A Practical Application Of Interpreted Emersonian And — страница 2

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going on?), and how maybe a little warming up would be better before starting. Maybe this no distraction thing will improve my driving! Yeah, right. Day 3 Today I feel more reprecussions of not having a job. A few weeks ago my roommates and I made the executive descion to cancel our cable, once we realized we were somehow getting free cable from the neighbors. Last night, however, the Cable Gods took our free cable away with a big rainstorm that blew away our mysterious free-cable hook-up. Now, you can’t just call the cable guy and say, “Hey, gimme back my free cable,” so here we are, without television. My roommate has the day off work and she’s pissed. No Oprah, no Jerry, no Montel. I try to convince her to write a paper for me or something, but she refuses. I’m off

to school, (money-free, music-free, morning-MTV-newsflash-free) and it occurs to me that my gym membership is due today. I’ll have to cancel it. I guess I can jog around my neighborhood and do some sit ups at home for awhile until I get a job. But no Stairmaster? No fan? No drinking fountain? How will I know how many calories I’ve burned? And who will be around to watch me look cute in my little workout outfit? This simple living is getting highly inconvienient. Day 6 Catastrophe! Last night my roommate mistook my cell phone for hers. Now my phone, my link to life, is on a plane on it’s way to New York! Going as frequently as I do between my boyfriend’s place and mine (and primarily because my father pays the bill) the only phone line I have is my cell phone. I use it for

everything. Everything. Arranging rides, dealing with banks, landlords, potential employers, co-ordinating schedules with my boy, my roommates, my sister. I don’t even know my sister’s phone number–all I ever do is get her on speed dial. Not only can I not reach anyone, but no one can reach me. It’s like I’m suddenly alone. I know my other roommate is out of school by now. If only I could call her, I could arrange to trade off her parking pass instead of driving around fighting for free parking. If I had my phone, I could also call my gym on the way to school and cancel my membership before I start accumulating late fees. (Today is the absolute final deadline to cancel.) I could also check in with my internship and let them know I’m running late today, to avoid stern

faces when I finally arrive. Now, driving around trying to find this resturaunt I’m supposed to meet my boyfriend at, I wonder how people used to get around without cell phones? Did they just give better directions? Did they just arrange meeting times and actually stick to them? This is pathetic. I am at the mercy of technology! Thank God I finally get in touch with Miss New York and she agrees to Next-Day my phone to me. Assuming, of course, that I Next-Day hers to New York. More dollars on the credit card. Day 10 Okay. I have my cell phone back. I have cash from my father. I’m actually enjoying my break from the gym. (I’ve found so many shortcuts in the woods I never knew existed!) We’ve put the television in a new spot, so we’re getting three channels and sometimes

four. Things are looking up, and then… We lose power. This is the grand finale to my Emersonian/Thoreauvian experience. You really don’t know how much you rely on a department such as PG&E until it’s gone. Our total reliance makes this state’s energy crisis pretty scary. My house loses power around 5 pm, just before dinner is started. I call PG&E from my cell phone (thank God for cell phones!) only to learn that our ex-roommate, whose name our account is still listed under, has requested that the account be terminated. Thank you, Nicole, for the notification. Danny, the unsympathetic operator, tells me we will have power again sometime tomorrow when the new account is activated. This leaves us powerless all night. Uh, problem. Tonight we’re showing Nicole’s

old room to potential roommates. The first appointment is in 30 minutes, and we can’t get in touch with any of our appointments because we didn’t take any numbers. We hear the phone ring, but we can’t pick it up to warn them not to come. It’s a cordless phone. We frantically search the house for candles and flashlights. We light all the candles, which fills the room a wide variety of scents, and which then sets the smoke alarm off. We open the windows to air out the house and shut the stupid alarm up, but it’s freezing outside, and we have no heat. People keep showing up, and we have to keep turning them away—you can’t show a house if you can’t see it. When talk of dinner comes up, we realize that not only can we not cook dinner, but all the food in our