The Journal, Page 93, 21 March 2024 – Blisscast in Tech Wonderland

By Blisscast

March 21st 2024

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Hi everyone, and welcome to yet another Journal Page! I hope you’ll be glad to know that EmeraldDM8 is still hard at work on some impressive updates to this site’s interface, which will hopefully be ready soon for you all to enjoy!

Talking about my week, I’ve kept up with my usual reading of the original Yu-Gi-Oh! manga and I’ve had the honor of reading some impressive chapters; I can’t tell you what they are because they’re spoilers (I’m at the end of an important arc though), but I must say that I was absolutely hooked! Really, this manga should be more famous (and not just its anime counterpart)!

Gaming-wise, I started a cute and cozy game called Witchspring R, which I randomly found during the Steam Spring Sales; it’s totally adorable, and it lets us accompany a small witch, Pieberry, who wants to go to the human world to find some impressive tasting pie! I know the premise sounds a bit silly, but there seems to be something more sinister lurking beneath the surface… An aspect I absolutely adore about this game is that it’s a truly strategic JRPG, and even if it’s not that easy, the game doesn’t punish you for losing, so you can just retry as many times as you want and adapt your strategy to the enemy. It’s a lot of fun, and if you’re reading this during the sales, I recommend you give it a try!

I’ve also kept working on my GUI Wonderland #2 and, if everything keeps going smoothly, I’ll be talking about the Xerox Star, along with its successor, the Xerox Daybreak. I’ve decided to leave the Apple Lisa for its own blog, as I thought it would be easier not to mix too many different systems in the same article. Once again, I hope you’ll be looking forward to it!

Thus, let’s finally talk about the topic of the day, which marks the very first Journal Page about Technology!

Blisscast in Tech Wonderland

My beloved Windows Longhorn

As I had anticipated in my GUI Wonderland #1, I’ve always been utterly fascinated by technology, be it Video Games, Computers, or even portable devices such as Smartphones or Tablets. I honestly have no idea how my passion began; maybe it was because of their endless possibilities? Or maybe it was because they looked shiny and colorful, and allowed me to do my favorite things? Or, perhaps, it was because the people around me seemed so happy whenever they were using these devices; for example, my dad had always used his Windows XP machine to enjoy his hobbies, and I would intently watch him while he was working on his infinite collection of movie posters pictures, or when he was updating his personal movie archive (~~which, by now, would probably rival IMDb~~ 🤣). Thus, I didn’t want to be the only one without a computer to truly call my own, and at some point in Elementary School, I was granted one of my dad’s old laptops, an Acer-branded one with Windows XP installed.

I remember I used it to download pictures of Super Mario characters, watch cartoon videos on YouTube (which was still a brand-new thing at the time), draw some kind of stupidities on Paint (I’m sure everyone did at some point), make weird PowerPoint presentations about my favorite games, and, most importantly, manage to catch a few pieces of malware while downloading my usual pictures (I have no idea how it happened, but I certainly wasn’t able to recognize when a website was unsafe, so maybe that was part of the problem).

Despite my interesting childhood adventures, I ended up (~~as always…~~) not doing much with it, especially because no one would actually explain to me how things worked, and I didn’t know where to retrieve such information on my own. ~~It also didn’t help that, as a girl, society expected me to be disinterested in technology, and I’m so glad that, finally, the pendulum seems to have begun to swing in the other direction.~~

Luckily, through my ever-growing interest in Video Games, I ended up finding some new things and having new reasons to use my almost abandoned laptop (which, at some point, sadly broke down). I remember browsing some Pokémon forums and websites, though I would mostly spend my afternoons researching Pokémon trivia on the Italian Pokémon Wiki (more about those adventures in the Journal Addendum to Page 4); unfortunately, none of this had much to do with Technology, although it still helped maintain my interest in it.

Then, at some point, along with my “new” HP Pavilion with Windows 7 (which used to run the ill-fated Windows Vista), I finally started doing something. I remember researching the few malware I could get, and even if I was utterly terrified of it, I still wanted to know what it was, and how to fight it. Though, most importantly, I also started to solve some issues on my PC; you see, since my dad wasn’t really knowledgeable about it, it was his friend who used to solve all of our issues and install new tech marvels, and I was always either kept out of it or was doing something else (~~isn’t it ironic how life goes?~~).

Fortunately, though, after a while, I started wanting to solve problems on my own, without anyone’s help, something which, as it turned out, I was actually quite successful at it; even my parents started asking me to solve their problems, and I’d say this was what actually got me into Technology (~~now, everyone asks me, even at work~~). Even if some of these issues were pretty simple, I would occasionally run across intriguing ones, and I would find out more about how computers worked; still, I was more curious about Gaming, and I didn’t spend so much time on my Tech shenanigans. I do remember watching some random Tech trivia videos though, especially about malware and scams, and that’s how I came across Bonzy Buddy and the hilarious Windows Destruction videos by Vinesauce Joel, and I also found out about Linux.

Once I finished my high school years, I attempted to enroll in a technology-related university, but it turned out that in Italy, unless I was somewhat of a Maths genius, I couldn’t study technology, ~~so I proceeded to enroll in what was, without a doubt, the worst experience of my life, which I’m so glad to be finally out of~~.

Couldn’t I choose a Windows version? Of course not!

Fast forward to a couple of years ago, when I had to study for one of the couple of tech-related exams in my ill-fated University career; I needed to find some information on how certain parts of computers and networks worked, so I went to look everything up on YouTube, as I loved to watch videos. After finishing watching what was required for my studies (and enjoying it quite a lot), I randomly came across a wonderful video, called “The Rise and Fall of Netscape”; needless to say, I clicked on it and I was so hooked! It was made by a YouTuber who I didn’t know at the time, but would later end up becoming one of my favorites, the amazing Michael MJD!

Shortly afterward, I also started listening to podcasts, and I had another fateful encounter; I found the absolutely fascinating Atariteca Podcast, an Italian project about Atari and Retro Gaming. In the first episode I listened to, they were talking about a retro computer, the Amiga 500 (on the occasion of the release of its mini version), and they mentioned how it was capable of impressive graphics and sound, and how there were many professional programs available for it; I was so curious that I obviously needed to see it for myself, so I hopped on YouTube and searched for it (I think this was also how my fascination for computer graphics started). At that precise moment, I think YouTube must have caught up on my interest in technology, and as a result, it started showing me even more videos about weird vintage computing stuff, and that helped make me even more curious about Technology.

Even now, YouTube videos are how I discover all the unique things that I know; in fact, after watching countless videos about operating systems (such as my beloved development of Windows Longhorn / Vista) and unusual programs (such as the Packard Bell Navigator), I ended up watching videos about Vintage Computers and finding out many more amazing YouTubers (such as Action Retro, LGR, NCommander, and Tech Tangents). I can say I’m also lucky to have found a “place” in my busy days for my Technology passion; I sadly have trouble falling asleep, and to help me relax, I watch Technology videos before going to bed. Slowly but surely, half an hour each day of tech marvels is making me more and more fascinated about Technology as time goes by (I’ve even watched countless videos about “vintage” feature phones!), and it’s succeeding in making me dream pleasant dreams; now I even have the required skills and knowledge to effectively research these topics and write articles about them, and I’m so proud of it!

Nonetheless, one thing I’d like to change and improve about my huge passion for Technology is that I never actually have the chance to get my hands on these things; even if I could, I would be afraid of breaking something, as no one would be available to help me fix things (~~it’s the curse of being knowledgeable about Technology, everyone comes to you when there is a problem, but when it’s you who has a problem you can’t solve, then tough luck~~). I truly wish I had the courage to try these things out, as watching people open PCs on YouTube isn’t the same as doing it in real life, and you can’t easily translate into reality all of the skills you acquire while you watch a video. Maybe one day I’ll stop being scared and I’ll be truly good at it, and I’ll manage to buy some of my dream vintage computers and workstations (such as the Mindset, the SGI Indy, the Toshiba Libretto 50CT, and one of the Sun Microsystems workstations). Perhaps I’ll even succeed in learning how to properly use all of these marvelous machines, who knows?

Now, let me share with you my current aim and dream, which also goes for Gaming; I’d absolutely love to share all of this fascinating information I find, and get people interested in the weirdest aspects of technology, in the hopes that, one day, someone else will find my articles and get interested in what I love. Perhaps, it could even help tech history a bit (especially the Italian side of it, which has virtually no articles about certain things), and someone will finally give a chance to the little footnotes in Technology that I find oh-so-intriguing!

Maybe you’ll be wondering, isn’t this too extreme of a dream? Will I ever make it, even if I haven’t studied programming? Honestly, despite what others think, I’m certain I’ll make it, and even if it takes a long time, one day I know I’ll get there, slowly but surely, one article at a time.

Thus, I hope you’ll want to stick around with my tech adventures and find out just what marvels this world has to offer! See you next Thursday, or anywhere else around the site!

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