I know my hands have something to do with the words I think that appear on the screen. The proof of this is that the letters on the keyboard are slowly vanishing.
My old keyboard, my stealth keyboard, the keyboard of my old puter, my 286, has no letters on it at all. It's not that it was made before the alphabet, it had letters once, in 1992, when it was new, but I wore them off, absorbed them from the keys, dissolved them with my fingertips, sucked them in. It has a Q, a Z, a line of what used to be V, no arrows, no punctuation, the numbers sit there in solitary composure of knowing I leave them alone.
This new keyboard, an IBM, clicky, in a year's use has already lost the A, most of the O, part of the S, the N, E and R are getting ragged. I pretend to be puzzled by this, but secretly I love it. Keyboard letters contain vital nutrients for my metabolism. They are where I get my ideas from, they keep my creativity flowing. They go in and out through my fingers and leave the keyboard burnished and empty.
It's clearly magic realism, because it ought to work like that. It's not in the least remarkable. One would only need to remark on it if it didn't happen. Now I look closely, I can see signs of wear on the Y, M and H. Come to me, keyboard letters, sink into me, refresh me, let your atoms become my atoms, and emerge transformed on the screen, shining in hitherto unknown combinations.
May 28 2003, 07:46:59 UTC 9 years ago
This is the opposite, isn't it? The white keys are a badge of wisdom and practice. May they grow ever paler.
May 28 2003, 08:44:46 UTC 9 years ago
Your conceit (and Kij's addendum) is beautiful; I'm a little saddened that I can't share it.
May 28 2003, 09:31:49 UTC 9 years ago
Perhaps you are more in tune with your PC than Jo?
Anonymous
May 29 2003, 13:35:40 UTC 9 years ago
ahhhh. Kinesis
The Kinesis is a fine keyboard (I'm typing on my 8-year-old one now).Its keys are molded from two colors of plastic. The characters go all the way through the key so the slow absorption of the letters that Jo so eloquently describes is more of a secret than with keyboards with topically-applied letters.
Jeff Youngstrom http://tomecat.com/madtimes/
May 29 2003, 13:40:22 UTC 9 years ago
Re: ahhhh. Kinesis
Now, see, I thought of that. But when was the last time I saw a double-injection molded keyboard? About 1993.I should learn to trust my instincts.
What will happen to you,
June 8 2003, 19:36:21 UTC 8 years ago
May 28 2003, 09:44:13 UTC 9 years ago
I have thought about getting a Klingon, or an Elvish, key set for the keyboard. But perhaps that would take the magic away!
May 28 2003, 11:46:14 UTC 9 years ago
That's why my old one is called a stealth keyboard.
May 29 2003, 01:31:08 UTC 9 years ago
May 28 2003, 11:43:40 UTC 9 years ago
I have pugnacious fingernails, strong and fast-growing, and my venerable little Vaio has grooves etched into some of the keys. The 'e' and 's' keys actually have holes in the top.
Perhaps I'm going for machine interface.
May 28 2003, 15:18:37 UTC 9 years ago
Anonymous
May 31 2003, 08:31:22 UTC 9 years ago
May 31 2003, 13:22:09 UTC 9 years ago
I've had this new keyboard on my laptop for less than five months and already the N key is going (tribute to my chronic checking of mail when I should be doing anything but and want an excuse to continue stalling), and the other keys have already lost the textured newness, which is a relief because I found the texture to be unnerving.
June 6 2003, 06:51:20 UTC 9 years ago
Alphabetics: q w s d f j z x c v b all intact; e r y u p a g m eroded to a greater or lesser degree; t i o h k l n completely blank
Punctuation and symbols: @ , . eroded
Other keys: all intact and dusty except F1 (clear) and left-shift (blank); HOME key somewhat gunky for some reason; numeric pad 4 has a blob of candle wax on it