Liz and Eleanor tried their hand at writing their stories on the computer as well, but when they asked where to submit them, I thought it’d be fun to have them submit stories through our form on http://bitly.com/shareastorytoday
They both liked having the power to submit stories whenever they wanted, especially because the writers of Best Day are always filled to the brim with stories.
We only have seven months left until our 10th Anniversary celebration, and we want to make it as big and vibrant as possible. If you want to contribute, then go to http://bestdayofmylifesofar.org/donate/
Or if you want to submit a story yourself, then start a conversation with an older bud and send it to http://bitly.com/shareastorytoday
Want to see how quickly it works? Liz and Eleanor just submitted their stories last Thursday, and here they are!
Liz Abrams
04.04.19
No T.V.
Okay, so the lights went out and so did the tv. No surge, 2 great widescreen, out of operation. Why, the T.V. [has] been my companion & only friend since I lost my closest family members in 2015. But [it’s] more than that, since my favorite past-time is movies, mostly sci-fi. I thought, get it repaired ASAP. The repair person said its cheaper to purchase, rather than repair. That is the way of technology today, sooooo, a challenge. Can I really do without a TV in my life? Well, I soon found out. There is a smart phone. I worked to death and discovered [that] everything is on the smart phone. [I was a] late bloomer [to] the world of the G button, Youtube, text, e-mail, Hulu, Netflix, [and] Internet. Music, the oldies (I mean oldies, 1955 and all) are all there, [plus] talk, pix, voice recorder, [and] videocam. What a treat and now I am no longer hostage to the cable company and utility company. I discovered my radio, my piano, and mostly talking to people face to face. No longer hostage to sitting around viewing the large screen, but walking everywhere —dancing, concerts, museums, drawing, trips in town and out of town. Boy, oh boy did GOD do me a favor. The one day the lights went out!!!!!!!!
By Eleanor Kazdan,
04.04.2019
Computers
When I was a child I vaguely heard about the computer. It was a mammoth machine that took up a whole room, and the only time I actually saw one was in the movies. It seemed like science fiction. In 1967, my last year of high school, I was given the opportunity to learn how to use one of these huge machines. We learned how to write a program in Fortran, submitted it to the teacher, and from my recollection, the information was coded on various colors of punch cards. It was all very mysterious. Unfortunately, I always seemed to make some small error in my program, and never had success. When I started university the next year the only contact I had with computers was notes that my physicist boyfriend wrote to me on pink computer punch cards.I didn’t think about computers again for many years. In about 1987, just after I had gone back to graduate school, my husband decided to buy our first computer. It was quite expensive, and although not as big as the original mammoths, took up a whole corner of a spare bedroom. I learned how to use the word processing program. This seemed like a miracle to me. I could type my essays without worrying about making mistakes, as they could be corrected without a problem. No more cutting and pasting for the finished product.Everything seemed like science fiction. Soon we could email people and they would immediately receive our message.In the ’90’s the huge computer became a smaller desktop, and the prices of computers came down to a fraction of their former cost. Next came very portable computers like the iPod, then the iPad and the smartphones. The developments were dizzying, changing like the speed of lightening. Then came total dependency on the computer as well as crimes and hacking into computer data. At times I long for a simpler, non-computerized life. But they are definitely here to stay. I now have an Apple watch, and can receive emails and text messages without even taking out my phone or tablet.
Hope you enjoyed the stories. And I hope these inspired you to send in some of your own.
Curated by Caitlin Cieri