Chapter Four

Chapter 4

    I spent most of my young adult life working and moving to different places. Dad gave me my first cell phone when I was probably 23. I think I may have been using dial up here and there, but found no point to it because I didn’t have a reason to be online.

    Even when was in my own apartment, I was not online. When I was online I would be on BBS boards and chatting in Yahoo! Groups. I had ICQ at some point, but it got to the point where I could not reset my password or login.

    I just researched where they could research. Even at this time information was limited. I could get so much information about Nefertiti or the Bear River Massacre. I could go to the library, but even this was limited.

    I would meet some people from online like I used to. My mother got worried about this and sometimes attempted to intervene. It was the same as just meeting without the use of Internet. I did not see what the big deal was.

    Life seemed easier without Internet. I could look in the paper for an apartment or work. I could just go in and fill an application with ease. It was so much easier getting a home then. I got so much more when I did not sit in front of the computer. I only wasted time on people and not games.

    Work seemed to be easier. Movie times were listed on the paper. People called the theater for times. People called pizza places for delivery. I had no GPS when delivering pizza. I learned my way around Boise without a map.

    People used to go to the video stores and rent or buy movies. You could actually see the inventory. I think it was more fun to shop because I could look at the catalogs and order things that they did not have. I even had a chance to keep the poster if the store had it.

    Things slowly changed back for me. When I was working at the carwashes I got more involved with communicating through text messages. I didn’t have time to play games or do any writing. I never took any materials with me because someone inevitably got a hold of it and started to read without asking first.

    I did write occasionally and post my work on various social media platforms. I moved into a house and rented a room. This was when I first started using Wi-Fi.

    I still had the computer that was handed down to me. It was pretty much dead at that point. It was not turning on. So, I donated to some school program. Supposedly, they knew what to do with it.

    Everyone in the house was using the same computer. So, I bought my very first computer. I got a Compaq laptop. Only chatted with people on Yahoo messenger and MySpace and posted pictures.

    I primarily uploaded pictures and changed the look. This wasn’t really an ideal life for me. We would use the platform to bully each other and bail on each other. MySpace, Yahoo, and cell phones were just meant for drama.

    After roommates with a dog lived in the house, I got a dog after gaining permission. I guess one roommate got jealous and the homeowner was emotionally abusive with me. So, I moved without giving any notice. I had no written agreement to be there and I was being yelled at for something that I had permission for. After being bailed on so many times, I bailed.

    I moved into my mom’s house with my new dog. I was looking at places where I could where I worked and saw that the rent was the same as mortgage payment.

    So, I got my first house. I had no idea that we were close to going into a recession. The house market crash was around the same time I got my house. I was on the lucky ones who didn’t lose a newly purchased home. I was slowly becoming the person that I once was. Again, I was playing games online and not going out much.