The path

A mouse click! Then a keystroke! It is 2:00 AM and I am still working on my Senior Independent Honors Project...

A mouse click! Then a keystroke! It is 2:00 AM and I am still working on my Senior Independent Honors Project – a community website for students. I rub my eyes and yawn widely. Then I look at my computer, hearing the rattling of the chips. The blue illumination of the screen keeps me from falling asleep. I smile as a random intriguing thought comes to my mind – “how would it feel to be inside a computer; what is the feeling of being presented in binary mode, what could I learn there!” I am so involved with my Senior Independent Honors Project, with my web design work, and schoolwork that I hardly manage to get a good nights sleep!

Tzzzssss. As I rub my eyes again, dazzled by the flash of the light, I am flabbergasted to find myself surrounded by zillions of pixels that make up the computer-generated image that I was viewing moments ago. Aghast, I realize that I am inside my computer! I look around and see the highways and the byways that meander around the chips. This place feels so unknown and desolate, as if no one has been there before. However, I would soon realize that this uncharted path would play an integral role in the development of my personality.

I look around as I try to find my way out of this virtual reality. I follow a major “boulevard-like” path and set off towards a well-lit corner. To get there, however, I have to go on a bumpy, untrodden byway. I struggle over the obstacles along this path. As I travel along I feel the same way as I felt during my experience as a founder and president of the website design club of my high school and what I developed as a personal trait – persistence. After overcoming the numerous hardships and obstacles along the path, I finally make it to the intended destination. There I meet a paperclip-like creature who offers me a sheet of paper with a series of 0s and 1s. “This is the puzzle that will help you exit this virtual reality. Here is the number 11001101*. If you can solve the mystery of the code, you will be given the key to leave,” it mumbles with a mechanical voice.

I feel as if I am doing some high school assignment, project, or task. I take a deep breath, ponder for a while, and suddenly realize the answer: “CD, like the CD device that is somewhere in here”. The creature smiles, hands me a small key-like card and points towards the exit at the other end of the computer. I race back, dodging thousands of bytes flying around me, as I turn from a highway onto a small byway that leads to freedom.

Suddenly, I see several bytes which seem to be lost. I look for a way to help them. They tell me they are the result of Bulgarian students’ Internet searches for information regarding universities abroad. I promise them that as soon as I go back to the “real world”, I will complete my work on my Senior Independent Honors Project, a website that informs students about issues of application to universities abroad. Then I turn and race for the exit.

Tzzzssss. It is that sound again wakening me from a deep sleep! I rub my tired eyes and gaze at the clock – 3:45 AM. I have slept for almost two hours! Still, what I dreamed makes me realize how much my interaction with computers has influenced me. I feel profound fear and respect at the same time. It is as if I were exploring again the many opportunities computers have to offer that are hidden behind the lustrous metal cases and the calm purring of the computer memory disks. Strange feeling!

I rub my shoulders, put my fingers on the keyboard, and suddenly the creature that I just met in my dream appears on the screen; in fact, it is the program assistant that goes with the software I use. I rub my eyes and smile – sometimes even I feel as human software assistant to many people who have problems with their computers. I try to help and guide them in the same way computers guide me through their byways and highways of the tasks I need to complete”.

Click! Tmm. The sounds can be heard again as I continue my interaction with my computer. Maybe I will discover something new, something that no one has ever done before! Maybe I will someday forge a new trail for the others to follow.

* 11001101 (binary) = CD (hexadecimal)

12/06/2005         Top