Lost in Space (Cyberspace)

No, seriously, am I lost in space, in cyberspace?

Well...how can I explain it to you? Okay, so this is how it began, I think.

A few days ago, I took that very tempting step, that very enticing step I had been considering for some time, well not actually considering, more dreaming about - I stepped into cyberspace at a very opportune moment, that very moment when my laptop decided to short itself and switch off forever, or so it seemed at the time. Now when I stepped into that space, I really didn't mean to, or so I think, I didn't really believe it was happening. I mean, come on, I'm not that stupid. Why would I want to live in cyberspace, if there is such a place? Would anyone really live in cyberspace?

But step in I did and I'm trapped here, whether I like it or not so...

So let's backtrack a bit here, before that laptop blackout occured, I had been making my usual daily wish of wanting to join all those articles and written pieces, which hide out - from the real world, of course - online and in cyberspace.Those articles are the ones which appear on-screen at the beck and call of all those writers and hubbers on HUBPPAGES.

Those are the ones which appear on my two websites, when I'm not busily writing for HUBPAGES.COM.

In spite of my apprehension of being here - if I really am, 'cos I do doubt this existence - I'm really grateful to have this opportunity to float and dive at will - for all is possible here. There is great harmony and unity among the words and phrases submitted by the masses - in case you wanted to know. I mean, don't tell me you never even once dreamed of what it would be like to spend endless time among the words of your own hubs and as well as the ones of your favourite hubbers? And there are others here too - just a few I'd say because I don't really know yet if they are here. It's just an idea, maybe even a sensation.

I haven't approached or sought anyone out yet, 'cos I've been admiring the wonderful display of words and phrases - all you could ever dream of when you're ve searching in your brain for that elusive word or phrase that would make the difference to an interesting hub, a quality hub as proposed by the hub masters and powers that be within the development of HubPages.

So you have to ask the question - what happens to all those millions of words posted into cyberspace ever day and which are always ready to appear when you need to read another's hubs or indeed your own for corrections from time to time? You don't for a moment imagine that all your words stay on the page forever- 'Page? What page?' -and within this cyberspace storage. Of course words have a life of their own. Your writing breathed life into them.

So here they are with me and a few other fortunate beings, I have yet to introduce myself to, who have managed to make that crossover into this very interesting world.Those are the fotunate ones who wished hard enough and long enough to make this crossover.into the real core world of inner dimensional space.

So the question must be asked n- why did we,a select few, wish for this to happen?

Mind you, I don't really remember the actual event of entering this place. It just seems one moment I was in front of the laptop screen staring intently at the usual array of words and icons, when 'bang' the screen went black dead, followed by a thudding sound. The next second I'm in this rather floatring state, like being underwater, except i can breathe and I'm completely immersed in words floating around me, like leaves drifting on a stream.

'Hurrah' says I, not sure if I really made the crossover, but hoping it was where I wanted to be.

So what is the first thing i did as i entered this space and realised where I was and accepted it?

I reached out to one word and tried to grab it to hold and feel it. I mean wouldn't you do that? It wasn't an unholy thing to do or anything. There was no one around to tell me otherwise, except for those few others whom I eventually saw at a distance and who seemed to be doing the exact same thing - reaching out to a word, for that matter. So what did a word feel like? Now this is something I had always thought about and wondered and daydreamed about, and here I was, am, with my ultimate chance - to touch a word or be touched by a word, whichever way the experience came first.

Oh I touched one alright and I could read it before the awfulthing happened - it disappeared within a second in my hand. So of course I tried again and the same thing happened and again and again. Hoping against hope the ultimate experience of my life would take place, but no, the nearest realisation of a sensation was a fleeting nanosecond of touch. Thankfully our brains deal in nanseconds, so I can report what that experience was like, though very, very short-lived. It was like...like...being touched by the softest feather and the lightest of touches. i did feel it becuase there was nothing else there. Avery, very gentle touch is the touch of a word.

I stopped annihilating the words around me, in my desperate bid to have the ultimate experience. I searched for a horizon in this floating space of words. There was and is none - just a continuous exapnsion of words drifting close to each other in a floating, state. Their state is equal to the state of water - a kind of liquid experience. Words float by slowly and at random. I watched for a long time to see fi there was a pattern to the words floating by. Would certain words have friends or be in certain groups? No such luck for my efforts. My conclusion is that words float by in random unselecetive fashion. Except, there is one very interesting and rahter endearing thing about the words as they float by. They gave me room. I mean, they make room for my body. All the words seem to notice my existence and avoid any collision with my presence.

Now how do they know that? Is that proof that they have life, have a presence and an existence? I put my hand out in different ways to see if I could sense any kind of 'space' currents. Nothing, absoltely nothing to be felt or sensed. So therefore, it's almost comforting at this point that the words know about my presence.

I watched also to see fi they have any mysterious and secret interaction with each other. None so far that I can discern. There may be some subtle tendencies on their part to acknowledge each other and if so, it's out of my range of discerning.

Back to the question - what was this choice about, that I woudl wish to enter this very ethereal and hidden world of the cyberspace of words?

As your quick brain may have discerned already - provided you've lasted this long in the reading of this piece- I must be running away from something or someone.

Yes and no, is the answer. I have been finding life in the 'real' world rather dull and unexciting of late. And of course I don't do dramatic or newsworthy actions in life - all very dull and routine-like with me. That's how it is. So I suppose I do have a hankering for something a bit different. And it has been fortunate that I therefore, that I desired this cyberworld so much I got what I wished for - to my complete surprise.

The wish for this world has been like the desire you could have for a peaceful existence within the confines of a sweetly scented garden. That's the kind of low drama I mean.

My desire for the written word has filled my world for the last several years - writing poetry for publication and children's stories. Now all that was left to spend my entire time in the confines of the world of words. And lucky for me I found it or rather it found me.

So some final questions remain -

1. Will I ever return to...eh...your world?

2.How did I get this message to you, now appearing on HUBPAGES?

Yes I may come back from time to time and since I have a new way to upload my pieces, why should I bother really?

The words on my pieces which I write - in cyberspace, I do have a netbook there - are absorbed from the netbook screen into the world of words floating by. I can actually see the words leaving the small screen, as they follow each other and are immediately absorbed by the hordes of words all around.

Where did i get the netbook? Did it appear through the words as I arrived here\?

Actually that's exactly what happened. As I tumbled - I'm not sure exactly what kind of verb really explains the action of entering and falling into cyberspace -into this world, a small netbook seemed to drift into my vision from a group of words nearby. I grabbed it of course and opened it. It worked perfectly. It was probably new or nearly new. No scuff marks on the case and the internet - the internet in cyberspace? Ha! - worked well. I followed lots of new hubs and read old ones on HUBPAGES. It was a sense of home I looked for, the familiar was what comforted me in this alien world, which has become my new home, like it or not.

I have to presume the netbook was wished to me by a Student Laptop Repair Centre in Cork, whose mission is to give good service and keep the cost of repair low. I have to presume that someone gave them my laptop for repair and in lieu of repair, sold some of the parts and bought me a netbook which was launched into cyberspace at their centre. It's the kind of thing I'm sure they're very good at - the next smart generation advances quickly.

I have no doubt they have the entry codes to cyberspace, if anyone cares to give them a call to try it.

So I still have to answer the question how will i re-enter your world? i don't have the codes, so it looks like I will have to wait until someone's laptop shorts and there is that number of seconds between the two worlds, where I can re-enter and greet everyone again, none the worse for the travelling.

So if anyone wants to let me know when they estimate their laptop will short or cut out forever, I'll be on the lookout for a return journey into your time and space. Myaybe you can also contact the the Student Repair Centre, who are bound to have codes of some kind to gain entry into this space. A cinch for them really. Anyway as long as I can float, or should I say launch, my words into cyberspace here I'm happy. I can always give you an update on my doings here and don't forget to tell me about someone's laptop about to blackout forever.

I'm looking forward to it.