Farsong Blog-o-Matic - February 3rd, 2008

So I got a new old calculator to-day. I don't have any need for it, but I have use of it. Specifically, for math tests and the like, because for some reason, the 89 I have is not allowed. The one I received is a TI-82, which is a calculator from 1991. It does everything the TI-83 does, and if it can't be done on an 82, it probably can't be done on an 83, mathematically. If I can't do it there, I could do it on an 89, which is what I'd use anyway.

But here's what I find interesting: I got the thing on e-bay. It's like finding things at a garage sale. Upon receipt of the calculator, I found that it had the name "Nathaniel" described in permanent ink, on the inside of the cover. This calculator was someone else's at some point. I hold the small, boxy grey device in my hand, hefting it. It's sold, even though it's old and worn. I imagine it being used by its first owner, sitting on a desk during a test. In the pocket of a backpack. Underneath a lamp at a desk where a math text is cracked.

I can imagine the owner eventually moving on, leaving this calculator at home as part of a series of things that are not needed any longer. Someone left for college. Did they upgrade to a newer, faster, better device and continue on in the sciences? Did they abandon the calculator and forget about math? Where are they now? I wonder about the story of this calculator, even though I have no reason.

And while I can imagine all these things, I can't really know any of them. I can feel the small machine, like a nexus, gathering threads of stories and lives around it. That's what things are: the threads of stories are bound to and wrapped around them; they are conduits and vertices. I know these things are inanimate, but I can't help but to be moved, thinking of how they once were used. Loved, or at least appreciated.

Think about all the things you think about when you heft your phone in your hand. Grab that mouse. Pick up your iPod? There's a story there, of that thing, of how it was gotten and how it was used. The thing can't tell the story, but never the less, the thread of a story is wound tightly into the clockwork gears of the thing its self (not all things have clockwork these days, and in this case, it's metaphorical--as metaphorical as the "strings"; also, this has absolutely nothing to do with string theory).

My only hope is that I can use and appreciate it enough myself. Everyone thinks I do amazing things with technology, but I'm really only trying to utilise it to its full potential. If I didn't use a computer to its full potential, I should be using something much older and more fitted to the use: a PII would do fine for internet, e-mail, writing, music-playing, and watching videos. No more computer is needed. Any computer these days is overkill unless you use it for rendering and video editing and graphic design.

Computer Science Major, Philosophy Minor? Perhaps.

Cleaned up my room. Decided that if I value good design and architecture in buildings (and graphics) I should start by keeping my own room clean and free of bric-a-brac--otherwise I feel like a hypocrite. I still have yet to tackle the mess of bookshelves and clear out the books that I don't use. I just need to get rid of the things I don't use, haven't used in a long time, and won't use in the foreseeable future.

Here's the worst-case scenario: I have to go and purchase something new when I need it (which I would probably do anyway, because by that time, whatever it is that I need will probably be more feature-rich for a lower price. Or it will be the same price because it's the same thing). Or I have to go to the library to reference books for things. How terrible. Here's another scenario: I only keep as much stuff as will fit into a car in one trip. Forces me to cut down on the excess stuff. Plus, as an offshoot of keeping fewer things, I will also have a space that's cleaner. And I get to live the ideal of really only keeping the things I need.

The upshot of all this is that I have room on the window seat and I don't mind pulling up the blinds during the day, when I need light. Also, I have a coaster and a desk pad to protect the surface of the desk its self.


Watched House. Last week's episode, on VHS. No, I don't have a TiVO because a VCR works perfectly fine for standard-def television.

Found at least three pages of comics that were partially-unfinished. Finished drawing them and then started some inking. I have schoolwork to finish before I get those completed.

Lifting things up and down stairs all day. Lots of fun.

There was a new couch a week ago, and it's big and poofy and I'm boycotting it.

Moved some mattresses around. Broke part of the house. I was tired and then took a nap.

Watched House.


So, yeah. That's my day.