Last September 5, I had to go off the grid and avoid any form of media for 24 hours as an assignment for my MASSCOM class. Since staying home would expose me to temptation, my family and I planned to go to Alabang for the voter registration. I purposely left my phone at home just so I could focus!
By the time we got to the venue, it was packed with people and we had run out of slots already. As if by reflex, I took my phone out only to remember that I was fasting. My thoughts were there but I just lacked the outlet. I would have tweeted instantly and mindlessly complained but I realized it would be better to keep the negative thoughts to myself. I thought about how negative my newsfeed was most of the time and that I didn’t really have to add up to all the negativity. Read on to see how the rest of my day went :)
By the time we got to the venue, it was packed with people and we had run out of slots already. As if by reflex, I took my phone out only to remember that I was fasting. My thoughts were there but I just lacked the outlet. I would have tweeted instantly and mindlessly complained but I realized it would be better to keep the negative thoughts to myself. I thought about how negative my newsfeed was most of the time and that I didn’t really have to add up to all the negativity. Read on to see how the rest of my day went :)
10AM: I woke up like this - wrapped in my favorite comforter.
11AM: Just something I worked on while I was fasting. I based the piece on Dark Blue by Jack's Mannequin. Ironically, the first column's painted purple...
My favorite part. Lining the letters were harder than I thought and they didn't come out the way I wanted to but hey, I'm still learning! It dawned to me that I became more productive when I didn’t have my phone with me. I managed to finish this painting, draft an analysis, and browse through my readings because I was so restless. I thought working on my paper would be twice (or even thrice) as difficult because I didn’t have internet but a little bit of resourcefulness goes a long way (I researched beforehand and stocked up on information prior to my fast).
2PM: Headed out. Our usual trip to the south would take around 30 minutes but because of traffic, we ended up being on the road for two hours. *side eye* Nasaan ang sistema?
19 and still not a registered voter!!!!! Nasaan ulit ang sistema????
9PM: Home bound. Our trips to and from Alabang are always amusing. The drives home are always filled with looking-out-the-window kind of drama. Today's trip gave me time to think about how my fast went. I realized that going off the grid wasn’t as difficult as I expected it to be. I thought media would be avoidable if I simply switched my phone off and closed my laptop but it was practically all over me (radio, television, print ads, etc.). I felt like I missed out on so much on my friends’ lives. It was tough having to give my phone up for a day but it was completely bearable.
There are two papers waiting to be written but here I am, posting about how my day went (guess who made GIFs for no reason at all!!!) My classes have been terribly draining but I'm enjoying my majors so far. I have a strong feeling our video presentations will be a constant battle of who has the more hipster background music.