When my dad told me that a technician will swing by the house to install a modem on my computer, the initiative was met with indifference. Barely two months after receiving a Compaq Presario from him, being left alone with my computer games is all I've ever wanted.
Internet then was a new and strange technology. It wasn't even commercially available in the country. When average desktops still use Windows95 and Intel 486 processors, mine was considered advanced for its age.
Tapping into the matrix for the first time is like entering a new world. There were only few websites available though. I remember the technician showing me the NBA page, which led me to look at the time on the alarm clock. Codes for Firefox and IE have yet to be conceived, so we made the most out of Netscape Navigator, no matter how cumbersome and virus-prone it is.
I remember the first website I saw. It was about the Face on Mars, which was taken when a probe surveyed the planet's surface. Flustered, I thought the photos were real. Many years later, science would prove otherwise. The images were produced by a combination of light tricks and poor image resolution. By then, the Internet would be swamped with hoax photos and videos that separated the gullible from the suspicious. Once in a while, these photos would appear in some rundown website and distracts people from their worldly affairs.
Internet providers then were varied and disunited. However, data came from a single source which was the telephone. Back then, I was pretty satisfied with the current technology, even if the occasional phone unavailability roused the ire of my father at least, I am connected.
I never bothered to evolve.
Days would roll into eons while letting my network connectivity linger in a backward state. Drive went to updating my hardware to keep up with the games I bought at Datablitz. Miniaturization shrank the book-sized modem, allowing it to be directly plugged into the motherboard. I lied when I claimed no knowledge of WIFI and broadband. A friend from Smart spoke about these technologies and how it would revolutionize information before they became available to these shores.
As fortunes steadily declined, priorities had to be made. Money went to the family, to the ex, to pay for my personal bills. While still capable of making a giant leap, determination to accept change kept me from growing. I got stuck with dial-up believing it was enough to provide for my bandwidth needs. Besides, there was the Internet Cafes should I decide to speed up my access.
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Soon, I would build my entire career around the idea that my brain is jacked into a computer port. The Internet has never been an unfamiliar terrain and vast knowledge, which is just being discovered now were things I already applied even before they became pop ideas.
I was at the forefront of upheavals. When Wikipedia and Twitter were just setting up, I was there to support these social media ventures. Unknowingly, I used SEO to make my first Combatron tribute appear on the first page of every search engine. I was employed at a data mining firm before the practice became mainstream. Lacking discipline, I could have learned html and css had I spent my time on it instead of writing.
Ironic that for someone who is highly capable, he got stuck using ancient technology. Blame my procrastination for it. I simply couldn't find the courage to take the giant step and switch to a much faster connection. Plans have been drawn a few years back, but because our street was largely ignored when cables were laid around the block, I appeased myself buying Blast prepaid cards until broadband knocks at my door.
Technology wasn't really unavailable. There were SmartBro and Sun Broadband which I could always plug in my USB port. Wi-Tribe came into the picture last year. Lacking good reviews however, I decided to withhold my application.
The problem sprung from the selection. With so many options to choose from, I couldn't bear settling for less. Besides, with existing contracts with some of the best providers in the market, I thought of waiting out of my belief that I could gain more.
So I waited and waited until the fiber optic cables of Sky Broadband reach the home front. There was PLDT MyDSL dangling like a carrot everytime I see the landline. But with the complicated instructions for application, (the phone isn't ours) I thought of killing the thought. Sooner or later, my patience will be rewarded and when it does, I hope there's no regret with my decision.
For we have been a Skycable subscriber for the last decade.
Finally, the waiting bore fruit last week, when a broadband representative perched a tent across the street. Soft-selling took merely minutes, and they promised swift connection in a matter of days. It took only three days for the technicians to show up, and unlike the kid who once showed apathy towards the new technology, this time, that technology promises unlimited freedom.
With the opening of vast horizons denied to me for a long time comes the pain of another bill payment. At P999, the price would cut deep into my already stretched-out salary. For now, I would suspend my natural inclination to distress over budget constraints. What time could still afford, I would bask at the moment when I can forget about that 56K connection.
This time, I have evolved.