Friedman: "We no longer know an act of God and an act of man"
Maniates: "Be like Rush Limbaugh- just a little."
Day 1
10/28/09 – 11:55pm- The night before.
There is five minutes until the 48 hours of no technology officially starts. I AM FREAKING OUT! I have done all of my work that requires a computer, but what if someone unexpected emails me? Like someone I haven’t heard from in two years or something? Not to mention that at this moment I have THREE instant messaging conversations going on, one with a friend from home, and I have to end them. And to top it all of the Yankees lost tonight and now I am missing game two of the World Series tomorrow- why am I doing this?!!
10/29- 12pm
I am sitting in the marketplace and fidgeting. Earlier I went to reach for my phone because I saw something that reminded me of a friend- BUT no, I couldn’t crack this early on, so now I hoping I see him so I can tell him instead. I am also thinking about the day ahead of me- Thursday- my busiest day. It might be a blessing because I’ll be in class until 5 and then have other things to do, but at the same time I am dreading the fact I cannot use my phone or computer to occupy myself in-between class time, like now. Also later, I made plans to go to the mall with my friend at 5:10 and meet her on the southside of campus, so I hope she remembers. Plus, I am supposed to drive, but I still use my GPS to get around down here- can I do that? Oh boy, this trip might take longer than expected.
10pm
Thankfully I just occupied myself for a good portion of the night. After the mall, I went out to eat with some friends, but now I returned to my room, to find my roommate- a Phillies fan- watching the game. I removed myself from the room with encouragement- more like scolding- from her. I am now planning on reading some books for class tomorrow- environmental policy- one of the few classes I actually read from a book.
Day 2
10/30/09- 11am
I have class in twenty minutes, what should I do until then? I woke up at 10:30 this morning, got dressed and then sat around like I am now. I decided to get the paper, but that was over in 5 minutes ago. I also just remembered I have to turn off my alarm on my phone because apparently it goes off even if my phone is off and I can’t have that happen in class again. The mission was to “get in” and “get out”, but as soon as I turned it on 6 text messages popped up, along with 4 missed calls and a voicemail. As soon as I changed the alarm and shut it off and threw it away from me, hoping that would help me not think about it. Obviously that didn’t work because here I am writing about it…And now I am thinking, “jeez how many emails will I have or facebook notifications. I cannot wait until midnight tonight to check them. But for now, I guess I will just walk to class extremely slowly and see if that works.
5pm
After class I went to work, where I work for my congressman on the hill. I prepared mentally for those few hours, to prevent myself from using any technology personally. Luckily I was busy with ground mail and taking messages. Now I am sitting on a bench waiting for my friend to pick me up. I went to her room last night to make sure we decided upon a place to meet considering I can’t call her. Then for the rest of the night it is my intention to attach myself to her as a liaison to my other friends, so that I knew what dinner plans were or what the plan was for going out tonight.
2am (10/31)
I know this is crazy to be writing right now, but I just had my moment of freedom. I was at my friend’s apartment for a Halloween party, so I didn’t really need my phone because most of my friends were there. And although normally, I do not think about technology I counted down to midnight. Then I grabbed my phone and text-ed the people that weren’t there to let them know I re-entered the world. I then took my friend’s computer and checked my email= 136! Lord, did it feel good to be in the “know” again. Then I checked the score of the baseball game and my hockey team. Now finally, sleep and in the morning I will just call someone to say I will be late for brunch, instead of having to be punctual and responsible or vice versa for he/she.
Day 3
11/5- 5:30pm
So today was another long Thursday. I continued the preparation of putting my email on auto-response, notifying the facebook world and my parents. I also decided not to preplan, but just show up places around the usual eating times and find someone to eat with. And so this is why I am writing now, because I am sitting in MGC waiting for someone to come by. Hopefully, someone I know will come along soon and if not I’ll just read because I printed out some readings for tomorrow.
10:30pm
So I did find three people to eat with and then afterwards I felt lost. I really had nothing to do. So I wandered to my friends’ rooms until I figured I was close enough to in time for me to return to the room, shower and go to bed. I am basically going to bed because I am bored. This whole day I have just eaten, slept, written in this pad, read or played with some balloons that are in my room from my roommates decorations (pathetic- I know). Just another 26 hours or so and I will not have to do this again!
Day 4
11/6- 6pm
This day was the same as last Friday, thank goodness for some type of routine in life. Although, as I started my slow walk to class, I contemplated if now I was allowed to use the elevator or listen to the radio in my car- I decided that I was because there has to be a line somewhere right? And those things were invented much longer ago than the TV or cell phone. Tonight I am thinking I will just stay in because I have a philanthropic event tomorrow early. And even though on these nights I would watch a movie- I cannot. I will just have to convince others to entertain me or play board games or something.
11/7/09
So last night I convinced “my little”, from my fraternity, to play board games with me. We went to the store and also bought cookies to bake and played STRATEGO AND RISK. I will admit those are not my favorite ones but considering I convinced him to stay in I figured I shouldn’t be picky. I have to say I am amazed and proud that I got through those final 48 hours. I thought it would be harder considering I knew what to expect, but with some pressure from my roommate not to “cheat”, helped. Not having access to technology was difficult not only because I as an individual was attached, but society is. Everyone corresponded with email or phones so for all that I knew I was on an island with no civilization- except for the fact I had friends. It made me value them more because they helped me and were supportive- even if none of them joined me in this task.
No comments:
Post a Comment