I would like to sit down with mom and talk to her what she feels living in this world. I wonder if she will stare at the wall behind me and say, ‘ I long for the time when things are a lot easier. Like talking means literally talking.’

And then I’ll go, ‘ Mak, that is so true,’ while munching on her delicious curry puff.

Don’t you think so? I mean, the part when life in this era is a lot more challenging. Like the example given above. Talking is no longer literally talking. I wrote an email to my friend yesterday saying that I had a conversation with a long-lost friend. She emailed back asking if I was talking to this friend via the phone. If you read it once, you will say ‘ of course lah she has been talking on the phone’ but wait there a minute. This is the era where people are using computers for almost everything. This is the time when kids as young as 8 (or younger, I don’t know) have mobile phones. And yeah, this is definitely the era when talking don’t really literally mean talking.

Sending instant messages are dubbed as talking by some group of people and that include me.

Sending short text messages too. As well as email. So you see, it is difficult to say something without having to explain. It’s difficult don’t you think so? Like:

‘ Babe, listen. I finally talked to the guy! He-‘

‘ Wait, as in talking or on the phone?’

‘ On the-‘

‘ Or you guys were on IM?’

See? Intricate small details that should not be a problem in the last ten years. But of course, we really cannot avoid from being dependent on this devices like handphones, notebooks, computers, PDA and so on. For example, my auntie is growing more and more dependant on mobile phones. She has lost the ability to wake me up using her normal method. Instead, she wakes me by texting me. I, the bellproof person who didn’t realize for two whole years, the siren will be switched on to wake up the whole school. It’s not as if she cannot just scream to wake me up (as if it’s not normal to have her screaming to her son who usually sits not 5 meters from her.)

And she really had to text me telling that ‘nasi ada kat umah makcu’ although she can again just shout it. And the same goes if she wants me to open the door at night. Well, you get it. And I don’t really like bringing my handphone here and there in the house because it’s my sanctuary, I would like to take a break from any distractions.

Besides that, the world is getting more difficult to live in. I don’t remember reading so much about bombings when I was in primary school. There were no incest cases, less killings and pirates in Somalian waters? I don’t even know if there is Somalia (pardon my ignorance back then). And getting out of the closet. And more people dressing like Boy George 9shudders).. But kids these days, they have to deal with a lot of things.

Oh God, I can be a bore. I’m sorry, pardon this old makcik. Let’s talk about something else. Anyways, anyone watching Harry Potter anytime soon?