An Old Goat Reminisces

Image by krisdecurtis via FlickrIf there's one thing today that I miss is the art of writing and receiving letters the old fashioned way. You write on a stationery or any paper of your choice, perfumed or not, taking your time mulling over what to write, and when you're done, you post it to the nearby post office. That sort of thing.

Look at our choices today at communication. We have email, text messaging, we can create 140-word message for twitter or plurk. Then, there's the real time functionality that Google Talk, Skype, Yahoo messaging, and other online chat platforms offer.

Several of my friends have been working overseas. It used to be they sent me letters or snail mail, varied accounts of their exploits abroad. During holidays and birthdays they send me cards. And every time, they arrived it's very hard to contain that joy and excitement.

Today, I receive emails in lieu of letters, e-cards instead of the old fashioned one. But let me ask you - since when have you received a long email? Letters today have morphed to bulletins, updates or mere snippets in the form of emails. Perhaps in order to cope with the sheer volume and competing messages in our inbox. Has the effort to manage online communication today makes us harried and unable to send thoughtful and satisfying emails? Perhaps.

As for my friends, I know they miss me. I even suspect that they, in the strange dynamics of long distance friendship, still love me as they used to. I miss them, too. I still love them. But I miss the introspection that goes into the writing process so you get the full delineation of desires, dreams, triumphs and even losses. I so miss nailing the underlying current and tone to a letter that stops short of conveying a hurt, a rejection. I might be getting dense, but it's been a long, long time since I read an email layered with subtleties.

If at all they're all too pregnant with LOLs, mangled words, and other abominations. And instead of true accounts of their life I get a constant stream of generic content they found on the web. Do you wish me to data-mine all these generic content so I can have a decent inkling of the sentiment you wish to convey? Hah! Please tell me instead - no, punish me instead with unrelenting stories about your cat, and I promise not to get bored. So I will have the insatiable lust to fire back with a long email for inflicting this on me. Hahaha.

Hmmm, maybe it's just the Yuletide season, knowing you're thousand miles away and I'm here still rooted at the spot where you have left me. Or maybe I'm just getting old and in need of a hug.

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Stop! I Want to Get Off

Image by H. Kosin via FlickrWe march to the beat of movers and shakers of technology. It used to be I had only to keep abreast of the internet and its basic basket of goodies to make me feel smug about it all. After all, I can keep pace. Then there's Web 2.0 and the whole shebang of social networks sprouting like mushrooms after the rain. It's keeping me harried and inadequate.

I thought I had it good. I had a mobile with a built-in pen light. Until the street food vendor who parks his cart across from our office building flashes his mobile phone with cam and video. Darn.

Until this jerk in the office had crossed over from Friendster to MySpace. He's now goofing around in Facebook. I bet he'd try blogging one of these days, if Twitter and Plurk give him so much as a lull to pick his nose.

It used to be we can get away not answering the landline phone. "Oh dear, I was at the grocery when you called." Not today, you have your mobile with you. If you're online, you cannot hide because there's a program to unmask your stealth settings. You will be harangued if you so much as forget to call on Skype, which is a no-brainer because it's free. "Busy? Are you sure? Cause I saw you and your friends horsing around in your undies on YouTube."

And your boss at any moment of the day can call you to follow up on some freaking report he needs ASAP. You tell yourself, am I on vacation or what. You have no choice. You have your laptop with you.

By and large, the vital importance of technology to life, governance, and largely to empower individuals to realize his cherished dreams and aspirations cannot be discounted. It is ourselves we must tame and our tendency to run off like a headless chicken. We must learn to adopt it to enhance our way of life to make it truly empowering.

Although there's a downside to it, the good news is that we have the final say as to how we conduct our affairs, picking up just the right tools to make us not only productive but also fulfilled individuals. And to make time for introspection or self-examination. Call it meditation. Solitude. Or taking refuge in your version of a panic room. Or tinkering around your own inner intricate wiring to finally touch base with your real, gracious and lovely self.

Give it a thought.

For more insights on the matter, here's Tony Long's brilliant article Eat, Sleep, Work, Consume, Die

Technology That Empowers Me

Right off the bat, I'd say it's my mobile phone. I sell load credits for mobile phones on the side. And while my earning is not that big, it has been steady. My first phone was a clunky Nokia 3210, a gift from a special person. Then, I bought Nokia 1100 from my savings. Then I gave it away for a smile - I'm that easy. Hahaha. So far, I keep two phones - a Sony Ericsson with cam, video and with wireless Lan and another cheap Nokia set.

Sometimes, I wonder why I bought that pricey SE mobile phone when for a few thousand pesos more I could have gotten myself a desktop. And to this day, I merely use it for texting and that occasional call. I'm still summoning enough brain power to tinker with its video feature. But hey, these shiny toys sure keep you in touch with your friends, colleagues at work, and the world at large. So I guess I am at peace with myself. Usually being the operative word.

My story is not as fantastic as the guy who twittered his way out of prison. It has not funded a son or a daughter to graduate from college - I'm unencumbered, you know. It has brought relief, however, to a few friends and relatives who were in dire need of a small loan here and there. And what a display of admirable cunning and power of persuasion. I just have to bow my head in shame and give in.

I am writing this post on a hand-me-down desktop computer. It's not as if I were sending you this post from some fancy resort in Europe a la Yaro Starak. But I can see the potential here. I am holding court with some of you, bantering and exchanging ideas. Who knows what we may come up with, if we choose to scheme together. Hahaha.

Psychic rewards, for now. That to me is empowering, but what do you think?

This post is inspired by Chris Brogan's 100 blog ideas.