Weekends and Dependency on Technology

I had a very good weekend. I couldn't find anybody to go to the symphony with me, so I gave the tickets to our summer intern and changed my Saturday plans to Friday, just in case, things aligned themselves in such a way as I had plans to go to the baseball game. I didn't get to the ball game, but I was glad I switched my plans as a group of friends went to see the new Star Wars movie. I liked it. It's not fabulous, it's not in the least bit better than the original three, but it was infinitely better than Episodes I & II (which pretty much sucked ass). I found the action scenes, particularly the light saber fights to be a tad frenetic. All I saw were flashes of light, it was impossible to see which light saber belonged to which person. Yes, the acting was bad, but it's not like you go to Star Wars expecting Oscar-quality acting. And the dialogue was pretty awful – particularly the mushy "I love you" "No, I love you more" shit between Padme and Anakin. It was embarrassing to watch. George Lucas SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED TO WRITE his own movies.

Back to my weekend: I did yoga Thursday evening, Friday at lunch and Saturday morning. Damn, but I was sore after that. Friday I also had the complete and utter joy of going for a mammogram. It's just not fair that men have nothing to compare to the joy of a mammogram and a Pap smear. And no, the test where the doctors holds your scrotum and asks you to cough doesn't even come close to what we women endure every year in the name of health, so don't even try it.

Friday evening was spent pleasantly with friends having dinner and watching movies. We watched To Catch a Thief and The Empire Strikes Back. Saturday was yoga, and then I got myself a massage, and then I tried to watch the Muppets' Wizard of Oz, but it turned out that the tape I used only had an hour and half left, so I watched the whole bloody (not really that good) thing only to have the tape run out on me as they were about to confront the Wizard. *sigh* It's bad enough when a movie just isn't that good, but then to miss the ending? DAMMIT!!!

Sunday was Mass, church meeting where we voted about whether we supporting the possible merger with Precious Blood, laundry and then a b-day BBQ for a dear friend. Of course, Saturday the weather was GORGEOUS and yesterday for the BBQ, it was rainy and cool. We were diehards though, and stayed outside the whole time. It was another pleasant day with friends.

I borrowed this from Words of Mine:

Doing without...

1. If the cable/dish is out of service, what is your reaction and why? I get really annoyed with Comcast since they suck so badly anyway. Actually, it depends on the time of year. If it's hockey season (and there really is a hockey season), I get really pissed off because I can't watch the game. If it's racing season and it happens to be a weekend that I have a race, I get beyond pissed off and vent my spleen on the incompetents that run Comcast. Okay, I don't really, I am quite nice on the phone, but the second I get off, damn, but do I let it all out. Other than those situations, I'd pick a book out of the many I have lying around and start reading. Or I'd grab a DVD and play it.

2. If the electricity is out of service, what is your reaction and why? Well, let's see. What did I do two years ago when the entire northeastern part of the country (including Ontario, Canada) lost electricity? I walked home, threw my stuff in the apartment, grabbed my car keys, and turned on the radio to find out what the hell was up. Then I got a chair out of my car, got my book and sat outside reading my book while listening to the news reports and worst yet (for those stuck in the traffic jams), the traffic reports. And since we all knew there was no way there was going to be any work the next day, most of the people in my building and my friends from the other buildings all gathered outside on the front walkway and just talked and drunk beer (those of us who had any) and stayed up half the night looking at the stars which you could see since there wasn't any residual city light to block them.

On a normal day when I don't have electricity I probably take it with less equanimity than that day – depending on the time of year. Summer – no problem as it's light until 10:00 p.m. Winter would be a little rougher as it gets dark starting at 4:30 p.m. which would make any book reading a tad difficult – or sitting outside with friends looking up at the sky. But I guess I would go searching for my candles and huddle them all together for enough light by which to read or knit.

3. If the phone service is out of service, what is your reaction and why? I dumped my landline so I never have phone service, per se. Actually a few years back a train going past snagged a low-lying wire and pulled down something like six telephone poles and with it my electricity (briefly – less than a couple of hours), phone (for two freakin' weeks) and cable (a day or so). The loss of phone made me crazy just because I knew my friend in one of the other buildings had his back in a day while the three single women in my building were without for two weeks. That's when I dumped Ameritech as they promised me I would NOT be charged for those two weeks and I was. Sure, they took it off the second I called, but I thought it was a cheap move as I'm sure they were just trying to see what they could get away with. BASTARDS.

4. If your cell phone is out of service, what is your reaction and why? I would feel totally disconnected from the world. And it doesn't matter that I rarely use my cell phone, it would just be the knowledge that I couldn't even if I wanted to that would drive me nuts. And I probably wouldn't notice that I didn't have service I get so few calls.

5. How dependent on a scale from 1 to 4 (4 being extremely dependent) are you on the four items/services that were just mentioned and do you think it is a good or bad thing? Most definitely electricity. During the Great Blackout of August 2003, I had no power from Thursday until late on Saturday and it's a frustrating thing because you can't cook, get water from the faucet (it needs to be boiled first), listen to the radio to get the news, etc.