"Hang on, let me check online and see what kind of products they offer."
"Ibu, could I use the internet to do my research which is due tomorrow?"
"Hmmm, let me see what I can find in the closet. We could sell them on Ebay and make some money."
"You have not been doing anything ALL day except being in front of the computer!"
Sounds familiar? Yup…thats the daily chirpings of my home sweet home. Besides the television and Playstation, the cell phone and INTERNET play the ever popular important parts in my family's life.
Look, I found my husband on Yahoo! Messenger one fine day, some 5 years ago. At that time, the Yahoo! Personals were free. I just needed to pull up my messenger, browse the Online Personals and there…pick whoever I wanted to chat with, who had matching interests as mine. To shorten the story, David and I were married 16 months later andand have not killed each other yet...but imagine what we both had to go through when we were apart? Phone kad sampai berkumpul kat atas meja and we communicated a lot on messenger sampai tertidur tidur (due to time different time zones lah).
Yup, I WAS (note the CAP) a chat junkie. Got worse after my divorce on my first marriage. Since divorce was a taboo back home, jadi OK lah, duk rumah depan computer pun OK jugak kan? There was once when I was such a chronic junkie that I get trembles if the cable went off. Ish ….so dasyat!
That was 5 years back. When I had a maid and my family to care for the kids while I was busy punching the computer keys. No husband to nag me, noone to tell me what to do and what not to do.
What happened to me now? Well…nothing much really happened. Have a husband who is just as bad as me. Worse still, he works from home and makes money through the internet. He is also very higly dependent on the internet as he burns cd's, downloads stuff from Shareazaa.com, does tonnes of digital pictures with his ultra powerful camera and even shops for birthday gifts online. So I…the wife, would have to step back, let him make his mulah and do whatever important things he needs to do. Kekadang memang geram jugak.
"Tuhlah, padan muka kau. Dah kena orang yang betul betul macam kau, hantu internet!", now that came from my dad. Betul jugak eh, memang padan muka aku...
Now that the kids are bigger and are very internet savvy, they are more dependent on the wireless network as well. From chatting with their cousins on MSN messenger, to SMS'ing a friend who lives just a block away. Kalau tak, hah tuh Playstation 2 ada. Unless they get grounded, thats when the books come into existance.
OK OK, cakap orang jer, I can be pretty bad too, to date (am I contradicting myself here after capping the word WAS?). To start, I email my sister almost everyday (that’s a necessity!), go to ebay to SHOP, check my beloved rantauan.com and my new found love, THE BLOG and bertandang kat blog orang lain. And then comes the Yahoo Messenger (again!)…ahemm…but this time not chatting untuk cari jodoh tau, but to chat with friends all around the world, like Kak Teh, my cousins and other good friends. Chatting can take from 5 seconds to 2 hours, depending on who Cik Minah kita tuh bergaduh dengan hari ini or anak Cik Kiah tuh pergi dating dengan anak sapa tuh pulak?
So I am wondering now, kalaulah dunia dipusingkan kembali seperti 20 tahun yang lalu, mungkin kehidupan ini tak se'complicated' mcm sekarang eh? Baca buku, baca suratkhabar (I bet the kids don’t even know the malay term for newspaper), jahit baju, sapu halaman rumah, masak makanan melayu (souffle dan cheesecake won't travel too far) and mungkin, surat menyurat masih popular lagi, instead of just the bills on paper now!
Ding! That's my email, gotta go now!
19 comments:
Actually dah mai visit dah sini sekali, cuma tak komen saja. Thanks for dropping by my blog. Mai lah lagi no...
it is bad enough that u are siamese twins with the computer, now kak teh must make you grow another head ~ the blog head. I know you are happy blogging, (tsk tsk tsk the poor girl is high on it) just take it easy okay? Once you develop the old symptoms, like keletaq one kind if you dont blog, pegi minum air sabun okay?
I have been away for about 10 days and i thought i am cured of the addiction. This morning masuk ofis, first thing i did was ood-ing myself.
Gotta go make a mug of air sabun tarik for meself now!
I heard a rumour that overblogging may cause spontaneous combustion. You girls be careful! Make sure you come up for air and say hi to your husbands every now and then. -David
auntyn, terima kasih dapat mai pat blog i, hehehe. mesti mai lagi kat ur blog ok. selau lah dtg lagi ok!
ood, hahahaha, u made me laugh so hard! air sabun, ish! berbuih terus lah otak gue! its true tho, it if FUN to blog! ah pergi minum air sabun tuh banyak2.
david my dear, have i ever forgotten to say hi to u? i thought it has always been the other way round? hehee
hahaha..you sounded like me 5 years back..chatting like there's no tomorrow...
so now with blogging, do you feel the same 'kick' like chatting in YM?
ish kak teh dah komen tadi, hilang pulak.
anyway, ely this ketagihan ni reminds me of those cerpen bersambung days at rantauan. tak jumpa komputer satu hari dah menggeletar tangan. tengoklah OOD tu, dia balik ke NS 10 hari nak berubat ketagihan blogging! tapi this morning I found her sobbing in one of my postings! Visit OOD ely, this is one hilarious blogger!
and DAVID, blame me...i introduced her to this...BUt look at it this way - u can enjoy alleycats while she blogs.
Next year will be my 10th year been-online anniversary and I can say I haven't changed much on my internet addiction *LOL*
Your post reminds me of when I first started. Back then, there was no Yahoo or MSN instant messengers... the chat place was called WBS [Web Broadcasting System - Disney bought over in 99 and now called go.com] and then in 97, ICQ came into existence.
My daily routine for the first 5 years:
> back from work at 6pm
> turn on the computer
> log in to WBS (or ICQ or both)
> chat from 6pm till 3am
> wake up at 7am
> check email
> go to work
> repeat
I ended up joining the 'chat addicts' circle, but that didn't help me. :P
Somehow since 2001 I don't chat as much - maybe coz too many kids online and phony characters spoil the fun. I decided to use the time I have to do more constuctive things, like learn how to build websites, Flash, etc etc. But I can't still live without the internet!!! :D Without it, I feel so handicapped.
Hiya Ely,
Saya pun sama lah! My few comments:
a) I think the Internet is a university unto itself.
b) Did you get your maid out of the internet too? &
c) if you don't mind, what is the estimated course of your electricity/telephon bill each month...hee-hee!
Thanks for all your lovely comments. *love*
Hi Hartini c/o Ely,
I just wanted to say that I feel truly admirable of you. You must truly be a whizz at the Internet since you caught it so early on and would have practically grown with its swift technological reforms over the years. Oh, Hartini for a little of your brain!
For me, I am still learning and grasping new things on my own, day by day. *best wishes*
atiza, didnt we ALL had our addiction moments? worse than being an alcoholic hahaha. yup blogging and YM abt the same. only thing, bangun tidur jer comments dah banyak mesti nak jawab!
kak teh, i remember when u were so addicted to rantauan. the cerpen part i think triggered the normals to turn into paranormals. hehehe. dont worry abt david, hes just an ebay addict.
hartini, i was like u! i has yahoo, msn and icq msgr also. teruk kan? then the kids came to chat i laid off the chat. i used to chat on VP chat. 'VP' is called virtual places set up by excite.com.
susan, heck no, i nvr let my maid use the computer, nanti dia naik sedap i yang susah! the phone bills? believe it or not, i was one of the 1st ones to sign up for the cable when it was first introduced in singapore...typical addict kan?
well yeah i am kinda a computer not say expert but i use MS Office a lot for work. ok ok, among my co workers, i know the software by hard cos i use them for projects with the management. sebab tuhlah i am the garbage can. all projects go to Ely...thats utter garbage kan?
mas, memang seronok ber blogging nih, then start lagi chatting, then blogging..nak mengeratkan persahabatan. sebab itulah kitorang suma tak pernah habis ckp hahaha.
tenet tenet tenet
ish, after re-reading my comment, habis english aku tonggang langgang! sorry all! Ely ckp english pelat!
arwan...tenet tenet tenet, thats so all of us! welcome to my blog!!!
Hi Ely, thanks for inviting me to your blog. Its fun reading what you are going thru. As for me, I don't know if I'll ever do it. I think kak Teh pon dah give up. Malu-lah.. ;)Anyways, keep on blogging. If u ever feel like its getting out of control and need to get away, I'm here to teach you to quilt, hahahah! Love, eLva
ayu, rosak betul kita nih eh? tapikan takder internet, takderlah kita.
Elva, thanks for visiting. Selalulah datang sini OK?
Ely,
After reading your blog.. Reminded me of the first time I was online that was in 1994 or was it in 1993.. when internet browsers were on beta test.. I can still remember there were no ICQ,MSN,Yahoo etc.. but at that time we have internet telephone.. which is on beta test.. and who are we??>> the tester.. most of the time my computer crash due to the naughty bugs.. although there are java script but it still very slow and on beta test again!!So I would call myself the pioneers among other pioneers of the internet..
oh!! one thing that I missed now was the chatroom where I met my husband.. it was cool then.. now the chatrooms no longer there.. and also the Powwow IM.. it was cool too.. now it's no longer existence.. wow!! things really change and fast movement in the internet world..
hmm.. and I remember that I have to learn how to write html because the chatrooms used html.. and all kinds of stuffs..
Now! everything is virtual.. and so many IMs now.. but I seldom chat online nowadays.. except to inform friends, & relatives on updated stuffs or chat for a short once in a blue moon :)...
Susan - I agree with you that the internet itself is a university on its own. Information is ever-growing and I'm always getting excited when I find out something I didn't know *LOL* Like a small child, gitu :D
Yea, like I was saying sometime back on my blog, if this world was like Matrix, cocok that thing kat belakang kepala kita, terus jadi pandai, wow! Tak payah pergi sekolah and slog *hehee* I need that too coz eventhough I've been sitting and staring at this screen for so long, I wish I could learn as fast as technology grows. Every month, there's something new...
Ely - oh yeaaa! I remember that virtual chat place!!! That's where u choose the avatar, then walk around and meet people in 3D space, right? :D You bring back some sweet memories! :D I remember they did the same thing but with a game... can't remember what the name is, but is a Microsoft game.
Suriyati - oh yeaa I remember POWWOW too! *LOL* Seems someone resurrected it http://www.linksplace.com/powwow/index.htm . And I remember FreeTel, possibly the first free internet phone. I was on 28.8kb modem at that time and was listening to my friend playing cds on the other side of the planet. Amazing, those days.
Sorry, panjang lebar... *heheee*
hartini, u can write as much as u want to here. hehehe, dont worry i wot impose a fine :)
so u remember virtual places? it was way cool and way addictive. 24hrs created my own avatar. i was very good with paintshop pro. kalau tak dulu memang dah boleh buat duit hahahaha.
suriyati, does that mean that u're an html expert?
Not really!! Am not an expert in html...but I took Fortran and basic programming etc.. in college which is different from html but it's the foundation of it.. I have to learn it from scratch and also from my internet friends at that time.. I play with the computer and it crashes 3 times.. Imagine that!! First and second times...the computer has to be returned and the 3rd time around they installed some sort of security or something to make sure it does not crashed again..
An amateur in html.. thats me.. just to survive on how to write my own website as well as my husband's one at that time.. Now I don't do that anymore.. !! I just use the template given but I do write html codes when I want to get the visual right.. because I don't have the time to hunt for grahics nowadays.. unless I have 3 months off from school!! May be I can think of doing that again.. :)
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