Today: Tomorrow's Yesterday (31)

Have you ever noticed that the experiences and happenings of a year get simplified and generalized as time progresses? I associate the year 2004 with green cards. 1998 was the year we moved to the States. As you zoom out and start looking at larger time periods you generalize even more, perhaps describing the first ten years of your life as sheltered, happy, and relaxed. Those of you who've been around a bit longer, or have been reading too many history books, may "associate the '50s with prosperity and conservatism; the 1960s with social upheaval, experimentation, and war; the 1970s with self-examiniation; the 1980s with prosperity and decadence." (Weiblog home. Prompt 31.) What will my generation be associated with as time stereotypes and generalizes?

The 90s started the Information Age, as personal computers and the Internet gained popularity. Then there was that whole Y2K scare. And now the 21st century has dawned and young people are starting to use less and less of their brains. Perhaps my generation will later be seen as the generation of teens who lacked nothing, and had everything done for them they could possibly imagine. Maybe we will be seen as the generation that finally lost the ability - and even desire - to think for themselves. Or maybe we'll be viewed as the generation of Lazy Gluttons.

I really do sound gloomy. But times just get worse as we get farther along. It's called entropy, and it's a scientific principle. Looking back, years down the line, we will see how parents' lack of discipline for their children has impacted the history of this world. Technology and information aren't bad. They've just gotten the better of us.

The Last Shutdown (32)

During 8th grade someone gave me a laptop, complete with built-in speakers and microphone, modem card, floppy drive and Windows 95. It was a wonder! For a short time I used it to do stuff like type up top-secret documents. After a while I got tired of using nothing but Paint, QBASIC and WordPad. After letting it sit in my desk drawer for a few months I decided to take it out and see what the inside of a dinosaur computer looked like. And of course after taking it apart, I couldn't be bothered to put it back together again. My computer slept comatose for the next several years until more recently I tried to repair it, in a desperate attempt to recover one of those "top-secret" documents. For one last spectacular moment, I managed to revive the tired machine long enough to retrieve the file. Then my lovely old laptop breathed its last.

My English teacher just gave me a wonderful opportunity to pay a final tribute to my aged laptop by having me post a eulogy. To my faithful laptop:

Thank you for your dedicated service to me during our short time together. You helped me express my thoughts and then held onto them for me. Although you weren't that bright, and your memory was limited, I could always here you humming as you worked. You possessed many fine qualities, being accurate, organized, ready to listen, good at keeping secrets, and as quick as your slow thinking could allow you to be. You have lived a full life, having seen ten generations. I must apologize for ending your life in such a tragic way. Your final moments however, were truly your finest; right up until the end you gave, holding nothing back. I hope I have somehow expressed the true spirit of a laptop computer. I bid you a fond farewell as you leave for that better place that all good laptops go to.