At any given moment, there are usually three to four screens open at our home. F and I would be watching some movie on cable at our big-ass television set, which we inherited from my mother. Actually, it’s only F who’s watching. I just like to hang out in the living room while I’m writing a piece or transcribing an interview on my netbook. It’s a bad habit I know, but well, what can you do? S and K would be strategizing against the Egyptians while playing Rome on their PC. E would be at her room, answering queries about her kili-kili products or tracking shipments on her own PC.
Sometimes, the equations change. F would be playing Mortal Kombat Armageddon or some other Playstation game on the big-ass TV. I would be watching Survivor Heroes vs Villains on the smaller TV while making my chains. S and K, now that their PC has gone wireless, would be playing some online game while E would be playing some Facebook game.
How did we get here? When I was growing up, we only had one television set. We didn’t have computers. We didn’t have CDs. We didn’t have cell phones. But we entertained ourselves fine, making little doll houses of books.
It's ironic that sometimes, we may all be together in one room but we're not really together captivated as we are by the moving images on our respective screens. Fortunately, there are little breakthroughs, little commercial breaks as I'd like to call them. Someone would ask a question, make a comment, or remember something funny that would get everybody back in the room and start talking again. Or F, who's a bit of a klutz, would trip over the extension cord, or K and S would start quarrelling, or Baby S would start bugging everybody, asking for a kiss or a drink of water. Commercial muna! And we're back together!
P.S. I leave you now with a real commercial that always makes everybody in the house stop and stare and laugh every time it comes on. Really funny!
Another P.S. And yes, with all those screens on, I am dreading the day I get my Meralco bill. But till then, let's dance! Giling mo!
We only had one tv growing up too. It is amazing how far technology has come. It brings us together but seems to keep us apart at the same time.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the laugh. That commercial is funny. I know what you mean about being in the same room yet everyone is preoccupied with their own thing. By the way, that ice cream-masarap!
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