Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday of August 18, 19 and 20.
I recently found a time machine.
When I moved to Austin, my roommates and I decided against getting television. We have a television, but have chosen against actually having cable. We live in a house that is exactly one and a half miles from the center of Downtown. We have bikes that can easily transport us around all of the areas. We decided against the cable because of the price and the crutch that it provides. It is an American tradition to watch television. It has been a Pastime that has been used for many things from entertaining parties to being the babysitter. We wanted to change this and chose the rebellion that we would take it out against cable.
This time machine is an ordinary thing. It is not something from a magical land of whimsical people. I did not buy it from a wizard nor did I plant anything. I did not do any drugs nor was I under the influence of any alien substances.
I am horribly dependent on media and technology. Every day I wake up to the alarm from my cell phone. I log into my computer to electronically check to see who has contacted me. I do not have the addresses of anyone outside of my parents, yet I send letters to people on an hourly basis. I listen to music while doing just about everything that comes from a box that is about the size of a business card. I research everything in my life while sitting in a living room on the East side of Austin with shoes dangling from the power lines above. I avoid any human contact or verbal communication with everyone that I speak with. No, not by choice, but because of availability.
This time machine has been the catalyst for me to think about, why? It only has this function after it has worked it’s magic. It is like Taco Bell in the fact that it sounds amazing all the way up to the last bit, then you have days wondering what inside of you caused you to throw your entire diet off balance for that one Volcano Crunch? It has caused me to psychoanalyze my every moment and micromanage my every second. It has caused me strain and mental fatigue. It has brought joy and accomplishment only to myself. These accolades happened only after much anguish and cursing to an innate object that has no soul.
I am writing this on a computer. I had this talk with my girlfriend. Ok, faithful readers of the blog I am no longer going to use the tag “my girlfriend.” Until further notice, she will be referred to by her name Bonnie. I hope she does not hurt me for dropping her name in, but it is faster to type than “my girlfriend.” The moment that her and I shared was about who the heck invented the Internet. I know your conscious just said Al Gore and you should be slapped or run up to a wall really fast and slap yourself. Try the ladder, it does work if you hit the wall right. The Internet has been around for maybe 10 years in it’s current form. That form is called slowly ruling the Earth and sucking everything into a black hole of entertainment.
This time machine causes excess drinking and eating. It is the aid for depression and loneliness. It can replace any other relationship within your life and can cause many of those relationships to end. This time machine lives on the souls that it has taken into its levels. It eats the encounters that it ravages from the fingertips of its user. This time machine was my best friend from birth until last week. It was a friend that never left me and always left me consistently unsatisfied.
The Internet is a monster. The Internet is a savior. It is funny what the media can do to create a certain ideology for an object. Follow me as I create two scenarios.
“The Internet. Use it, you’ll be closer to God!” That could be an ad campaign for the Internet if it had a board of tourism. If you think about it, it is true. The Internet is this black hole of existence that is different for everyone. You can make the Internet anything you want it to be. You can work on the Internet. You can socialize on the Internet. You can have sex on the Internet. You can research anything in the world on the Internet. You can talk to anyone on the phone through the Internet. God is the Internet as God is whatever you want it to be.
“The Internet. Use it, or we’ll kill you!” That is the negative campaign by the leading competition on the marketplace of the world, Wal-Mart. You can find any shred of information about anyone on the Internet. People used to have blocked numbers in the phone book because that was too personal. Shit, you can go online and find out blood types of dead people. You can go online and find out what happened to the car you drove in 1967. You can watch people online. You can look at intimate photos of just about anyone. You can get up to the minute updates on your ex-boyfriend that you have been stalking. You can steal the work of other people so you can get a college degree without ever opening a book. You can gamble and watch strippers at the same time without ever going to Vegas and having to pay those ridiculous fees and keep your pants on. You can end the world with one keystroke on the Internet. The Internet is the Devil, if you believe in the Devil, and if you do, go use the Internet.
This time machine has caused memories of my youth to filter back to me. It has caused me to remember my fat days. It has caused me to remember my socially awkward days. It has caused me to remember when I had a societal disorder that went untreated because this is when mental illness was saved for the true geniuses in the padded rooms. It has allowed me to remember the Dark Ages of high school when I hated people. This time machine has caused me to remember every moment of my life as it never left my bedroom throughout the years and saw me go from fat kid to blogger. It is funny what happens to memories that happened decades ago when your mindset has changed in the present tense.
I am not a Hater. I love the Internet. It has allowed me to be here and write to you there. It has allowed me to never have to read through archives at a library. It has allowed me to listen to sports that are happening time zones away.
Internet is progression and I am a fan of progression. I recently found my writing voice when I decided to write for myself. Sorry readers, I love you guys but this is for me. Life is this constant progression. You can never get to a place that you were at before nor can you question past actions. You look forward and accept the person you are becoming. I always wrote for the approval of someone else and once I stopped caring, people started listening.
The time machine in which I am speaking is a Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Video Games! I never even owned a SNES and it has brought me back to clearer days. It has brought me back to Wiffle Ball and Flashlight Tag. It has brought me back to Saturdays filled with cartoons, Little League and swimming with a white t-shirt on. This little system with this little mustached Italian man wearing overalls has brought me back to when time moved glacially and everything was new. The biggest worries would be getting to watch “Dinosaurs” only once a week and when was Christmas or my birthday. I dreamed of being older and making my own decisions. Eating ice cream for every meal. I swore to never drink coffee or alcohol and I find myself drinking both everyday. I grew up and now I want back. This machine has allowed me to relive my youth with the mind of an adult. Well, the body of an adult and let’s leave it at that.
This whole adventure began when Bonnie and I found a used video game shop in Austin. It is decked from front to back with old games. The workers within the store are decked from head to toe in old gear. The vibe of the store is decked in head to toe in either really cool to oh my God, why are we here. A heated debate began and lasted our visit concerning what video game system was better Super Nintendo or Sega Genesis. It is obviously Sega, therefore no need for an explanation. This store is a portal into our youths. It is a gateway to remember the simpler times.
Every generation has time machines. These are machines that have become outdated by current technologies. Easy bake ovens for some. Pet Rock’s. Television shows. Snow globes. Comic Books. Music. Movies. Sports. Books. Everything is a time machine into a time of such simpler existence. Progression may have killed the heart and soul inside any of the things you may have loved because they lost their efficiency. But, they will forever hold a place in your heart.
Love the person you are now so you can repair the person you were then. Go back to one of these time machines and let the memories cascade. I hated myself for far too long and am finally now looking at how funny everything in my life was. How ridiculous some of the most intense moments I ever had.
Remember, just because we are in bigger bodies does not mean we are grown up. We are all little kids running around trying to start a pick up game of Wiffle ball or hid a carton of ice cream under our beds. Everything is created to be replaced. What is going to replace the Internet? Only time will tell.
Moral: Game Over Video Games in Austin has the craziest selection for anything concerning any video game system ever created. Progression is a natural cycle; embrace everything that you are and were as that is all you have.
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