An ode to Skype & Modern Technology- Te adoro

Modern technology is kind of awesome. It's one of those things that I don't fully understand, but I fully appreciate. If I were to be lost on an island and the future of humanity relied on my expertise in constructing the internet- we'd all be in a little bit of trouble. I'm not even able to reliably operate our new comcast remote control. (Why so many buttons, DVR?!) But that doesn't mean I can't be obsessed with it.

The other night around 6pm my friend Tanya came over. Online was our friend Ko from college, who moved back to Taipei, Taiwan after graduation. Taiwan is a 12-hours difference in timezones. Where as before the invention of Skype and google, that would have meant monumental phone bills (or even more monumental phone bills, in my case) and emails, which are never quite as good as the real thing. But now, with gchat video and skype, I spend long hours talking with Taiwan and with my sister and her family in Chicago for FREE (which is always a magical word for me). The best part is that instead of just spending a more formalized ten-to-fifteen minutes catching up, we can now talk for as long as we please. This inevitably means that because we can talk as often as we want, the conversation quickly devolves into the types of conversation I loved and adored when we lived together.

Embarrassing Ko with our terrible chinese.

Ko is a very patient woman. Tanya, who is originally from Bulgaria, and I, with a shaky knowledge of any language other than (and sometimes including) English, spent the better part of an hour saying things in Chinese to Ko off of google, who would then try to decipher what we were saying. Usually she just told us that we were making sounds (Which is start! Gotta crawl before you can sprint, people.)

Later that night I talked to my sister Keel and her husband Peej, who regaled me with all the colorful backgrounds that their skype can add, including (and not limited too), a bulls-eye target shooting background, where you can place your face in the screen so it looks like it's going to be shot, a cupid-and-heart theme, a moving gif of something resembling a lollypop land, and (my favorite) a polaroids collage background. I liked this because, if you frame it correctly, one can look especially angsty and emo. (Which is something I strive for in my day-to-day, anyway.) Keel and Pj, both actors in Chicago, are very photogenic. At least I have an excuse. (unemployment.)

 

 The beautiful family.

A particularly emo-looking Keely.

All this frivolity might be lost if we were to be bound by antiquated modes of technology, like "email" and "telephones." Or something. And therefore, I appreciate that skype and gchat allow me to continue with my relationships in the same familiarity as if we were all still living together. That's kind of awesome.