By Norm Richards
I feel as if I've been a bit of a pioneer of computer use. When the Macintosh made it's entry I didn't rush out and buy one but I did ease myself into more automation. I moved from note pages to a typewriter in the eighties. Before that I observed people who used typewriters as people assigned to tasks as part of their jobs. My girlfriend was trained in school and later in the market as a typist and office manager. She progressed and made well of herself. Besides my roots in music, I've gone onto good careers in sales, senior administration and management while improving my skills in many ways.
Back when, my gal worked for a business form company. She had legs up to here, smart but naive about her own appeal to others. One day, a company salesman drove her home. He tried to assault her. I thought it was funny but it was a warning to me too. Later that year, I accompanied her to her staff Christmas party. Her boss was this well respected affluent man who hosted the party in an upper crust neighborhood. His salesmen and their wives were in attendance. The guy who went after her was there with his wife. I watched for the bastard to look sideways at my gal. I bought a dutch made double breasted suit to accompany her. We stood out. They were old business, smoking cigars and drinking scotch. We were the sober youth among them, as if we were the Beatles mingling with old culture. One look and I was ready to pounce. There would have been blood and I assure you, not mine.
By the early 90's, I used my own typewriter and didn't mind a two finger style or a bit better. I've never gone for formal training in how to type. Self taught perhaps but given help from the gal I eventually married. Yes, the one who's virtue I was ready to defend that Christmas. She could type a mile a minute but had long moved on to more senior business activity in her life. Over the years, I've gotten used to expressing my thoughts on paper first and now, largely on-screen. Funny how times have changed. I'm published now and enjoy seeing my work in hard copy. However, I'm not obsessed. As for my time with the woman I married, we did not survive the virtues I once strived for. We have two great children together and blessings of our own but we live separate lives today. As technology has moved forward, it's remained a strong part of my working career. And yet, I don't have to have the latest toys to be happy. I'm functional and proud of it.
