Caught Between Two Worlds…

Back when I went to school, they still taught the basics you needed to actually live in the real world.  I had shop classes where I learned how to print using moveable type, which while not all that practical was a very cool thing to do (I learned that there was soap like Lava that had pumice ground up in it to help get the ink off your hands and that has been practical!); I took Home Economics where I learned the basics of cooking and sewing which have been extremely practical life skills I use every day.  My Elementary School taught us the magic of a passbook savings account and later how to write a check (something my kids struggle with these days), and we learned how to type on a typewriter (Thank the lord for White Out) and of course Penmanship!  I wasn’t all that good at the Penmanship part, beyond signing my name, so I never used cursive when I wrote notes for school or letters for family and friends, but I never regretted having the skill and enjoyed writing notes and letters.

 My parents were traditional in many ways, so for my High School Graduation, my Mom gave me a Waterman Fountain Pen as a gift and I immediately fell in love!  The feel of the nib against a good bond of paper was a daily pleasure and I began, a sometimes expensive hobby of admiring and collecting fine writing instruments.  The materials used were beautiful and the various filling mechanisms, from cartridges, to piston fillers fascinated me.

Confession here, I am insanely curious about everything I get involved with, sometimes to the point of obsession (my kids have dubbed me “Useless Knowledge Man”) and learning about the history and different stages of the development of writing technology is to this day one of my most fun topics.  Hell, I go to pen shows for god’s sake!

 When I realized that my penmanship was not up to the fine pens that I loved, I even recruited my Aunt in New York (a teacher) to send me schoolbooks I could use to improve.  (Imagine a twenty-two-year-old man with the big cursive tracing books of a third grader). I carried my planner with me every day to work and would take notes in meetings that I would almost never go back and reference, driven by my love of putting pen to paper.

 Then the world changed! 

 What I didn’t mention yet fair reader, is that I am a computer nerd!  I always kept up on technology both as a part of my job and more as my obsession with all things gadget!  I worked on Mainframes and Mini-Computers and eventually Personal Computers and finally Laptops.

 When personal computers came along, we generally as a society adopted the keyboard as our primary form of writing and as they became more ubiquitous, the art of penmanship was lost. (For a while now, many schools don’t even teach cursive writing to the kids anymore!)   

 Today everyone brings their laptop computer into a meeting and while there are all doing something other than focusing on what is happening in the meeting!  I’ve always believed that a laptop puts a wall up in front of you and while you attempt to multi-task by checking email or watching some computer process running, you miss the subtleties that body language and eye contact bring to the party.

 Multi-tasking is a fallacy!  In computers, there is concept called “Context Switching” where the computer takes the task it is performing, swaps it out to the storage and loads another to process.  It does this really quickly, so it appears to be doing two things at once, but the truth is, it’s simply doing one thing at a time really fast! Human beings are not much better at Multi-Tasking because tasks take focus and it’s not easy to be churning on two thoughts at the same time with all the focus you need to give that thought justice!  

 So, I fought bringing that laptop into meetings or social settings so I could be attentive and “In the moment”.  Old fashioned as that may be, I believe I owe that to the people I share the moment with! 

Now, note taking on paper can also be a distraction, but the barriers to real focus are fewer.  It takes substantially less effort to jot something on a pad, flat on the table in front of you, than it takes to focus on the keyboard with the monitor up as a wall while typing with two hands.  Plus, I can make eye contact with the person talking and still use my beloved fountain pen.  I guess I’m just not a good enough typist to do that with a laptop. 

 So, when the Tablet PC showed up, I was giddy with the possibility of writing on a computer screen!  I can open a blank page on my tablet and use a stylus to simulate pen on paper for notes!  As an added bonus, I could then use the tools on my tablet or even a service like Evernote to keyword search my handwritten documents!  Woo Hoo, my note taking is finally useful!!

So, I’ve reached Nirvana, right?  This is the best of both worlds, right?  I get to practice the art of pen to tablet and I can create useful notes!  Tech saves the day!

 Unfortunately for me, it still filled me with longing.  It didn’t and doesn’t save the soul!   

 I don’t get to use that fine writing instrument I so love.  I don’t get quite the expressiveness of a fountain pen on thick stock paper.  I don’t get to load my stylus on the computer with my favorite Noodlers Ink. (If you’re curious, it’s the 54th Massachusetts).  I don’t get the best of both worlds!

 Writing is not the only place I suffer with this conflict of interests.  I love a great timepiece as well!  The engineering and artisanship that goes into a fine Swiss made watch is one of the most remarkable pieces of technology I can carry with me!  But I also want to quantify my life by tracking my steps and heart rate and “close the rings” as a reward for accomplishing the physical goals in my life.  But you can’t have that and a Panerai or Rolex on your wrist.  And frankly, wearing a tracking device separate from a watch also just looks dorky on a guy who weighs in the upper two-hundreds and is clearly not prepping to run any marathons.

 So that is my dilemma friend.  I was born about forty years too late with a thirst for gadgets and a taste for elegance!  Living between two worlds where the analog and the digital just don’t really co-exist well!  I long for a time when craftsmanship was the height of elegance, but I can’t pass up a cool new gadget that in the end helps me get to my goal faster.  Too many tradeoffs!

 I know there are work arounds!  I can write my notes with my fountain pen on paper and then photograph it and put it into the software that will let me search it.  I can find a tracking device that hides somewhere subtle on my body to quantify my person.

 But when you are caught between two worlds, the best answers just never feel good enough!