I accidentally left my phone at home…
and what a throwback it was. It was an odd sensation exploring the physical world around me without the auspices of technology easily accessible at my fingertips. I left home for a simple task, go deposit my family’s annual coin collection (a little over $200 worth) into the bank. Through the ‘journey’, I was left with the question: what is technology giving and taking from me?
PPUA = Potential Phone Usage Averted | EHC = Extracurricular Human Contact
4:43 p.m.
Leave home in a rush because the bank closes at 5pm and I live a little over 10 minutes away. Instantly realize that I don’t have my phone when I try to turn on my podcasts (PPUA #1), but since I’m on a time crunch of getting to the bank before closing, I just go. I would’ve checked for traffic to see if I had enough time to go up and get my phone…but I couldn’t, haha (PPUA #2).
The anachronism of depositing coins (who uses cash these days!?) further contributed to my phone-less situation. You can’t use mobile banking or the ATM for this particular transaction, so I have to make it within teller hours.
4:56 p.m.
There was a little more traffic than expected, but nervously, tentatively, made it with a few minutes to spare. Filled out a deposit slip and waited in line. Normally I would listen to podcasts on some wireless headphones, but…I had to just stand there and keep to my own thoughts (PPUA #3).
Further exacerbating the situation, without my headphones in, the lady behind me felt comfortable enough to make a completely normal social comment, due to my hoard of coins, about a penny laying on the floor (EHC #1). I politely smiled (full smile! eyes + mouth) and then promptly ignored her — most of my week, I’m in a perpetual antisocial mood :).
5:02 p.m.
Finally got to the teller. Normal teller transactions take a maximum of 2 minutes. The perfect timing for a smattering of basic small talk: “It’s so cold and windy out!” “Have you watched ___ movie?” “How was your weekend?” “How was ____ (closest holiday)?” But this mass of coins created an untenable situation (EHC #2).
Since I have so many, they have to send it out to a 3rd party to count. She goes to the back to procure a large plastic bag with various labels and adhesive strips magically hidden away. She focuses and painstakingly puts my 20 or so bunches of coins, 2 or 3 at a time, into the plastic bag. She gives me no eye contact, so I just watch. In silence. After filling out the labels & closing up the bag, it’s back to normal. My normal cash bills are an afterthought at this point. A few quick keystrokes and the deposit is mercifully done. I check the receipt to confirm my current balance when normally I’d check my mobile banking app (PPUA #4).
5:15 p.m.
The Bank of America is right next to the Victorville Mall. As I drive by, I remember that I wanted to check out the branded Moleskines at Barnes & Noble for my 2018 daily journal. I had just ordered a Beatles branded Moleskine, but still, I tend to stop by when I can for that sense of surprise at what they’ll have in stock.
This Barnes & Noble has been where I’ve gotten my Moleskines for the past two years (a Lego one & a Game of Thrones one), but sadly, they only had two branded ones in stock :\. I guess I was the only one buying them? But, I did see the Leuchtturm Bullet Journal in the flesh for the first time! If I hadn’t bought my daily note taking journal already, I might’ve taken the plunge…though I likely would’ve compared prices online (PPUA #5). It was $30 at B&N and just checked now, but it’s $20 on Amazon Prime :\.
5:21 p.m.
That would have normally been the only section to browse before jetting off to my next destination…but I didn’t have my calendar to check nor a sense of time without my phone or watch on me (PPUA #6), so — I stayed and browsed. I met a friend earlier in the week who told me how back in the day, he had gotten his early education in design by just browsing the design section at his local B&N. So I went up and down every aisle looking for the design section (sadly, it did not exist, though perhaps that’s just at this location).
Though I did not find what I was looking for, my interest was nonetheless piqued. I looked at book covers here and there, picking up a few to read the back covers. It was a foreign, but welcome, sensation, like riding a bike after a long hiatus.
5:30 p.m.
Finally, I came upon: the manga section. This was my blast from the past. Not that I was an avid manga reader growing up, but it was a section I enjoyed in my bookstore visits of my youth. I picked up a few tankobons of anime series I’ve enjoyed: One Piece, One Punch Man, Ouran High School Host Club, etc. Furthermore, recently, I had watched an anime about mangaka’s (manga artists), Bakuman, so manga’s interested me a bit more.
Then, I saw a series that I had heard about only recently: Tokyo Ghoul. Normally, I’d just go to the wiki page to read about the series (PPUA #7), but I proceeded to pick up Volume 1 and spend the next 30 minutes just standing there, shifting my weight from one foot to the other, completely engrossed in the story that jumped from one black & white drawn page to the next.
6:02 p.m.
After finishing that volume, I was starting to get hungry, so I rushed through the rest of the store…all to find no design section. But when I passed the humor section, I was reminded about that one book by the author of the comic xkcd, but that’s all I could remember…that and that “what if” was somewhere in the title.
Of course, normally, I would have looked it up on Google, but alas, no phone (PPUA #8). So, I had to actually go up and ask someone to help me find the book (EHC #3). This reliance on another member of the human race — enchanting.
So we looked up “what if”; too many titles to look through. I told him it was by the author of xkcd, so he looked up “xkcd” and something random popped up with what was presumably the author’s name, so upon looking up that author…finally! “What if? Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions” by Randall Munroe.
Yes, I would finally get to check out this book! Except…it wasn’t in stock. He offered to order it for me, but all I really wanted to do was check it out. It was something I was considering as “coffee table material”, so I wanted to analyze its merits as such.
Finally, out of the bookstore I went!
6:13 p.m.
In the same spirit of the past hour, I decided to take a bit longer way home: the route along the freeway, instead of the freeway. A new plaza had opened that I had always seen from the freeway, but had never gone to, so I did. It was intriguing to me because my area doesn’t particularly cater towards rich clientele, but a Nekter Juice Shop had opened there. There were as many clients as I had been expecting…it was barren. Maybe it hadn’t opened yet? That’s what I presumed.
The other question that bugged me was that a new Starbucks had opened there as well. Another new Starbucks had opened closer to me, but I wondered the same things with both: these new Starbucks were opened in fairly bad locations and also within about a quarter mile of the nearest Starbucks. Not that I frequent these Starbucks a lot (though they are the only cafes in the area), but I never noticed either of the existing Starbucks being all that busy. Odd.
6:18 p.m.
Next, I decided to try something new again. I had passed by the fast food chain Baker quite a lot since living here the past 4 years. It was generally fairly busy and they featured Mexican items in what looked like a very American chain. It was intriguing, but never to the point that I ever went. Today, in the spirit of experimentation, that changed.
Instead of going through the drive-through, I walked in and it was oddly what I expected. It felt like walking into a White Castle, but the menu looked more like Del Taco. I walked up, asked questions about the menu(EHC #4), and ordered after perusing the menu. If it’s there, I always like trying a new establishment’s chili cheese fries, so that was part of the order and their burrito sounded interesting, so that was ordered as well.
My verdict: it was in between Del Taco & Taco Bell. Taco Bell being very Americanized & Del Taco less so. It was less Americanized in that they had more Mexican meat choices…but, it didn’t quite satisfy either craving. I don’t like being in the middle, so I will continue to patronize the Del Tacos & Taco Bells of the world. But, I’m still glad that I tried and that this knowledge is now a part of me :).
6:31 p.m.
My glorious reunion with my phone. Oh, the endorphins rushing in as I unlocked my phone. Where had thou been!? It was a tortuous 107 minutes, but I somehow made it. So what was I greeted with?
Nothing. No notifications. Nothing happened. Welp, time to enjoy my dinner :).
