No, surely not.
I might blog about being in bars, but I don't blog while in a bar. I consider that appallingly anti-social, and a major waste of being in a bar.
I can't stand people who take their laptops into bars all the time. We have a number of folks who do it at 12 Square Metres, and set them up on the counter - taking up valuable space that should be devoted to drinking and talking. Gordon Bennet! At least leave the big stuff at home, please, people. If you're that addicted to getting online every few minutes, you can use an i-Phone or something.
Yet again, I despair of the modern world....
4 comments:
Amen. I work in IT and am expected to be contactable online pretty well 24/7 but I will not take a laptop into a social venue. All those posers on the long table at the Bookworm used to make me wish I had a flamethrower. "Are you a journalist? Then you got no f*@#in' excuse!"
I've heard that sentiment so often here, Gary. I guess I just don't go into the Worm often enough for it to bother me. But it does rankle at places I go to a lot around Nanluoguxiang - 12 Sq M, Salud.
I wonder how much of a China-specific, or Beijing-specific phenomenon this is? I'm told that very few countries offer FREE Wi-fi like we do here.
I confess I am occasionally grateful for it, when my Net connection at home is on the fritz...
As always, I dissent in favor of technology. :) I have been an offender in 12SqM. Sometimes it was because I had actual work to do and I didn't want to be home and alone. Also, the laptop kept me company before I knew people to talk to there. And then there was the day that Nigel helped me book my trip to Cambodia, so I was looking up airline tickets.
Actually, I think you're totally right about this but just wanted to be difficult. :) Books are quite nice, though, as they take up less room and sort of invite people to comment on what you're reading, which makes it feel less antisocial. Phones are a problem, and I'm guilty of that. I sat at a bar drinking whiskey by myself yesterday and wasn't quite confident enough to put the phone away and just obviously eavesdrop and hope someone would talk to me. Instead, I hid in my phone and the free WiFi. I find now that I no longer smoke (been years and years), I feel like I need an activity with me when alone at a bar.
I suppose I tend to overindulge a bit on SMS, El - at least partly because it's often a convenient social shield, protecting me from unwanted cabbie conversations, or suffering the awareness of staff in Chinese restaurants sniggering at me because I'm dining alone, etc.
I have a bit of a weakness for the 'i-Tunes DJ' thing as well, where you can choose the music on the 12Sq playlist (when someone is unwise enough to lend me their i-Phone for 10 minutes, they usually find the next 2 or 3 hours of music programmed!).
But blogging from a bar? NEVER!!
Post a Comment