|
|
The Isolation Chamber | 3.22.01
I'm an on-line addict. I'll be the first to tell you that. I don't even have a high bandwith connection and I still find myself on-line each night well into the afterhours. The worst of on-line is the Instant Messenger. America On-Line, in an effort to brainwash American youth and keep them attached to boxes displaying text, has taken away a good portion of my life. The moments when I could've read a good book or done something productive, Instant Messenger has killed them with its radioactive nicotine. Instant Messenger is the new tobacco industry, out to make kids addicts and eventually destroy lives. So, when my AP Euro teacher set the due date for our marking period journals last week, I knew that I had to overcome the evil AIM and the world of on-line. Journals are hard. We're technically supposed to spread them throughout the marking period and do little by litte, but nobody does that; they just save it for a big journal binge at the end. Journals are responses to any questions or topics that my teacher has prepared in his packet. He usually adds a big volume of outside reading that we have to use in order to answer journal entries. Each journal entry can be essay-length and there are usually 10+ entries that need to be done. What made it worse was that in the previous marking period, a friend and I got busted for having the exact same journals (we just did half each and swapped them). We were now required to write the journals by hand. I knew that with one week left before the due date, I would have to come up with a plan that would minimize the binging at the end and allow me to maximize my time. Of course, I had the greatest solution. Fighting addiction one-on-one is tough, but fighting it with a friend two-on-one offers a better chance to succeed. I asked my fellow on-line victim Fanman to help me in the cause to battle the on-line addiction and do our Euro journals. Fanman isn't as bad as I am in terms of AIM, but he has a cable modem, so I presume he downloads lots of stuff and spends his time that way. Well, I realized that the only way we could help ourselves was by finding a place where we would not come in contact with any electronic devices. I call this place the Isolation Chamber. The door that leads to the Isolation Chamber is a hidden door that looks like part of the wall but has a door knob on it. Fanman told me that he didn't even know he had a basement when he first moved into his house. The Isolation Chamber offers a very work-friendly environment. It's a small basement with a ping-pong table and two chairs. The light is bright fluorescent, school-style, and the floor is tile and cold. With the vast space of the ping-pong table, we can spread our documents out and have a comfortable workspace. There is no noise and no distractions, so the work begins immediately. The Isolation Chamber has been so effective for us the last few days that we're actually ahead of schedule in our work. The environment allows us to be lost in our work and not get that dreadful feeling that a workload usually warrants. I was pleased that the on-line disease had been mitigated for moment. I think that it's worth the gas to drive all the way to Fanman's house to get some work done. At home, my room offers the tempting AIM or the comfortable bed and since I have no basement, there is no other place in the house to do stuff. Of course, the toilet has always been a peaceful place to read, but once the traffic stops, I'd rather get out of there than stay just to concentrate. I'm very glad that the Isolation Chamber has worked to our benefit. Even though I found myself on-line as soon as I got home from Fanman's house, I could at least look back on my day and say that I overcame Mr. AIM and his evil clan of IM boxes for at least three hours and even finished up some quality work. Take that, Big AIM. |
 |
