Times before Past and Present. Now.

In this day where we publish all our memories, experiences pale in comparison to everyone else. It seems that I need to come up with something more and more sensational to be noticed. But, hey what if I don't want to be noticed. What if what I'm experiencing is private? It kind of feels like there is no chance for that, hence the blog. Sometimes I like it. I like being "out there" or being loud, announcing all to the world. I recall a time however when I was loud, the only people who could read me, were within spitting distance. No one spat (not at me) as I recall but, well, it was different. I mentioned an anecdote to a friend today and as I told the story, I added that it happened before the Internet. Not that long ago really. There were no Starbucks. Very few cellphones. No MP3s. No computers, well not that anyone would want to hang out on a computer because they were bulky as hell and had no interest except for the people who liked bulky, uninteresting things. There was more visiting and post-card sending, and more phone calls. Not that I don't benefit from all these things, but I'm going through the motions. I don't actually wish for any of them. If there were no computers tomorrow or cellphones or wikipedia (which I'm a big fan of) or online newsgroups, social networks, weather channels, whathaveyou, I would barely notice.

I guess what I'm going on about is that I miss the one-to-one communication. I miss the times where I didn't have to worry about missed calls on my cellphone or checking my email for messages from work or whatever. I miss the days where choosing music involved going to a friend's house and listening to the latest stuff that they bought, because it meant going to a friend's house, seeing that person, exchanging words of greeting, using their bathroom, having a chat, a cup of tea, listening to the album they just bought and trying to enjoy it, even if, say, your really didn't. All those awkward and amusing moments, were moments of exchange, whereas. Whereas now, if I hear new music, I can download the entire discography, which although may be more convenient, is not what I want. I just want that one song and possibly the album. And I want to share it with someone else. I want the other stuff which goes along with the whole bathroom, talking, tea-drinking, head-nodding-to-the-new-music-and-pretending-you-like-it, shrugging your shoulders, talking about the latest whatever, exchange.

I don't like my house. I need something new or old. I want to hear crickets. I want to hear cicadas. The sounds of the summer in New England or Quebec and Ontario. When it gets hot and humid. To that I miss.