Random acts

Funny old game this internet caper, innit?

I remember how, before I was “connected”, I was dead set against it. Didn’t understand it… didn’t want to understand it; didn’t know how it worked… didn’t want to know how it worked; couldn’t see the point; absolutely convinced it would be destructive of meaningful communication between folk.

Ah yes. The good old days.

All that began to change of course when my uninformed bias against it went the way of so many other things that I’ve been dead set against.
Mobile phones for example. Useless contraptions. No need for ‘em. Why would I want one? And unreliable to boot. Never gonna get one.

Yeah. Right.

So here I now am, on my umpteenth cycle of this evil contraption… and I seem to have three of the little buggers!
Mind you, I still don’t like them. And avoid using them whenever I can. And they’re still unreliable. Why are my three always unreliable at the same time though? Why can’t they take it in turns? Its not as though they’re on the same network or something. Bloody useless things. Well, most of the time.

The internet however proved to be a different thing entirely. Once I managed to get my head around how it all worked. Now I find it difficult to imagine how I’d function without it. In fact, I probably spend more time on it than off. And on the odd occasions when I’ve lost my connection (usually because of some monumental screw-up on the part of my service provider… of which I usually have more than one; simply because of such screw-ups) I get all depressed and customarily end up going to bed or something… to sulk.

Thing is, it seems to have added a whole new, and entirely unsuspected, dimension to life. Making possible things that previously would have been unimaginable. It seems to me now that life without this “extra dimension” feels flat, and rather bland. In fact, I have difficulty comprehending how folk who’re “unconnected” can possibly live a full, rounded, and informed life.
And somehow its wormed its way into almost everything I do.

And my biggest objection to it, that it would be “destructive of meaningful communication between folk” has proved to be a complete load of old cobblers. Well, maybe.
Far from being destructive of communication between people, it actually facilitates it to a frightening degree. Well it would, wouldn’t it? Wot with it being a communication technology an’ all.

Though I’m still not entirely convinced about the… er… “quality” of much of that communicating. Yeah, sure, we can “chat” for hours on end (if we so wish) with some total stranger on the other side of the globe.
We can exchange banter, discuss profound questions about Life, the Universe and Everything, make new “friends”, share stuff, and so on.

Though that whole “making new friends” business is a bit problematic… cos you can never be entirely certain just who a person is, or what they’re really like, from just internet exchanges alone. Can you?
And, whilst I try my hardest to be as much “me” in cyberspace as I am in… er… terraspace, I’ve been caught out a coupla times in the past by folk not actually being what they seem. Or behaving in ways that, on reflection, seem kinda “creepy”. As though they have some ulterior motive. It’s a bit dodgy all round really.

Different of course if you’ve known them before, in the… er… “physical world”, or indeed if you happen to meet them for real subsequent to whatever internet chat there’s been, cos then you stand a better chance of forming a proper sense of what they’re like.

But back to the communicating stuff, how truly meaningful is most of it? Does it really “touch” us? Does it enrich our lives in any worthwhile sense? In other words, is it “quality communication” or just idle chatter… something to pass the time?
To a large extent, far as I’m concerned, the jury’s still out. And unlikely to return any time soon.

That said, occasionally something will happen that really does “touch” me. That causes me to pause, to reflect, and feel some sort of “connection” with someone… over and above the digital “bits” that are travelling through cyberspace ’twixt us.
A chance remark maybe, or a random act of thoughtfulness.

And such was the case recently.

“Yeah, all very interesting no doubt, but what the hell’s that to do with a blog that’s ostensibly photo-related?” I hear you ask.
Well, I don’t actually. But its the sort of thing I’d be asking round about now.

Though with a bit of patience you’d discover I was just getting to that… in my own inimitably convoluted fashion.

Photography’s another thing that I was never going to have anything to do with… though I’ve told that particular tale a coupla times here already, so won’t repeat it yet again. Sighs of relief all round then.
Bit strange though how most of my time nowadays seems to be spent either messing with photography or messing with computers and… er… the internet. Or both. At the same time! Hmm.

Anyway, photography’s something else that’s all about communication, though of a somewhat different sort. Nevertheless, the questions I posed about the “quality” of internet communications could equally as well be asked of it.
Again also, sometimes something will happen (“a chance remark maybe, or a random act of thoughtfulness”… plus the possibility, in the case of photography, of a really striking or evocative image) that genuinely does “hit the spot” with me.

As has occurred recently. And here’s the reason I started off rambling about the internet (there usually is a reason for my seemingly disjointed rambles; though, I’ll readily confess, it’s not always obvious… even to me sometimes!). Cos had it not been for this mutually beneficial combination of internet and photography, and more particularly blogging and photography (upon which I’ve reflected before, in terms of a sort of “symbiotic relationship” ’twixt the two), then this most recent “random act” simply wouldn’t (indeed, couldn’t)  have occurred.

A little while ago I was quite pleased to find myself entertaining some comments here by a “new face” (new to me at least). Another blogger. Now why does that phrase “another blogger” sound kinda insulting? Too similar to “bugger” maybe? “Another writer” would sound so much better. Anyway, best stick with accepted usage I guess.

So, another blogger… and what a blogger! As is my habit, I had to click through to check out where she’s coming from sorta thing. And what do I find? Wow! A real savvy type. Well up on all the techie stuff, and a seemingly endless source of real useful info on same, particularly in matters blogging-wise. Mightily impressed I am too.

But that’s not all! Oh dear me no. Cos she has other blogs as well. Aha, a kindred spirit maybe. Gotta check out one of her others then, haven’t I? Technogran’s Tales to be precise.
And this latter, for me, is simply the icing on the cake.

First thing that catches my eye (dunno why, but I’m strange like that) is a little phrase top of the right-hand column, just below the self-portrait piccie, that could almost be used as a tagline… “Stumbled here by mistake have you?”

Well, I crack up. This is it… I’ve found the end of the rainbow! Clearly this is a person who possesses an ultra-refined sense of humour not dissimilar to my own. I can even hear the tone of voice that would be said in. Heh heh. Oh, what goodies am I likely to find here?
Well, the very next thing I spot (not entirely by chance cos by now, well and truly hooked, I was seeking the “About” page) is this link labelled “How to Avoid Me”. Absolutely classic!
Now I’m not about to spoil it for anyone, so all I can suggest is that a visit to said blog should become a top priority.

What I will say though is, mixed in with all the captivating anecdotes and peeks into the “Life and Times etc” are pics! Loads of ‘em.

And here’s the thing. Cos not that many days ago one of those pics in particular happened to draw my attention. A pic of a quite amazing sculpture in Bradford.
That’s somewhere up north of this ’ere benighted land… don’t ask me precisely where cos the one and only time I tried getting there I ended up here in Bedford, where I’ve been stuck ever since… never been my strong point that, finding places.

Though I do seem to have this vague recollection of passing through it one time many years ago (Bradford that’d be, not Bedford… had I ever passed through Bedford before I’d have made damn certain never to return!) on my way to somewhere else. The Lake District I think. Way over t’other side of country. I said I was crap at finding places!

Anyway, good little blog visitor that I am, I leave a comment about how interesting the sculpture is.
So what does our Technogran go and do? Only turfs out a load of other pics of said sculpture and posts ’em, so I can get a better idea of what the thing looks like.

And its little random acts like that which, to me, seem to distill out the very essence of what this whole internet/blogging/photography combo is all about. Makes it all worthwhile sorta thing, and not just a self-indulgent way of passing an idle hour or three.

So this entire post is by way of saying “Thanks Technogran. It’s really appreciated.”