Still Figurin' Out Who I Think I Am

This one's about Tech Tuesday and lonely writers.

"If all tablets and smartphones ceased working, how much impact would this have on your daily life and routines?"

How's it goin' out there? Still waitin' on a prompt for "Invalid Item" , so in the meanwhile I'll address these prompts, because that's what I'm in the mood to do right now.

In my opinion, smartphones are only as smart as the people who are usin' 'em. I think if you took away 90% of the population who are all like "I'd be soooo lost without my phone!!", maybe we'd get some shit done around this world. Like, would you really be so lost if your smartphone usage mainly consisted of Candy Crush and drunk tweeting (at least, when I see dumbness on display while scrolling through Twitter, I'm hoping it's drunk tweeting)? If I can't wake up in a world where the majority of smartphone users who haven't used theirs for more than Facebook or texting while in the grocery line aren't in the fetal position on street corners all over with their hands perma-clawed in the iPhone yoga hand-stance, then let me sleep and sleep and sleep.

Tablets though...they still pose some tiny shred of necessity, and I'm saying this because I use mine both for educational and leisure purposes. That's where my school textbooks are...my tablet. It's a lot easier carrying that than a laptop (and you're talking about someone who used to strap his laptop onto his back and use crutches to get to the free Wi-Fi hotspots). It's not as functional as a laptop (yet...I still won't type a paper or a blog entry on it), but when I need to kill some time at school it does mostly what I need it to do. Maybe (and I know I haven't looked hard enough for one, but I'm sure it's out there) if there was a flash drive that I could plug in to the micro-USB charger port, I'd use my tablet for more than Angry Birds. That would seem way more convenient than swapping out the Micro-SD card whenever I wanna go from tablet to laptop when working on important documents...guess that's kinda my fault for not thinking all of this through so far (and don't get me started on "clouds", because I'm soooo not ready for that yet ).

But really, this prompt may as well read "Take out the internet...then where would the effects on your life be felt?" It doesn't say anything about shitty non-smartphones, or computers in general...so you could still do the basics like walking and chewing gum at the same time, uninhibited by Facebook drama, or writing/reading graffiti on bathroom stalls without worrying about dropping your tablet in the shitter. People could go back to being real people instead of using their devices as an excuse to not make eye-contact. The world didn't exactly crash and burn back in the old days without technology...why are we so afraid now that it might if it were to lose that ability? Kids still got to daycare, parents still got to work through snowstorms, and dinner still got put on the table before all this techie hullabaloo. If you claim your world's gonna suffer significant setbacks when the whole internet of the world goes down, you're probably taking it for granted and/or doing the whole internet thing wrong. (So said on a computer reliant on the internet for you to have seen this and by using computer-based methods.)

Jus' sayin'...don't take for granted that your gadgets are always gonna be there to bail you out. Have some human-based contact skills ready at the quick for backup. Your smartphone can't change a flat tire or let you call someone who can when when you're ass-out in the middle of nowhere, and that tablet won't take tests for you. There's still some shit ya gotta know in this world just to get by...all the ingenuity we have in our hands is no substitute for the ingenuity within us.

BCF PROMPT: "They say writing is lonely work. What do you think? Is that an exaggeration or the truth?"

It's a little bit of both, so allow me to come at it from multiple angles.

In the sheerest physical sense, I find it much easier to write alone and without distraction. It's easier to focus with the music off and no one around (or at least somewhere away from the din of lives happening). When I'm doing this, which I guess I do a lot, I want to think my thoughts and concentrate on what you might be reading. It's hard to do when there's all sortsa clamor and nonsense goin' on.

Yet on another side of the die, some of the best works have been created because of isolation, the sadness in the author's heart that drives people away, and the realization that there is no point in including anyone in something they're not as supportive of as your intentions hope. Any pop singer worth his or her G-string can sing a song about loneliness, but are they really feeling it? Is the integrity in the right place? Are they really, truly lonely? Probably not.

I'm alone fortunately and unfortunately because of my own design (and don't get all neo-hippie on me and say "But you're never alone! I'm here, 87 thousand billion footsteps or a shoddy phone call at the wrong time away!" because that's not "being there" most of the time). As inviting and accepting as I am personally, I'm just as easy to push people away...maybe I don't want to be bothered, or I don't want to feel like I'm bothering them. It's a fine line I've been trying to manage for a long time. It's not easy, because you can be led a million times toward something with everyone telling you the same one thing, but the minute you try applying it, it backfires a million times more...and when you seek out lonership, that's when you get people wanting to suck you back in to another reality...a reality which isn't comfortable for you because yeah, lonely works more. Sometimes, you're in limbo between "talk to me, but leave me alone" and "I really need some space, but within other peoples' spaces too". And no one wants to be told what the fuck to do...coming from having been on both sides of that.

And I can see I've already drifted off the main point.

Loneliness is often superficially described by people who have no business talking about it or know what it means, to the same crowd that shares the "one day, I felt sad and lonely so I'll tell you people all about it" sentiments. Me? I'm happy being alone because it means I don't have to burden anyone...I don't have to talk to anyone. I don't care. I lost that caring gene sleeping in a park when almost all I owned got stolen, including words I'd penned to page. It went away with nights spent sleeping in laundromats and homeless shelters, and waking up to a seizure instead of food. Loneliness isn't as universal as it's played out to be. It's written to death about by people who feel it, and consumed by the masses who then think they know what it feels like to be alone. Technology doesn't care when you're alone...in fact, that's the first thing to leave you after people do. And technology doesn't always prove to be the great reuniter. Sometimes, no matter how hard you want it and how hard you try, there are no answers for being alone. I could staple a note to my chest that says "Please save me!!" and all you'd find in the middle of God's Country is me with my pockets emptied and my last possessions taken. That's no way for people who love writing, regardless of how much they can be an asshole at times, to live.

Simple instructions, really...

"Smile all the time."
Lyrics and interpretations.  

Sometimes you see things you can't unsee...and other times, you have to look twice   to see what you're missing.

Finally! My dreams have come true!!   Now for the price to come down....

Ok, let's see how my patience holds up for Round 5 of "Invalid Item" ...the prompt is "Monster: Zombie; Cocktail: Run for the Roses; and Required Form: TRIPLE Etheree (The poetry form, Etheree, consists of 10 lines of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 syllables. Etheree can also be reversed and written 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Get creative and write an Etheree with more than one verse, but follow suit with an inverted syllable count. Reversed Etheree: 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Double Etheree: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1...Triple Etheree, Quadruple Etheree, and so on!)."

I
tried to
enter my
name in the zom
bie 5k Run For
The Roses race taking
place at the cemetery
next month. I forgot my I.D.
so they listed my entry "pending"
until I had the means to complete it.

When I went back, I was told, "Sorry, all
the slots are taken. You'll have to try
again next year." I became a
little unraveled and said,
"You don't understand!
In my condi
tion I might
not make
it!"

The
organ
izer looked
at me again
and said, "Very well,
Mr. Flood*...just hold your
self together and we'll see
what we can do to accomo
date you in this year's event. I
don't want you losing your brain over this."

(*Mr. Flood isn't a real zombie  , although he has been mistaken for one .)

And finally, a nod and a wink and congrats to lizco252, who starts her new job tomorrow!

Ok...I'm going on now with the rest of my evening, and I suggest y'all do the same. Peace, drag your blanket blindly, and GOODNIGHT NOW!!