Just a week ago, my friend Melissa and I were driving across the southern tip of Texas. On one particularly long driving day, during which we had been passing through small town after small town in virtual silence, Melissa suddenly turned to me and said "everything is everywhere."
What she meant was that every town seemed to have the same stores in which you could get ... well ... everything. Each town that had 15,000 people or more also had a Target and/or a Walmart (often both) a "Whataburger" (this fast food chain was new to me) a "Church's Chicken," a "Sonic Burger" a "Home Depot" a "Walgreen's" drugstore and a "HEB" grocery store (HEB apparently stands for "Here Everything's Better.") And these weren't small stores, either ... they were gargantuan.
Yes, as we drove across Texas, everything was at our fingertips. Our trip to Target was a revelation; Melissa and I both bought much needed no-name sleeping pads for only 20 dollars! And to think that at Mountain Equipment Co-Op we would have paid at least 80 dollars for industry-proven Therm-a-Rest pads like a pair of suckers! Of course, the Target sleeping pads were useless. They stayed inflated for approximately 30 minutes, and those thirty minutes were pure hell; imagine trying to get comfortable on top of three half-inflated basketballs and you'll get the picture. But there was no need to fret about our purchases because there were a Target store every twenty feet, so returning them was a snap. Everything was, indeed, everywhere.
It is incredible to live at a time when everything we want seems to be instantly attainable. Within the confines of one store you can find organic soap, ground venison and potato chips flavoured like Kung Pao chicken. Online booksellers like abebooks.com have made my second-hand book hunting a quick and easy task. Heard a song you like on the radio? Don't want to wait for the next Harry Potter movie to come out on video? Don't feel like researching and writing that pesky essay? Get on the Internet and get downloading!
My brother told me recently that he asked his friend Casey to show him how to download movies and TV shows from BitTorrent, a worldwide file-sharing system. Colin was very excited to acquire commercial-free television, but Casey prefaced the lesson with a warning. "Are you sure you want to know?" he asked. "Because you'll never be excited about a DVD release date again. You'll probably never go to Blockbuster and scan the shelves to decide what you're in the mood for again. BitTorrent actually takes some of the fun out of it all."
When Colin told me this story, I started to think about the power of anticipation. Are we missing out on the excitement of waiting for something because, as Melissa pointed out, "everything is everywhere?"
The more I thought about it, the more I started to realize how much I enjoy anticipating something. I love the lead up to Christmas as much as I love Christmas Day. I know that November 1 to December 24 is a capitalist's dream come true, but I admit that I adore the twinkling lights, incessant carols, and wrapping the gifts that I have carefully chosen for family and friends. When I was a kid, the weeks leading up the Halloween were sheer bliss, full of costume-planning, pumpkin-carving and elementary school Halloween crafts. Really, the preparation was just as much fun as the night itself. And everyone knows that planning and getting ready for the high school dance can be the best part of what is often a long and/or humiliating night.
I remember one of the best lessons that I ever got from my fourth year theatre professor in the "Advanced Acting and Directing" course. I was struggling with a scene in which I had to passionately kiss a classmate who was a good buddy, but didn't inspire a ton of passion in me (nor I in him.) After watching us clinch and mash our faces together my prof pulled us apart and rolled his eyes. "Don't you get it?" he asked. "There's no interest here ... you're going in for the kiss too soon. Look at magazine ads that show a romance between a man and a woman. They're never actually kissing .... they're ALMOST kissing. Maybe their lips are touching, but just barely. It's the moment BEFORE the kiss that really gets the heart racing. Let the audience wait for it ... once you actually kiss the anticipation is over."
And he was right. It's those moments before a kiss, when you're not 100% sure whether or not it's going to happen, that gives you that twisty feeling in your heart. Those are the moments that I appreciate as a mid 30's singleton and that my married friends tell me that they wish that they could experience again. I would never want to go back to high school, but I do sometimes wish that I could recapture those pre-dance flutters. I can see how I try to keep anticipation alive in my adult life. I try to get my Christmas shopping done early so that I can appreciate the Peanuts specials, the cocoa and the carols without getting bogged down in the cranky crowds. And every year I host a pumpkin-carving party before Halloween, so that my adult friends and I can recapture the joy of scooping out handfuls of gooey pumpkin guts and setting our masterpieces aglow.
Melissa is right - everything is everywhere. As consumers we should look at that fact as an incredible privilege and treat it with respect and restraint. But perhaps we should ask ourselves whether or not we DESERVE the things that we get immediately, or whether we should actually wait for them. And if we do actually have to wait for something, we should try to enjoy the moment, because the anticipation ... like all good things ... will surely come to an end.
What she meant was that every town seemed to have the same stores in which you could get ... well ... everything. Each town that had 15,000 people or more also had a Target and/or a Walmart (often both) a "Whataburger" (this fast food chain was new to me) a "Church's Chicken," a "Sonic Burger" a "Home Depot" a "Walgreen's" drugstore and a "HEB" grocery store (HEB apparently stands for "Here Everything's Better.") And these weren't small stores, either ... they were gargantuan.
Yes, as we drove across Texas, everything was at our fingertips. Our trip to Target was a revelation; Melissa and I both bought much needed no-name sleeping pads for only 20 dollars! And to think that at Mountain Equipment Co-Op we would have paid at least 80 dollars for industry-proven Therm-a-Rest pads like a pair of suckers! Of course, the Target sleeping pads were useless. They stayed inflated for approximately 30 minutes, and those thirty minutes were pure hell; imagine trying to get comfortable on top of three half-inflated basketballs and you'll get the picture. But there was no need to fret about our purchases because there were a Target store every twenty feet, so returning them was a snap. Everything was, indeed, everywhere.
It is incredible to live at a time when everything we want seems to be instantly attainable. Within the confines of one store you can find organic soap, ground venison and potato chips flavoured like Kung Pao chicken. Online booksellers like abebooks.com have made my second-hand book hunting a quick and easy task. Heard a song you like on the radio? Don't want to wait for the next Harry Potter movie to come out on video? Don't feel like researching and writing that pesky essay? Get on the Internet and get downloading!
My brother told me recently that he asked his friend Casey to show him how to download movies and TV shows from BitTorrent, a worldwide file-sharing system. Colin was very excited to acquire commercial-free television, but Casey prefaced the lesson with a warning. "Are you sure you want to know?" he asked. "Because you'll never be excited about a DVD release date again. You'll probably never go to Blockbuster and scan the shelves to decide what you're in the mood for again. BitTorrent actually takes some of the fun out of it all."
When Colin told me this story, I started to think about the power of anticipation. Are we missing out on the excitement of waiting for something because, as Melissa pointed out, "everything is everywhere?"
The more I thought about it, the more I started to realize how much I enjoy anticipating something. I love the lead up to Christmas as much as I love Christmas Day. I know that November 1 to December 24 is a capitalist's dream come true, but I admit that I adore the twinkling lights, incessant carols, and wrapping the gifts that I have carefully chosen for family and friends. When I was a kid, the weeks leading up the Halloween were sheer bliss, full of costume-planning, pumpkin-carving and elementary school Halloween crafts. Really, the preparation was just as much fun as the night itself. And everyone knows that planning and getting ready for the high school dance can be the best part of what is often a long and/or humiliating night.
I remember one of the best lessons that I ever got from my fourth year theatre professor in the "Advanced Acting and Directing" course. I was struggling with a scene in which I had to passionately kiss a classmate who was a good buddy, but didn't inspire a ton of passion in me (nor I in him.) After watching us clinch and mash our faces together my prof pulled us apart and rolled his eyes. "Don't you get it?" he asked. "There's no interest here ... you're going in for the kiss too soon. Look at magazine ads that show a romance between a man and a woman. They're never actually kissing .... they're ALMOST kissing. Maybe their lips are touching, but just barely. It's the moment BEFORE the kiss that really gets the heart racing. Let the audience wait for it ... once you actually kiss the anticipation is over."
And he was right. It's those moments before a kiss, when you're not 100% sure whether or not it's going to happen, that gives you that twisty feeling in your heart. Those are the moments that I appreciate as a mid 30's singleton and that my married friends tell me that they wish that they could experience again. I would never want to go back to high school, but I do sometimes wish that I could recapture those pre-dance flutters. I can see how I try to keep anticipation alive in my adult life. I try to get my Christmas shopping done early so that I can appreciate the Peanuts specials, the cocoa and the carols without getting bogged down in the cranky crowds. And every year I host a pumpkin-carving party before Halloween, so that my adult friends and I can recapture the joy of scooping out handfuls of gooey pumpkin guts and setting our masterpieces aglow.
Melissa is right - everything is everywhere. As consumers we should look at that fact as an incredible privilege and treat it with respect and restraint. But perhaps we should ask ourselves whether or not we DESERVE the things that we get immediately, or whether we should actually wait for them. And if we do actually have to wait for something, we should try to enjoy the moment, because the anticipation ... like all good things ... will surely come to an end.
Now I do admit that I don't go to rent movies anymore and I don't buy all the movies that I used to either but I still have high anticipation levels when it comes to movies and tv shows. I admit that I download from BitTorrent and my anticipation comes from the ridiculous amount of time that it takes me to download the tv show or movie that I want. I mean I have been downloading this movie for 2 weeks now at 1 kb/s. How sad is that. So yes, everything is everywhere but I don't think it takes away our excitement or anticipatory feelings. I can get excited on my way to almost anyplace (notice I said almost) as I think it an adventure....will the store have my brand of cereal or a new chocolate bar or candy selection, will the cute guy in the rice aisle ask for help as he doesn't know the difference between long grain and quick cook. Just think of going to a drug store and looking through all the new make-up....ah the wonder and excitement. As long as you keep rotating the stores and don't frequent the same one everyday, I think excitement can be found in the most mundane places and ordinary tasks as long as you think of it that way. Personally, I like the fact that I know I can get absolutely everything everywhere and at anytime, besides it saves on gas.
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