By: Andrew Ettestad
Wednesday at work, rain comes and goes keeping in-store traffic very low. It was a slow day, like many during the week. The store is darker than usual—kind of like it like this, easy on the eyes. The environment can be overwhelming, TVs playing ads, soundbars playing their demos, and the store speaker playing Todo De Ti for the fourth time today.
I checked my watch 1330, damn only an hour and a half into my shift, time to put in an earbud. OH, one of the people I follow put out a new podcast today lets listen in. Well, look at that; I managed to forget to check my snap and see what I have missed since last night. First Snap was a streak snap, not meaningful. Second snap, there was a party last night, and I missed that!? I guess it was for the better. Oh geez, I was just tagged in a post on Instagram. Let me check it out. Damn, I missed tapping on the notification. It’s OK; back out to the home screen and open Instagram not that hard. Olight is having an end of august sale, and their new product is 40% off! Bookmark for later. Let’s see this post. OH, it’s another giveaway for a bottle opener. That’s kind of cool. It’s Bender from Futurama as a bottle opener. Let me see what else does he make. Cool, he has more styles of the same bottle opener with their unique design. This one glows! How much does this go for? $280! God damn!
Wait, hold up. New York is mandating that every employee in the state are forced to get the covid vaccine or face getting laid off regardless of medical exemptions. I’m not too fond of that. Politics and government are saying you should take something; knowing nothing about your health bothers me. Let me read into this. Hmm, it’s true. The health commissioner for New York seems to be on the fence about this. He advocates getting the shot but wants New Yorkers to consult with their healthcare provider about whether an additional dose is appropriate for them that I can agree with, talking to your doctor.
Another snap, that’s right, I have a few snaps to look at. Oh, I need to send that streak back, too, I forgot. Sent a streak photo, done, let’s check the rest. I missed out on a poker night, missed out on going to the pool with roommates, and this one is a TikTok; let me tap through it.
A coworker texted me what time I’m getting lunch and what I was feeling. Hmm, not sure let’s see what’s nearby; let’s open yelp. Takeout, no mall food, nothing American, chick-fil-a had recently, no I don’t want chain restaurants. Vietnamese sounds excellent and refreshing, and it just opened this month, and it’s a dine-in the only nevermind. Kabobs sound good, and I know that I can carry them out. What time should I eat? It is only a quarter after two. Yelp says it would take 30-45 mins for the food to be ready. Guess let’s submit an order wait. Close some apps and let me clear the notifications on my screen. Emails, bye, Facebook, bye, Reddit, bye, Instagram, bye, USAA, bye, Netflix, bye, best buy, buy, message on offer up. Let me see what it says. How did I miss this? Mark has made a request of $250 on an item I am selling for $450. No, let me see $380 if he bits. Nope, but it came up some more as expected. OK, $330 fine offer with a demo. Aye, I agreed to it with a meet-up date for tomorrow morning, sweet! Yelp notification just popped up saying our food is ready. It was a little after 1430; it must be slow for them as well. Food was made and prepared faster than the estimated time from yelp. Let me get ready then to go on break. I turned off the radio and took my earpiece off, and I can hear the world around me again. the rain on the roof, and someone has let Mike have aux to the store and is now playing techno. A good time to leave for lunch in my book.
0600, it’s morning time; I set up my encampment along Mason pond in the trees. The air is heavy, cold, and damp. Perfect. The Cloud deck is low today, and the smell of rain is in the air. I’ve set up my hammock and topped it with a tarp so my stuff and I can stay dry. I was thinking to myself; it’s a perfect spot. I have the sound of the fountain, the smell of the fresh-ish air. I can hear the birds calling out and the squirrels rustling about the trees. And to think an hour of this. No music, No media, No talking, No cars, No machinery noises, just peace, and quiet. I hopped up into my hammock and swung back forth. Hearing the straps tighten from my weight and the movement of the hammock. I can listen to the wood in the trees pop from rocking. No, I didn’t fall out of the trees; it’s just the hammock and the trees taking on a new and sudden load. Sitting still or still just slightly rocking, the squirrels got comfortable and started to walk around. I had a few walked under me, and one even climbed the tree I was strapped to.
After lying there listening to my surroundings, I occasionally heard people walk by and talk about the hammock. I heard this bird call out of the blue. Well, it was more of an owl hooting. My favorite animal is the great horned owl, and it was close, like very close. However, this was the only time I heard him as the rain probably drove him off. However, it was nice to listen to light rain hitting the tarp.
After some time, I heard a woodpecker pecking behind me somewhere. I’m not too sure where. I wished I had my camera with me for this but next time. I believed it was a Red-bellied Woodpecker just knowing that they are common in this area and somewhat hard to spot minus their red cap on their head.
What I learned from this experience was the passage of time and my experiences with tasking. With media, I was easily distracted while focused. A simple ping would snap you out of it. I listened to a podcast but ignored it. I only paid attention to it transitioning between apps on the phone. You are also engulfed into this world of just irrelevant information or blog area of bragging of what you have done with your life. The passage of time seemed to go by slow on a low day at work, making an hour seem like two to three hours long.
The second hour of this exercise was done the next day after the previous passage. I planned to hammock outside for a while before classes started so I could enjoy the quiet on campus before it got busy. I figured this would be an excellent time to takes notes on this. I was relaxing, and time seemed to slip away, and nothing in the world mattered. I can say that I wasn’t worried about anything for once. I was excellent for the three hours I spent out there. I wasn’t stressed. The lesson learned is that it’s better not to be on your device, and experiencing nature for what it is and not through a phone is an enjoyable experience. For me, I am mostly outside and not glued to my phone. I like to explore and get out there. I’m not too fond of all the drama and the stresses that come with social media.