Last dance

A clue to my mindset, even after an enjoyable and mind-expanding series of summer exercises: Jane got to this assignment sooner than I did. She told me triumphantly a couple of nights ago that she had finished it, but couldn't do the Wordle on our laptop here at home. I knew we were supposed to write a reflection, and thought I could manage it, but the sound of the unfamiliar term Wordle chilled my heart. I began to despair until Jane explained the Wordle was optional, and told me what it was, and I've seen them before and just didn't know what they were called. So I'll have a crack at the Wordle some time if I have a free moment at work.

In the meantime, here I am at the end of the summer having been exposed to a dozen new uses of the computer, most of which I mastered and some of which I may find professionally useful. I clearly remain a bit phobic. This is not what I expected to be doing... I must not have read Lisa's memo carefully enough, because for some reason I thought we were going to learn the Latin names of plants.

I'm glad there are people like Lisa who can troll the universe and keep track of Web 2.0. I wonder, however, if it's worth the investment in time and brain space for ordinary mortals. How much of this stuff will be old hat in 5 years? Barely a decade ago I learned html, and who uses that anymore? (Not me. I use SeaMonkey.) I feel like someone who's learned a craft, say woodworking, except that people are constantly breaking into my workshop and switching out the tools for fancy new ones. I learn how to use the tools, work a little wood, and all of a sudden the tools I know how to use are gone and I have to learn new ones. These things don't occur to people who are, say, 15 like my son Robbie. By the time one is, say, 51, one has been through several versions of life, and wonders if it might be possible to skip a few of them?

The coffee's gonna taste better for what I've gone through. Stay tuned for my Wordle. I may even have another go at Jing, which truly kicked my butt last week.