One of the more old fashioned looking utility polesI've seen while out hiking in Hong Kong
"Only connect! That was the whole of her sermon. Only connect the prose and the passion, and both will be exalted..." Thus goes one of the more famous passages in E. M. Forster's Howard's End, a book I was introduced at boarding school in England and quickly went on to love.
And "only connect" was my wish and cry for the past twenty-two hours or so in between my home computer modem went kaput and it finally getting replaced by another by my internet service provider a few minutes ago!
Although I do remember having lived life without e-mails and the world wide web, the fact of the matter is that for around a decade and a half now, they have become such important, integral parts of my life -- my means to stay connected with family members and friends, many of whom live in different parts of the world, and thousands of kilometers and miles away from me. And then there are the friends I've made via the internet (through reading their writings and/or viewing the pictures they create and share on various websites and blogs) -- many of whom I've yet to meet up face to face with but feel like I know pretty well despite this being the case...
Some years back when I was living in Philadelphia, I had a house-mate who would scoff at what he called my "cyberfriends" (as opposed to what he looked upon as "real" -- and an online buddy described as "meatspace" -- friends). So it's rather ironic that I've ended up continuing to keep in touch with more of the "cyberfriends" than my "meatspace" friends from that era -- and that my housemate is one of those then members of my "meatspace" circle who I quickly lost touch with once I left the U.S.A.
On a more positive note: I love how the internet really does make me feel more connected to humanity as a whole as well as broaden and/or deepen my knowledge of lots of different elements and parts of our world. On a personal note, I am really grateful for the experiences I regularly have such as communicating via e-mail with an American friend who I met via an online Asian film forum about possibly meeting up again in the future in Japan or with my mother about an English football team whose fortunes we follow from afar by doing such as reading onlines match reports and analyses along with watching 'live' on satellite or cable TV; experiences that were really not part of the realm of possibilities just a scant couple of decades or more ago!
In any case, apologies if this all sounds like babble -- but I'm just so happy as well as relieved that I'm able to connect to the internet again (and in my leisure time rather than just at and for work)!!! :)))
Postscript: Of course, getting visitors to -- and comments -- on my blog help me to feel connected to the rest of the world. So thanks to those who check out this blog, particularly those who visit regularly... and do please comment (more) on my entries! :b
And "only connect" was my wish and cry for the past twenty-two hours or so in between my home computer modem went kaput and it finally getting replaced by another by my internet service provider a few minutes ago!
Although I do remember having lived life without e-mails and the world wide web, the fact of the matter is that for around a decade and a half now, they have become such important, integral parts of my life -- my means to stay connected with family members and friends, many of whom live in different parts of the world, and thousands of kilometers and miles away from me. And then there are the friends I've made via the internet (through reading their writings and/or viewing the pictures they create and share on various websites and blogs) -- many of whom I've yet to meet up face to face with but feel like I know pretty well despite this being the case...
Some years back when I was living in Philadelphia, I had a house-mate who would scoff at what he called my "cyberfriends" (as opposed to what he looked upon as "real" -- and an online buddy described as "meatspace" -- friends). So it's rather ironic that I've ended up continuing to keep in touch with more of the "cyberfriends" than my "meatspace" friends from that era -- and that my housemate is one of those then members of my "meatspace" circle who I quickly lost touch with once I left the U.S.A.
On a more positive note: I love how the internet really does make me feel more connected to humanity as a whole as well as broaden and/or deepen my knowledge of lots of different elements and parts of our world. On a personal note, I am really grateful for the experiences I regularly have such as communicating via e-mail with an American friend who I met via an online Asian film forum about possibly meeting up again in the future in Japan or with my mother about an English football team whose fortunes we follow from afar by doing such as reading onlines match reports and analyses along with watching 'live' on satellite or cable TV; experiences that were really not part of the realm of possibilities just a scant couple of decades or more ago!
In any case, apologies if this all sounds like babble -- but I'm just so happy as well as relieved that I'm able to connect to the internet again (and in my leisure time rather than just at and for work)!!! :)))
Postscript: Of course, getting visitors to -- and comments -- on my blog help me to feel connected to the rest of the world. So thanks to those who check out this blog, particularly those who visit regularly... and do please comment (more) on my entries! :b
2 comments:
Losing connection to the internet drives me insane! I can sit about (when I'm allowed to) and enjoy doing nothing at all - but let me lose connection to the WWW and I instantly think of all the important things that I MUST do online RIGHT NOW!!!
I'm glad you're connected again :)
Hi Dragonstar --
The morning of my day without internet just happened to be one during which Arsenal had played a major game and I reeeally wanted to know what the final score was. (We didn't do great but it was not as bad as my nightmare made me fear it'd be). So that definitely didn't help matters.
And yes, I really did feel euphoric when I got connected again -- as you probably can tell from this blog entry! :b
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