I have had many "buddies" in my time. My first, called "Wealsoft" came when I was only 10 years old. It served me well, played with me my favourite games and kept my earliest digital texts. My second, called "Datamini", entered my life when I was 15. Back then, it was on top of its line, with loud "voices" and, for the first time, a "mouse" attached. Again it served me well, but I needed a more "steady" buddy! I did not have to wait long. I got my third "buddy"-"Hewlett Packard" when I was 19, and it has stayed faithful to me for the past couple of years.

The "buddies" refer to my personal desktop computers. The fact that I label them as my "buddies" goes to show how important they have been to me for the past 15 years of my life. Currently, I am the proud master of a Hewlett Packard Pavilion P.C., running on a Pentium II-450 MHz chip, 128MB of RAM and with a super 12 GB hard disk! I have shared some of the best moments of my life with them; happiness, joyous, loneliness and sadness. Every night without fail, I will turn on the computer to check e-mails, communicate with friends through ICQ (I Seek You) and surf the net for the latest news, especially on the English Football Premier League. I have personal accounting software, Microsoft Money, which keeps track of my expenditure. I have a personal "digital" diary stored in my computer that I use to keep track of my daily events. Not forgetting that this very moment I am typing out this passage using Microsoft Word, a tool that I have always used since my second computer whenever I need to prepare reports and presentations.

I can vividly recall my early childhood, growing up with my first computer beside me everyday. Whenever I am happy, I will turn on the computer and play my favourite games. Whenever I am sad, I will put some of my thoughts into text and store them away in the computer. As I grew older, there were times when my friends would e-mail me some nice religious or spiritual texts and share with me their thoughts and experiences, and we would exchange ideas over the ICQ all the time. Today, these things continue to fill my daily life, enriching my thoughts and my spiritual life as I grow up.

I have had many wonderful games in my time. My first all time favourite is "Bushbuck Charms, Viking Ships and Dodo Eggs", back in the early 1990s. It can be played solo or against the computer. The game challenges the player to grab as many historical relics located all over the world at random as fast as he or she can, with a limited number of airline tickets and unpredictable weather. At times the powerful digital nemesis, Otto, can hijack your flight and send you to the other side of the world! Along the way, the player will be given a brief introduction on the history and culture of every destination en route to the final one. This game was both educational and fun. It not only allowed the user to have a good time, it teaches the user to know more about the diverse cultures around the world.

Today, I still play games on my computer, but I use it more as a source of information through the Internet. My family members use it too, to play games, surf the Internet and perform simple clerical work. Recently, we have acquired our first palmtop, the Palm M100. Just like our first mobile phone, we have seen the need to advance into the new age of handheld computers. In time to come, it is earnest wish that our new palmtop will not only improve our lives in terms of organization of work and portability, but also improve our way of living and enhance our thoughts to greater heights.