Clueless Critic: October 2011

Growing up in the 80s and 90s has been a great thing as it was easy to keep track with technology and technological advancement. Things did not seem to be very hard to follow and you were able to find things that stay the same for years and years.

But in the last decade, things seem to change drastically from day to day, and if you don’t keep track, you will be mocked of being “ignorant” by others who obviously are up to date!

So I made a small list of things I’m sure my kids will never know existed and probably they will never believe such things existed once:

Rotary Cell wired phones: It’s not enough that numbers were not saved, you actually had to turn wheel from side to side to dial a number! And you had to read the number for an actual phone book in case you didn’t know the number by heart.

Rotary cell TV: I can’t believe that we actually had one of these TVs at home… It was a Toshiba colored TV and I believe we had 4 or 5 channels on it, and we had to move the “wheel” to switch between the channels

VCR Tapes: The good old days where you had to tape a certain TV show on one of those tapes (120 minutes or 180 minutes) to watch it later, and it was re-writable too J (Matter of fact, I still have a bunch of VCR tapes at home and a VCR player as well )

The good old days of having a film in the camera! In those happy years, you had to be really sure that you want to take a picture something or someone, because let’s face it, you had only 36 pictures (maximum) per film and if was expensive to develop the film… I kinda miss those days to be honest!

This is the grandfather of the touchpad keyboard! This is where you had no way to correct a mistake unless you re-type what you wrote on a different paper. I don’t think I would have lasted 10 minutes with something like this because there is no “Auto Correct” which, sadly, I can never live without !

Our kids will never know the relation between a pencil and a cassette, that id they ever see a cassette in the first place! In case you didn’t know the correlation between these 2 items; the pencil was used to rewind or forward the cassette in case the cassette player was not working or that the tape got stuck in the player! Creative thinking!

The floppy disk that had the capacity of saving 3.5 Mega Bytes in total!!!

This was a great invention, thinking that you can carry the information you need in your pocket and take it anywhere you want!!!! I remember that my friend bought the 1GB USB in 2004 for the amount of 100$ and she was super happy about it!

I have been living I Romania for the past year and the worst nightmare about it, is that I don’t know anything about the geography of Bucharest. I can get along really well with the subway, but I could never go around the city using the car.

So the logical solution would be using a GPS, one might say, but no! this would be the worst thing you can use. It’s not just that the GPS is not up to date and that the streets are a total chaos. It’s because of the GPS itself.

In order to know what I was suffering, you have to know a certain thing about the Romanian language; just like all Latin languages, they tend to speak to second person in plural! which means that you always feel respected where even you go, even if the attitude doesn’t give u that feeling.

So the GPS talks to you that way, which sounds a bit like this “ On the following street, please turn to the right” or “On the following street, please make a sharp turn to the left”

And as you can imagine, you will be already past that turn when she finishes her sentence, and that’s when you will be faced with “wrong route, map reconfiguration” and then start all over again.

And of course the next thing I know is that I start yelling and cursing the GPS and as you might already know, it will not help it shut up

So that made me think how would a Jordanian GPS sound like, and here is what I imagined it would be like:

“Drive straight for around 300 or 400 meters, after Abu el Abed mini market, take your left… when you see a rubbish bin, take your right. Find a place to park, walk around 500 meters and ask around”

Or if you missed your exit it will sound like the following:

“It’s okay dear, 3adi! Sightseeing! You’ll get to know this area better”

Call me crazy, but I like the Jordanian version better, it’s not that formal, and it makes you feel home!

This is your life.
Do what you love, and do it often.
If you don't like something, change it.
If you don't like your job, quit.
If you don't have enough time, stop watching TV.
If you are looking for the love of your life, STOP; they will be waiting for you when you start DOING things you love.
Stop over analyzing, all emotions are beautiful.
Life is simple.
When you eat, appreciate every last bite.
Open your mind, arms and heart to new things and people, we are united in our differences.
Ask the second person you see what their passion is, and share your inspiring drea, with them.
Travel often; getting lost will help you find yourself.
Some opportunities come once, seize them.
Life is about people we meet, and the things you create with them.
So go out and start creating.
Life is short. Live your dream and share your passion.

Clueless Critic

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