Thoughts For 20-35 Year Olds

Edited from an e-mail forward:

Is it just me, or are 80% of the people in the "people you may know" feature on Facebook people that I do know, but I deliberately choose not to be friends with?

I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.

More often than not, when someone is telling me a story all I can think about is that I can't wait for them to finish so that I can tell my own story that's not only better, but also more directly involves me.

It really pisses me off when I want to read a story on CNN.com (CBC.ca) and the link takes me to a video instead of text.

Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you're wrong.

Have you ever been walking down the street and realized that you're going in the complete opposite direction of where you are supposed to be going? But instead of just turning a 180 and walking back in the direction from which you came, you have to first do something like check your watch or phone or make a grand arm gesture and mutter to yourself to ensure that no one in the surrounding area thinks you're crazy by randomly switching directions on the sidewalk.

LOL has gone from meaning, "laugh out loud" to "I have nothing else to say".

Whenever someone says "I'm not book smart, but I'm street smart", all I hear is "I'm not real smart, but I'm imaginary smart".

Why is it that during an ice-breaker, when the whole room has to go around and say their name and where they are from, I get so incredibly nervous? Like I know my name, I know where I'm from, this shouldn't be a problem....

You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you've made up your mind that you just aren't doing anything productive for the rest of the day.

Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after DVDs? I don't want to have to restart my collection.

I'm always worried when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten page research paper that I swear I did not make any changes to.

I hate being the one with the remote in a room full of people watching TV. There's so much pressure. 'I love this show, but will they judge me if I keep it on? I bet everyone is wishing we weren't watching this. Do I ask them? Do I ask them again? But that will that look like I don't want to watch it. What do I do?

Bad decisions make good stories

When I meet someone new, I'm terrified of mentioning something they haven't already told me but that I have learned from some light internet stalking.

Even if I knew your social security number, I wouldn't know what do to with it.

Whenever I'm Facebook stalking someone and I find out that their profile is public I feel like a kid on Christmas morning. 546 pictures? Don't mind if I do!

I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least kind of tired.

I Got In!!

I just got notice from Carleton that I was accepted into the Fiction Workshop. I guess my story was good enough, or not many people applied. Now I'm really scared!! I'm going to have to be regularly producing creative fictiony type stuff. I have no idea how I'm going to do it.

They Are Tiny

I found out tonight that the province of Newfoundland only has a population of around half a million people. Canada as a whole is working its way over 33,000,000. That means that Newfoundland is like one-sixty-eth of our nation. That is crazy!! Ottawa has one and half times that many. It is the last remaining province for me to visit. I have seen all the others. I'm dying to go, it is supposedly absolutely beautiful. Teri, who has Newfie liniage, has been. (Though she hasn't been to Manitoba so we are tied on provinces with 9 of 10.) Teri , Anna - the Nova Scotian and Jerrica - the true Newfie, all correct me on my pronunciation of Newfoundland as I tend to say New-found-land which is how it is spelt. However, it is actually said New-finland. There is also a bit of an ongoing debate on whether the term 'Newfie' is derogatory (a provincial-slur) or not. I don't think so and I would never say it to mean anything negative. To quote Jerrica, "Newfies Rock!!"

The Guild

The Guild is an online sit-com (Yes, they have these) about an online guild. Basically it is about a group of people playing World of Warcraft but the game itself is never explicitly named. I find it super funny!! I watched the first two seasons in one sitting. (Which sounds impressive until you realise that there is only about 10 episodes a season and each is only around 5 minutes long.) What brought my attention to the show was the following music video, which is a trailer for the upcoming 3rd season. I love it!!

So I Don't Know

There has been no word yet on whether I got into the Fiction Workshop. It feels like next semester is fast approaching and I would really like to know if I'm taking that course or not. If I do get in I'm not sure whether I will bother posting stories and such onto Always Standing. I really liked having a few days off as the story slowly automatically posted itself but I miss the comments which I think show up more if I write a bunch of random stuff. I don't know if "A Little High School Drama" really worked all that well on Always Standing. I don't know.

A Little High School Drama - 7/7

In order to keep posts short, I am splitting up the short story I wrote for my Fiction Portfolio into sections. It is coming to you now - serialised. How very 1800's! It isn't the greatest solution because it will get posted backwards and to read as a whole will involve some scrolling. But the seven sections will get released slowly, so most will be able to read it as it comes. The story is quite conducive to this as it was written with breaks, which I'm using to divide up the sections. Enjoy!

At lunch Julia and Brianne met in line at the cafeteria. Brianne gave Julia a sad look. After learning that she hadn’t made it into the class Brianne had ran into the bathroom crying. Julia had just stood still and stared at the list for a long time, until other students started showing up to look at it. Walking slowly to the bathroom, she had found Brianne fixing her make-up in one of the mirrors. “Sucks, totally sucks,” she said when she noticed Julia walk in. Her bottom lip started to quiver and Julia walked over to give her a hug.

“Oh, Brie,” she said, “Next time, right? Next time.” Brianne stroked Julia’s hair. As they left the bathroom, the girls had started to talk about other possible plans for the next semester. Julia wanted to take a Business and Marketing class instead of Physics and Brianne was hoping to run for the Drama Club executive. Julia pulled out her notebook and started writing down some campaign ideas. “So, what’s your platform?” she asked. “What are you going to do differently with the Club?” Julia suggested having improv games at lunch open to all students and Brianne started to outline a series of workshops she thought could be offered to help members prepare for auditions.

Julia showed Brianne her notebook. “I had some campaign slogan ideas during second period,” she said, “And I want to show you some poster designs I thought you might use.” Brianne followed Julia across the cafeteria to their usual table. They sat down and started looking through Julia’s notebook.

Rachael looked up and asked, “So did you guys get in?” They shook their heads and shrugged.

“You know I might take accounting,” Brianne said. “Because, when I’m doing theatre full time, I’m probably going to have an agent or a manager and how will I know if they are keeping my books straight...” Julia smiled as Brianne started into long discussion about her future career. Stealing a nacho from Rachael, she sat back to listen.

A Little High School Drama - 6/7

In order to keep posts short, I am splitting up the short story I wrote for my Fiction Portfolio into sections. It is coming to you now - serialised. How very 1800's! It isn't the greatest solution because it will get posted backwards and to read as a whole will involve some scrolling. But the seven sections will get released slowly, so most will be able to read it as it comes. The story is quite conducive to this as it was written with breaks, which I'm using to divide up the sections. Enjoy!

It was two weeks before the casting list got posted. Auditions had to be held in all the other schools as well. On the bus ride to school, Julia felt shivers of excitement run up and down her spin. Beside her, Brianne was practically vibrating with energy and talking none stop. “Juls, it is going to be great! So great!” She kept saying. “What if I get the lead? Wouldn’t it be awesome if I got the lead? Cinderella. I mean, I would totally make a great Cinderella.” As if to prove it, Brianne shook her long blond curls and beamed over at Julia.

Julia smiled back and turned to look out the window. The last couple of weeks they had spent every bus ride talking about what parts they wanted in the play and what jobs they would like for backstage. Brianne liked to paint, so was hoping for something in set decoration. Julia was still excited about the different marketing and business positions that were available and had even started to jot down ideas about tickets and advertising in a notebook.

As soon as the bus pulled up to the school, Brianne and Julia were the first ones off. They rushed to the Drama office. Turning the final corner, Brianne grabbed Julia’s hand and gave it a squeeze. The list was posted. Their bus was always one of the first to arrive at school, so the hallway was relatively empty. Julia stared at the clean white piece of computer paper taped to the Drama office door. Winter Semester’s Senior Drama Class List it read at the top, followed by a chart with four columns. The list was arranged alphabetically with each student’s name followed by their school, the part they were to play, and the backstage task they had been given.

Julia skimmed the first column of the chart. Her name wasn’t there. She checked again, slowly reading each name in the list and noticed that Brianne’s wasn’t either. Neither of them had made it into the class.

A Little High School Drama - 5/7

In order to keep posts short, I am splitting up the short story I wrote for my Fiction Portfolio into sections. It is coming to you now - serialised. How very 1800's! It isn't the greatest solution because it will get posted backwards and to read as a whole will involve some scrolling. But the seven sections will get released slowly, so most will be able to read it as it comes. The story is quite conducive to this as it was written with breaks, which I'm using to divide up the sections. Enjoy!

“If I get in I’m dropping accounting,” Julia whispered to Brianne. The two sat on the gymnasium floor waiting to be called forward for their individual auditions. Julia felt much more comfortable at the audition than she had expected. She had been almost shaking with fear all morning but as they entered the gym she could tell that everyone was nervous. Julia handed in her application, a package which included her resume, school transcript, an essay about theatre, and her preferences for the backstage positions. Because the Drama teacher had extra help, the audition was set up in a rotating fashion. After a brief explanation about the Senior Drama Class format, the play, and the style of the audition, the teacher split the students into three groups of about 15 each. Each group visited the three audition areas.

Julia and Brianne were in the same group, which moved through the two student teachers first. One student ran through some basic readings of the play and took notes. Brianne had borrowed a copy of the script ahead of time, so Julia had been able to practice with her. The next student organized some inprov games which made Julia very nervous. However, she found that the other students around her were very eager to play and be creative. Soon she was having fun and found the she was quite good at thinking on her feet. She couldn’t get over what a supportive environment it was and spent lots of time laughing at what others came up with.

The final part of the audition was with the Senior Drama Class teacher. Each student had to present a memorized monologue. Julia and Brianne sat with their group, as everyone was called up one by one. Julia looked over her shoulder at another group doing the improv games on the far side of the gym. She felt a pang of jealousy, wishing she could join them again. A little surprised with her new found creative side, Julia whispered to Brianne again, “Physics too, but my dad was more upset about the accounting.”

“But accounting is the fun math,” Brianne whispered back. “I was even almost thinking about taking it. In all the other math courses it is always my favourite unit. Just remembering simple rules and stuff and the math is all just adding and subtracting. Is there another period you can take it in? And, Physics? Gross! I can’t believe you were evening thinking about taking that. Oh, Juls, you’re up.”

A Little High School Drama - 4/7

In order to keep posts short, I am splitting up the short story I wrote for my Fiction Portfolio into sections. It is coming to you now - serialised. How very 1800's! It isn't the greatest solution because it will get posted backwards and to read as a whole will involve some scrolling. But the seven sections will get released slowly, so most will be able to read it as it comes. The story is quite conducive to this as it was written with breaks, which I'm using to divide up the sections. Enjoy!

Julia washed her face and looked at her reflection in the mirror. After dinner, she had spent three hours talking to her father about math, university, and the Senior Drama Class audition. He was more supportive than she had anticipated but was concerned about her using one of her spares so early. Julia had originally planned to take a business accounting course and Introductory Physics during the mornings next semester. These would have to be dropped if she received a part in the play. They had agreed that she would only take the Senior Drama Class if she was offered a good back stage role. “There is no point messing around with this if it isn’t going to give you anything good to put on your university application,” her father had said. “If they offer you Prop Assistant or something I want you to take the accounting.” She had agreed with him and was glad that he didn’t get upset about her business school idea.

Pulling her long brown hair out of its ponytail, Julia inspected her reflection. She pictured a glittering crown perch on top of her head and smiled. Grabbing the towel from beside the sink, she skipped and twirled around the bathroom humming Disney songs. Julia hung the towel on a hook on the back of the door. As she walked into her room thinking about ball gowns and fairy godmothers, Julia picked up the phone to tell Brianne the good news. “Annie!” Julia exclaimed when Brianne picked up the phone. “I’ll do it. I’m goin’ to audition with you!”

Julia was again picturing herself on stage as she got into bed. Dressed in a big blue princess gown she tried to pick a Prince Charming to her Cinderella. Her mind scrolled through the boys on the basketball team and a few others from her classes. “Uhh, I hope the guys that make it are from other schools,” she thought. “There is just no one hot at Riverview!” Julia decided on a blonde boy she had met at camp a few years before. As the two danced across the imaginary stage, Julia smiled to herself. “It could happen,” she thought. “The shy one could get the lead. Happens in movies all the time. A true fairy-tale ending.” Just as she rolled over to sleep Julia thought about Brianne, “Oh, but she would kill me, absolutely kill me.”

A Little High School Drama - 3/7

In order to keep posts short, I am splitting up the short story I wrote for my Fiction Portfolio into sections. It is coming to you now - serialised. How very 1800's! It isn't the greatest solution because it will get posted backwards and to read as a whole will involve some scrolling. But the seven sections will get released slowly, so most will be able to read it as it comes. The story is quite conducive to this as it was written with breaks, which I'm using to divide up the sections. Enjoy!

After the conversation on the bus, Julia knew it was time to tell her parents about her business school plans. “How could it be a problem?” she asked herself. “It is totally a respectable program; tons of parents would be happy and proud if their daughter wanted it.” But she knew that it would hurt her father, he wanted her to study pure math and he didn’t think business was the same. Sometimes he would teach accounting and statistics courses to college level business students, those working towards a diploma in Hotel and Restaurant Management or Business Administration. Julia knew that the snide comments he made about these students were part of the reason she was so frightened to tell him.

Sitting down to dinner with her parents, Julia waited for the perfect moment. Soon her mother asked about Brianne’s plans for the upcoming semester. “She is hoping to be in the Senior Drama Class, the auditions are next week. She wants me to try out with her,” Julia said as casually as possible. Her mother merely smiled. “I think I might,” Julia continued cautiously, glancing across the table at her father. “Not really for the stage parts. I would just want a small one of those. But, ‘cause it is going to be such a big production this time, the behind the scenes work is goin’ to be really interesting. I was thinking of trying to get Ticket Coordinator, or Scheduling Manager, maybe part of the Advertising or Budget Committee.” Julia paused to get a sense of her parent’s reaction. Her mother was nodding along encouragingly but her father seemed disinterested and was looking out the window. “Good,” Julia thought, “Maybe I can sneak this next part past him.” Looking at her mother, Julia asserted, “I think it would be a really good fit and is going to look great on my university applications. I was maybe thinking about going to business school.”

“Hmmm, business school would be fun and the play sounds like a great idea,” her mother replied. Julia beamed. She felt like she had dodged a bullet. Returning to her dinner she started thinking about what it might be like to act on stage. She couldn’t wait to call Brianne.

Julia knew the feeling of relief was to be short lived when her father curtly asked, “What about math, Juls?”

A Little High School Drama - 2/7

In order to keep posts short, I am splitting up the short story I wrote for my Fiction Portfolio into sections. It is coming to you now - serialised. How very 1800's! It isn't the greatest solution because it will get posted backwards and to read as a whole will involve some scrolling. But the seven sections will get released slowly, so most will be able to read it as it comes. The story is quite conducive to this as it was written with breaks, which I'm using to divide up the sections. Enjoy!

Julia met up with Brianne on the school bus home. Sitting in their usual seat, Brianne slid in next to Julia beaming. Julia noticed that Brianne was still carrying around the paper announcing the audition and was wary of Brianne’s overzealous smile. “Greatest idea ever!” Bri exclaimed. Julia grew even more concerned.

It turned out that Brianne wasn’t holding onto the original announcement but a more detailed version she had picked up from the Senior Drama Class teacher. Each semester, the program is built around the creation of a short one act play to be preformed for the 18 elementary schools in the district. The play is rehearsed for the first few months of the semester and the last few weeks are spent touring the area, visiting a different elementary school each morning. The teacher chooses the play ahead of time and then accepts twice the cast number, so that each role is learnt by two students. Each student is also given a backstage crew task which they do half the time, when not performing.

Bri explained that next semester, instead of taking the usual 16 to 18 students, the teacher wanted to do a version of Cinderella with a cast of 25 and needed to pick 50 people from the upcoming auditions. “She has a couple teachers’ college students doing placements, or something,” Brianne said over her shoulder, as she dug in her backpack for the little baggy of cookies she had leftover from lunch. Handing a couple of cookies to Julia, she launched into her plan. “So, you totally should audition Juls. We should do this together. Half of the roles are only on in a few scenes and half of those aren’t even speaking parts; things like ladies of the court and whatnot. Anyway, you should do it for the off stage work ‘cause it would totally look good on your business school application.”

Julia eyed her friend cautiously. Brianne was the only person she had told about her plan to take business in university and not mathematics as her parents were hoping. Julia’s father had his masters in statistics and taught math at the local community college; Julia was always the top student in every math course and was expected to pursue the subject in university. Despite wanting to take business in university, Julia hadn’t made any plans to make it happen.

A Little High School Drama - 1/7

In order to keep posts short, I am splitting up the short story I wrote for my Fiction Portfolio into sections. It is coming to you now - serialised. How very 1800's! It isn't the greatest solution because it will get posted backwards and to read as a whole will involve some scrolling. But the seven sections will get released slowly, so most will be able to read it as it comes. The story is quite conducive to this as it was written with breaks, which I'm using to divide up the sections. Enjoy!

Brianne rushed towards Julia clutching a piece of paper. Despite her lifelong love for her best friend, Julia knew her lunch was ruined. Brianne sat down next to her at the long cafeteria table, none of the other girls looked up. Rachael simply smiled into her plate of fries and nacho cheese; she too knew that the rest of the lunch hour would be solely focused on Brianne and her long winded monologues about her future theatrical career.

The piece of paper was the announcement of a long awaited audition. The fall semester at Riverview High School was winding down and it was time to cast the next semester’s Senior Drama Class. This was a special program only offered at RHS and was open to students in the entire district. The class took both the morning periods, one of which counted as a senior arts course and the other used one of the few spares granted to senior students.

Julia took the piece of paper from Brianne, smoothed it out, and said, “Anne, seriously, this is the first chance we get to have a spare and we only get two before we graduate. Why would you want to use it up so soon? Save it for our final year. You know, when we have harder courses.” Brianne glared at her. “Or cars, money, and boyfriends, I don’t know,” Julia added.

Brianne continued to glare, “Not Anne, Juls. Not Anne, or Anna, or Annie. Bri, spelt B-R-I, Bri.”

Shaking her head, Julia continued, “I’m not taking a spare next semester and if you do then you will only have one left and I’ll have two. Also, unless you spell it with an E at the end everyone will end up pronouncing it Bri and not Brie. If you want it pronounced Brie like the cheese, than you have to spell it Brie like the cheese.”

Fiction Portfolio

A couple of days ago I had to hand in a portfolio of my writing to try to get into a fiction workshop. I have noticed this course on the Undergraduate Calendar for years but never had the courage to apply to take it. I once, in a pathetically small bout of bravery, looked up what was necessary to enrol, found out that a portfolio was to be submitted to gain acceptance into the course, and promptly lost my nerve to do anything further. While I feel I am a creative person, I do not spend every waking moment of spare time writing stories, and tons of people do. These people will be also in this class. I am scared of them and their talent. As you may have seen from my blog, I have occasionally found myself in the mood to write a very bad poem or two. Obviously, I have spent the last 10 years writing essays for various courses in high school and university but before my preparation for this portfolio I had not fleshed out a short story since elementary school. I have written pieces of fiction but nothing with a plot or characters. On Always Standing I often retell biographical stories, write descriptive passages, and journal my travels. I have ideas for stories and do not doubt my ability to think of things to write about. I do fear that I may lack the talent to write fiction. I am out of practice and have had no instruction on how to create, write, or structure a story. This course would definitely be a challenge, one that I am more than a little frightened about taking. I hope I get in though because writing fiction is really something that would be fun to learn!! If I do get in I want to be able to share my stroies on my blog, but I can't really figure out how to do that at the moment...

Blog Plans

Oh I have plans! Big plans! I feel it is time to revamp my blog and I have a number of changes that I want to slowly incorporate over the next few months. It may not all happen and it will take forever because I am lazy, busy, and mainly I'm quite resistant to change, even change that I want.

The Plans
-Get Google Analytics
-Adjust the Links section
-Put myself and Always Standing on Wiki
-Add some ads
-Maybe do tags
-Post more often!!

Good Run Bad Run

My run this morning with Ottawa Erin was pretty rough. We are training to do the Army 5k at the end of September. I know that bad runs happen but I haven't had one in over a month, so I had forgotten what they felt like. I was exhausted, my legs felt like lead, I wanted to throw up, and I was very miserable that it wasn't going as well as it usually does. I was able to run for a good distance and my time was decent. I felt great when it was over but during it I wanted to die. However, some pretty awesome things happened on the run. First off, we saw a cormorant in the canal. I always think of them as British seagulls since you often see the two together, they are a little mangy looking, and in England cormorants are much more common. It is a pretty big bird though, almost the size of a Canada Goose. It also dives under water like a loon, which we saw it do in the canal. The second cool sighting was Jack Layton. I saw him a few years ago too, so this is the second time I have seen the NDP leader in Ottawa. Both times he was on a bike. A small group of guys biked past us and I swear the first one was Jack!!

Facebook Is So Lame

I resisted getting Facebook for a long time. Obviously, I caved and I caved ages ago. However, I still recognize that it can be a pretty ridiculous place and that people should be very careful how they use it. I recently found out that there is a blog documenting just this issue, Lamebook. They post lame and funny pictures, status updates, and other craziness found on Facebook. Of course all last names and faces in the submissions are blurred out. Some of the stuff there is insane, I cannot believe what some people will post on a public social networking site. The internet is not as anonymous as everyone would like to believe and Facebook even less so!! See below for an example of the type of stuff that Lamebook has found:

Bad Math

2(Days After Drinking)(4)(Drinks) + 2(Essays Due) + 2(Depressed Friends) + (PMS) - 4(Nights Without Enough Sleep) = Crying
Yes, that is a very good cocktail for tears. Shake twice and serve on ice.

Today's Quote

"Don't get me started on Cross Country Skiing; combines all the fun of walking with the thrill of being physically handicapped."
- Oz, The Listener (Best show ever! And its Canadian.)

Great Idea

I went to Quinn's Wednesday night, which is this super tiny little Irish pub up the street. There was a sign on the wall that said the following:

Quinn's Policy

Leave your keys

We'll pay for your cab

I think that is an incredible idea. I wonder how many people take them up on that. Obviously you would have to get back to your car at some point the next day, but it is still a really neat policy. Drinking and driving is pretty much one of the worst things in the world and bothers me to no end. I know that DUI charges are pretty tough and they are getting harsher over time but I still don't think they are even close to how strong I feel they should be. No excuse!!

Length Does Matter

I have long known about the Betamax and VHS war. My father at one point owned 3 Beta machines, actually he may still. He had so many because one could play but not rewind, so he had one that didn't really work but could still be used to rewind the tapes, and I don't know why he had the third. The fact that VHS won in the big VCR battle in the late 1970's and early 1980's has always been a mystery. I have often heard people say Beta was a superior system but then could never figured out why VHS became the standard. This format war is a classic marketing study and there are a number of theories behind its outcome. Firstly, the Betamax, by Sony, did have better quality video with a higher resolution. Also Beta was the first VCR realsed system to be successful with consumers. It was shortly followed by JVC's format for home recording, the VHS. While the VHS had lower quality video, it had longer recording times. It is commonly agreed that this is how VHS won the war, that early Beta could only record for 1 hour but VCR came out at a recording time of 2 hours and continually offered twice the length as both the systems improved. Beta refused to sacrifice their picture quality to create longer recording times. Betamax eventually achieved 5 hours but by then VHS had 10.6 hour tapes. Good marketing campaigns, a slightly cheaper price tag, and the ease at which the public was able to rent VHS machines are also attiputed factors to JVC's win. This all sounds familar, and a little boring, I am sure I have heard it before.

But then I heard about the porn....

Recently another theory was explained to me, that the porn industry is what determined the outcome of this battle. It was said that pornography played a huge part in this and ultimately decided the winner. Porn was not available on Betamax but it became readily available on VHS. It has been incorrectly stated that Betamax lost to VHS because Sony refused to license porn and that Sony pressured others not to manufacture Beta tapes with adult content or share technology with the porn industry. This is untrue. While Sony does have troubles with the adult industry and apparently has a longstanding policy not to manufacture anything with adult content, they have no control over the licensing or other companies who use the format. Porn did play a part in this though. Sony thought that the consumers of a VCR would be using the system to record TV shows, so they focused on the 1 hour recording length. The market actually desired prerecorded movies more, so JVC was in a better position with its longer recording times. Prerecorded movies at this time were predominately pornographic. Bottom line: People wanted porn. JVC's VCR wins.

My Ball

Me: Oh man, I'm so not on my ball today.
Anna: Don't you mean 'the' ball, as in the proverbial ball that everyone has?
Me: No no, it is 'my' ball.
I play with 'my' ball in 'the' game, why does everyone else confuse this?

Hooked Up

After a week long break from the internet and other similar technology, I was starting to feel like I was part of a simpler time. Peaceful, slower, and much less stressed. While at the cottage this past week I walked a little away from technology, of course I did still used the phone and I did have to spend some time on my computer typing up stuff for school and I did watch a couple of movies, but I at least turned my back on the internet. I was surprised to find that I didn't miss it. I didn't feel any sort of loss or worry at being away from all that e-mail, Facebook, this blog, and the world wide web in general have to offer me. I am now on the bus returning to The O-Town from The T-Dot. This bus is amazing!! I have fast free internet and a plug for my laptop. Greyhound is totally hooked up!! This is the future. It seems that I have turned back towards the light, or maybe the slightly neon glow, of the internet. Not only do I welcome it back into my life with open arms but actually fully embrace it as I'm drawn in towards the warmth.