Does technology rule your life? And when do you know if you've gone too far? (No, the irony of this being the subject of a blog post has not escaped me.) Is it when you start plotting your period in an excel spreadsheet? When you Google or Wikipedia everything and never use a hard copy (read REAL) encyclopedia or dictionary anymore? Or when you research and table the RRPs for merchandise you want to buy more cheaply online, just to be sure that you are indeed getting a bargain? I must admit the latter, though imminently practical, can take the joy out of online shopping or browsing.
Or when, as occurred to me this week, my mobile phone battery died (and yes, that is a photo of said phone), and for the whole day I felt oddly disconnected. Arranging to meet my husband after work at a book store in the city suddenly became a logistical nightmare and the pressure to catch the right tram to meet at the appointed time was almost too much! I even remarked to a friend later that it was crazy and wondered what we did without mobile phones. The scary thing is that I do remember - it really wasn't that long ago!!
So what does all this have to do with an allegedly crafty blog and if I am such a technophobe (I'm not really), then what am I doing here in blogland?! I'll admit I was rather skeptical about setting up a blog and until about 7 years ago, I was a lawyer who had others do my online research and used email mainly for professional purposes. What changed? Everything! I ditched law (well, not entirely, but that's another story), embraced my inner "artiste" and found I actually had a knack for this web stuff.
Whilst I still appreciate technology and what it allows us to do, I love the simplicity and authenticity of handwritten letters (who writes anymore?), reading from a printed newspaper, diagrams and scribbles on scrap paper and real photos printed from negatives. This may be part of the reason why I love making things. It's not just the process itself, which I really enjoy and find bizarrely therapeutic, but the end result - a genuinely unique, handmade article which reflects you and your style and in some way contains a little piece of you. Perhaps this is what I am trying to achieve through this blog - a shared appreciation for technology but at the same time a love of all things crafty and handmade, and an escape, albeit briefly, from the (un)real world!
I hope you enjoy reading my blog - I do endeavour to post regularly and look forward to reading all of your comments!
do you use an excel spread sheet?
Posted by: greenolive | November 26, 2007 at 10:22 PM
Yes, I have been known to. But not at the moment. Is that bad??!
Posted by: Aunty Shabby | November 27, 2007 at 04:36 PM