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pyoor_excuseTMW - The modern world.
Where do I fit in to it? Well, I don't - not really; which is odd for a girl of the "computer age". It's funny for someone so in love with technology to hate it with quite such a passion - and to want to so strongly separate myself from the world in which I exist.
Variously, my friends have recently come to the conclusion they need to replace their cars; Lauren's little red fiat is, not to put to finer point on it - at the end of it's design life. Bits are breaking at a rate which I find quite staggering, my friend Nikki has discovered serious structural rot in her minor - such that it's condemed to a scrap heap (either by her or by the next owner, unless someone actually takes the time to do what I did for Rebecca, a complete new floor and structure end-to-end).
It's brought to life an interesting dichotomy in our opinions; I suppose I'm very pro - perhaps to my detriment - the devil I know. That, and I feel that both with Claire and Rebecca, I largely have these vehicles in trust, they're both quite capable of outlasting me by a not insubstantial margain. As long as I look after them, and plan in advance as far as possible, they will probably be around for my estate to sell on after I die.
That doesn't stop me being frustrated or despondent when something [big] goes wrong - I really thought I was up a certain creek, sans paddle, when the engine died on Rebecca. But the footpegs falling off on Claire? That was an expected disaster - it just occured rather earlier that scheduled.
Anyway, I'm rambling.
It's brought to light this dichotomy. I believe; truly believe; that my minor is an ideal every day car, she's racked up 80 miles a day for periods of time. And I also believe that old houses are the only type of houses worth having. I don't do modern. I don't partake in the modern world.
My bike, I'll grant, dates from just 1991, but it's design is substantially older.
I don't believe in modern cars, or houses, or really anything. Modern design is just something I really, really hate. Modern houses are an affront to my design sensibilities (design life = ~40 years) as are modern cars (design life= ~ 3-5 years). Modern computers - with their cheap-as-possible components, modern printers with their thin-as-you-can-get-away-with plastic? It all makes me shudder. I have watched with great sympathy, but no great suprise, the saga of my friends New Build house (things have been cost downed to the point they don't actually work anymore).
And more and more I feel the urge to retreat into my little space on a mountain with my Morris Minor, my ETZ, and my beloved - and live in a converted / restored house.
I dunno, watching my friend who drove a minor select essentially a modern custom, well, it's left me feeling isolated in my beliefs again, I guess. Unlike a lot of my other beliefs, my lack of faith in the modern universe is reinforced by the world around me and is very deeply ingrained, so it's unlikely to go away. So I think I'll remain lurking in my anti-modern-world space until I die :-)
Where do I fit in to it? Well, I don't - not really; which is odd for a girl of the "computer age". It's funny for someone so in love with technology to hate it with quite such a passion - and to want to so strongly separate myself from the world in which I exist.
Variously, my friends have recently come to the conclusion they need to replace their cars; Lauren's little red fiat is, not to put to finer point on it - at the end of it's design life. Bits are breaking at a rate which I find quite staggering, my friend Nikki has discovered serious structural rot in her minor - such that it's condemed to a scrap heap (either by her or by the next owner, unless someone actually takes the time to do what I did for Rebecca, a complete new floor and structure end-to-end).
It's brought to life an interesting dichotomy in our opinions; I suppose I'm very pro - perhaps to my detriment - the devil I know. That, and I feel that both with Claire and Rebecca, I largely have these vehicles in trust, they're both quite capable of outlasting me by a not insubstantial margain. As long as I look after them, and plan in advance as far as possible, they will probably be around for my estate to sell on after I die.
That doesn't stop me being frustrated or despondent when something [big] goes wrong - I really thought I was up a certain creek, sans paddle, when the engine died on Rebecca. But the footpegs falling off on Claire? That was an expected disaster - it just occured rather earlier that scheduled.
Anyway, I'm rambling.
It's brought to light this dichotomy. I believe; truly believe; that my minor is an ideal every day car, she's racked up 80 miles a day for periods of time. And I also believe that old houses are the only type of houses worth having. I don't do modern. I don't partake in the modern world.
My bike, I'll grant, dates from just 1991, but it's design is substantially older.
I don't believe in modern cars, or houses, or really anything. Modern design is just something I really, really hate. Modern houses are an affront to my design sensibilities (design life = ~40 years) as are modern cars (design life= ~ 3-5 years). Modern computers - with their cheap-as-possible components, modern printers with their thin-as-you-can-get-away-with plastic? It all makes me shudder. I have watched with great sympathy, but no great suprise, the saga of my friends New Build house (things have been cost downed to the point they don't actually work anymore).
And more and more I feel the urge to retreat into my little space on a mountain with my Morris Minor, my ETZ, and my beloved - and live in a converted / restored house.
I dunno, watching my friend who drove a minor select essentially a modern custom, well, it's left me feeling isolated in my beliefs again, I guess. Unlike a lot of my other beliefs, my lack of faith in the modern universe is reinforced by the world around me and is very deeply ingrained, so it's unlikely to go away. So I think I'll remain lurking in my anti-modern-world space until I die :-)
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no subject
Date: 2005-08-18 01:05 pm (UTC)Built-in obsolescence is a bitch. Some things it makes sense for. Computers for one. But computers are built to out live their usefulness. My pentium 150 processor from 10 years ago, had a run life of 20 years. I don't know what I would want to run on it 10 years from now, as there is nothing I'd want to run on it NOW. I overclocked it to a blazing 166, a 10% clock increase! The extra heat would have shortened the lifespan to just 12 years. Again, I was never going to use it that long. I turned around and upgraded to a p200 a few years later. *shrug* I ran basically the same computer for 5 years. In the end, I upgraded to a whole new system not because it was shoddily built, (the thing is across the room from me and runs just fine) but because there were so many newer things I could do with faster equipment. In truth, they are engineered to last far longer than they will actually be used.
I don't know what to say about not trusting modern technology. *shrug* Do you have a cell phone? I don't. Do you wear a wrist watch? I don't. Video camera? Not me. Though I did just get a digital camera. Maybe you are embracing modern tech faster than me. But wait! I am prepared to enter the 21st century! What I want now is a high powered wireless tablet computer, so I can browse and read from my couch or bed. :-) Mmm, lazy tech!
no subject
Date: 2005-08-18 09:13 pm (UTC)Im sure she'll still be herumphing at the design of hovercars and teleports from the driving seat of her morris minor.
I think its not modern living that she doesnt agree with, but bad design. You can still get well designed modern living aids but they cost lots more that everything else. At the end of the day desin and engineering principles date back to the stone age, and shes seeing the older things that have lasted, that have lasted because they were designed well.
Of course around 20 years ago less naff engineers were employed as engineers, as there wasnt the market for the amount of stuff there is now, so the ratios have changed.
no subject
Date: 2005-08-19 05:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-08-19 06:41 am (UTC)Choices Choices Choices.
(Oh and fret ye not about the modern world - personally I figure it's over-rated hence my 'new' Victorian-era house...)