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...