March 24, 2022
Some people are drawn to cars and motorcycles, while others are drawn to clothes. My thing has always been electronics for some reason. If you really wanna get my attention, just start talking about a new gadget you recently bought. I don’t know where this love comes from. I remember being a kid and becoming excited every time a commercial would come on the TV about a new Apple product. I used to collect magazines from Bell and Rogers that showed the all the cell phones they included with their plans. In those days the popular cell phones were made by BlackBerry. I loved the designs. I used to love imagining which one I’d own if I could pick just one. I remember going to my grandmas for lunch and watching Steve Jobs unveil a new product. I don’t know what it is about these things that excites me. I think it has to do with the way they’ve so cleverly squeezed su h powerful computers into nice little packages. Every time I go to an electronic store with friends or family I suddenly feel a need to start explaining the products to them, as if I’m tryna convince them to buy something. Strangers in the stores must think I work there.
I often wonder what the future of personal electronics will look like, and how old fashioned our current devices will look. I think they will continue to get faster and more efficient, to the point where plugging in a device to charge is something we don’t really do. Already you can wirelessly charge your cell phones, and so I feel that eventually most table surfaces will be able to charge your device just by placing it on the table. People laptops will automatically begin to charge once they set it down to work, although that may not be necessary since batteries will become so efficient that they may only need to be plugged in once a month.
I’m also excited to see the way that random objects around the house will become computerized. I have a feeling that eventually you’ll be able to have a computer that is so small that it can be made in a sort of wrap. Imagine a piece of something like scotch tape, only this scotch tape has computers in it. If you had something like this you could just wrap the tape around objects, effectively turning that object into a computer. The computer would of course be packed with sensors. So basically any object that already has a wrapping around it, such as cars or street lights or buses or water bottles could all have this thin wrapping applied. You could get super accurate readings of things like traffic and weather and electricity usage since everything is being so accurately monitored. Of course you want to be careful because the more everything is monitored, the more potential there is for abuse by someone who wants to perhaps survey
I definitely agree that the setting will influence the style and content of what someone writes. I think I have two ideal spots for writing, or for just being creative in general. I think my favourite is when I’m in a cafe that has a nice view of a very busy street outside. I just love being able to look down and write, pause for a moment to look up and get completely distracted by all the hustle and bustle, and then look back down again and carry on. I find those little brief pauses to be super helpful at unsticking my mind when it gets slightly stuck or even bored. The busy streets always remind of a coral reef in the ocean, in that everything is a different shape, colour, smell, texture, and yet you get the sense that it’s all connected somehow. If you look very closely it might appear as though everything and everyone is separate, but when you start to zoom out you realize how it’s all really just one thing, and every piece relies on the next piece, like a big living organism. The people on the street have no idea how connected they all are just like the fish swimming through the reef never realize how interconnected and essential they all are to the bigger ecosystem.
I agree that it if one wants to feel connected to their spirituality, then writing in nature is sure to deliver this feeling. However, I sometimes find that the very busy places are where I can feel it the most. I think again of this analogy of the coral reef and the ocean. If you were to just look a video of a big piece of water below the surface where there were no fish or plants, you might think that it’s all very still and maybe even dead. However, by placing a bunch of fish and seaweed, you quickly become aware that there is an invisible current! You notice that the plants are swaying back and forth, the fish are bobbing up and down! You only notice this invisible current once there’s something there for the current to react against. I sorta feel this when I look at very busy streets. I felt the sense that there’s this invisible current that is always acting on the people, wether they really notice it or not. It’s when I start to feel that little current that I get really inspired and feel that writing becomes so easy.
I also love to write anywhere with a view of the sky. I like it more when there’s a nice contrast of blue sky and puffy white clouds. The clouds floating through the sky reveal the invisible current that is always there, while the bright blue sky reveals the infinite vastness of possibiltles.
Mario was being bullied for just being a nice guy. Everyone kept telling him he was too kind. Mario didn’t understand. He tried so hard to be friendly. This seemed to annoy his peers. He just wanted to accepted.
One day he showed up to school looking really dirty. He didn’t say ‘good morning’ to any of the other children. He chewed gum all through class and during recess he smoked a Cuban Cigar besides the swings. The kids were taking notice of the new Mario. They approached him cautiously, sweat dripping from their little noses.
“Mario! You have changed!”
Mario nodded slowly, exhaling a large plume of grey smoke.
“I’m having a party tonight! It’s my seventh birthday! Won’t you join us?”
“I’m busy tonight.” Laughed Mario. “I’ve got a date with a hot model. She loves the new Mario.”
“Well bring her along!” Pleaded the boy. “You both are invited!”
Mario scratched his chin and shook his head around, implying that he’d think about it. The school children bowed graciously before Mario. They walked away backwards, making sure not to show him their backs as that was considered very rude.