvy progress over the course of my posts in FKL. So thank you, FKL, for introducing me to the internet; I'll never be the same [or productive] again. It's been six years since I was last here, but I'm back.