Renee22

Iam on my computer everyday so I started thinking what did I do before my comupter, what about you?

Vigilante

Stayed outside all day.

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Dragonlich

I used to read books all day... Still do occasionally.

PulpMind

Had a productive life.
*sigh*

Leto

had no sex life.

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Redjake

Definitely went outside more. Was scared of computers and was afraid I'd break them. Played Super Nintendo and watched movies. Was significantly less informed about a variety of issues.

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LordEden

Nintendo/Super Nintendo, Magic The Gathering and Reading (which I still do a lot of). I've had computers in my life since age 11, so I don't really have a lot of years I didn't have a PC in the house.

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LoganSnake

I played my NES and spent entire days playing outside or reading.

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Xerxys

I don't understand, now that you have a computer you have a sex life?

Baraka_Guru

I can't remember much of my life before computers.

I'm pretty sure my family picked up the red-hot Commodore 64 close to the time it was released. This would make me about 6 or 7 years old when my family bought its first computer. Before that, I played the Atari 2600, watched TV, and played outside with my friends. Before that, I was still in diapers and probably played with regular toys. Actually, I played outside a lot despite having the Commodore 64. Computers back then weren't nearly as engaging/pervasive as they are now. I didn't connect to my first BBS until I had my 486 in the early '90s.

But all of this raises an interesting question:

Why am I not a computer programmer or something?

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LoganSnake

Maybe he met his current gf/wife online?

Or maybe he's had more luck on AFF than most.

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LordEden

We followed the same computer time-line and I'm not a programmer, wanna know why? That shit fucking sucks to do. It's tedious, boring, and boils down to constant editing/writing to get anything done... Wait a second... Why are you NOT a programmer?

Get on that shit, yo! C++ for dummies!

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Baraka_Guru

Book editors are the poor man's programmer. We're editors of the wrong kind of language: human language instead of the language of machines. Oh...man.

It's not too late to (re)start? The last time I looked at a language other than human languages was Visual Basic. Is that even a language?

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Knowing that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain, what's the most important thing?
—Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön

Humankind cannot bear very much reality.
—From "Burnt Norton," Four Quartets (1936), T. S. Eliot

LordEden

No, it's never to late to start learning, just grab a book and jump in. Classes are best, but programming can be self-taught. To tell the truth, I have no idea what the best "beginner" language is now-a-days. We have some programmers on the board, they would be best to ask. I took classes around year 2000, I learned C, C++, and VB. I sucked at it. I gave up pretty quickly and moved on to software/hardware from then on.

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Baraka_Guru

You know what? I think I'd suck at it too. I'm not hardcore logical enough. It would fry my brain.

__________________
Knowing that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain, what's the most important thing?
—Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön

Humankind cannot bear very much reality.
—From "Burnt Norton," Four Quartets (1936), T. S. Eliot

kramus

I think, Xerxes et al, unless you are joking about yr wonderment, I would listen for the sound of one hand clapping. Happy troglodytes the world over are smiling in the glow of their computer screens, fapping away to the sights and sounds of the most lubricious, gorgeous, proactive and unattainable women the WWW can buy. Oh my.

I hope I don't segue too inappropriately, but I actually met my Lady online

To address the OP - personal computers didn't come into my life until the mid-90's, my two oldest were half grown by that time. I was an inveterate reader (pretty well a book a day since grade school) who occasionally pulled out his drawing materials and made something. I also watched a fair bit of NFL football for a few years, which burns up the hours. Home renovations (a little old house constantly being adjusted due to entropy and the needs of a growing family) and the responsibilities that came from being married to a woman who's mom and siblings constantly needed rides/help/time also ate up moments of time. Hmmm - child care itself was a huge time sink. I raised 4 kids all told, and worked shifts so basically the ex and I took turns week in, week out, sometimes months on end, almost living as single parents of a large brood. That sucked.

I spend a lot of time in front of the computer, but the child care still is a factor (my Lady's youngsters, plus my own youngest come into town every two weeks). I also am reading (a lot less - a book or 2 a month I think, I catch maybe 2 or 3 NFL games a year now. My art is where a lot of time goes. That and being the home support team. Wind beneath her wings, don't you know.

As for the OP - in TFP we commonly answer our own questions if we start a thread, sort of a politeness and a participation at the same time. Give the thread something in order to prime the pump so to speak. That said, tell me Renee22 - what did you do before computers ?

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Xerxys

^^ It's not the same, it's just, not the same!!! And here I was hoping for some sort of secret!

You need to be good at math in order to program. Programming is all algorithms. You don't want to specialize down to a language only to have it obsolete. Secondly, code is always out there. Editing it out for it to work for you is easy enough.

Baraka_Guru

Oh, I can do math. I just don't have the stamina to build, maintain, or troubleshoot large systems of information.... I can admit that this is one of my weaknesses as an editor as well. It's not just in math; it's in general.

If I really followed my instincts and true interests, I would have become a professional artist of some kind.

__________________
Knowing that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain, what's the most important thing?
—Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön

Humankind cannot bear very much reality.
—From "Burnt Norton," Four Quartets (1936), T. S. Eliot

Vinrej

Before computers I stayed out all day and sometimes all night too.

Xerxys

Lasereth

Before computers I believed everything people told me at a family reunion.

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Cynthetiq

I used to read books more when I was younger sub 12.

I got my first computer at age 12 and was a programmer for a bit, technical support person, computer software and hardware sales, networking, file servers, bulletin boards @ 300 baud acoustic coupler ugh...and this was pre-internet.

If you'd like to get an idea, check out.

BBS documentary

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CinnamonGirl

I played outside. Read books (still do that.) I watched MTV, because there were actually still MUSIC VIDEOS on most of the time. I rode my bike. I had to actually read encyclopedias for school projects.


...it's been a long time since I haven't had a computer.

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snowy

We had a Commodore 64 that plugged into our Sony Trinitron TV. Since the monitor was also the main TV in our house, the Commodore 64 didn't get much love. A couple years later, Dad started bringing home computers from work. His high school had a Mac Classic with a special carrying case, and he brought it home on weekends and vacations. After a few years of borrowing various Macs, they bought an LC III, which we owned until I was 15 (it's still in their garage because I won't let them get rid of it). That was replaced by our first PC, which had an Intel Celeron 333mhz chip. I took that PC to college. It was replaced at home by an HP with a 633mhz? Celeron, and at school by a Dell with a P4 chip. The Dell has since been rebuilt into a desktop with only the P4 remaining, but has been replaced by a HP dv6000 laptop and an ASUS eeePC900 netbook.

Before computers, I read a lot, but I still do. I just finished another novel last night. I do a lot of reading on the computer now--good fanfiction, newspapers, magazine articles. I also do a lot of academic reading on the computer--my college library is moving more and more of its collection of journals online. I also write. I've always used computers for writing. I have a cyst in my left hand that keeps me from writing longhand for lengthy periods of time.

A lot of things I did before the Internet, I still do, I guess. :shrug:

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