I miss my typewriter
BIG sigh.
I spent the morning trying reverse the horrible curse that is the newest version of Yahoo Messenger. I’ve tried restoring the computer. I’ve tried downloading a previous version. Nothing works. I am without Messenger.
I’ve spent the afternoon tinkering with my blog, and I’ll will endeavoring to build a seperate sidebar for my book pages.
Taking away the social aspect of the computer, does anybody else ever miss typewriters?
September 9th, 2005 at 2:17 pm
We need to get you fixed, dammit!~
September 9th, 2005 at 3:04 pm
Crap - I just downloaded the new version a few days ago. :oops:
September 9th, 2005 at 3:40 pm
No, no, a thousand times no. I learned to type on an old manual Royal. When I typed too fast, the keys got stuck together. I love computers and have never had the slightest bit of nostalgia for a typewriter!
September 9th, 2005 at 4:14 pm
Believe it or not, I do sometimes miss the good old IBM Selectric. But there’s no arguing that word processing software makes revisions a billion times faster and easier! Also, the Selecric didn’t have solitaire. So I guess I wouldn’t go back.
September 9th, 2005 at 5:29 pm
I’ve used my old manual Olympia until recently to fill in tax forms and other stuff that needed three carbon copies. But now even this backwater country has developed online tax forms.
September 9th, 2005 at 11:00 pm
Steph, my computer’s always struggled with Messenger, so you may not have any problems. I think it just bogs my computer to the point of no return. I’ve seen the Blue Screen of Death more times than I care to count in the last 36 hours or so.
I have a nice Smith Corona typewriter around here somewhere. Electronic dictionary and a big memory for corrections. But no cut and paste.
Sometimes I wonder if, since I edit on hard copy, if I should just type the first draft, but then I guess I’d have to type it twice. (And Alphie would get lonely.)
And when I took typing in school, the teacher had an old Royal on display. Sometimes she’d let us try it and we always jammed up the keys, too.
September 10th, 2005 at 4:45 am
I sitll have my Dad’s portable manual typewriter that he first went to work with in the, what? Late fifities? It’s absolutely beautiful, small, perfectly formed, and the hard cover with the carry handle clicks over the base to make a case.
I wrote my first ever tale, “The Story of Nougat the Newt” on that typewriter, at age 8ish. There’s a simplicity and calmness about using it. On a computer, about 50% of my key presses are on Backspace. On a typewriter you don’t have that luxury, so you think FIRST. Amazing concept…
Mind you, it’s hell on the joints.
September 10th, 2005 at 12:01 pm
I don’t miss the old Royal manual I learned to type on, though I do miss the IBM Selectric my parents bought for their budding author child. Take into account what $500 was worth in the early ’70s, and it was an amazing show of support.
I don’t miss the carriage returns at the end of a line, or having to change paper in the middle of running hot with a scene, but I do miss the comforting “click” of the keys. That’s one of the reasons I bought an iBook. Price, portability, screen all had something to do with it, but what really sold me was the fact the keys have that “clicky” feel. Combine that with a small sound files that imitates that old Royal, and I have the best of both worlds.
September 10th, 2005 at 9:41 pm
What awesome parents, Caro! You’re very lucky.
I love the iBook. I really want one. But I hear that everything I have on this computer would be lost to me.
September 10th, 2005 at 9:55 pm
I learned (if you can call it that — my top typing speed for many years was 19 wpm :hide:) on a Royal that was an antique in 196. . .5? Somewhere in there. To show you how bad my typing phobia was, not only did I not ever apply for any jobs that required typing, but I didn’t even begin to write seriously until we got our first computer. In my case, apparently thinking first (which is indeed a lovely concept, Anna) doesn’t work, either.
And hey, one of my first literary endeavors was a poem about a dead frog. Must be something about amphibians. . .:cheesy:
September 10th, 2005 at 11:42 pm
But I hear that everything I have on this computer would be lost to me.
Depends what you mean by “everything” — when I acquired the iBook, I transferred over the majority of my files and information from the PC dekstop (which my husband still uses) with surprisingly little problem. If the program you want isn’t available for the Mac, though, that is a problem (I still have a couple I sneak back to the desktop for).
And the parents are awesome indeed and always have been about the writing.
September 12th, 2005 at 3:38 pm
Geez, you all make me feel old. My 8th grade typing class was on manual typewriters, and I’m only 34!
No one has mentioned Underwood. That was the first typewriter I ever typed on, and we still have it somewhere, I hope.
I have a PC desktop and an iBook, Shannon. I switch back and forth almost effortlessly. The iBook isn’t a replacement machine, though, just a supplemental one, so I lost nothing.