Day 2 of Miserableness

Ok so I'm finally blogging about my second day for this media deprivation project, and well it was hard. I didn't think that I would make it through the day. The first thing I do every morning is take a shower and get ready to music and have the tv onSo this morning really messed my rountine up for me putting me in a bad mood. Everyone that crossed my path that day entered into the war zone. The first hours all I did was lay around on the couch and then in my recliner and then got tired of the living room and went back to bed. I slept for a few hours and when I woke up I checked my phone and had numerous missed calls and texts. So i returned all of my texts and phone calls and decided to go out. Driving in the car on my way to go out was really hard to do. ok so every where i went the music and tv was on so i was glad that being in that envrironment was allowed because i would have went crazy if i was in silence for an entire day. after getting home i wanted to stay up and just relax and put a movie in but i realized i couldnt do that so i just went to bed and when i woke up the next morning i was ina much better mood and i got to start my day off with e normal routine. i'm so glad that this project is over and i will never have to do something like this again unless i'm in the middle of a village in Africa

Saturday

Since today was Saturday, I had the hardest time staying away from any kind of media. When I first woke up, I had numerous text messages on my phone. I had informed close friends of mine of the the media deprivation project and they insisted on tempting me with messages. I didn't reply to them because I had told them already what I was doing; however the people I never told were the one's that I replied to. I wanted to call some friends and see what they were doing and too see if they wanted to do anything that night, but that would be "breaking the rules". Instead I had to get in contact with a car dealership because I had to go look for a vehicle. I headed on over to the dealership and began looking for a car. I believe the time I went was a little after 12 noon. Shortly after that I found a vehicle. You would not believe how long it actually takes to purchase a vehicle. The amount of paperwork I needed to sign was outrageous!!! It literally took seven hours! I was completely drained. After the long process I drove away in my new car. And yes I did listen to the radio on the way home. ( in case you were wondering). You by a new car and not listen to the radio. I just doesn't happen. After knowing what a good system I had, I left it on. (You didn't think that I would actually turn it off did you?) Once I got home, I had dinner with my girlfriend and her parents. It was a nice quiet evening, but we did have some soft smooth jazz playing throughout the night. All in all I wouln't be able to function without media since I've been exposed to it for such a long time.

Friday

Well.....where to begin...... Friday's deprivation of media was fairly easy. I found that the busier I was, the easier it was living without the distraction of media. With that being said, Friday I woke up and got ready for work. I found it a little difficult while eating breakfast since I wanted to turn on the television and watch the news. I find it most important to know what exactly is going on in the world and with our country as well. After my morning meal, it was off too work. Normally driving to work is a farily simple task; however Friday was the exception. The sound of the road irritated me. I had too listen to something.....anything! I finally gave in to temptation and blasted some tunes. The sound of the rhythm and beats seemed to calm me down. That was probably the best drive to work I ever had. At the Hartford it is a necessity to work on a computer. Working was fine but on break I was tempted to surf the web. I didn't want to give in too temptation so I went for a walk instead. ( how boring ). After a long days work I got in the car and couldn't stand the noise from the radio. I had to shut it off. I just wanted to sit back in quiet and unwind from the busy day. It's so ironic to think that before I headed into work I had to listen to music; while heading home from work I couldn't stand the noise. Normally when I get home I turn on the television but it was an extremely pressing day. I sat down on the couch and and fell asleep for about an hour. I didn't want anyone to bother me much less watch TV. Once I woke up from my nap, my sister was watching television. ( my favorite show nonetheless) I couldn't help but be drawn to the drama, bright lights, and sounds. I broke down and ended up watching the rest of the show with my sister.

The day the earth stood still..

Well..more like the day everything went slow as hell. This weekend's experience was something especially out of the ordinary. No talking to my peeps and hoeskis, no watching television when already bored, no Xbox 360, and absolutely no music! I already knew before i began this test of endurance (yes it was a boredom endurance test) that it would be difficult. Then i found out that my lovely job at Game Crazy hadn’t scheduled me all weekend! Usually i would be very excited to have an entire weekend off. But with out the mass media in my life i actually would have preferred to work with the one thing i couldn’t do on my own time for once, be around video games and electronics. So Friday night, my last night of fun lasted until early Saturday morning. I did not start this exercise until i actually woke up from whenever i went to sleep so around 7:00am Saturday, i was still up playing a new game a purchased "Left 4 Dead" an exciting zombie shooter. Finally i was asleep and didn’t wake till around 3pm so lucky for me the day was already passing me by. But of course the rest of the day was just dreadful. Unfortunately i had already finished reading a book i had purchased a week before "The Mystery Method", a book about pick up artist and to be honest actually works when tested on the field! =). So there i was just sitting on my couch looking at the ceiling. I felt like actually sitting in a closet in the dark just sitting and make a endurance test out of it almost as if it were a David Blaine special on TV pushing his bodies to the limits, well there i was pushing my boredom to the limits with bags under my eyes and everything! But instead of Bobby Deleon's special "Closet of Doom" i helped my grandparents put of Christmas lights. To my surprise i wasn’t that bad at all, as it made time go by pretty fast plus i was up on their roof and was able to scream "I'M BORED SOMEBODY HELP ME". My grandpa told me to STFU and i got down so i wouldn’t make the neighbors think im the crazy guy on the street. Afterwards putting up lights i went out to eat with some friends at CI CI"S PIZZA and then found out that i would have to cheat in this mass media diet. I just had to play the Simpsons arcade game. I've been playing that game for years and being the gamer i am i just had to cheat for ten minutes. By the time i ate and was done chillin with the friends i tried to go to sleep. It being 10pm i was still widely awake due to the fact i didn’t wake up till 3 but to my luck i was able to pass out. The next morning was Sunday, the day god created Football. I knew when I awoke that there was no way in hell I was going to miss a huge monsters Cowboys game. I knew I would last till the Cowboys game, which was a 3:15 kickoff, so I decided to go play some basketball at Home Court America with some friends around Noon. That made time go by extremely fast and enjoyed playing the sport I had grown up with and have not done much of as of late. Of course I was rusty in the beginning but soon found my shot back in it was buckets after that! Afterwards I boogied back to my house, showered, changed and went to go watch the Cowboys at a friend’s house. It parents bar be qued and it was nice to take a break from the project for about 4 hours. Sadly the Cowgirls lost thanks to Tony Homo and the offense and I was pissed off so we had a couple beers and went outside to play some basketball again because I figured that would not only make time go by quick, but take my mind of the football game. By the time I returned home it was already dark outside and was nearing the end of the endurance test. My iPod was dead when I began the weekend so I figured I’d just charge it and get it ready for midnight so I can blast the hell out of my speakers. Around 10 or so I received a phone call from a friend to go play Xbox 360 and by then I was already done with it so I went over and cheated for the last time! Luckily we played till after midnight so it really was my last time cheating. Even though this weekend wasn’t too much fun for being off of work, I did enjoy playing basketball which I believe really got me through it all.

couldnt be better

Day two of media deprevation. Thought i would give into using my media but turned out i was occupied again and it wasnt necessary. Im never home anyways, always out with friends, so i still didnt feel the need to make unecessary phone calls or sit on my butt and watch a film. Now if i was sick i think this project would have been a little harder, but luckily i wasnt. In a way im glad that im not drawn to those things when i get bored , i just go walk my dogs or find something to clean. Now thats a way to stay occupied. I woke up saturday morning and helped set up my friends christmas tree and a bunch of decorations. I love getting into the spirit with those old school fat lights you put on your roof. Man it really feels like xmas. I techically gave in when i took a break and they had " Mrs. Doubtfire" playing on their tv, ( couldnt help it ) but i didnt press the button so im not at fault :]. After that i just took a nap overwelmed with a hangover from the night before. Taking up the rest of my afternoon, i awoke to a phone call which i didnt take. But only becuase i didnt feel like yapping to someone on the phone lol. I still needed to relax so i took my kids (pitbulls)as my friends mom calls it, on a walk and took a smoke break with the fam. They dont have internet at their house or a computer or cell phones ( not kidding in any way) so i didnt find it hard at all! as long as i am entertained, i dont need media. What ever happened to the days when someone would come looking for you at your door instead of calling? NOBODY used to use cell phones so why now, why is it so important. Convienient yes, but it takes alot of meaning out of it when your not meeting in person to discuss things. but as usual the world progresses and we all somehow have to tagalong. This experience showed me that i dont need to rely on these such things and that yeah there is a world out there without using media of any sort. I found this assignment to be easy just another guidline that helped me get around without media, In all i barely cheated and had a good time without it.

I was so close

Sunday 10:21 am.
I cracked!!!!! I was doing so good too. I tried my hardest and stuck it out as long as I could. I thought I was going to be able to make it seeing that I had to go to work on Saturday and was going to be there until midnight. But it happened. I got into my car after work and turned on the radio forgetting I was still media deprived. I have no clue what made me think I was finished with the project maybe it was the fact that I was answering the phone at my work all day. Granted answering the phone is no talking to your best friend but it still gives you a chance to sneak in a little conversation with the associates from the other store. When the project first started I thought I was not going to be able to do the talking on the phone or text messaging thing. But little do I know it was the radio that kicked my butt. Saturday morning I woke up and started putting on the Christmas lights outside. After two hours of holding lights and nailing them to the roof I went inside to eat some menudo that my mom made before I started to get ready for work. After doing my daily routine of showering and getting dressed it was off to work for me. Getting to work I knew that the media deprivation project was out the window because my job revolves around the phone and the computer. During my lunch break I got the urge to text one of my best friend Samantha but resisted and went to eat lunch with my friend Julio considering it was his last day working with me : ( Well we went to Jack in the Box and talked until it was time to go back to work he asked why I was not turning on the radio and I told him about my project. It was at that moment that I knew my life revolved around media when he told me “wow and you’ve lasted this long already”. The rest of my day was a big blur between the complaining customers and the messy shoe boxes. After punching out I could not wait to get home and just relax. I got inside my car and thought “why is the radio off?” I turned it on and began jamming out to Beyonce the whole way home. It was when I turned off my car and grabbed my books that I realized I just broke the rule of not listening to the radio.

Media Deprived

Friday Night 11:25 pm.
Media. Radio, internet, TV, phone, text messaging. These are the things that today’s society find necessary. Today a research paper can not be finished without using the internet. Telephone calls are are now over rated and many just result to sending a simple text message. The conversation one has with their parents about going out with friends can simply be shortened to a text message saying “goin 2 da movies wit sum frnds c u wen I get home”. Media has not only taken over society it has also over taken my life.
In my Mass Communications class I am currently media deprived. I have not been able to listen to the radio, watch television, or use my phone for the last fourteen and a half hours. This is by far the hardest project I have ever participated in. I now realize how apart of my life media is. How the little things such as the internet and the radio I take for granted. I know being media deprived sounds easy, but when your used to turning on the radio as soon as you get inside your car or texting your best friend to see what your going to do later on, you find that your life revolves around the media.
This morning when I woke up I was ready to turn on the television and listen to the morning news. When I got in to my car I was ready to turn on my radio to begin singing to my favorite song. When I arrived home I was ready to turn on the computer and surf the web the way I usually do. But when I woke up this morning I took a shower with no music playing. I got into my car and turned the radio off. I came home and for the first time in a very long time I sat down and played a board game with my sister. During dinner my family wasn’t busy watching football or trying to diagnose the patient on “House”. My family sat down and talked. We chatted about our day, school, work, and church.
When I first heard that I was going to be deprived of media for 48 hours I thought that I was going to die and not be able to last. I thought that nothing good would be able to come from this. But little did I know that not being completely surrounded by media I was able to have fun with my sister and actually get to have a decent conversation with my parents and not have to wonder when my friend was going to text me back, or when my favorite show was about to come on.