Friday, Day 1

I am one of the lucky ones that have no choice but to leave society behind and spend my time exploring nature and hopefully make a few new friends. My experience occurred last weekend. I was invited by my girlfriend’s brother in-law to a three day retreat sponsored by his church. I’m not a very religious person, so I just thought to myself that it’s going to be like a camping trip, but instead of sleeping in tents there will be cottages with bunk beds that will accommodate twelve people. I guess I am also fortunate enough to have my girlfriend’s two older brothers come along. Now I’m not too worried about being deprived of any sort of mass communication, but more focused on what her two brothers are going to do to me in a very remote area of Texas.

As I start reading over the packing list. My eyes immediately focus on the capitalized bold letters that spell out:

WHAT NOT TO BRING:

• iPods, MP3 Players, etc.
• Computers, Laptops, etc.
• Game Boys or similar devices

What am I going to do for three days without any of this stuff? How will I pass the time? Then I said to myself, “Suck it up!”

It’s 11:38 AM on Friday, I’m done packing and I’m waiting for my girlfriend’s brother to pick me up. To pass the time I start to play the new Mortal Kombat game for XBOX 360, getting my butt kicked by the Sonya Blade character. Buy the game if you were into the first two Mortal Kombat games. Actually just buy the game. I hear a knock at the door and I reluctantly turn off the gaming console. I think to myself, I’m already failing at this Media Deprivation Project. I’ll start on the car ride to the retreat.

As we start the drive to Camp Eagle, I pull out my phone and check the time. It’s 1:52 PM on Friday. The total hours in the car would be about two and a half hours, give or take a couple of minutes for restroom breaks and food. Again I pull out my iPhone and scroll through my games. I click on a game called Valor that takes up a lot of your time if you’re really into it. Only because leveling up a building is time sensitive, let’s say I wanted to level up my City Hall to level 1, I would have to wait 2 hours to build up enough resources required to level up my City Hall, then I would have to wait another twenty minutes for the City Hall to be completely built. I am constantly playing that game. If I just let it sit and do nothing. My resources would be maxed out and my building won’t be leveling up. Again as I click all the right buttons to level up my city. I’m thinking to myself again, strike two!!! So to justify what I was doing I tell myself that I’ll put my phone away when I am out of cell phone reception. My phone switches from 3G to Edge, a sign that we are slowly entering an area that is mostly inhabited by wild animals. We have been off of Interstate 10 for about an hour or so and come up to the crossroads of highway 41 and highway 83. On the corner is the Garven Store that has been in business for over 70 years. They do not have Wi-Fi but their Jerky is the best I remember having. I bought almost a pound of Jerky of a few varieties, Venison, Buffalo, and Beef. I did not care too much for the Venison or Buffalo, but their Teriyaki Beef Jerky was really good. As we left the store I check my phone again and finally, “NO SERVICE.”

After a long 8 mile drive on an unpaved road with the visibility of maybe 25 feet due to the dust stirred up by the car in front of us, we reach Camp Eagle at around 5:30 PM. I grab my bags, pick the top bunk, change into my swimming trunks and head for the river. First activity we do is kayak down the river. Then we hiked up the river and explored a cave. During this time I was just enjoying the wilderness and being out there with my friends. On arriving at the camp we meet a guy with a portable XM radio searching for game six of the Spurs/Grizzlies Playoff series. Crap!!! Strike Three!!! As I listen to the final seconds of the game, I disappointingly retire to my cottage, take a shower, climb in my top bunk and set my alarm on my iPhone. I think to myself that tomorrow will be a better day for me and my Media Deprivation Project.