Summer 07 Weekly Question #1

On a scale of 1 to 10 with ten being the most natural and 10 being the most technological, I'd put myself at about a 3. I know that probably sounds a bit low to many of you, so please allow me to elaborate. I do use the following technologies with regularity: my car, my laptop, my washer/drier, indoor plumbing, stove/oven, and `fridge. I own/rent a PS2, dish washer, apartment with electricity/lighting and AC/heat, TV, and a cell phone. However, I rarely watch TV as I prefer a good book 95% of the time and I don't have cable OR rabbit ears at the moment (crazy... I'm sure). I only have 4 PS2 games and I only play them when I'm out of books or feel like crashing cars after a rough day (It's the first and only video game consol that I've ever owned, so I'm not a huge video gamer... I prefer cards, the standard kind with 52 in a deck ranging from Ace to King with 4 suits...); it stays disconnected in my closet most of the time. I try to wash my dishes by hand as soon as I'm done with them, otherwise I forget to do them and end up with ALL the dishes dirty when I really need one. The windows in my room are great, so if I open the windows I get a great breeze and tons of light; I don't need to turn on artifical lights unless I'm up late at night. If I get cold, I just shut the window; if I'm hot, I turn on the fan and that usually takes care of things. I hate using telephones. My cell phone is therefor my only phone and I don't use it very much... only when email or AIM don't work or to prove to my parents that I'm still alive and well and haven't fallen off the face of the planet. Lucky for me, my boyfriend also hates phones, so it doesn't pose any trouble for us. I do not, currently, have a microwave and honestly, I don't need one. Real cooking tastes better; I can even make the crust for a cherry pie from scratch (thanks to Grandma Mills). My technological guilty pleasures are ridiculously long hot showers, the internet, music (stereo and my iPod), and long drives for no good reason other than for fun. I even have green stuff growing in my apartment, and no, it isn't mold. I have flowers and some herbs in pots on my window seal, including what is turning into a monster of a basil plant that I think wants to conquer my room. I love camping, hiking, canoeing, and other activities outside too.

I'm not really sure that being technological is on a different end of some pole from being natural, because, well, people's emotions, thoughts and actions are pretty much just natural... they have a sort of illogic and whimsy that a machine or computer just can't copy, and yet when people aren't being "natural" in their behavior and thoughts it's not "technological" so much as it is just "phony" or "forced."