Communicating in the 21st Century

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The goal of every writer should be to write something that means something to somebody else. It's always been the driving force behind all the words I've written.

Of course there is a narcissistic force there as well as I try to figure out where I'm supposed to stand on this cosmic stage of ridiculousness called life. (See, I like that sentence).

Yet there is also a strange element to it all now. I can write something down, have it out there for all the world to see in a matter of how long it takes to hit the post button, and who knows who might read it. It's a scary deal, but hopefully I am only using my powers for good. Narcissism, gotta' love it.

Lately I've been receiving a lot of comments from a Chinese base, and it is really quite interesting to me, although I can't read the comments. Just seeing the language there with exclamation points, and those nice little pictures. Flat out cool, and they may even be telling me to stop jamming up their hard drive with my useless drivel. Who knows? I'm pretending that I strike a chord.

And it makes me laugh to think of how all the information is shared. A click of a couple of buttons and I have the baseball scores at the ready. I can watch a pitch being thrown and hit for a home run a full country away. I knew Ichiro was three for three last night (needed him on my fantasy team for stolen bases) before the ball landed in the outfield grass.

"I never knew the Yankee score until the next morning," I told the kids.

"Why didn't you watch it on television?" they asked.

"They were only on every couple of weeks."

"Why didn't you check ESPN?"

"There wasn't ESPN," I replied.

"The Internet?"

"Didn't exist."

"Wow, you lived in the stone ages," they answered.

And I suppose we did. And "I used to walk seven miles to school, in a snowstorm, up hill all the way, and right after I got back from the war..."

Once I mention the war they don't know what to believe. Despite my protests they understand that I was only 10 when Viet Nam ended.

And they can look it up, and share that fact with those living a whole world away.

So,to my Chinese readers - nice to have you along for the ride. What's the symbol for "shut-the-hell-up" in Chinese?

I think I recognized that one in the last comment section.

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