Virtual-oso

Hey Blog Buddies :) How's it hanging? (I've just thought about where that joke may have come from...is it a penis reference? In which case, why would you want to know how it's hanging? What possible relevance could that have to your life?) 

Anyhoo...as a humanities student, this week marks the glorious annual event known as 'exam week'. You may think this is about to cause a massive revision rant, based on a sarcastic interpretation of the above sentence, but no, my friends, no. January exam week is indeed genuinely glorious for yours truly, as, for reasons best known to those in charge, English Literature students NEVER have january exams. Not once since I left high school. Summer is a different story. For some reason, we creatives are deemed less delicate, and more inclined to cram quotes into our left-side-heavy brains in June rather than January, but this is really a rather long and, frankly, pointless preamble to let you know that I've had a extortionate amount of free time since last thursday. Hooray. 

However, the week before I had 4 coursework deadlines and I was a less than happy bunny. We always find ourselves thinking 'Oh, I fancy baking...not till after thursday' or 'When we all finish we're going to have SO MUCH FUN!' yet, as I sit here after 7 days of stress-free free time I wonder, what have I actually done with it? 

Of the 7 days I've had off, I've spent 5 of them locked up in my room. Today it's nearly 4pm and I haven't even left the bed except to make tea. I've not showered since saturday...I think...And what have I got to show for this generous gift of time I've been given? On sunday, one trip to Church, and then the pub, and I went to lunch with my friend Christina yesterday. That's it. Oh, and I made banana cupcakes and drew a picture of Batman. What a productive week! 

And don't get me wrong, I had an excellent time at the pub, and Nandos with C is always delightful, but that's kind of my point. I had all this time to see people, to go visit friends at other Unis, to have a conversation that doesn't start with 'I HATE DOING WORK!' and I didn't use it. Instead, I have sat in my jammies watching TV programs about people who don't exist, award shows honouring people, despite following them on twitter, that I don't know, and stalking facebook pages of people I don't even like. You might think that sounds like a lovely break, and on day 1, it kind of was, but on day 2, when I was meant to see Christina but cancelled because I felt unwell, it was dull and, to be honest, depressing. 

I've realised that really, we all live in this hyperreality where we play the Sims and read sci-fi novels (just me? Ok, pick something else fictional) and nothing is real. I have 436 facebook friends. I don't have that many in real life! Not even close; I'm an acquired taste. My housemate Jamie actually noticed that she was losing a facebook friend a day but she only noticed because she started checking the numbers each day. If I lost a friend in real life, I would definitely notice which one it was and actually care that they'd gone - it's not hard I only have like 4. 

But why do we live like this? Is it better? Yes I seem more popular, but it's all numbers. My Sim on the Sims social has a really cool house, but it's all just stuff. And it's not even real stuff, it's virtual stuff! Playing video games doesn't make you a cowboy or a footballer or a guitar hero, it means you've wasted your time pretending to rise through the levels when you could have actually been playing football or learning the guitar (Ok, I'll give you cowboy. I don't see how you can pull that one off in real life) but I just saw a pop-up ad for a golf game that said 'It's the most realistic game of golf ever' No it isn't. Do you know what is? Golf! 

We think we're breaking social boundaries on the internet but really we're not. People who air their grievances on facebook aren't free, they're hiding behind their laptops. No one can really sort out their problems in their statuses, nor can they really be consoled by anyone's comments because anyone can type 'aww babes feel better x'. If I'm brutally honest, all this internet surfing and tv streaming has just got me all depressed and lonely because I'm bored. I'm distracting myself from my boredom, but underneath I'm still bored and whiling away the hours until bedtime. It's pointless, I've essentially wasted a week of my life and each day the highlight hasn't been a great programme or a hilarious tweet but when I've bothered to leave the house or pick up the phone.

So get out of bed, you lazy swines! (Too much?) Go see a friend, be together, be real. Actually learn something useful or just DO something, rather than pretending to. And don't wait until you've got more time because, even when you have it, you don't use it, so make the time. In short, live.