I have
never been a hardworking student. But have always stepped up to the challenge
when there was an important exam that I had to pass. I’d always enter a study
camp 3 months before the exam and get good results. And being a kid in Turkey,
you certainly get enough exams to worry about. Every stage of education in this
country brings you a handful of exams. The relevant ones for this post are the
ones I took in 1996 at the end of 5th year: Mid-school entrance exams.
Basically these exams secure you a good school from prep class (where you learn
a foreign language) up till 8th grade. Then you take high school exams, bla
bla.
5th year was ok for me. I wasn’t
hardworking at school but I didn’t suck that bad either. I didn’t mind the
exams that I was supposed to take at the end of the year. so I was happy
playing my computer games on my dad’s 386DX as well as trying to discover what
the hell is in c:\win\ folder that makes that damn machine work. But as time
passed, I suspended all my other interests and started studying more and more.
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| Old photo of the school I attended for most of my primary school education. I forgot how modest it used to look at the time. |
Of the two exams I had to
take: one for private schools and one for state schools, my result for private
schools turned out to be much better. There was one school that I wanted to go
to The Koç School in Istanbul. But I couldn't get into that by a slim score
difference. Instead I got into Işık Highschool in Nişantaşı, Istanbul. An old
district which was at the time one of the most upscale neighborhoods in town.
Now it sucks but that's a different story.
Some photos of Nişantaşı. It's supposed to be an "awesome" part of town. but i really can't see that anymore. It was what they claim it was during the 90's though
New life in İstanbul (first take)
It was September 1996 and I was
starting my studies Işık High School. It was a school which had both boarding
and daytime students. My family didn’t want me to go but I insisted. I had a
solid plan for my life when I was 11 and going to that school was simply essential.
My first year there was the prep year. Which is devoted to learning English
properly as well as some simple math and science classes. Learning English is
quite hard for Turks because of the differences in almost every aspect of their
mother tongue and this alien Indo-European language. So, studies took quite
some portion of my time.
The Internet
Through the end of that year,
my science teacher noticed that I was really interested in sciences, science
fiction and how things work. I think my mid-year assignment, which was writing
a small book, helped him a lot. It was about an alien invasion on earth and how
humans manage to fight them back (the Independence Day was just out, don’t
judge me). So he told me that he'll arrange some time for me in the computer
lab so I can use the internet and find out about rockets, Nasa and all of those
fun stuff.
One day, during science class
towards the end of first year, my science teacher told me to go to the computer
lab, so I went. The lab teacher sat me in front of his computer as it was the
only one which had internet at that time. That computer was such a great
machine. it had a 16 bit sound card and even a CD-ROM drive. Anyway, he logged
on to nasa.gov for me and left to teach his class. Which was making quite a
noise while I was trying to figure out what the hell I was doing.
I didn’t have great skills in English
at the time. I wasn’t able to understand long sentences and my vocabulary was
quite limited. coupled with my complete ignorance about what the internet was, I
don’t think I managed to do anything even remotely productive at that one hour I
had. All I remember is that I was using Netscape Navigator. And I was aware
that I was receiving data from some distant location so it took a long time for
the computer to display. and my clue for this was the lights moving on the Netscape
logo on the top left of the screen.
I clicked around a lot but I wasn’t
getting anything that I can use - I didn't know what I was looking for really.
but I was hoping to find a diagram of a rocket engine or something similar.
After a long period of clicking around and not getting anything useful, I clicked
on something and the computer got stuck with a blank white screen with Netscape
logo insisting that the computer was receiving data. I was scared to disturb
the computer so I waited for a looong while the computer looked at me with a
blank page. after that long wait, it started a key hole sized video of a
lift-off. I was confused but I watched that 10 or so second video a few times
and then I had to leave the class. internet surely was not something easy or
fast.
That's all for my first year
really. And I didn’t do much during that summer as I spent most of my summer in
a camp riding my bike around. Other than the camp, I spent my time listening to
Whitney Houston and Bizet and trying to make stuff from lego with electric
motors and seriously over voltaging them. Then the summer ended and I went back
to my school in Istanbul.
Life in the computer lab
In 1997 I started 6th grade. Everything
changed very quickly during that year. My taste in music, how I relate to my
friend and the school and my parents, how I use my head… but computers was a
constant in all of this mess caused by puberty. And timewise, I had a very
strict routine because of the strict rules of my school.
These two albums were released approximately a year apart. And i bought both of them shortly after they were released. I think this can explain the direction of change i went through
Weekdays
were almost always similar with studying and hanging out with friends but
weekends were all mine. Sometimes I’d leave the school to stay at my parents’
friends’ house but I usually spent my weekends in the school complex with my
wonderful friend Ertürk. We would sneak into the computer lab and play computer
games all weekend. I loved every minute I spent in that lab. So much that I still
feel exhilarated while I’m recalling those days after so many years. I think I’m
jealous of that young me.
Without
a doubt, the game we played most frequently was Doom II. We used to play
multiplayer with the lab teacher and some occasionally presented strangers. But
I wasn't really interested in that. I wanted to spend time with the AI and
advance levels. but I wasn't good enough to advance very far and if I recall
correctly, the computers did not have mice. I may be wrong about that but I remember
turning around in the scene with arrow keys. Also after a few years, I do
remember being surprised that Doom supports mice.
.jpg) |
| we have got TATATATATA something kinda funny going on |
An anecdote:
at that time I used to also spend ridiculous amount of time listening to music.
My taste changed drastically during that school year but during most of the year
we listened to Spice Girls’ first album. They were ridiculously famous at the
time. Ertürk used to joke that whenever he hears the band since then, he
remembers us shooting creatures in Doom.
Ertürk, his religion, and the Computer of the
firsts
The
computers in the lab also had other games but I wasn't interested in most of
them. Ertürk was. he would try different games and urge me to also play but my
interest wasn’t that diverse. But I do remember playing the first quake and not
liking it very much. Doom was better suited for me. But at the end of my time
in that school, I discovered Simcity 2000. which is a big story that I’ll come
back to.
There was a different stories
going on around me. Which I was usually a spectator to. but nevertheless they
very important for me as they founded the basis of my interest in computers in
the following years to come. First story had to do with that awesome computer
that the lab teacher was using.
 |
| You can be sure Ertürk saw and read this book |
Almost every week the lab
teacher had something new that he was doing. he was a young guy who was keenly interested
in computers and he loved trying things. he was a great mentor to my friend Ertürk
as he had a deep interest in knowing how different software worked. While I was
buying general books about science, he'd usually be shopping for those orange
books about operating systems and different software. He usually knew how some
software worked from the books he read without ever having the chance to use
the software on a computer.
So, Ertürk and the lab teacher
had a lot to talk about. and I’d usually only had the gist of idea what they
are really discussing. but I’d be watching them while they are doing their
thing. and I usually felt a bit left out because I didn’t have that connection
with the lab teacher whom I loved really. I’d ask questions to them and they
would reply but Ertürk would usually keep his answers short. He had his moments
during which he shared what he learned or knew very passionately and I loved
that but most of the time I’d receive a dose of condescension as he was trying
to protect computers from my ignorant hands and mind. Computers were certainly
interesting for me I loved them and I was interested in them but for Ertürk, they
were sacred, something that he felt responsible to protect and know better and
better. I’ll come to this topic in the following installments of this
storyline.
That awesome computer at that
lab was the first computer that I saw yahoo at. Also Hotmail and AltaVista. it
was my first glimpse into a world that has truly shaped me ever since. I still
can't forget the lab teacher getting a new Hotmail account. There was a red spinning globe on Hotmail’s first page back then. I was really taken by that
spinning animation.
Also that computer was the
first machine that I discovered that computers were able to really play music
like hi-fis did. which changed the way I looked at them really. I noticed how
amazing this feature can be when I first saw Quake II on that machine. The
signature soundtrack of that game Quad Machine by sonic mayhem started playing
in the first level and I was blown away... a new word was constantly being ringed
to my ears: multimedia. Everyone was talking about that at the time. Now I knew
what all the fuss was about.
The family computer
There
were some other awesome computers that I got the chance to use during that
time. One of them belonged to one of my parents’ friends’ who lives in
Beşiktaş. They were actually in my life since I was born but I was just getting
to know them. Their son Buğra and daughter Tuğba and that family’s life in
general had great influence on me during 6th and 7th grade in various ways but I’ll
just stick to computers in this storyline.
Part
of what I did at their house involved their computer. Buğra mostly played
computer games he had a game named Carmageddon. It was basically a car race but
the twist is, you were not bounded by a simple race track. Plus you had the
chance to cause real harm to your opponents and spectators around. Which meant
that you could also win the game by killing everyone and everything around you.
I don’t think anyone was interested in winning those races in the traditional
manner.
I lied
in the paragraph above. When Buğra first showed me the game I had no idea that
it was actually a car race. We both thought that you were supposed to kill
everything around you. So that was what we did. Plus, the copy he had was a
demo so we didn’t get to play that game that much. But keep on reading. Because
later Carmageddon will become an essential part of my life.
 |
| A typical moment in Carmageddon. That red blob is probably some cow getting slaughtered |
The daughter
of the house was using a program called ICQ to chat with people. And she was
chatting with random people from all over the planet as well as her friends. I didn’t
really get the chance use ICQ then but I still got an account for myself. I was
really curious about how she met random people online with that program. She had
many boyfriends that she met over the internet in the following years. Now she
is happily married with a first born and living in Norway with his husband whom
she met online:)
7/24-36K
The
last awesome computer that I got the chance to use belonged to one of my friends
from school named Alper. He was also a boarding student but he used to go to
his home during weekends as his family was living in a nearby city named İzmit.
There was no ADSL back then so the time anyone spent on the internet was
bounded by how big a phone bill they could afford. Alper was really lucky in
that respect because they were living in a company complex and their phone was
free of charge. He was sort of into hacking, Trojans and viruses. And that’s what
we used to talk about most of the time while I was visiting him. I never really
got into that side of things but I learned some stuff from him for sure.
Alper
and another friend from school named İlker, who was also interested in this
kind of computing used to fight about how good they are while Ertürk was
usually sitting somewhere watching them, saying nothing even though he knew
much more than either of them. İlker used to pick on Ertürk a lot because of
this simple fact. There were a lot of other people who were involved in a
regular computer chat but these three were the most vocal people. And I’d just
ask questions and listen to them talk about what they know. Sometimes I’d ask
questions that I know would get them into fights. I just liked that.
Recording stuff
 |
This is Geri Halliwell
90s kids know why she is relevant |
I had
a friend in 6th grade who was into metal music. He was a science buff so you
can imagine how we met. I went to his house only once but it was significant because
he used computer for making scientific research. Also he recorded radio shows
without ever having the chance to broadcast them. And one last thing, he knew
how to reach internet porn. Which means nothing now but then, that was…
wooooooooow.
When
I was with him we recorded a radio broadcast but he was never able to find
where the file was restored. I guess he didn’t know what he was doing either.
Last
big thing that happened during 6th grade was seeing an older student from
school whom I didn’t particularly like play a city building game. This guy was
a bully so I was reluctant to ask him what he was doing. But I did anyway. And to
my surprise, he first told me then showed me what he was doing. He taught me
the game to some degree. I loved the idea of that game but I never really got
the chance to play that game. It was the last week of the school year and I was
supposed to go back to Ordu for 3 months. Back to my dad’s 386DX.
I forgot
the name of the a few days into summer. The name “SimCity” was just too alien
for me at the time. Though I have to say that I missed that game that I only
saw once or twice.
Looking
back now, I certainly had the best experience I could have with computers in ’96
and ’97. I wasn't able to have a computer of my own as a boarding student and I
was mostly interested in the feeling they give me rather than what they do. This
was the last year of my life during which computers only meant games for me. But
looking back, it’s one of those periods I miss the most.
I clicked around a lot but I wasn’t
getting anything that I can use - I didn't know what I was looking for really.
but I was hoping to find a diagram of a rocket engine or something similar.
After a long period of clicking around and not getting anything useful, I clicked
on something and the computer got stuck with a blank white screen with Netscape
logo insisting that the computer was receiving data. I was scared to disturb
the computer so I waited for a looong while the computer looked at me with a
blank page. after that long wait, it started a key hole sized video of a
lift-off. I was confused but I watched that 10 or so second video a few times
and then I had to leave the class. internet surely was not something easy or
fast.
.jpg)
That awesome computer at that
lab was the first computer that I saw yahoo at. Also Hotmail and AltaVista. it
was my first glimpse into a world that has truly shaped me ever since. I still
can't forget the lab teacher getting a new Hotmail account. There was a red spinning globe on Hotmail’s first page back then. I was really taken by that
spinning animation.
The daughter
of the house was using a program called ICQ to chat with people. And she was
chatting with random people from all over the planet as well as her friends. I didn’t
really get the chance use ICQ then but I still got an account for myself. I was
really curious about how she met random people online with that program. She had
many boyfriends that she met over the internet in the following years. Now she
is happily married with a first born and living in Norway with his husband whom
she met online:)
