When I first discovered the Internet in Year 8 (yes, it was me), I thought it was pretty cool. Very cool. Which obviously it is and I was right. I was so amazed by the things I could now do and find out that I even took time out of my busy lunchtime Spin Doctor schedule to marvel. That is, when Double Helix Club wasn’t in session.
Through the miracle of email (not pronounced ‘eh-mail’, I learnt later), I gained exotic online Pen Pals with names like ‘FrogGirl’ from exotic places like ‘Adelaide’. “How’s the weather in Adelaide?” “It’s cold, you?” “Same.” It was a golden age, when chat-rooms were new and socially acceptable, and Facebook was just a twinkle in the eye of that guy from The Social Network.
Back in those days, I looked forward to spending time in the computer room after school, while I waited for Dad (who was a teacher at my school) to finish up. I could look up anything I wanted during that time, which in those days was mostly pictures of Hanson, and chords for songs by Killing Heidi. And play Spin Doctor. I was allowed to do anything I wanted, except click on any buttons that say ‘**!!!NuDe SpIcE GiRlS!!!**’. For a dare.
But as time went on, I noticed that The Internet (which Microsoft Word tells my gets a capital letter, like ‘God’) got less and less exciting. Mum eventually warned me against FrogGirl (because he could turn out to be a ToadMan), chat-rooms got shunned by Sacred Heart’s I.T. department (and later by society), and I got kicked out of the computer room for looking up naked girl bands. For a dare.
Recently when I quit my job, I found new reasons for avoiding The Internet and it’s netty charms, even coming up with the personal slogan ‘Ebay is Not a Hobby’ to remind me of one of it’s (or maybe ‘my’) downfalls. So these days, my Internet adventures have dwindled to: checking my email, job-searching, Facebook, Twitter (still not sure about this one), and occasionally researching things like ‘Wikihow to be a musician’. And that’s about it.
As I get older, and the world gets smaller, my interest in the World Wide Web steadily declines. No frog-people, no spice-girls and no chat-rooms. Usually if I decide to surf the net (are the kids still saying this?), somehow I just end up paddling around in circles (similar to my actual surfing experiences) and then go play outside. At least mum will be happy that I’m getting some fresh air.
I think it's possible that whoever did this in awesome knitted bike rack in Carlton was in their school's Double Helix Club.
Hello dear Kathryn, it's Robyn here, just letting you know how much I'm enjoying reading of your adventures in Melbourne! Your blog is very funny and would make your former Sacred Heart english teachers proud. Did you have Mr Ryan as a teacher? I used to present a radio show with him called the blurb - there is a blog for it which is still being. Also I think The Internet has capitals because it is like a place. Anyhoo keep up the top work! xo
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