Bookshelves: a peephole into your mind

When I go to someone's place of residence for the first time - or really any time - I am drawn to their bookshelves.  Whether they hold books or DVDs or - in rare cases - CDs, I love to scan them.  I love seeing what people read, watch, and/or listen to.  I love commenting on shared favourite authors or TV shows.  It's a conversation-starter, a peephole into their mind, and even better - an opportunity to borrow some good books and movies.

You won't be surprised to know that I take a lot of pride in my own bookshelves.  I have been know to organize DVDs alphabetically, group authors together, and sort books according to subject matter.  After reading Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, I read a review on the back that said the book could easily fit between 1984 and A Brave New World on your bookshelf... so that's exactly where I put it.  I love when people inspect my bookshelves; whether they're passing judgment or looking for shared interests, I bare it all for them.


It's because of this that when I think about the printed word or the tangible media source (DVD, CD, etc.) becoming obsolete, it's scary to me.  It's not that I'm a dinosaur and don't get it, or want to slow things down; it's that I think about the joy I get from seeing and touching someone's books and movies and I hate the thought of not having that.  I feel like I know people better when I see their shelves.  I feel like it brings colour and culture into a room, never mind being aethestically pleasing a lot of the time.

Then there's also that feeling of a book in your hand.  Will they one day call a story with so much excitement you can't wait for the next part a... page-swiper?!  I love the smell of books, seeing what I might've underlined the last time I read a favourite, and the drama in closing a book when you've finished it and just clutching it for a few moments.  It's meaningful.

All I'll get a chance to see is the evolution of books and DVDs, etc. in my own lifetime.  I wonder what I'll see.....

R.I.P. Laptop

Last summer, while enjoying an episode of “Sex and the City”, my computer shut down. I tried to turn her on but she was not in the mood. In fact, she was not interested in working at all.

Shortly after this I took her to Future Shop where they told me her AC adapter cable needed to be solderized or something. I decided not to deal with that right then and there and instead leave my girl alone for a while.

Months passed and I just left my computer alone. Every once in a while I would think, “man I’d really like to download something”… “I miss my music”… “I want to read that essay I wrote in second year”… but nothing could be done. I missed her, but I wasn’t ready to take action. I’d bring home my work laptop on occasion, but it doesn’t have much RAM, and the rest of the time I’d just use my iPhone.  It was good to take a bit of a computer break.

Then my friend W. came to visit for a weekend and took a look at it. He couldn't turn her on either, so he assumed it was still the AC adapter cable. I decided it was time to take her in to get solderized.

I went to Future Shop this past weekend to take care of business. The employee there told me it wasn't the cable any more. My baby was gone. Her hard drive, on the other hand, was still salvageable, so the nice gentleman removed it and gave it to me in a bag. He asked me if I'd like to recycle my laptop and I said yes.

R.I.P., Fujitsu Lifebook.  Recycle In Pieces.

We had a lot of good times together. You were patient with me as I watched the same movies ("Jesus Camp") over and over again, and you stayed in working order for my entire academic career to date. I loved you. Enough now.

The Days of Yore

I nearly forgot about this ol' webpage. I remember it was going around in email FWDs back in the day. Remember that? When information travelled in email FWDs?!?! Damn, those was some slow days. You had to wait to log in to your Hotmail before you knew what was hot and fresh and current. Hilarious.

BBM

This is ridiculous! Now people aren't even texting as much! It's all about BBM - Blackberry Messenger. Unfortunately I won't be buying a Blackberry till at least after graduation, so I'm not BBMing yet.

Here's the thing though: I think it's brilliant. I mean, talk about turning people with Blackberries into an even more exclusive group than they already were! Now you can cheaply communicate with other BB-users instantly! I love it... and I'm jealous.

Control yourself. Take only what you need from it.

This is the definition of our age.