Plug in. That's what I bet you'll do. Block out everything else. Close the blinds on the natural scenery outside. Shut out the foreign conversation going on behind you. Occupy your mind with trivial things like todays Potd or Candy Crush. Create your own little imaginary bubble, where everything is secure, and nothing goes out of plan. Doesn't even matter where you are, be it on a train , in class or having a five-star dinner. Go on, I bet you will.
Technology and I have a bittersweet history. A romance, if I had to put a label on it. It started off sweet and innoncent, me playing with my Gameboy Color, catching Pokemon and beating Gym leaders. Got to the point where things turned bitter, me skipping class for days on end to jam on some DotA. To where I stand now, the insecurity of whether I should return to it or not. Like an ex-girlfriend that I never got over, I don't know if I should go back to technology.
I'm on the fence with this one. That plain white-picket fence between the great dilemma of the century. Embrace it, or sack it entirely. A part of me just wants to jump right back in and stop being left out. To start playing the newest installments like 'The Last of Us' and 'Grand Theft Auto V' and revell in the new technological revolution. Another part of me doesn't want to get hooked again, to go back to old habits.
On the sunny side of things, technology has made so many things possible. We are breaking new ground on a daily basis. Whether it be gene-splicing crops to give us more yield, or implanting robotic-action-organ-transplanting nanobots to repair dead cells in our bodies, we are achieving more and more of the impossible each day. These scientific advancements have become the core of our lives and how we live it. You couldn't even take a bite of food without technology playing it's role.
Consequently, all these headways in our lives have come to make us smug. Everything is fed to us. We need not lift a finger for anything nowadays. Want to buy some furniture? Well, screw Ikea. Just pre-order some authentic Asian furniture online and it'll be here in 2 weeks, along with assembly crew, if needed. Unnerving thing about this is, it's that the costs are indistinguishable and you need not even step out your front door.
You know what, I think I like where I stand. The line between Technological Junkie and Outdoors Woodsman. The tightrope between the old and new. Being able to recognize the newest memes and still be able to distinguish the edible mushrooms from the ones that'll make you spill your stomach. To be capable of beating noobs in a friendly game of DotA 2 and still enjoy a jog in the woods. That's what I want to be. A technological middle-man.
Right foot up. Halt. Left arm outwards. Index and middle finger into that small depression. Pray. Don't look down. Hold on tight, for dear life. There's a time in every man's life where he finds himself asking ' What the hell did I get myself into? ' And as I kept repeating that statement over and over again in my head, I held on tight to that cliff. So tight that my fingers chaffed and my toes swelled with what looks like it'll turn into blisters afterwards.
Couple of days earlier, I recieved an innoncent-looking invitation to go climbing. A Sunday get-away to the Saxonian mountains where all you could see or hear was Mother Nature herself. Fresh air. Hiking. Sunshine. Not to mention the prospect of doing something novel to me. Why not? Impulsively, I jumped at the chance and promptly confirmed my enthusiasm for the idea. Next thing ya know, I'm slumped in an empty bus, trodding towards the mountains.
So here I am. Roughly 30 meters off the ground, plastered to the face of a sheer drop. I couldn't help myself as my breathing got heavier and heavier. The cold numbed my fingers and made it even harder to get a good hold on the harsh rocks. In spite of the safety line securely fastened around my waist I was still having a hard time not shitting my pants all together. Stealing a glance backwards, I saw my others comaradies all the way down there. Ants would look bigger.
Sitting pretty on top of this monstrosity of a mountain was Sabine, half-amused at how scared I looked and half-worried I might actually just slip and tear my spine in half, living my life paralyzed waist down. She was leaning over the edge, yelling instructions as to where to put my limbs and how to pull myself upwards. The encouraging look on her face was the only thing holding my wits together at the time.
With one last haul, I strained myself over the ledge and plopped myself on the plateau above. My breaths still heavy and damp with condensed mist. I didn't even care about the cold anymore, I was relieved. ' Enjoy the view. ' Sabine suggested. ' It's the best part.' And I did, with my palms facing backwards, I leaned onto them and took in the view. Trees and sunshine streaked the horizon, stretching far off my vision. Like poetry. Just as I was about to get comfy, she said ' Come on, it's a long way back down. '
