My Bio For Technology Hits
And thank god and Dr Yildiz the hits keep coming.
Although I had a strong background in engineering from way back in the mid seventies, it was not until the mid eighties that technology came into my life. but I am only interested in technology that is useful to me. At that time I was, and still am, both a musician and a writer. As a writer I was very interested in making my job easier and for this reason I invested in a fax machine and a computer. I did think about buying a simple word processor, but a computer held endless other possibilities beyond mere word processing. In particular what I wanted was a computer that would double up as an at-home recording studio. An Atari 1040st, running Steinberg Cubase, and later Pro 24, fit the bill perfectly.
The Atari allowed me to hook up to a dot matrix printer for my writing work and to connect up to my Korg M1 keyboard via midi cables for my composing and recording. Sadly by the end of the eighties my writing and music recording work came to an end due to a devastating economic crisis in the UK.
For the following twenty five years I never went near a computer apart from the odd sojourn into an Internet cafe. I do still have the Atari and the Korg M1 in storage, though whether they will ever work again lord only knows.
Finally, nine months ago, due to ill health, I was forced to not only move country, from Spain to Japan, but I was also obliged to live in quarantine. This was largely due to the pandemic as well as my limited mobility. What saved my sanity, if not my life, was the fact that my lovely wife had an Applemac.
I spend many hours a day sat at my desk exploring the world in general and writing in particular. I try to write two or three articles a day as well as editing for three publications, Illumination, Illumination Curated and now Technology Hits. I treat this activity like a job, though to be honest it is nothing less than a joy.
I have also got into designing my own websites and presently have about six under construction. And I do keep promising myself that one day I will try to learn some programming. However, that is one that will have to wait a little while yet. What, with teaching English and Spanish online and everything else, there aren't enough hours in the day!
What spare time I do get I have decided to dedicate to developing my career as a creative writer. I have discovered a love for writing poetry and short stories and I am in the process of formatting my stories and poems for a series of ebooks. Whats more I am developing a story which I will turn into a novel, which again will, at least initially, be published electronically.
I have to say that without the Applemac none of this would have been possible. And in all likelihood I would have ended up in a Japanese madhouse for the mentally insane or a hostel for sufferers of senile dementia.
I am not one for vegging out on the sofa in front of an idiot box (the tv) and four blank walls do not offer anything in terms of companionship. And I certainly have serious limitations in terms of going out to the big wide world. So the computer it is, and I really cannot complain. I get so much from the Applemac (conveniently supplemented by an iPad Air and an iPhone) I really do not know what I would do without them.
