21st century living

Just ranting away but you know, just this morning, I realised how much we take electricity for granted. The strangest thing happened to me. As usual, I turned on the fan in the dining room before going to the kitchen to get my morning drink. With the laundry basket in tow, I headed to the washing machine to chuck my clothes for a wash. Lo & behold, the washing machine didn't budge when I turned it on & I thought that the machine had broken down. But oh no, how wrong I was because the fan was spinning off, the soft murmur of the fridge was absent too. The only natural thing to do was to go to the switchbox & turn on the switch (which would set off the alarm...bloody annoying!). That I did but after 2 times, the electricity still tripped so the natural thing to do was to single out an electrician's number from the Yellow Pages to ask for help. After calling the electrician, I waited, thank God, not in darkness. While waiting, I was thinking of all the (im)possibilities - no DVD, no Internet, no steaming/cooking, etc...more importantly, I was thinking of how I was going to prepare the Christmas dinner for the next day!

In anycase, I went to the switchbox again & turned the thing on & yes, it worked (& the alarm went off)..but I had my fan, washing machine, music on. Hurray! I called the electrician to say that I didn't need his services anymore & I got a earful...yada yada..

But really, I was wondering how any of us these days would manage without electricity or any of these modern appliances for that matter. See the amount of panic I was thrown into when the electricity tripped. I can't imagine how it would be like if it happened at night. In anycase, in the 15min, I really panicked even though it wasn't dark. I just felt like my life couldn't go on - yeah, it's that desperate!

Just think about it - 10 years ago, we survived without our mobile phones. Today, in 2005, we panic when we discover after we leave the house, that the mobile phone is not in the pocket or bag. How did we make it through each day back then? Either we have become more busy & made our own lives more complicated or we have become plain lazy & rely on modern conveniences that don't come all that cheap (afterall).

How did we live through each day bacl then when all we had for entertainment & passing time were the newspapers, magazines & TV? It seems now, that all these things, even mails, are rolled into one medium - the Internet. How many of you dare say that you can live a day without coming on to the Internet to read the news, check e-mails, etc etc? I know I can't & I admit it. Even if I were away at some camp, at the back of my mind, I would be wondering what I missed out in my e-mails, the news & the (idle) talk on MSN. Practically everything that keeps one's mind active is now controlled by the Internet - opening up one's heart & mind & thinking ALOUD.

Porn aside, modern technology, especially the Internet fuels desire - of the shopping kind. For the guys, porn aside, they probably go into websites to look for the latest gadget (to improve & epitomise 21st century living), while the ladies will go into all possible websites to shop & drool over that Marc Jacobs bag or Vera Wang outfit. Oh, did I mention the LV iPod case too? See! If it weren't for the Internet/modern technology, who would have known that so much of these things exist on the planet?

Much as I would like to say that I like my life simple & non-complicated, I really can't live this life without everything I have now. Perhaps I should sign up for a bootcamp where I get sent to some remote place to live so simply (no proper toilet flushing system, no proper bathing facilities, no phone, no TV, etc etc...) What I would do there...erm, I don't know. In the meantime, while I have whatever I have for now, I shall appreciate it.