I must have been 6 years old when dad brought home my first personal computer (PC). It was a spanking new Apple II with a whopping 32kb (!!) of memory. Even back then, Apple had the coolest designs and this is reflected in the sleekness of the Apple II. It came with a 5.25 inch floppy drive (no hard drives back then), a 16-colour monitor and a keyboard that made typewriters feel proud. Its hard to describe how much i learned with that RM5,000 piece of plastic and sillicon, how much fun it gave me, and how it started me down the path of Geek-dom.
Read the History of the Apple II
I find it fascinating how technology has completely dominated my life today. I'm not only dependent on technology, but i feel that its become a very integral part of my being. Sheesh. I feel like a first-timer at an Alchoholic Anonymous meeting; making that admission is giving me the jeepers.
But its so true.
I have all the gadgets that you could think of: my handphone (a Nokia 8310), my Palm PDA (an old Palm IIIe), i've got my Dell desktop PC at home + my Tagg notebook, a Canon 330 digital cam, a web cam, a PS2 that doubles as my DVD player, satellite TV - sometimes (like right now), i take a moment for reflection and ask myself whether i need each and everyone of these little technological gizmos.
I look at my parents, and i envy them sometimes. They are so blissfully ignorant of the little gadgets (or toys?) that i have and what they do for me. They even have trouble using their mobile phones properly. And in the case of my father, he's resisted even having a mobile phone for years and years. Its only in the last few months that he's started using one.
But his reasons for resistance are so valid: if he does not have a phone then people can't call him and bug him. He'll actually have time to be on his own, in complete privacy, unreachable by everyone. That does make so much sense in its own way, but its something i know i couldn't accept for myself. To be disconnected from the world? To be alone, completely oblivious of everything around me, unreachable in any way or form? Blasphemy!
I would hate to blame it all on that Apple II my dad brought home, oh so long ago. But i'm afraid i'll have to. There is no other explanation.
And it's not like i haven't tried breaking away - i even did a BA in English Literature (ok, ok, maybe i was too dumb to be accepted as a comp. science student). That didn't help. I was still tinkering with PCs, networks, DIY LAN kits in my own free time. Every spare moment i could find (besides, eating, sleeping, studying and debating), i was in front of my PC, either playing with the latest RPG or planning to blow up the world somehow. And it certainly didn't help (to the great disappointment of my father) that i didn't pick up the teaching vocation upon graduation, instead choosing to immerse myself in IT management leading to my current position in PETRONAS' e-Business unit. It's just so strange how things have worked out. Its just so strange how i can't seem to escape the role technology has had in my life. I think i'm going to give up trying. There's no point.
"Hello. My name is Aizuddin Danian. I'm a geek." - greeted by thunderous applause from my fellow geeks at my first Geeks Anoymous gathering.
