One of the things that made me sure that my father was an abusive bastard was the following incident;
Back in 1966 or so, my science teacher father pulled some strings and got his family members a tour of the IBM Almaden Research Facility in south San Jose, California. Also present were my two older brothers and my cousin (whom I respected at the time).
The Almaden laboratory was where the hard disk drive (that the computer you are currently using utterly relies upon), was perfected. We were touring the facility that manufactured the IBM 360 (prehistoric times), which was the world’s fastest computer at that time. What we were about to see was the pinnacle of high technology and state of the art. Behind the glass windows we saw people in clean room suits manufacturing the delicate components of the very speediest electronic computer processor of its time.
In the parking lot, just before we were to enter the facility, my own father said to me (in front of all involved); “Now remember Chris, you’re the genius with laryngitis.” (Which meant that I should refrain from asking any of my usual stupid questions, as dyslexia had yet to be diagnosed).
This often surfaced in my mind as just another form of the abuse I had to endure from my own father until only the other day, when I had a startling epiphany.
Out of all of my family present on that occasion, I am the only person to ever enter one of those clean rooms in a professional capacity. Alone, out of all of us, I am the only one to pursue a career that has challenged the very limits of my own abilities to comprehend the machinations of semiconductor circuitry. All of them have settled into far less challenging niches that require none of the extreme mental exertions required by such a trade. All of them are currently more worried about who will cook their next meal for them than what shall be the next avenue of scientific exploration.
All of this was rather satisfying, since I have had to endure strange looks and askance glances when I have mentioned the sometimes obscure and admittedly complex work that I do.
Have any of you gone through this same weirdness?
