hello past. meet future.

Although i do not recall what we were watching last night that sparked this train of thought... here it is just the same...


Every generation has things easier than the generation before them, and it will continue this way forever i suppose. Last night there was an image on the screen of a record player, it had the plastic insert in the middle to keep the record balanced... and i had this flash of memories of my childhood and the things that compare with what we had growing up, the changes that took place with all of these technologies, and all of the ease that kids have today because of these changes.


Music...
Age 7 - i was so excited to get my Donnie and Marie RECORD player!
Age 10 - i was so excited to get my very fist ever BOOM BOX with a tape deck!
Age 14 - i was so excited that my family got a DUEL TAPE deck player! We could now make mixed tapes!
Age 15 - i was so excited that we added a CD player to our sound system!
Age 20 something, Napster was huge - free music! I made so many mixed CD's back then.
Age somewhere around age 30, i got an iPod! No more making CD's... ALL of my music is in one tiny little machine.


Movies...
birth-5 movies were for being seen at the theatre!
Age 5-8 (not sure) by Grandfather had a BETA player!
Age 10 we got our first ever VCR player - and it was the size of a small micro-wave!
* going to the video store was a huge Friday night treat!
Age 14 we got Laser disc (short lived fun)!
Age 20 something i got my first DVD player!
* Netflix became a huge part of our lives!
Age 34 (just last month!) we got a Blu Ray disc player!


Tv...
birth to age 5 our Tv was black and white and TINY!
Age 5 we got a "big screen" Tv and you had to get up and walk to the tv to turn the channel! but it was in color!
Age 10 we had a tiny Tv (black and white with knobs to turn on it) downstairs for the kids to watch channels 2-13!
Age 12 we got a TV with a remote control!
Age 17 i moved out of the house, bought my own 14 inch tv, with remote control and it was cool!
Age 20 we purchased our first real size Tv! (i think it was a 36 inch)
Age 25 We purchased a BIG screen Tv that was the size of a small car!
Age 30 we purchased a FLAT screen Tv!


Camera...
Age 9 i got my first camera, i had to not only change the film, but also the flash cube!
Age 12 i got a new camera, flash was part of the camera!
Age 20 i got my first SLR film camera, with lots of lenses and gadgets!
Age 24 i got to borrow my little brothers 3MP digital camera for a year!
Age 27 i bought my very own 5MP digital camera!
Age 30 i got for my birthday my digital 8MP SLR camera!
Age 32 i got a 10MP digital camera


Computer...
Age 5 we got an in home computer, it was a VERY big deal!
Age 10 i took computer classes to learn DOS, i hated it! lol
Age 15 our High School got computers with a "windows like" program for ease of use!
Age 21 we purchased our first ever windows based computer! It was dial up and we payed to go online by the minute!
Age 24 We got DSL!
Age 25 we purchased our first laptop computer!
Age 28 we got Cable!
Age 30 we went completely wireless!
Age 32 i got a MacBook ;-)


Phones...
birth to age 7(?) we had a rotary phone with a cord that only reached 5 feet! we also had a rotary phone that was attached to the kitchen wall, with the curly phone cord that was always getting tangled up around us all.
* i remember always having to carry a DIME with me incase i needed to use the PAY phone!
* i remember having to often use the PAY phone!
Age 8-10 we got our first cordless phone! it went staticy if you were more than 20-30 feet away from the base. and we got into trouble for playing "sword fighting" with the antenna.
Age 17 i got a beeper so my friends and my family could reach me when they needed me.
Age 20 i got a cell phone - it was huge and clunky!
Age 24 i got a tiny-tiny cell phone!
Age 34 i got an iPhone!


These might all sound like small things to kids these days. i can not imagine life without my computer, living so far away from the people i love is not so hard with the computer. C would not be able to communicate with her friends so easily. Text messaging is her new thing. Live chatting with all of her friends online at once is making life so much easier on her.


I keep wondering what new things will come by way of the tech universe... will C look back and think having an iPod was lame? What kind of things will she journey through and learn as she grows up and takes on the new world...


Hello future!


***
and a video of a song i love to listen to these days.

beauty is skin deep or photoshop can help create it!

i realize i have already covered this subject recently, but when i saw this video i couldn't resist posting it! every girl (and guys for that matter) should see this video and see what the end photo looks like vs. the ordinary girl at the beginning.

i have so many people in my life that i think are beautiful on the outside but fall short of being a beautiful person because of the way they treat people. imagine if we wore our inner beauty on the outside for all to see. Confidence is a big start in that beauty being seen. Some of the nicest, most beautiful people i know are far from ugly (but aren't super models either)... but i almost did not know them because they were shy and didn't even try to put themselves out there. They seemed awkward and i almost didn't even notice them because they looked just average on the surface. Once i got to know them i realized that they were amazing! Sometimes we only see what is there for us to see, which is a major fault of human nature.

i've noticed Claire paying more attention to magazines and what people look like. i have always been open with her about my working in photoshop for a career (which i am happily no longer doing!). She has seen the original photos and then what happens with each stage and the end product. i've had clients who were losing their hair and i added hair to make them look like they were not going bald. i've had clients request that they have no wrinkles on their CD covers, so i edit them out. i've had clients with a pimple or a missed stubble hair during their morning shave, each item was edited out until the final image looked like a perfect person. So for me it is easy to show her and tell her that people in magazines are not always what they appear to be. She gets it, but i think deep down she still wonders if she measures up... or if she would need some major tweaking if she was a model. (which is a dream career for her, sadly i can't convince her otherwise!)

i wish there wasn't a beauty ruler in life... but we are all seen on levels of attraction. Be it what we see on the outside, or what we show from our insides. If you are an ugly person on the outside, you can still shine and become beautiful with how you treat people. But if you are beautiful on the outside and take that opportunity to manipulate people and use people for what you want... it makes you just as "ugly" as the person with flaws on the outside. One day people will wake up and realize who/what you are if you are a mean person... despite how you look on the outside.

to quote someone's blog i recently had the honor of reading...
"Many times we don't give people a chance
simply because their outer appearance doesn't fancy us
or the first impression wasn't "lovely"
or we just don't like "their type".
Understandable...because that's our human nature.
But as Christians God persuades us to have control
over our nature. Because if we let it dominate
in our life we will quickly find ourselves
headed in a downward direction."

so today i am setting a goal to do my best never to judge on a first impression again.