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Computers have opened new worlds of education, recreation, and information to me. I have used them for many different applications, ranging from typing up a paper last-minute for an English class to conversing with multiple friends at once about multiple topics. In many cases I have done both at once. Let me take you back to the end of my Junior year at South County Secondary School.
It was twelve o’ clock ante meridiem, and I sat alone in a dark computer room in the recesses of my house. My face was a pale blue and my mouth slightly agape. I could hear naught but the tickity tack of my fingers whiling away on the keyboard in front of me, broken in some instances by the sharp click of the mouse as I changed windows to look at the internet page behind the paper I was typing.
I had AIM open, but no one was on. This was most likely a blessing. I continued to type away. As I typed, a small window popped up in the bottom right corner of the screen. “KorethX is no longer Idle.” It said. Then another, replacing the first, popped up. “KorethX has returned from away.” I did not open an Instant Message with him because I was working on my paper, and did not want to be distracted. I had the sound on my computer turned off, so if he were to Instant Message me, I would be able to ignore it until I was able to find a stopping point. However, Mr. KorethX was not alone. Several more windows appeared in the bottom right corner, and they stacked up to the top of the screen and then disappeared. This surprised me, but I did not stop typing.
Five seconds later, the menu bar at the bottom of the screen was flashing. And flashing. And flashing. There were five new Instant Messages waiting for me to answer. I decided to stop typing long enough to answer them. I opened up the Instant Message with KorethX, and began conversing with him about the end of the year and what our plans were for the summer. Occasionally I would look back at the paper, but I was far enough along that I did not have to type much more.
An hour later, I finished my paper, or thought I had, and bade good bye to the two people who were still on. I logged off of the AOL Instant Messenger service and picked up the rubric for my paper. Then I noticed, horrorstruck, a few small words which meant so much. I had only written two pages. It was supposed to have been five. I reprimanded myself with a few off-color words, and then sat back down at the desk. I had to expand what I had written into three more pages…
I typed until dawn, quite literally, actually. I worked and worked. I looked up at the clock and it was 6:30. “I guess I have to get to the bus now…” I packed my things, and walked the quarter mile to my bus stop. I waited with my fellow bus-mates, and the bus pulled up. It drove away from the bus stop, and we were about half-way to school when I opened my back-pack to read through my essay one more time. And of course, as luck would have it, my paper was not in my back-pack. I laid my head back against the seat and laughed at the futility of it all.
I got to school, and trudged my way to my class. I entered the class, and sat down. My teacher asked us to pass our paper, half of our Final Exam grade, to the front. When he went through them to check if he had them all, he looked at me and asked, “Where is yours, Chris?”
“Let me put it this way,” I said tiredly. “My dog ate it.”