Post 4

Today, I’m being taken to the Psychiatric Center for Research on Regressive Tendencies.  Apparently I’m so different they want to do tests on me.  I really don’t know what I’ve done.  Is it really a so strange to not have a television?  You know, I’ve been walking for years, and yet this is the first time a cop car has questioned me.  I suppose they don’t see many people walking at night.  The reason I’m typing this is because I was allowed to come back to my home for an hour to pack my belongings.  It only took me about 20 minutes to pack the few things that are special to me.  I have no idea if I’ll be able to update this blog anymore; I don’t even know if there are computers that the patients are allowed to use.  I wonder how many people will be there.  My guess only a few.  I mean how many people are as different as I am?  I wonder what living there will be like.  I imagine I’ll have a small white, window-less cubical with a video camera to monitor me.  I’ll probably get my food through a slot in the door and go to various doctors to find out why I’m so strange.  I may as well just go out to the car to say I’m ready to go, no need to delay it.  So good-bye for who knows how long.

Post 3

Today, I went walking, again.  I went to the pond that’s located behind the large mall.  I remember coming here when I was younger.  Playing in the water, feeding the ducks, trying to catch the fish with my bare hands; I remember my father tied an old rope onto a branch extending over the pond so I could swing and jump into the pond.   I had a birthday party here once; I believe it was my 10th.  Some of my classmates came and we ate cake and swam.  It’s one of the happiest memories I have.   It’s so different now.  There’s no ducks happily swimming, only assorted garbage bobbing up and down in the murky water that’s full of pollution from the mall.  The rope doesn’t stand out like it used to when everything around it was young and alive.  Now there are all kinds of objects hanging from the tree: streamers from numerous parties, and toilet paper from old jokes.  There’s litter on the ground, old plates, napkins, and plastic utensils from parties, scraps of paper everywhere, and the occasional tire or other car parts scattered around.  There’s actually so much litter that you can’t even see the all the dirt and patches of brown grass, which hasn’t been cut for many years. 

A picture of the shore of the pond.

I suppose I should say my reason for going there.  I’ve heard that the area is going to be used for an extension of the mall.  I wanted to visit once more before it’s gone.  Now, I wish I’d never gone.  I don’t want the image of what it looks like now to be my last memory of one of places I loved.

Post 2

Today, while walking, I saw the most peculiar sight.  I was walking past a school playground and I saw children playing on it.  They were swinging on the swings, sliding down the slides, teetering on the teeter-totter.  They were laughing and running and chasing each other and having great fun outside of their homes.  I checked my watch to see if school was still in session that would explain the playing, since every student up until the 8^th grade must have physical education.  This was one of the things made mandatory in the election last year.  But, the time on my watch said 6:34pm, much too late for school to be in and all daycares end at 5:00pm.  I asked a child “Why are you out here playing?  Are your televisions broken?” and she said “No, they’re not broken.  We’re reenacting an old show we saw.  The kids on there were playing on a playground like this and playing tag and swinging and other stuff.”  I just nodded and walked away.  I should’ve known.  No person in their right mind, child or adult, would subject to physical activity without a connection to some form of technology.  Except me, that is.

Post 1

Today, I got a camera to take pictures of interesting things I see while walking.  I’ve used almost half of the roll of film just from the mile walk from the store to my home.  I’ll try to upload some pictures on here after I finish writing this post.  The electronics store I went to has greatly expanded since the last time I was there, which was only six months ago to get a new toaster.  My other had abruptly stopped working one morning.  I should have known it would’ve soon, it was 20 years old, and it’s not one of those high tech remote control ones that never seem to break. 

Oh, I’ve seemed to have gotten off topic.  Now what was I talking about?  Oh, yes, the store, the expansion and such.  Six months prior it was just opening its doors; a small two story store whose entire top floor was dedicated to televisions, leaving the bottom floor with everything else.  But, now you could fit at least 12 of those small stores inside.  Now there are five stories (two and a half of those dedicated to televisions and the rest full of various electronics), and a three story parking garage.  Inside, to get to the kitchen appliances section, I needed to go up in one of the six elevators the store possesses to the third floor.  Stepping out, I noticed the toasters were at the opposite end.  I had two options: walk the distance or take the moving walkway, which was very popular with the other occupants of the store.  All of the robust people standing on the walkway occasionally stepped off in order to change directions, other than that, they were statues being moved to one place to another.  I was appalled that that many citizens opted to take the walkway in order to avoid any kind of extreme (I guess you would say in their case) activity that required effort.  Why, when going to this store in its previous state, people had to walk, getting to the merchandise, going to the entrance/exit and getting to your vehicle all required the now unneeded and over all crazy activity of walking.  I remember I started walking just as a plump young man with bright orange hair stepped on to the walkway.  I realized that at my normal walking speed, we got to our desired destination (the toaster section) at the exact moment.  It amazes me how much things can change in six months.