I have a primary contradiction in most of my life. See I’ve always been into techie things while not really understanding them. I had an early Sony Walkman, an Atari 2600 when it was cutting edge, was early into CD, minidisc, DVD, getting a PC.
Later on I was the webmaster at my last radio station back in 1995 when few around me knew what the interweb was. Don’t get me wrong, I can’t code to save my life, someone set it up so that I could update the (incredibly primative) site using forms, but I was the only one with any interest.
Then here I was the first one with a blog, Bebo, Myspace, Facebook as they all hit the mainstream. I’m going to be the first of us here to be doing a regular show on our new digital service 2XM and I spend lots of time taking photos on my new Nokia N95.
The point I’m making to begin with is that I have a passion for the new and a curiosity for where things are going. But that’s not what this post is about. It’s about the counterpoint.
You see I turn 35 next month and I’ve found recently that the older I get, the greater my passon for the analogue, the old, the simple. For instance…
I write longhand all the time. I own lots of notebooks, all for different purposes, I keep a diary. I write actual manual letters to my friends, do crosswords, love pens, carry my music to OBs in a big wooden box, love walking, buying crap old board games in markets, these days I mostly buy books when I go out. I’ve taken to playing board games with the kids and refound my passion for chess as a result.
I’m going to stand in the dirt to watch Shakespeare at the weekend.
I have an MP3 player but I haven’t used it in months (I read or write on the bus and I think I’m going to get a record deck and start collecting vinyl again, just for the feel of it!), a digital photo frame but I never took it out of the box, my son has three consoles but I don’t remember the last time I played any of them…
I SO want a manual typewriter for my birthday.
I don’t know what the purpose of all this is I suppose, just that I’ve been observing this over time and I’d like to tell you about it 🙂
6 thoughts on “Only Nixon Can Go To China…”
i wonder if its nostalgia for when life was simpler and less rushed.. or perhaps turning the corner from 30 to nearing 40? maybe its just because you like the feel of things in your hand – the tangible rather than the visual.
and as for writing letters… i’d much rather get a letter in the mail than an email, any day.
Variety is the spice of life, it’s good to appreciate both the old and the new. I’m the same as you with the notebooks, I carry three around with me at all times, I’ve also returned to handmaking cards no e-cards for me!! Oh I saw this picture recently – your post reminded me of it http://www.paperpony.net/2008/04/laptopit-was-inevitable.html
Aul-fella. Ha ha. You’re just like Tom Hanks, with his typewriter fettish. And Troy McLure thought he had it bad. That said, i’d adore an old fashion type-writer too. I sometimes fantasise about that special pressure that you had to apply to the keys and the way they bounced back, and then when you pull over the end of line thing and it made a double clicking sound. aaaaaaarrrghgh. There was so much for the OCD eccentric in those type-writers.
I got an old-school manual type writer for my 10th birthday and I adored it. It’s still sitting in the spare room but unfortunately it’s a long time since it’s gotten any use.
Donna, I’ve always liked the physical and the tangiable and there is an element of sensuality to it. Paper, metal, ink and the like.
Maz that is a beautiful photo that has brightened up my day 🙂
Bngr I am going to stab you in the back in a tavern in Deptford this weekend if you’re not careful…
Annie – time to bring it out of retirement. Seriously!
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