Thursday, November 6, 2008

Looking for a Cave

I feel utterly strung out and exhausted today. I've had far too many emails and spent far too much time online. "It's a time-suck," one of my friends says about the computer. Normally, it's great -- getting away from the mundane to write and converse and read and laugh.

I got a couple of really angry emails today -- not about the election but about some sort of cockamamie mix-up at school with over-zealous volunteer mothers. Turbo-mothers is what I call them. And it's a fine line that sometimes separates me from them. But it's a line, nonetheless. I'm a formidable typist, capable of way, way over 100 words a minute. I have high finger dexterity according to the career profile I received during my senior year in high school. I also had a high Idea-a-phoria number which basically means that I can write down a whole lot of words, rapidly, without stopping. And I think that's why I get in trouble on the computer. I think I can type as fast as I can think. When I learned how to type in ninth grade, we used Manual Typewriters. Yep. I still remember how difficult it was to really press down that "p" with your right pinkie.

But I was good. Still am. Except that now I can type and send as fast as I can think. And that's dangerous.

I'm thinking about moving into a cave for a little while and burning some incense. Like this one in Turkey:


Or this one:
at

9 comments:

  1. kathy with a kNovember 6, 2008 at 9:43 PM

    typing. BEST thing about high school. Probably the only thing I learned that I still use to this very day.
    And yes, on typewriters! (remember the type bars that would jam up when you'd type too fast, and the white-out strips you put b'tween the paper and the type bars?!)

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  2. ElizabethNovember 7, 2008 at 12:27 AM

    and the satisfying crank of the shift thing that rolled your paper down to the next line? Yes, Kathy with a K, thanks for more memories. And when are you typing on your blog, again? I miss you!

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  3. jchawleyNovember 7, 2008 at 6:10 AM

    I would go for the cave with the great room.

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  4. LisaNovember 7, 2008 at 12:10 PM

    I think I'm about ready for a withdrawal from the internet and cable TV for a while!

    I took typing my junior year in high school (class of '79 woohoo) and we were the first class to get the brand new IBM Selectric...what a technological rush!

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  5. LauraNovember 7, 2008 at 3:59 PM

    what's a typewriter?

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  6. ElizabethNovember 7, 2008 at 5:35 PM

    Laura, you're not that young anymore sweetie!

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  7. jeneva22November 7, 2008 at 7:35 PM

    But do you scare people with your emails? Because I totally empathize with this whole thing. And my husband reminds me when I find myself surprised that people are actually listening to me and suddenly amenable or whatever, is that he says I'm scary when I'm mad. We can be the Rahm Emanuels of our respective schools.

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  8. steve on the slow trainNovember 7, 2008 at 8:19 PM

    I almost flunked typing in high school--I think I got by with a D. My high school girlfriend, who was much better at it, referred to it as if it were some kind of Chinese martial art--Tai Ping.

    There was always the problem of getting the paper in straight. I think Kerouac had the right idea by typing On the Road on a roll of paper.

    The cave sounds good right now--especially the rather civilized cave you show.

    P.S. The word verification that comes up this time describes my typing-intelligence: dense.

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  9. Denise Emanuel ClemenNovember 9, 2008 at 7:58 PM

    Wild girls like me signed up for summer typing as an excuse to get out of the house--but never went. I cruised the countryside in my used Corvair (NOT a Corvette) instead.
    Those turbo-moms need to go for a ride with the top down.... hmmm--I like the ambiguity of that image.
    I will visit you in your cave.

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