It Keeps Watching Me

I’m not sure if it was a late Christmas present or an early birthday present but my father bought me a camera for my computer. I set it up yesterday and I must say it looks quite intimidating. There is this rectangular bar with an “eye” staring back at me every time I look at the computer monitor. I keep expecting a flash to go off and blind me. So I continue my work on the computer, writing away. Then I look up to be sure what I wrote is correct and there it is again…watching me. Have you ever seen the movie “2001: A Space Odyssey”? I kind of feel like HAL is watching every move I make. It’s a little creepy. Then I used it to call my father on Skype. He sits a lot closer to the screen than I do and his face was huge! You could hardly see anything around him. Then I looked at the bottom of the screen and it showed me. Is that really what I look like? This must be a wide angle lens or some other camera trick. It’s a lot like the feeling you have when you hear your voice on tape. Then I noticed how messy the room was behind me. You never think about these things on phone calls. Science fiction movies always show phone calls in the future being two-way picture calls. I hope that doesn’t become the case. I would hate to have to clean the house before I make a call. “I don’t want to order pizza. It will take an hour just to make the room look good enough to make the call.” Now I will have to straighten the room more before I Skype with anyone. I also had to throw a hat on. My hair was a mess. Think of all the things you do when you’re on the phone that you can’t do when you Skype. No more walking around or eating your lunch. No more wearing your holey clothes and paying your bills while you chat. I just looked up again and HAL is still watching me. I swear he is judging me as I sit. From now on I think I will cover the camera with something while I am not using it. Before I Skype again I will be sure to have the room clean. Losing weight can be postponed. It’s a lot easier to clean the room. Maybe Dad had the right idea by sitting so close?