The Adventure of TechieGirl

Sounds like a pretty awesome superhero or something, right? I take out all my technology and kill all the ancient, dial-up modem villains! Take that, you dummies who only run on hand-cranked engines!

Wrong.

While at Starbucks today working on my NaNoWriMo sketch, I happened to notice this girl who came in. I admit to initially noticing her because she was kind of dowdy (I was in a Starbucks of upscale clientele). Long, messy, shoved-into-ponytail mouse brown hair; droopy jacket; glasses slipping down her nose.

But here's the real thing that made me look: she was clutching (and yeah, I mean CLUTCHING. Two hands!) a Nintendo DSi about a foot from her face as she walked into the shop. And never put it down, even throughout ordering her pastry. She held it in one hand while fiddling with her wallet to get money.

She sat down in a chair that faced the table I was at, so for her entire Starbucks stay I got to observe the girl I now refer to as "TechieGirl."

Here's why: For the entire duration of our time together, she never put down her DSi. The only time her attention weaned was when her cell phone beeped from a text - which caused her to hold the DSi in one hand, pick up the cell in the other hand, quickly type a response, then put the phone back in her lap and resume her DSi activities. This occurred multiple times; and one phone call took place, but she continued to hold the DSi in one hand. Even when she left to wait outside for her ride, she paced up and down the sidewalk holding the DSi in both her hands.

I just don't get how some people can get so immersed in their technology. To not ever look up or let go of your object?! That's a problem.

I admit that I often have my cell phone within reach. And the entire time I was at Starbucks I had my iPod on in my ears (that was more for me to avoid old high school people who kept coming in), but I looked up. I was aware of my surroundings (seeing as how this entire blog entry revolves around me staring around). I even gave my full attention to the barista when placing my order! I don't need certain technologies around me ALL THE TIME.

It's sad. It's a bad, bad sign for the future.


(On a different note, there was an old man who hid his pack of cigarettes in his sock. Shifty.)

Read more...

I was not meant to blog this weekend

In addition to it being my brother's birthday weekend (and therefore filled with unavoidable activities), my laptop decided not to work, my iPod Touch decided it didn't want to connect to Wi-Fi, and my car decided it would rather be used by other family members.

(If you didn't get that last reason, it meant I couldn't drive to anywhere that had internet.)

Not much interesting going on, anyway. Aside from the brother's birthday. Who knew we could shove 15 people into our small living room? Thank God for boys not minding sitting on the floor. It was a pretty good time. Can't get much better than a good group playing Taboo. Especially since our version of the game is ancient. I guess I can't blame the makers of the game for having a card that reads Bill Clinton and DOESN'T have Monica Lewinsky on the banned words. Nobody really saw that one coming.

Since I haven't driven in over...2 days...I'm going to go take a drive. And probably end up at some place of shopping and spend money I shouldn't on items I don't really need. Happy Tuesday!

Read more...

I have a secret.

I'm kind of a closet-writer. Isn't that weird? Especially since everyone knows me as the writer girl and I majored in journalism.

But here's what I mean.

Nobody really knows I write. Plenty of people know I write articles and whatnot, but nobody knows what else I write. Very few have read my poetry, and next to no one has read my fiction.

Ok, wait; amendment: I'm a writer whose work is closeted.

It's not that people don't know I write. It's just that no one SEES what I write. And I don't know why I do that. A lot of the time, I don't want people to read what I write. Which is completely counter-productive, because how am I going to make a living off writing things I don't want anyone to read?! (If anyone figures out how to do that, get at me ASAP.) Barely anyone has every read my articles outside of teachers and people assigned to peer edit. No one has read my fiction. And, more than that, I have barely told anyone the other projects I do because I know people will ask to read, and I don't want them to. Four people know I am participating in NaNoWriMo this year, no one knows of my freelance assignment, and perhaps two people know about my blog (assuming they see who follows them and figure out who I am). Hell, my family doesn't even know about all this.

I'm trying to correct it. If I were gay, I'd be trying to come out. So now, I guess I'm trying to out my writing.

I'm scared.

Read more...

A Day In the Life of an Unemployed Graduate

9:30am: phone alarm rings. "Who the fuck set that?" I think to myself. "Oh right...it was a brief moment of resolve to do something with my day."
9:30:05am: shut off phone alarm. Snuggle with my teddy bear (she's cute, I promise.)
10am: dad yells at me.
10:00:01-10:00:15: ignore dad.
11am: grumble. Think I should probably do something with my life. Ignore thoughts.
11:10am: give in to the inner voice.
11:15am: Really. This time I give in to the voice telling me to get up.
11:20am: Ok. Up for real this time.
11:30am: Stumble out of bed.
11:45am: Kitchen to grab food.
12:30pm: Finally figure out what food to eat. Proceed to forget as I am distracted by internetz.
1pm: Oh right. Food. That's why stomach won't stop making noise.
1:30pm: Wash dishes. YES, something responsible for the day done!
1:40pm: Now what?
1:40pm-8pm: These hours don't exist. I have no recollection what I do during this time, except that nothing comes out of it.
8pm: Watch So You Think You Can Dance. Revealing the Top 20 tonight!
9pm: Watch GLEE!!!! (this is obviously a Wednesday.)
9:40pm: Inevitable phone call from friend attempting to make connection. Ignored. Will Schuester is too important to me.
10pm: Watch Top Chef: Las Vegas and remember I haven't eaten dinner yet. Again, I am distracted.
11:15pm: Wonder why Top Chef ends at such a weird hour. Realize food has not been consumed. Grab small and inevitably unhealthy snack food item, pretend it's fine as a substitute for dinner.
11:30pm: Stomach grumbles. Fuck, I should have eaten.
11:45pm: Ignore dad telling me to grab apple. Prepare full meal.
Midnight: Shit. Shouldn't have eaten all that, going to be awake for hours.
12:02am: Realize it doesn't matter how much I ate or how long I'll be awake. I have zero to do tomorrow.
12:30am: Say I'm going to go to sleep. Go to room. Grab iPod Touch, which conveniently has internet access on it.
3am: Turn off iPod Touch. Dammit.
3:01am: Set phone alarm for 9:30am. I WILL be productive tomorrow. i WILL!
3:03am: Turn on iPod Touch. I've just remembered something that just HAS to be checked tonight.
4:30am: Fall asleep with iPod Touch still in my hand.
9:30am: Fuck this alarm. Snooze.


It's quite fulfilling.
(PS. SOMEONE GIVE ME A JOB, I'M DYING HERE.)

Read more...

Welcome to my little corner of the CyberWebz!

I thought I'd give another shot at the blogging thing - I used to keep one my first year of college (way back in 2005...oh dear), but deleted it after it was creating drama with my dorm room and sucking up too much time. Please note the order I wrote those reasons in. But seriously, I enjoy it, but at the time I think I was using it more as my diary/rant journal. And let's face it: as honest as honesty is, there are some things just not meant to be out for the world to see.

But here I am, four and a half years later, starting this up again. I do have other, private blogs, but that's mostly for the inspirational purposes that very few people know about. Plus, my actual name isn't even attached to that blog - so maybe you have stumbled upon it and have no idea! If this makes sense to you, then you have definitely found my other piece of Cyber Real Estate: i'm a tumblin' on the French side of 'you must suffer to be beautiful'.

Enough cryptics (I think I just noun-ed an adjective). Can I just tell you how hard it was for me to figure out my URL address and the title of my blog?! At first I was going to have it say "Down the Rabbit Hole" in the amazing reference to the amazing Lewis Carroll and his Adventures of Alice in Wonderland. But then...I just like that line, it doesn't really mean anything to me. So then I was debating having the web address be "Not A Love Story," but that just sets the wrong tone for this. I'm kind of a downer at times, but I'm no cynic.

And then I remembered this fateful line in Romeo & Juliet by the ever-and-overly-quoted Shakespeare:
Romeo: Is love a tender thing? it is too rough,
Too rude, too boisterous, and it pricks like thorn

Perhaps one of my favourite quotes about love. It's so accurate, n'est-ce pas?! Especially with Mercutio's lines that follow. Love is tough, but dammit make it tough for love to be that way.

And thus, the perfect embodiment of this blog. I'll probably bitch and moan, complain and whine a lot, and I'll review a few things like products or movies or events, and I may even write profound things (don't hold your breathe for that one though)...but it's all in the name of love, and being tough, and in tough love.

(I also decided to name the actual blog "This Is Not A Love Story" because...it's not. My life is not a love story, nor do I hope it ever is. It's so much more.)

Read more...