I didn't realize how much of my life is dependent on the internet. Here is a list of things I couldn't do that I really needed to:
1. News. There were some pretty big news stories here in Utah, and although we had television, most of the news I like is online.
2. YouTube to help me with things. Ever since board game companies started creating videos to teach a person the rules to a game, I can't stand reading the rule books. It's so easy to watch the rules and see people playing the game so that you know what's going on. I bought three board games, well, two actually, sort of. I bought one in December for Christmas, but Amazon was sold out, and so five months later, I open the door, and there's a package for me that I didn't know was the game, I had actually forgot that I bought it for a Christmas present for Elliot and me to play together. Then I bought two games on sale because one was 50% off, and the other one was 70% off. They were games I really wanted, but didn't want to spend the money for them, but since the sales were so good, I got them at a small fraction of the price. Anyway, I wanted to watch videos on how to play the games but couldn't. I read the rules which took longer.
3. Blogging. I have a couple of ideas for blog posts. I mentioned at the top of this post that sometimes I feel like I need to think of things I might want to blog about. I have a couple in mind, but since we didn't have the internet, I wanted to post this one instead.
4. Movie critic stuff. This one is harder because even though my laptop is still pretty new, the "L" letter key came off, and my computer was still under warrantee, I had to send it into get it fixed, so not having my laptop is hard enough. I have a movie screening to do a podcast review on, but my desktop computer has a low hum, and when I record my podcast on the desktop computer records the hum as well, and it's strange because in the podcast recording, the hum sounds louder than it does hearing it with my ears, and it's too annoying, so I only record the podcast. Although the movie I saw last night is coming out next week, and even though I got to see it early, I can't post a review for it until Tuesday, but I don't have my laptop, and I refuse to record another podcast on my desktop, I am thinking I will just have to write it and hope people read it. I needed the internet to email back and forth with my press handler so that I knew the details for the screening and what not, but I had to walk down to the park at the end of our street to get our network service.
5. Streaming services. I love my job because not only do I get to see movies early and for free, but the companies also give me free streaming services. This week I really wanted to watch The Mandalorian on my TV, but you need the internet to stream movies and TV shows, so I wasn't able to do it. I am going to watch it as soon as I post this blog post, but yeah, that's only one thing I couldn't watch. I watch a lot of stuff streaming because now, there are a lot of movies made just for the streaming platforms, and so not only do I watch a lot, but I am also able to review more things, which help me out a lot. I don't just watch movies; I actually review a lot of things. Usually, they are things I share here on my blog, but not everything. I would sit there and thing, Oh man, sweet, the new episode of The Mandalorian dropped last night at 1:00 A.M. (That's when Disney+ updates their services, if you live in the Mountain Time Zone, just so you know.) but then I remembered oh wait, can't watch it. No internet.
6. Like I said, I was able to text, but only if I went away from the house, which is weird because usually I can still use my phone connected to the network to use my iPad to piggyback on and use my phone as a hotspot, but it didn't work. I text a few friends almost daily and having to be away from home to text was a pain. I couldn't make plans with people unless, like I said, I walked down to the park. I did get exercise, but it was a pain, lol.
7. I started teaching curling classes at the Utah Olympic Oval, and I needed to look at the schedule to see what time the classes were. We have businesses that have a work party, and they come to the oval, have something to eat and then we teach a learn to curl class, but the companies come at different times, so guess what? That's right. Walked down to the park to check. Speaking of which, the group I taught on Tuesday made me think two things. 1. This is just like substitute teaching a high school remedial class where there are a couple of hard-working students who need the help, but mostly full of kids with bad cases of ADHD who goof off, and I am playing babysitter instead of helping the good kids with their work. And 2. I seriously thought about not teaching anymore because I was so frustrated and upset, I really thought that it isn't worth the money I get paid to teach a class, even if I get paid $100 to teach the company groups. I didn't feel the frustration and negativity were worth it. However, we had the Crumbl cookie company the next day, and they were awesome. They were super fun to teach, and I know I've done a good job teaching them when they are having a blast and understand the game. I teach it the same way every single time, but the groups are always a little different. Anyway, I was still able to get to the classes when I needed to, but it was still a walk down to the park to get it to work.
8. Taxes. I needed to pay taxes and had to go to my sister's house to do it online. That was super nice for my sister to let my dad and me come over to do both of our taxes at her house. She lives really close to us, so it wasn't a big deal, but still, it's easier sitting in pajamas and not having to drive over, do the taxes, visit for a little while, and then come back home.
There were a lot of reasons why it sucked to not have internet access in our house. Though there were little workarounds, like walking to the park, it was still a huge pain not having the internet. I think the two biggest problems were Streaming Services and the Critic stuff. It seriously felt like the beginning of the pandemic where nothing was open, and we had to stay at home. It felt like that again, which was weird, because really, all of the things I missed really weren't a huge deal. I didn't like the fact realizing that I am addicted to the internet. I don't think people should really be addicted to anything unless it's really important to your life and salvation, lol. Anyway, that's the adventure I have had this week. It's great having the internet back, but it was also a humbling experience. I think the relationships we have in our lives are more important than entertainment and working, and I thought that maybe I might need to limit myself for the amount of entertainment stuff I watch in a day, even if I am reviewing it for work. I should have gone to the gym, or I should have gone and volunteered at the hockey tournament going on at the Olympic Oval. There are a lot of handicapped kids helping with things, like selling shirts for fundraising. I could have done something with my dad or helped out with my mom since she is having a hard time with health issues lately. I just think there are better ways to spend my time and my attention, and so I think I should really make a new plan on things that keep me only plugged in a little bit a day instead of hours of time.
I hope you all are doing well. I think that using the internet to write blogs for you to read is a good example of being plugged into the internet. I hope you really enjoy my posts and that they give you good ideas for a wide variety of things that you may not know about. I want to do another board game review soon, but I need to play it first, lol. Anyway, I will let you all go now. I hope that my frustrations of not having the internet will inspire you to do things that aren't online. I will post something again very soon. Take care!
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