Monday, March 10, 2008

My whole life .....

I am having a weird experience at the moment. My youngest son was here at the weekend, installing a new computer for me, and he chose the My Pictures folder for my screen saver. Previously I had chosen one particular folder with some sort of homogeneous content, but I decided to leave it as it was for a while.

I am finding that the effect of a random selection from my unweeded and badly organised picture files is most strange, including as they do not only photographs and graphics, but also images of pages from census records, scans of family letters and other documents, maps, medical diagrams, and pictures on almost any subject culled from the web for my blog.

Every now and then I receive quite a shock, when, for example, a treasured nude picture of my beautiful mother on her honeymoon pops up after some crude cartoon that I may have once thought worth saving .

But the greatest impact of this passing parade is of the scenes from my own life. As I am lucky enough to have lots of photos taken by my parents, as well as all my own, there is a mind-boggling array of events and experiences passing before my eyes in quick succession. If I watch for more than a few moments, I feel as though my grip on reality will loosen, and my mind begin to fragment. Have I really lived all that? Even my 80 years do not seem enough.

The computer slideshow is rather like stepping on a treadmill which is going faster than you can run. Perhaps it is better to allow the brain to pass one's life in review at its own speed. But if, as they say, your whole life passes before you in the moment before death, I am going to take a very long moment to die!

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Congratulations on the new computer! Hope you're enjoying it.

I can relate to your screensaver experience, as I use that one too, and as you say, some interesting things crop up from time to time!

Lucy said...

Rather fascinating, but I can see it could be unsettling, whatever one's age!

Granny J said...

What a strange experience!

Avus said...

Is it nice having a shiny new PC? Have you "run it in" yet? Is it faster than the old one. Was it worth the expense and inconvenience of the change?
(I only ask because mine is now 6 years old and begins to either need a thorough decoke or trading in for this year's model!)

Maggie May said...

Mine died an abrupt death a few weeks ago & had to be replaced even though it was only 3 years old. The cost of a new logic board would have been half the cost of a new computer. Without my son I could do nothing!
I can't even put a picture on my post without help, so you are heaps better than me!
Enjoy your new computer!

Judith said...

It is so good to be back blogging again and getting comments about normal life.

Avus - my answer to your questions is going in another post, as it got rather long.

Maggie May - what would we do without our sons (or daughters, not to be sexist, but I have only sons)?

Sheila Joynes' Musical Diary said...

Avus, go and get a new one! The difference in the speed you can do things will stun you totally. I know Judith's blog will say this soon too - we were able to have a face-to-face conversation through the computer at the weekend now that her technology is up to coping with the pictures and sound. I'm glad to report she is looking well.

smilnsigh said...

Great that you have a new computer!

But I don't think I could have such a screen saver. Wow!

Plus, do we really need screen savers any more? I didn't think we did... I don't. I always put my computer "to sleep," when I go off of it. After doing the Clean Out History and Clean Out Cache things...

Mari-Nanci

smilnsigh said...

Great that you have a new computer!

But I don't think I could have such a screen saver. Wow!

Plus, do we really need screen savers any more? I didn't think we did... I don't. I always put my computer "to sleep," when I go off of it. After doing the Clean Out History and Clean Out Cache things...

Then again, I have an iMac. Maybe Mac's don't need screen savers? Do Pc's still need them? Hmmm... I don't know. :-)

Mari-Nanci

Avus said...

No, we don't need screen savers any more, but I would not be without mine - it is a slide show of family members, dogs and views from motorcycle rides - I can just sit and look at it and dream and remember.

sharryb said...

Hi Judith,
I found your blog from Judith Sapiro at Remembering Matters. Nice meeting you. I love to see photos passing by on my screen saver, but I've never had such a mix as yours. Thanks for sharing about it's effects. I am also interested that you did a face to face conference on your new computer. Mine is reasonably new. I would like to try it. Curious about what software you used.

Blessings,
Sharry