The Secret Language of Computers...

Hi!

I'm sitting here in front of this glowing CRT... it's 19:15... and I'm searching for tutorials on computers. You heard me. Computers... In general. I know practically nothing about them...

Ever since I was a little girl, I ~loved~ computers... I grew up with a brother who always understood these technical little boxes that could do so much. Me, well... I figured it was a guy thing or his thing or something... so I steered clear of them in my quest to be a 'little girl'.

As I grew, I met boy after boy, man after man who was into computers and gaming and all the awesome nerdy stuff I loved... gleaning whatever information I could I sat there batting my eyelids, baffled, yearning to know more... but it still seemed like 'no woman's land'... secret nerd's business.

"It's too hard to explain... to you..." they would tell me, when I asked a possibly (probably) basic question... Or they would leap into a five hour discussion on the specs of the gleaming beige machine in front of me that I could barely follow... punctuated with an exasperated sigh when I inevitably gave up.

Girls aren't supposed to be into games, girls are meant to be into dollies and hair bows. Girls aren't meant to like star wars... we are meant to like barbie and all her shiny glittered accouterments... But the glowing, humming lightsabers were always a shining step ahead in my mind, than any shitty barbie dream wand. The stolen moments at 3 am with classic Star Trek were a secret indulgence of mine as a teenager... guiding that cute logo turtle into drawing arcane shapes on large bits of paper were a highlight of my primary school days... and playing 'granny's garden' on the old beebs in grade prep are a secret desire I held dear as a 5 year old.

So, snap back to now. I'm in my late 20's... half the people I know are computer oriented and I feel like a ditz without a clue when they start speaking in binary at me... twittering about Lans and CSS and the massive 24 inches they have... on their flat screen monitors...

I have no idea where to begin... but to begin at the very start.

"0 = off... 1 = on... "

I am now 1...