ASCII Art

I bought my first computer in 1984. It was a small, cheesy thing, called a Sinclair. It was small with touch pad keys and was no fun to use. A few years later I upgraded to A Radio Shack portable. Again not the best, but it cost almost $2,000. After I got used to it I decided to experiment with a word processing program and create some ASCII art. One of my creations is above. It looks something like an Indian designed Thunderbird blanket. It is by no means a remarkable piece, but what I find remarkable is that at one time I had the patience to sit at my desk for hours and punch codes to create this. Back then I was still a bachelor, working long hours and somehow I found doing this in my spare time relaxing. It pains me to admit to having no life back then, but I guess I created something out of it and it was better than watching TV. Maybe I was listening to an Eagles record at the time. Yes it was still the age of vinyl LP's and cassette tapes.

These types of things are much easier to create now but somehow doing it longhand if you will makes it seem like more of an accomplishment. I think of this when ever I use Photoshop or when I record music digitally instead of using tape decks. Perhaps there is still a place for the old ways. The musician Eric Johnson on recently began recording his albums digitally. There is still a studio in New York City, the name of which escapes me at the moment, dedicated to analog recording. Steely Dan has used it to recorded the rhythm tracks for their records. Many of use still believe analog is better for many things, including the bottom end.