technology Archives - Adulting: Second- Half

Smart Car Friday

So yesterday, I took my car to the dealership to have its fluids changed. My car had made the appointment for itself, all by itself. (I’m not kidding. I had noticed that its brake fluid light had come on, and I “was going to” make an appointment, but then I got a text that the appointment had already been made, and there was a link to change it, if I needed to change it, much like my doctors’ appointments.) My car is a 2019 model. It’s nothing new, and it’s not particularly “teched out”. I’m not sure how I feel about this. Is this a convenience, or arrogance and a “control” move on my car’s part? I mean, if my husband had made the appointment for the car, I would have probably been slightly miffed and may have felt that he had overstepped some boundaries. I may have felt slightly judged and controlled. But at the same time, I would have been relieved to have the car maintenance on the schedule, without having to think about it. I definitely have a love/hate relationship with today’s technology. It intrigues me and it terrifies me, all at once. But it’s Friday, so I’m just riding the waves . . . .

Today’s favorite, for Favorite Things Friday goes back to “the good ol’ days.” (the days before inanimate objects started ruling the world) My favorite for today, is one of Sinead O’Connor’s best songs, in my mind. It’s called The Emperor’s New Clothes. Like so many, I was saddened to hear of Sinead’s passing. I know that she was a troubled, controversial figure in her lifetime, but her music and her lyrics and her voice has the ability to strum up deep, evocative emotion like few other artists have achieved. So yesterday, I decided to listen to many of her songs that I had forgotten about. (Unfortunately, Nothing Compares 2U was the only song that came to mind when I first heard of her death). Explore Sinead’s music today. You won’t regret it.

“My creative process is quite slow. I hear melodies in my head while I’m washing the dishes and I allow my subconscious to do the work.” – Sinead O’Connor

“To say what you feel is to dig your own grave.” – Sinead O’Connor

“They laugh ’cause they know they’re untouchable
Not because what I said was wrong
Whatever it may bring
I will live by my own policies
I will sleep with a clear conscience
I will sleep in peace” – Sinead O’Connor ( from lyrics in The Emperor’s New Clothes)

Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.

Random Thoughts Thursday

+I ended up at an estate sale the other day. I’ve written before that I don’t particularly love estate sales because it often feels too personal and intimate to rummage through someone’s things and collections and to poke through their “very every day life”, but this estate sale was occuring at an intriguing, unique looking house that I happened to ride by. I was too curious not to stop. I was not disappointed. The home was filled to the brim with collections of every kind. It was like being in a museum and stepping back in time. I made a remark to that affect and one of the women, who was working the sale, murmured in a disgusted tone, “Yep, if she liked it, she bought it.” That was the exact, a-ha moment when I decided that I really didn’t need the odd, yet interesting, olive green owl candle, with a slightly melted ear tuft. I put it back on the table and I headed back to my car for some deeply needed, self-reflection.

+Why is everything these days seemingly “infused with technology”? My shampoo, my moisturizers, my laundry detergent all have descriptions on them, that make them sound like mega computers. I am washing my hair with microchips, apparently. My skin creme has a “hydration complex”. (So now my beauty products have as many complexes as I do.) And we are only on the brink of this “artificial intelligence” revolution. These are actual words, (these are not words that I made up), from some of my ordinary, everyday products: “Zip-Up technology”, “Nanovasive technology”, “dirt and fade technologies.” It feels like all products fall into two categories these days: “All Natural/Organic/Self Sustaining/Renewable/High and Mighty Perfection” or “Advanced Applied Mechanical Engineering in Technological Liquid Form”. Maybe I should rebrand my blog. Adulting – Second Half is an organic, aged mix and essence of non-artificial hormones, and biotic and cellular emotion, transferred on to your screen with the help of Desperate to Spit It All Out in the Hopes of Making Some Sense of It All. (DSIAOHMSSIA technology)

+I am very proud of West Virginia’s New River Gorge being named a National Park this past December. If you have read my blog for a while, you know my affinity for America’s best kept, natural secret – West Virginia. If you want to have a fabulous, nature filled trip this summer, keep this national (Yay!) park on your short list. This beautiful place will remind you that God’s creations are more purely organic, and far surpass any kind of technological wonder than anything that we humans have ever made. You will rest in peaceful awe, as you take in the views of all of the natural wonders that make this gorge and its gorgeous surroundings, so worthy of its new designation.

+Finally, Happy Pride Month!!! In the words of Morgan Freeman: “I hate the word homophobia. It’s not a phobia. You’re not scared. You’re an asshole.”

And as a promised, added feature, here’s Throwback Thursday‘s previous blog post of mine, for today. This one is one of the most viewed posts from my blog:

Angry Tears

Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.

The Bright Side

Fortune for the day –“If you wish to be loved, love.” – Seneca

As a getting older person, I admittedly sometimes question all of the fast-based, interesting changes society is going through (me-“Why does that nice, talented young man, Post Malone have so many tattoos on his face?” daughter -“Mom, he’s doing self-expression.” me- “Okay, please promise me that you’ll never self-express that way, okay?”) and all of the new technology and all of the craziness which I perceive that some of these changes, have brought into our lives. However, as I am noticing myself having more and more careless “senior moments”, I have to say that I truly appreciate a lot of the instant gratification and information onslaught, which is available at almost a twitch of my nose, these days.

For instance, my flight landed home, on Sunday, right after the Super Bowl started. (My husband REALLY APPRECIATED my travel scheduling choice – HA!) Anyway, my favorite part of the Super Bowl has always been the commercials, so I was delighted this morning, to just watch every commercial, right in a row (this is the only time in the year that I am very delighted to binge watch commercials) which I had missed, since I didn’t get home until late in the second quarter of the game. YouTube had them all ready and set up for me. I love it!

Another example – Recently I wrote “10:30 a.m.” on my calendar square, for today. Yep, despite my New Year’s resolution to get better about my calendar skills, that’s all she wrote – “10:30 a.m.” Last week, I sheepishly started to ask my husband and daughter if they had any idea what I might be up to, at 10:30 am on Monday. They looked at me like I had two heads. I decided to blot out the “10:30 a.m.” scribble, with a black Sharpie, on my very old-fashioned paper calendar, hoping to blot it out of my mind as well. Still, the question of where I was maybe supposed to be, or who might be showing up to my house this morning, was nagging at me, constantly. Luckily, though, my young millennial doctor, is very tech happy/savvy and over the weekend, I got about 82 reminders via texts, emails, and voicemails that I have a follow-up shot appointment, today at 10:30 am. I suppose that there must be something in my medical chart, vaguely suggesting early-onset Alzheimer’s.

Final recent example, to illustrate my point – my friends and I were discussing TV shows/series that we have enjoyed watching and I couldn’t think of “Fleabag”. (I don’t think that this is part of my growing senior moment memory loss collection, as I have never been great about remembering names of anybody or of anything, since I learned to talk.) Anyway, I googled something like “name of show where dark-haired British lady scares husband in shower.” Google – Fleabag. Just like that. Boom! Drop the mic. I think that’s wonderful. I am paranoid about privacy issues, yet I adore that Google knows exactly what I am thinking/doing/talking about, at all times. Google normalizes me. I love Google for that fact!

So, moral of the story – there are always two sides to the coin and it is best to focus on the bright and shiny side, right? Now, I have to go get ready for my 10:30 appointment. I have to psych myself up for an old-fashioned shot in the arm. Unfortunately, some things never change.

Cray-Cray

I don’t have much to say today. Just a little Thursday rant, I guess. I was doing laundry yesterday and as I was putting the dryer sheets in with the laundry, I noticed that the box emphasized that these dryer sheets have new “technology.” What?!? They are fabric softener infused dryer sheets. They are essentially sweet smelling, waxy, paper towels. That is not technology and that is okay. Simple is okay. If fact, sometimes “simple/no technology required” is refreshing. Does everything have to have “technology” these days? Should I download an app so that I can connect with my dryer sheets?!? Really?!?

That’s all. Sorry. I realize that I sound like the angry, stuck-in-her-ways old woman whom I swore I would never become. Happy Friday Eve, friends!!!

Modern Momming

For all of the grumbling that I sometimes do, about technology and “Big Brother”, yesterday I found myself so grateful for what we have available to us, at the click of a button. I received pictures from family and friends sharing their weekend adventures with me. I tracked my son’s flight safely back from South America, to home. And when he got home, he shared so many pictures and videos with his father and I, that it almost felt like I had been there with him. (a little piece of my heart is always with him, but that goes without saying) I had a quick little text exchange with my youngest son, just enough to let him know how much I miss and love him, but also how excited I was for him and his new adventures at college. When he said that he missed the dogs, I was able to send some video of them, being their crazy, lovable selves, to him, in an instant. The peace of mind that modern technology affords, is a mother’s dream come true. Even if the rest of our family doesn’t always agree . . . .

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