Will power is a very valuable skill. It gives you the ability to resist the most powerful of desires and temptations. Pretty bad-ass huh? Do you guys remember Frog and Toad? The iconic set of children's books centered around best friends frog and toad who live in the forest and have kick-ass adventures together? God I miss childhood. Anyway, I learned about will power from the best: Frog and Toad. In arguably the most famous Frog and Toad story of all time, Toad goes to Frog's house with some cookies in hand. If I'm not mistaken (it's been a while since I was seven years old, cut me some slack) Toad has the intention of leaving the cookies out for the birds, but he lets Frog try just one. Of course, in classic children's story fashion, they are "the best cookies frog had EVER tasted". He REALLY wants to eat another one, hell he wants to eat all of them at once, these are some mighty fine cookies let me tell you. But, since he's a character in a children's story, he's scared that if he eats another cookie, he'll feel intense amounts of guilt and go through an going cycle of intense moral dilemmas for the rest of his mere existence (OK...I don't know about "the rest of his mere existence" part. Basically he'll feel like a jackass if he eats the cookie). However, if these cookies are so flipping fantastic, how on earth can Frog and Toad possibly resist eating them? How? HOW??
That's right guys. Two words. Three syllables. WILL POWER.
Then there desires become too powerful to resist and they eat all the cookies...probably wasn't the best example in representing will power but hey, it gave me an excuse to reminisce and feel nostalgic. Man I wish I was five again.
But unlike my amphibian role models I will NOT succumb to temptation and desire. Technology will not get the best of me, no sirree bob. I will stand my ground and I will not waver. Not for a damn second. And with the unparalleled force of will power by my side I'm freakin invincible. Will power really needs to be in my favor RIGHT NOW because I'm currently typing away on a computer and at any second I could open another tab and break my pact and (sadly) return all the way back to square one. That's scary. And that feeling a teenager gets when they know they aren't permitted to use any technology? That paranoia? That uneasiness? Ya, that hasn't gone away. I doubt it ever will. In fact it might be getting worse (impending sign of mental health problems #2). However not as worse as what has already come, and a bit sooner than I had hoped or anticipated. BOREDOM. Ah Boredom. It's been a while. How's the fam? The Wife? The Kids? Oh your grandpa died? Man I'm sorry to here that boredom. I know your in a dark place right now, but it will get better. It always does.
That served absolutely no purpose to this blog whatsoever. In fact, I'm pretty sure the MAJORITY of this blog serves no purpose to the blog. Anyway, I think its been a while since I was TRULY bored. Like mind-numbingly bored. Like pound your brains out bored. Until today. I find that extremely alarming because I shouldn't be bored. Ever. I'm a human being living on planet earth. I have the mental capacity and intelligence to stay away from boredom whenever I please. Alright, let's land on a serious note for a sec. As I've previously stated I really shouldn't be bored because while it seems like there's "nothing to do" since the basis of how I spend my free time has been taken away from me, there really is a lot that I can do. But (and I'm definitely not the first to say this) because of the overload of technology in our society, we have become (as a society) uninterested unless there is a screen in front of our faces. Of course, I'm not indicting all human beings on planet earth, but I've noticed that a vast majority (myself included) has involved into this perpetually sad state.
Well (I think) there are a number of things I can do besides play on my phone or watch TV (the ceiling/floor staring became a tad unbearable after 10 seconds). For one, I can day dream which is something I actually enjoy doing frequently. I'm actually being 100% serious here when I say I enjoy day dreaming for pleasure. There's something about using your imagination to create visionary scenarios and situations in your mind (excuse my pretentiousness) that really is kind of exhilarating. It's called La La land in my family, but honestly I really hate that because I just get this image of an idiotic, stupid toddler drooling and sucking a lollipop as he looks off into space with that terrible look of artificial naivety in his eyes. I'm sorry, I hate kids. Especially toddlers. And I know what you're gonna say reader, you're gonna say "Cameron man you're a hypocrite, you were a toddler once! Hell you're (technically. I'd like to think I'm slightly more mature than the average kid but I know for a fact that's not true) still a kid! You couldn't possibly have hated yourself in early childhood". I can answer that inquiry in full confidence in that I was probably, the biggest little shit when I was little. And yes I'm partially joking. Maybe
Anyway, La La Land (copyright) used to be an aspect of my every day life that I would look forward to with intense anticipation. I couldn't wait to go in my room, shut the door and think about all the adventures I was having with my favorite movie, book , and TV characters. Sometimes, I would create my own worlds and own characters, which was the most exciting. But, (of course) as apple products, among others, consumed the majority of my free time, my visits to La La Land became less frequent and shorter as well. Whenever I do visit (I apology for getting pretty tongue and cheek. Nostalgia does that to me sometimes), my thoughts are as equally imaginative as they were before, and it's a very calming thing when you know that your imagination has not died.
My day? Of course I'll tell you guy(s) about it, stop asking. I think the amount of times reached into my right pant pocket has doubled or even tripled. I'm sure the people sitting around me in Spanish class assume that I have recently adopted a serious medical issue, because every time I reach my hand in and realize the absence of my "most prized possession" its followed with a look that combines anger and melancholy in a strange and unsettling way. I've told quite a few of my friends now about this project, and the reactions have been pretty diverse. Some of them have said what I would classify as the appropriate response with "Oh my god. Are you dying?" which I would follow up with a reluctant "Slowly, yes." Some didn't think much of it. The one reaction that really got on my nerves though, that really ticks me off is, "Ya that's not hard at all". I then asked those people, "Really, would you willingly do that?", which is followed by the iconic adolescent groan "Uhhhhhh, haha, Ahh uhhhh". Similar to the sounds of primitive cave men I might say. (If you haven't noticed I'm not a huge fan of teenagers either. Yes I'm a bit of pessimist. I would like to call myself a realist but we all know that's what pessimists call themselves to make themselves feel better).
It's the weirdest feeling though. Phones serve as wonderful security blankets and can always work in your favor. Lull in an awkward station? Get the phone out. Bored after a test? Get the phone out. Trying to make an awkward conversation not so awkward? Look at social media outlets or play games TOGETHER on your smart phone. You know what I have to do? Socialize. With my personality, which is not an easy thing. I'm not a very shy person, and a pretty big talker but I'm a slightly awkward and strange person and as such I say awkward and strange things from time to time. If things do get awkward (which they do more than I'd like to admit) I can't take out my iPhone now because, duh, and I can't leave because I mean, come on, that's just rude, so I'm stuck staring at the person with this weird-ass nervous smile like a freakin creeper. Expect me to loose a substantial amount of once good friends by the end of this process.
Home is still the hardest. As a person (and I'm pretty sure this applies to most). I think. All the time. About a number of things. And thinking leads to questions. And what can answer questions? My phone and/or laptop (which yes, I'm using for this blog and homework worksheets but that is it I promise). I REALLY did not realize how much I used these devices to answer my questions until now. I probably averaged 10 questions that I would then answer on my smart phone an hour. So, ya you could say I have a lot of questions that won't be answered because I don't have the brain capacity nor the attention span to remember them all.
Well there's today's blog for you. Stay tuned for more cynicism, sarcasm, occasional narcicism and consistent asianness.
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