Life Without Technology

As I was in the midst of preparing for The Project, I came across two very similar 'news' stories that really got me thinking...

The first story I read on my Yahoo news...they now have a TEXTING championship. I imagine it to be somewhat like a spelling bee, since I believe there were rounds and everything, only it is whoever can text a certain message the fastest without any errors and using all those stupid codes correctly. The winner, I believe, was a 14 year old girl.
The second story caught my attention while Rachel Ray was on TV in the background. She had all kids who were really good at certain things on her show. One of the girls she had on was a 14 year old girl who held the record for sending the most text messages in a year...or some amount of time. It averaged to something like 400 texts a day or something really crazy like that.

These two stories and a very deep conversation I had the other day... had me thinking in amazement of the environment that I live in all summer at camp. We (students and staff) live practically technology-free all summer. We have no TVs and for the most part no computers, internet, or cell phones. The students don't have their cell phones glued to their hand...they don't even have them in their possession, and the staff isn't constantly checking their facebook every 10 minutes.
I am the first person to admit that i am addicted to being on my computer and on the internet and connected to the world in that way, however, I 100% look forward to being disconnected for the summer. I love not having internet for weeks at a time, not having time to check my cell phone til extremely late at night, and not killing my brain cells with the crap that's on TV.

All of that being said...what you discover at this particular camp is that the product of life without technology is...people creating the most amazing bonds with other people because they talk to each other...in person. The students play games together, discover new things they are good at, step out of their comfort zone to meet new people, and have real heartfelt conversations.

I digress...you truly have to see it happen, it amazes me, and I love it. Disconnected in T-minus 6 days!

The Cape

I spent the past few days at my beach house in the Cape. Despite the rain and not so nice weather, I had a super fun time. I got to see my school friends which was fabulous since it might be awhile since I will see them again, and spent some quality time and catching up with home friends.

Thursday was spent going out to dinner, playing Cranium, and drinking.
Friday was really rainy so we slept late, relaxed around the house, then got Arnolds (delicioussss food...where we also met the famous yellow lobster, Fiona), then we came home, drank, and played more games.
Saturday was finally a nice day so we spent most of the day on the beach. Got some color...wooo! We had big plans to go to the drive-in that night but unfortunately a whole lot of fog rolled in so we rented Milk instead and curled up on the couch. Milk is an awesome movie and I would strongly reccommend it! Then we all were in bed by about 10:30 reading our novels. We have turned into 60 year women apparently.

So...I finished My Sister's Keeper. I don't think i've ever read a book of that length in such a short time...for example: I started reading Sisters by Danielle Steel last summer (or the summer before, I can't even remember it's been so long) and I've still only made it to page 100. Don't worry- i've read other books between then. Ok...that wasn't the point...the point is that My Sister's Keeper was definitely one of the best books I've ever read. I was addicted to it and so sucked in that I felt like a character in the story. If you are reading this post, and haven't already read this book, I would suggest shutting down the computer and reading immediately. The ending was such a surprise...and even though everyone kept telling me that...I was still so completely surprised. If I cried easily...I would've cried. Anywho...read this book, it's fantastic.

EBAY!!

I had my first Ebay bidding experience! I was super nervous! I was bidding on an amazingly cheap pair of black cowboy boots that are going to be PERFECT for the hoedown! There had been a few bids previous to my own and when I jumped in there was still about 24 hours left. My first bid was around $7.00 and I had the highest bid for a while (I checked about every 2 minutes or so). THEN I was outbid a couple hours later...so my next bid was for $8 and then I covered my bases and set it up so Ebay would text me if I was outbid. It came down to the last 10 minutes and I was still the highest bidder and I was freaking out. To make this long story short...I ended up winning these boots for $8 and I couldn't be happier!

And speaking of the hoedown... I am trying desperately to learn the Hoedown Throwdown...as is most of my co-workers. It is going to be a difficult task, but it will be AMAZING if we can all break out into a choreographed dance at the Hoedown just like Hannah Montana!

Other things... I have been babysitting my favorite baby in the entire world and I go through withdrawals when I'm not with him, I've been substituting here and there...I was an aid with a Kindergarten teacher yesterday who gave me a box full of instructional books, workbooks, flip charts, posters, and a lot of awesome teaching supplies. I was so grateful. I've been reading My Sister's Keeper. It's amazing so far. I am also being harassed to finish it faster so I can discuss it with a certain individual. Andddd I'm leaving for the Cape tomorrow for the weekend and I'm really excited because I love it there and I don't get to go enough.

One last note...2 weeks from today I will be moving into my summer program and I cannot wait. I am becoming more and more antsy as the days go on. Nothing makes me happier....

Is It Time Yet?

I may or may not have just bought these:



















It's officially the start of summer! Expect many more 'golden' updates!