If you were on a desert island...
Anyone remember getting asked, "If you were stranded on a desert island, what five items would you want with you and why?" I never knew what to answer. But now I'm older and living relatively independently and I'm realizing that there are certain things I cannot live without. All this time I thought I'd be fine with just sunscreen and lip gloss...
1. My computer. I always knew I could never go anywhere without my computer, so this is no surprise. My life is on my computer. I really should take a more active interest in backing up all my data, considering that I'll suffer severe emotional damage if and when this computer crashes.
2. A wireless router with an established internet connection. Because my computer is useless to me without internet. And because if I actually had these things I could very easily get myself unstranded, or at least buy anything else I need on the internet. This is really where the list should end, because the above two needs fulfill all the others, including my need for a clock (I go insane without time) and my need for amusement (it would take eternity to get through every Wikipedia article), but I'll give you three more items, just to show what really matters in life.
3. Lots and lots of candy. I didn't realize how addicted I am to sugar until a couple days ago. I've been living with my cousin this week, a health-conscious vegetarian on a diet. Dinner has been all carefully planned veggie dishes. We've had broccoli quiche, spinach quiche, black beans in pita bread, avocado soup and cheese, and Chinese food (a welcome break). Tonight was the best though. Tonight, I came home and asked, "What are we having?" to which Grandmother replied "Vegetables." I laughed, because we've eaten vegetarian every night. But she was serious. Tonight we ate vegetables. A big platter of steamed vegetables. I found some pasta to balance it out a bit. Anyway, I thought I could last the entire week eating health food, but come Wednesday I had to take a pilgramage to Vons to buy Starbursts because I felt ridiculously unfulfilled. I felt much better afterwards.
4. My inhalor, and a variety of allergy meds. I can never predict how I'm going to react with my ridiculius allergies. I haven't needed any Kleenex this week with the dogs, but I've been sucking on the inhalor non-stop. I don't understand how a body could be so maladaptive! Evolution has played a mean trick on me.
5. Vaseline. Chapped lips, dry skin, cuts, bruises, all of these needs and infinitely more (if you're creative) are solved by Vaseline. Specifically chapped lips. Life stops when lips are chapped.
So that was a lot more lame than I thought it'd be. But I was just thinking today at work when I was playing on the computer, eating Starbursts, and running through my bag looking for either the inhalor or my lip gloss, whichever came up first, that I am helpless without certain things. If I were ever expected to "rough it," I would die from discomfort. What a miserable thought. Now, was it society and all its advancements that made me this way, or was I always going to be a highly allergic, very sensitive girl with ADD and a serious sweettooth, among the first people to be wiped out by natural selection? I'm thinking it was definitely society. So would I be this way if I were just raised in the woods? I guess not. OK, so much for coming up with profound thoughts. I wish I were capable of total autonomy from society, but I'm absolutely not. I'm going to sleep. In a bed. With my inhalor, Kleenex, and a clock right next to me.
1. My computer. I always knew I could never go anywhere without my computer, so this is no surprise. My life is on my computer. I really should take a more active interest in backing up all my data, considering that I'll suffer severe emotional damage if and when this computer crashes.
2. A wireless router with an established internet connection. Because my computer is useless to me without internet. And because if I actually had these things I could very easily get myself unstranded, or at least buy anything else I need on the internet. This is really where the list should end, because the above two needs fulfill all the others, including my need for a clock (I go insane without time) and my need for amusement (it would take eternity to get through every Wikipedia article), but I'll give you three more items, just to show what really matters in life.
3. Lots and lots of candy. I didn't realize how addicted I am to sugar until a couple days ago. I've been living with my cousin this week, a health-conscious vegetarian on a diet. Dinner has been all carefully planned veggie dishes. We've had broccoli quiche, spinach quiche, black beans in pita bread, avocado soup and cheese, and Chinese food (a welcome break). Tonight was the best though. Tonight, I came home and asked, "What are we having?" to which Grandmother replied "Vegetables." I laughed, because we've eaten vegetarian every night. But she was serious. Tonight we ate vegetables. A big platter of steamed vegetables. I found some pasta to balance it out a bit. Anyway, I thought I could last the entire week eating health food, but come Wednesday I had to take a pilgramage to Vons to buy Starbursts because I felt ridiculously unfulfilled. I felt much better afterwards.
4. My inhalor, and a variety of allergy meds. I can never predict how I'm going to react with my ridiculius allergies. I haven't needed any Kleenex this week with the dogs, but I've been sucking on the inhalor non-stop. I don't understand how a body could be so maladaptive! Evolution has played a mean trick on me.
5. Vaseline. Chapped lips, dry skin, cuts, bruises, all of these needs and infinitely more (if you're creative) are solved by Vaseline. Specifically chapped lips. Life stops when lips are chapped.
So that was a lot more lame than I thought it'd be. But I was just thinking today at work when I was playing on the computer, eating Starbursts, and running through my bag looking for either the inhalor or my lip gloss, whichever came up first, that I am helpless without certain things. If I were ever expected to "rough it," I would die from discomfort. What a miserable thought. Now, was it society and all its advancements that made me this way, or was I always going to be a highly allergic, very sensitive girl with ADD and a serious sweettooth, among the first people to be wiped out by natural selection? I'm thinking it was definitely society. So would I be this way if I were just raised in the woods? I guess not. OK, so much for coming up with profound thoughts. I wish I were capable of total autonomy from society, but I'm absolutely not. I'm going to sleep. In a bed. With my inhalor, Kleenex, and a clock right next to me.