Hardcover, Paperback, or PDF?

Few people will argue that the digital world isn't overpowering the physical one. Books, newspapers, magazines, everything that was once tangible has turned digital. With the rising popularity of e-readers, and now tablets, it's just a matter of time before the only thing in a student's backpack is their iPad.

There go all the worries we once had about heavy textbooks wreaking havoc on our backs. Instead of carrying around multiple hardcovers, we'll now have an app and a list of recent downloads. Spiral notebooks and three-ring binders will be replaced with another app. Homework will only be accepted via email. Maybe typing will start being taught at an earlier age, and penmanship will become less important. 

For as long as man has existed, we've sought to improve things. To make our daily lives easier. These latest developments are just the natural progression and there is nothing wrong that. Right? Less resources wasted, less back pain down the line, less to loose track of, the list goes on. The price of such technology will only drop as the devices themselves become more popular. So what's the argument against such a digital way of life? A preservation of history? That's what museums are for. Right? 

I just can't help but wonder if Fahrenheit 451 will have the same effect when read as a pdf. If we'll just keep loosing more and more in translation.

Knitter Needed (Crocheters Need Not Apply)

I'm only a couple weeks into my PWP and already my friends are sick of hearing about it. You see, they had to hear about my initial idea, and bear with me as I refined it. They were poked and prodded for ideas and suggestions as I composed a list of all the things I wanted to do with it. Then they were harassed into helping me accomplish said things. 

My best friend's hauling me back to his childhood home in Wisconsin, sacrificing his weekend and risking his car to teach me how to drive. A co-worker has found herself a new career path, as both my personal barber and my human training wheels. My boss is letting me camp out in his backyard. If anything, this project has taught me that I have a really great group of friends who are willing to put up with a lot. 

However, not a single one of them knows how to knit. I've also been unable to find anyone with enough time for a road trip between now and finals. Turns out, possessing the motivation to finish my list is only half the battle. Real world limitations are currently forcing me to reassess some items and cross others off entirely.

The grass is always greener...

When I was in middle school, I (like most kids) couldn't wait for high school and (like most kids) had a skewed perception of what those four years were actually going to be like. I blame the babysitters who let me watch teen movies, and the fact that The WB was one of the few channels that came in clearly on my bedroom's broken cable box. Those two factors alone meant that my expectations were weird and my destiny was to be disappointed.

And disappointed I was.

When I finally got to high school, I spent most of my time bitching and moaning. (At the teachers. At the homework. At my classmates, the cafeteria food, the school song... you name it, I bitched about it.) The adults in my life tried to help by sending cliche words of wisdom my way. Half of them told me to enjoy the experience while I could (translation: this as good as it gets) while the others reassured me that it would be over before I knew it (which just means: grit your teeth and suck it up). 

I've never been good at gritting my teeth. Or sucking it up. Same goes with biting my tongue. I'm more of the "shake your first in the air and scream until something gets better" type. Which in my experience has about a 47% success rate. The downside is that I usually end up giving up and moving on 53% of the time. 

The bottom line is this: I've moved twenty times. A list of my past addresses would trail across four states and countless towns. I've put in brief appearances at four different high schools and a lot has gotten lost in translation. Which means I took Physical Education of Freshman during my senior year, three different sections of Economics, and yet somehow never made it to Driver's Ed. To this day, I'm a twenty-year old college student who has no idea how to drive. Or ride a bike. 

I've never been camping. Or played a musical instrument. Or seen any of the Star Wars movies.

When experiences like these come up in conversation, I usually explain them away with a shrug and a "yeah, I never really got around to it." It wasn't until recently that I realized I might be missing out on something. So when this project was assigned, I figured it was the perfect opportunity to make a list of these experiences and to check them off one by one. 

So here's to hoping for no broken bones?