What's a Nice Girl Like You...
...Doing in a Place Like This?
The thought occurred to me that a number of people wonder why I am on the Web, why I built two personal Web sites, why I enjoy it.
They look at you with an odd sort of glare and you can imagine them thinking to themselves "god, she's weird."
So, with that in mind here's the story.
Some time ago while skimming through an issue of FORTUNE magazine, I read with interest a story about this thing called "The Internet" and the World Wide Web, and sensed that "this thing" would be
BIG.
At that time I was a newbie at computers, at least in the online sense. Sure, I had tinkered with them in the early 80s, always anticipating that the damned things would blow up as I used them, perhaps by pressing the wrong key.
It was that story in FORTUNE that made me begin my personal pursuit of Internet access in 1993.
I phoned the editor of the story and asked if he knew how I could gain access. He was of little help. I had a boyfriend who thought I was crazy. (of course, I derive wicked pleasure in knowing that I foresaw the growth of the Internet, contrary to what HE thought.)
I was already on CompuServe, as it was the most reputable service at that time. I didn't like it, but used it anyway. Soon I found myself with 5 accounts on 5 different services, all in a quest for Net access. I had accounts on AOL, CompuServe, Pipeline, Phantom Access Technologies and Interport.
I posted in an Internet Forum on CompuServe and received a personal reply from a guy in London who suggested I "get Net access via my university." That's not what I wanted. But the fact that he replied led me to believe my suspicions of this wonderful new medium were true.
Using an IBM-compatible 386 (I was ahead of my time then, only didn't know it) I decided that it was time to dump my numerous accounts. First went Pipeline. I hated its interface, it took WAY TO LONG to be connected to the Net and it was pricey. Next was AOL. I think I spent all of 5 minutes on it, then I dumped it. It was finally time to cancel the CompuServe account. The most expensive of them all, I had grown tired of it's truly ugly interface and user-unfriendliness.
I kept two accounts. Phantom and Interport. Phantom (aka, Mindvox) was fun, reputably created for Gen-X although I was not one of them. Phantom has since crashed and burned. Interport, the no-frills service, would give me the knowledge and access I needed to get Net.
Now, being a somewhat newbie, it took a LONG time for me to get to the level of having a halfway decent home page. It was quite a bit of trial and error, and I'm still learning today.
When the rest of the world around me caught up with this new medium, I felt comfortable enough to mention my home pages. Although they could have been staring at me in awe and amazement, it was more of a "you poor, pathetic thing" response to my proclamations.
After all, what female in her right mind would want to spend hour after hour sitting at a computer playing? Shouldn't she be out and about getting manicures, facials, and the like and be a "real" female?
The geeks I had known over the years thought it was great. I could finally speak their language. One night when I met a group of hackers, they took one look at me and said "you don't look like one of us" but still thought I was cool.
My relatives are only just beginning to find out about my secret "other" life as a wannabe geek. My cousins have asked me to set up their new Gateway 2000, my sister is amazed that the resident techno-genius in her company raves about my home pages.
My neighbor's son sends me email to pass along to his mom. My mother quietly wonders what went wrong in her raising of me.
I must admit I've become quite the Internet snob. I've been known to turn down a date here and there if the guy doesn't know what the Internet is. (Of course, this isn't as bad as it sounds. If you read a newspaper, you can get a pretty good idea of what's going on in the world.)
People from all over the world have visited my pages. I've met a number of them. Yes, it is strange moving from email to real life but it happens. As with anything else there may be psychos out there but I've been fortunate enough not to have exchanged anything with them. And yes, I'd like to keep it that way.
Then there's my former boss. I aspired to be as geeky as he was and used to salivate in my office while the resident geeks surrounded him as he explored the newest widget. Perhaps the world just can't cope with chicks who want the knowledge and the hands-on experience of the techno-savvy.
So what's a nice girl like me doing in a place like this? I'm here because it's where I want to be.
it doesn't mean you can help yourself to my writing.
A nice note and an offer I couldn't possibly imagine
refusing will work wonders.