Words of Innocence and Experience

Now you’re standing there tongue-tied
You’d better learn your lesson well
–Depeche Mode “Policy of Truth”

Life without the Internet is hard.

It’s not just about being cyberholic. Well, isn’t every young person cyberholic these days? Our life basically operates around the Net.

One thing about the Net that is incontestable is its immediacy. When dying to find answers to some questions or learn more about aything, the urge would be satisfied within a few minutes through the Net.

Also, people lose their best means to interact with one another when the Internet connection dies. Although cell phones make it possible to contact someone, the price of the phone bill would be truly scary if using it for too long. Besides, the electro-magnetic rays harm human brains. With the Net, more specifically, instant messengers (IMs), it’s easy to talk to people any time one feels like to. IMs are so common that using them becomes less intrusive than making phone calls. IMs also permit photos, links, and files, and in a way, it’s easier to express oneself through IMs.

Anyway, with no Internet connection, I feel that I’ve lost the privilege to share things with others. There are things I wish to say to someone, whom I’m sure must be online at a certain moment, but I can’t. Even though I can organize what I want to say and e-mail that person the next day, inserting personal feelings in e-mails seems weird. Worse still, some people don’t check their e-mails at all or are too lazy/busy to reply to them. Sending mails appears to be merely a one-way communication, depending on which is not a gurantee of response on the other end.

The feeling of emptiness and suppression closes in on me when I need the Internet and don’t have it. I’m tongue-tied, stuck in this little barren space…

I can hear your soul crying
Listen to your spirit sighing
I can feel your desperation
Emotional deprivation

Let yourself go
Let yourself go
Let your feelings show
–Depeche Mode “Freestate”

I met some people on MySpace. Some of them are nice and send greetings on a regular basis.

To put it explicitly, the main reason why people join MySpace is to win attention, whether in a good or bad sense. I joined partly to follow the trend, and partly to meet new people.

One guy sent me a message the other day and asked for my MSN. He seems eager to know more about me, so I gave him my contact information. We talked several times, but I found him rude and pretentious. Therefore, even though I knew he was online, I never sent him a message myself.

One night he suddenly popped in and hurled various curses at me. Unable to bear the insult, I shot back by saying “Even though I have you on my list, it doesn’t mean I have the responsibility to chat with you every night.” Still, the Internet is a good retreat to turn to when people feel extremely lonely.

He replied, “Yes, it does!” and started cursing again. In the end, I had to block him.

Although I never liked that guy, it suddenly occurred to me that he must have been really lonely so as to spent so much time online, waiting to meet someone special. He wanted too much attention to the post of annoying others.

On MySpace, it is apparent to see that some people really need constant reassurance by asking for comments and so on. In a way, it’s quite charming. I guess all Internet users need some kind of attention. We get together in forums and message boards to achieve a sense of community. However, there are rules to follow. If one doesn’t respect people, he or she is bound to be excluded.

I’ve got nothing else to lose
I lost it now when I found you
and I wouldn’t lose a thing
–Lifehouse “Spin”

After discovering the sublime (as Professor Wu calls it) of the Internet, I’ve been so immersed in it that I can’t detach myself. However, there is a real life to live in. There are numerous tasks to complete. I cannot afford spending so much time online every day.

One ultimate attraction of the Internet to me is that there is always so much to learn. I often marvel at new information and learn both great and meaningless things. Recently I came to realize that one can only stay within several Internet communities. There is not enough time for participating in numerous websites at one time.

Therefore, I will try to limit myself to the below websites only. If I am extremely busy, I shall only visit them without going to other places.

Total: 150 min. max.

Sacred
Holy
To put it in words
To write it down
That is walking on hallowed ground
But it’s my duty
I’m a missionary
–Depeche Mode “Sacred”

With Firefox, my zeal for blogging is conveniently satisfied. I can’t tell if Sage or Live Bookmarks should get the credit (RSS), but I’m now able to see the updates of all the blogs I’ve set an eye on without going to the websites themselves. Of course, I can only see the titles and need to log on to the sites to read the posts.

Anyway, below are the blogs I check on a daily basis and consider useful or brilliant. (in alphabetical order)

My Favorite interfaces among the sites:

I never thought that my saviour would come
I think it’s amazing
I think it’s amazing
I think you’re amazing
–George Michael “Amazing”

Ever since the first day that I discovered the brower Firefox, I have fell in love with it. I love the fact that I can adjust it to whatever I like, so there are always wonderful surprises. I often gape at how much Firefox can do with Extensions.

So here is my Firefox. You can see the theme I use and perhaps some of the Extensions.