Melissa Mancilla-post 2

So it’s getting a little bit more difficult with each passing day. It doesn’t help that every time I go outside my neighbor is singing some of my favorite songs. I’m wondering if it would count as a loophole if I paid him to play his radio outside, but I’m not that desperate yet. Just starting to get irked and feel the withdrawals. Previously I thought I would enjoy these three days, that I’d discover something about myself and my daily routine that would enlighten me so much that it would affect how I lived the rest of my life. All I learned is that when left alone with nothing to hear but my own thoughts I almost begin to show signs of a rabid dog. If music is all that’s keeping me from slipping into insanity then I indeed do need it. For some reason I had thought that after I had accomplished the first day, the rest would be cake. Not so. In fact I woke up in an irritable mood that Frank Sinatra usually cures, but today I had to find another alternative.

What is there to do…I could play checkers with myself…or perhaps talk to my dog, both without the excuse of media deprivation just come across as mental illness, so I suppose I have a reasonably good excuse.

I’ve had to find alternatives for everything. Unlike with junk food I just can’t alleviate my cravings by chewing gum. Music has always served as my remedy to everything. Take away my fix all cure and suddenly I’m not the happy camper I once was only two days ago. The television portion of my life can easily be substituted by a conversation with my mother or reading a good book. I plan to finish some books I’ve never got around to finishing, and this is a good reason to finally do so. Even though as I type this House is on, and I love that show, somehow I think I’ll manage. I’m almost relieved T.V. is gone for the day, since the news is often depressing and commercials are always advertising the new “it” product.

My internet fix will be a little trickier to ease off of. I’ve found that I resort to the computer when I’m extremely bored, so I thought I would keep myself constantly entertained different ways. In a few hours I’m off to the mall with some friends, and given that they don’t bail we should be heading on over to O.P. Schnabel park. The next best thing to ease my nerves is nature, and I never fully take advantage of such a lovely park being only a few minutes away from me.

But even the beginning of today went by much slower than anticipated. Before I had known it, I had spent an hour and forty five minutes staring up at my ceiling. Given a Johnny Depp poster adorns my ceiling (don’t judge me), I still have never zoned out and stared off into space longer than the length of a class period at Northwest Vista. Today I am much more pessimistic about the next 24 hours. When I had told me friends last night what I was doing, they laughed, then realized I was serious, then were deeply sorry I had agreed to subject myself to such a wicked experiment. It’s not that bad I assured them, just a little tough when you realize how vital music is to your everyday life. One of my friends asked me how I would get by without Twitter, to which I laughed from a good healthy place, then became horrified when I realized she wasn’t joking either. Our generation seems dependent on social networking sites to get by each day. As if MySpace wasn’t mindlessly self indulgent enough, Twitter (from what I understand, I refuse to check it out) is a networking site where you post you every action each moment of your life. I’m not knocking Twitter, just amazed at how much people rely on it.

I know I can still make the most of these three days and still salvage some sort of lesson. At least it’s been three days that won’t contribute to my hearing loss, or that won’t increase my chances of cell phone induced brain tumors. No, I’m more likely to go on my own free will now, if it meant a dull existence without the comfort of music to help get me by.