My History of Personal Computing

Phoenix, my past tech love, before it was allowed to rest. In pieces.

When it comes to computers, consider me the consummate mezzo geek. Mezzo, because I can't, for the life of me, program. Heheh. I was 8 years old when my family first had our own desktop. Since then, I cannot recall a year when we hadn’t had our own computer at home.

In the Philippines in the 90’s, having a computer was already a status symbol of sorts. In short, at that time, my family and I were considered technological trendsetters, even if our computer wasn’t exactly the most state-of-the-art, the other parents in my elementary school looked up to us, because of that computer.

It was even funny at that time, because, when I was 7, before my family had our own personal computer, some kids in class were gossiping that I got the top spot in class only because we had a computer.

Pooh. What kids would say when envious.

Either way, my love affair with computers has lasted since my early days with a clunky circa-90’s non-tower thing.

I also had my first laptop when my dad finally passed on the IBM 365 from his client on to me. It ran Windows 95, and it was pretty stable, until my classmate (and Vin’s batchmate) Marjorie set my bag down from the chair where it was perched and onto the floor, with a bit of a thud. We all blanched when the poor old thing refused to start up.

All it took was for a particularly disliked (not to mention equally forgettable) compsci (computer science) teacher just pressed on some of the injured machine’s innards, and it was back up, running and churning out one of the famed theatrical productions my class was known for.

That beloved laptop finally “died” in 2001, after I took it apart when my dormmate returned it to me unresponsive once more.

My dad then declared that:

-I had a fix-it streak.
-And I rendered his former machine into a museum piece. Heheh.

After that IBM laptop came Phoenix, my beloved desktop, which I finally took apart last year.

On Phoenix, I was able to learn how to fix computer hardware, and how to install and appreciate Linux. I was also weaned out of the Microsoft dependency on Phoenix, when Windows XP finally quit on me.

Because I got that first brush with Linux on Phoenix, I was then able to dare to order Sayuri, my Macbook, from my aunt.

And like Ploning Director Dante Nico Garcia quoted in his post on the iMac he prayed for and got FOR FREE, once you try working on a Mac, you’ll never look back, I’m not missing Windows any one bit.

Though I used to miss the Windows interface, whenever I would be on Windows, I would always be looking for one of my Exposé corners, whenever I would be looking for some window I’ve buried among the ones I’ve opened... So it’s safe to say that no one can tear me from the Mac now...


This is the history of my use of computers, hope you enjoyed reading about it, as much as I enjoyed recounting it before you!