Technology is Magic

I'm sitting at Borders, about to jump to work, and I think, hey, I'll write a blog. Maybe post a few facebook comments, make a few jokes. You know. The usual.

So I pull out my computer, I plug it in, and hop online. Then I'm forced to re-authenticate my connection roughly 10 times before I realize that the surge protector was turned off. Why my internet won't connect to the bookstore's wireless without being powered is beyond me. The battery is full, this isn't a problem anywhere else. Only here. My desktop computer can't have a microphone plugged in if you want it to turn on. You have to pull them out and plug them back in. My iPhone won't restart when the data cable is in. All three of these things are absolute mysteries. The people who invented the machines have no idea why this happens. How I even figured out the problem was pure luck and Holmsian deduction. I attempted to turn on my computer about 8 dozen times and finally came up with "unplug shit."

This furthers my belief that technology is not made at a factory or mass produced by some company, but rather conjured by the thousands in some Tolkien-esque tower by a grizzly old wizard who gets his kicks by screwing with people. Why else would restarting a computer fix a problem? Or pulling out the battery on a cell phone. Why else would Windows use a registry? But it goes beyond that. Look at cars, every car has it's own kink, it's own hum and rhythm that only the driver really knows. And can't explain. Only Biff could start his car. This is a theme that's been going on for generations, and I can only imagine our plight will grow grimmer by the year as tinier more advanced products come out. Try explaining how a wireless router works, or what the Android system is, to someone who doesn't really understand how a blender does it's job, and you'll get an idea of where I'm going with this.

Because technology, electronic, or let's go further and say anything mechanical, is not real. Not in the sense that we know. You can't explain technology. I can talk to you all day about how a knife works, or a spoon. What it's used for and how it's made. Hell, I could probably sound intelligent for about 20 minutes if we talked about television sets. But that only explains the picture. Ask me how a satellite signal works, or an antenna and radio waves, and then sit back and watch me stare at you blankly until you leave due to the uncomfortable silence. The only people who know how that stuff actually works either invented it, or read the wikipedia article on it and actually believes that information to be accurate, or even true. Technology is becoming as much a religion as anything else. It's our generations Evolution. Sure. We know it's there. We know it exists. We just don't know how, certainly not why.

To dance away from that gripe for a bit... I've been toying around with a few different pieces as of late, I even sent in a short story to get published, and I'm pretty psyched about all of it. Nick is making me work on my comic (graphic novel not the webcomic, Ryan has me on that...) and I'm finally getting started on some of my "solo" projects. The first order of business, so far, has been getting my sleep schedule in some kind of order...(I'm failing miserably by the way. Sure, I'm not watching TV or playing games, but I'm reading and drawing and still up late, I just wake up earlier and I'm tired all day now...)

The second order was attempting to clean my room up. I've found that my entire life is in that room, in one for another. Also, what other people have assumed my life to be. I love my mother, and my grand mother, and I love receiving gifts, I do. But I've found over four different chocolate tins, a dozen or so unopened VHS tapes, and clothes that not only have never been worn, but never will be. So last night was the first night in what I can only imagine to be a string of nights spent packing up stuff I actually like, and deciding whether or not to throw away or donate the rest. Hopefully I'll be a little more organized and prepared to do...something, soon.

And this might be a completely self serving point that is better suited to a facebook post or on my decidedly inactive twitter, but I finally have interviews. And the school system is looking more promising by the day. So while, I may not want to be a teacher my whole life, it's looking pretty awesome right now. So, wish me luck, and I'll do the same for you.

-D