Personal+Narrative

Mariam Olagunju 995207468 Personal Narrative 25th of January 2010 As I twist and turn my sleepy head to the cool side of the pillow, voices begin to emerge below my bunk bed laughing, cheering, singing. Nothing but anger fills me. As I gather thoughts and regain my vision, the voices of three girls below my bunk fill the room with echoes of harmony. They chant together “My loneliness is killing me I must confess, I still believe When I'm not with you I lose my mind Give me a sign Hit me baby one more time” Its then I realise they are singing the lyrics to Britney spears “baby one more time” off a piece of paper. Thoughts race through my head as I question how they got the lyrics of my favourite song on paper. “Ronik Boarding School” does not give its student’s access to Television and radio except for visiting Sundays when parents come to visit, the only time we have access to the outside world. As the three girls continue to sing, I jump from the top bunk to grab the paper. I notice the lyrics are written with the help of a computer. The words, clearly written, with a font I recognize, they are the same used to create our examination questions. I ask “Where and how did you get this?” Lucy, one of the girls replied “from the computer, I printed it at a local browsing center in Lagos before I came back to the hostel”. I have heard the line before “I used a computer to browse the internet” I pictured the internet to be “something”, behind every computer, something, attached to the huge grey box that sat frozen in the principal’s office. I fantasize on what the box keeps hidden from the world and begin to question all over again how a computer could give you whatever you asked for, how a physical object could produce things one would have to travel 2 maybe 100miles away to obtain, how a box could hold so much information. As I return home after 4 weeks in boarding school, I remembered asking my father why we didn’t have a computer he replied saying “A computer is not needed in the home, it is for administrative work”. All I could think of after that is going to the browsing center in Lagos Lucy described to me back in the hostel. Upon arrival, the browsing center resembles a clinic with one too many patients. Entering the enclosed white space, I notice there are 6 computers on the left, 5 on my right and 2 printers in the middle of the space. The layout makes me feel uneasy. I ask the lady if I can use one of the computers she says “Of course that will be 150 naira for 30 minutes”. Sitting on the padded white stool I begin to touch the grey box in front of me, feeling its texture. I push the power button and it begins to vibrate. I repeatedly push down the horizontal rectangle on the keyboard waiting to get a response. The screen comes on and I begin to play with the icons on the screen. I go to the “internet explorer” box, click it and wait for a box to appear. I type “Britney Spears Lyrics” into the search engine and begin to see various lyrics of her top hits. I print out the lyrics to “baby one more time”. As I wait for the print to appear, I wonder how the computer communicates with the other box on the table that produces the lyrics on paper. It is two months since I visited the browsing center in Lagos. Two months of incessant begging and my father decides to purchase the first family computer. It is cream and grey, equipped with a monitor, CPU (Central Processing Unit), keyboard and UPS (uninterruptible power supply). In haste, I turn on the computer after it is set up and begin the play around with its features. This feeling is astonishing, I keep chanting “I have a computer, I have a computer”. In less than a month I manage to open and dissect the monitor and CPU in search of the “something” responsible for this unexplainable wonder before my eyes. I read the manual over and over to learn more about what is before me, examining the Drive bay, Case fan, Micro processor, Mother board, Modem, Power supply and Memory. I spend hours for the next weeks learning how to fully utilize this grey box. The feeling of owning and taking apart this computer is exhilarating. I discover I can play games, change themes and alter the appearance of various things on the computer and make documents. I write documents for hours in this box, telling it my daily activities and my thoughts. It does not have to reply or advise me, all I need for it is to listen. Because I know I will miss this new found friendship when I return to boarding school. I cherish the time I have right now with this grey box, its wonders never fail to amaze me. Returning home from boarding school is always an excitement. I get to use “the computer”. I get to tell it how my semester was, I get to play games with it, I get to browse the internet without the feeling of being in a clinic and I get to explore a world with endless possibilities. The computer, I kept thinking is not only for administrative use, it’s for personal use, it is an entertainment system, a homework helper, it is a journal, a listener and a friend. Little did I know what was to come: the world of 1Lb Laptops, PDA’s, multi function cell phones, touch screen cameras, IPod touch’s and GPRS systems waited for me. All these devices to help express my feelings and opinions of the world before me, I never went a day without using the computer. Forgetting my first computer will be impossible. It is the moment I witnessed this world transition from analog to digital, the moment I set on a journey in hopes of inventing something that will one day bring happiness to people and evoke a personal connection.