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not being much fun
Sunday, October 25 1998
All I wanted to do today was concentrate my considerable focus on my computer, which was plagued with all the complexities and "challenges" you'd expect from a Windows 95 computer infused with Windows 98 files and somehow running Windows 98 but doing it badly.
Kim, who has no interest in these things, was obviously disgusted that I climbed directly from bed to the front of my computer. She wanted me to go on a walk with her and Sophie to pick up some coffee. I'm diplomatic about these things, so I agreed to come along. But with Kim it's not easy to just be diplomatic. She could tell that she was tearing me away and that as we walked down the street, I was was lost in thought about something unrelated to her and the scenery (in this case: How do I make the video tuner on my ATI All in Wonder card operate under Windows 98?).
As I stood in line in LaStats, waiting to buy my half pound of ground French Roast, time weighed heavy on my mind. I just don't have enough of it after I've given my due to my job, my girlfriend, and, in this case, LaStats. I've never seen cups of what appeared to be ordinary coffee prepared with so many time-consuming steps and with so much running around in my entire life. The guys in line directly in front of me wore leather and had arrived on motorcycles. But I knew even from a distance that they were not motorcycle guys. Sure enough their awkward banter was loaded with references to computers and the internet. Guys like these force me to wonder if this industry in which I've cast my life is ever really going to be very cool.
In the afternoon, Kim wanted to go to the art museum to see the M.C. Escher exhibit. But my focus on my computer made her uncomfortable about initiating any genuine departure. So she lay in bed shooting angry glances at me and making vaguely insulting comments that were just strong enough to obliterate my focus. It's awfully hard for us to both do our own thing in this tiny little space.
But peace emerged after a trip to the grocery store and a satisfying meal. And now I can even watch teevee on my computer again, thanks to WebTV from Microsoft. It seems like an interesting merging of web techniques and television, though it's just an inkling of the possibilities. I imagine a day when HTML, movies, WAVs and JPEGs will be broadcast (in addition to being pointcast) right along with increasingly irrelevant television signals, and our computers will descramble and make sense of it all in a far more interactive format than broadcast formats of the present day.
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