What "Waiting" used to mean in the airports and the wonders of technology: confessions of a neophyte techie

There was a time when waiting in the airport for a scheduled flight meant running around in circles around your parents and screaming to your heart’s content. That was what I thought as a child. During those few times that my mom brought me with her on vacation to Leyte while we were still living in Makati, that was what I did to pass the time. Later on, well into my teens and in my college years, during those few times (which was virtually nil) that I had to fly, I just contented myself with sitting quietly and looking around.

            The hours were quite bearable when I finally took my first international flight after college, thanks to the sights within the airport itself, and due to the entertainment featured in the plane. True, the first time is never boring, but during successive flights I just contented myself with sleeping.

            When I became a priest I began to fly and travel with more frequency. Travel, especially by plane, became more of an option, due to necessity and financial means. I used to bring a book to help me pass the time.

            Technology and, I would admit, fad, would change all that. When I was in high school I was not much interested in gadgets, or as what I heard other people describe them once, “toys for boys”. I was much more interested in reading back then, and I never even imagined that I would be owning gadgets later on in life. At first it was the cellphone, with its games and other applications. But then, I was never keen on using it; my relationship—if you could call it that way—with what a lot of people would describe as an indispensable accessory nowadays is purely functional. And then there was the iPod. There was a time when I got really interested in listening to music and using it to browse the Internet before flights. Now it has suffered the same fate as my mobile phone. It has become more functional for me, as it contains my breviary and other things that could come in handy, especially during travel, since it saves me the hassle of lugging heavy tomes in my bag.

            Now, as I wait to board my flight, I’m writing this blog entry with my MacBook, which is the newest addition to my gadgets. I would be hesitant to describe myself as “techie”, nor would I say that I’m actually interested much in gadgets, but rather that the circumstances that I presently face in my life favor that I have such things. To keep myself occupied nowadays, aside from other things, I busy myself with tinkering with my MacBook. That’s a far cry from running around by your parent’s knees while waiting in a mangy airport. Sosyal, anu? (Trendy, isn’t it?)