There is a Light at the End of Every Tunnel

Day two came to an eventful and much more uplifting ending than the rocky start; it was with the help of my friends and family that I survived two days (it sounds so terrible to put it that way). Early morning trip to the McNay museum pulled me out of a warm bed, but it was completely worth it, spending most of the day with my best friend and my class in a beautiful and large art museum. We got a little lost on the way (what kind of term is "slight left" and "slight right" anyway?) but eventually made our way to the front entrance, and spent most of the day slowly browsing and giggling with the beautiful pieces of old and new. Because she's an art major, it's my civic duty to tease her about it, so I kept mentioning Bob Ross throughout the Impressionistic wing, and for an art major, it's torture. She vowed to find me a better artist to look up to, and it's not that hard with all the talent that was surrounding us wall to wall. My personal favorite is the Georgia O'Keefe works, and the large water lily Monet piece. My favorite wing was the Middle Ages wooden statues, especially of a carved nativity scene where there is a mysterious woman in the middle of the scene. No one at the museum has figured out who she is, and my friend and I came up with a couple of theories.

After a delicious lunch and a day spent very pleasantly with my best friend, I bid her good day and set off to pull the evening off without media. My plan was simple, and worked like a charm. My grandmother and I played games. As simple as it sounds, it passed the time very quickly. We first started with a game of Yahtzee, which, in a short description, only requires paper and dice. Unfortunately, luck was on my grandma's side, and she won every single game. Next, and until almost midnight, my grandmother, mother and I played Uno. I can't remember the last time I laughed until I started crying tears. The biggest highlight of the game was after a couple of deck flips, my hand had almost every green card and about half of the reds and blues. It wasn't looking good, though I managed to get rid of most of them. It was a mess. We each won our fair share, and had some games that went on as long as 45 minutes!

It's a bit of a challenge to adapt without media, at least the silence, but it was worth it. It's better to pull away from the technology that binds us, and take a moment to appreciate other hobbies and going out with others. Nothing to distract, and nothing to keep us from focusing; it’s easier to talk to someone without the cell phone ringing or iPod buds in your ears, without the TV blasting behind you, etc. I think the project was a success on my end, and it also gave me a lesson in appreciating both a life with and without mass media. Small vacations from it are definitely a good idea, from time to time. Ironically, it was the next day that my grandfather decided to set up the old Atari 2600 to test if it still worked. Needless to say, I’m glad the project was only two days.