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Oops...

So apparently this is not the forum I am supposed to be discussing my experiment. Typical.

I was thinking about the media today with the experiment I am doing while one of my roommates was watching MTV, more specifically, the Road Rules/Real World Challenge. While I could have made up some excuse as to why I didn't sit next to him and watch when he insisted on it, I actually had a legitimate reason to say "no": I HATE MTV.

I have appreciated music my entire life. I have been a trained classical pianist since I was 6 years and trained classically in viola at the age of 10. I came to the University of Maryland under a music performance scholarship in viola, still playing piano for fun, and have always regarded the craft with the highest of respect.

But, not just classical. I have worshiped late 60 and early 70s music since 7th grade. the Doors, The Beatles, Cream...the list goes on. Just wonderful stuff. Even into the 80s, there was great music being produced. Then MTV came. Stripped the soul out of live performance and put blond hair and a tight body where talent should be.

At least that's one channel I don't miss.

Left out...

So it is very late in the night, or one could say very early in the morning and I just returned from an all night movie/being lazy fest with about 6 of my close friends living here. I have not mentioned the experiment to any of them. I just pretend when they are watching television or reading print that I am uninterested or I forgot to do something else at the moment.
But tonight, I think they may be onto what I am doing.
My friend, who could possibly be the number one fan of Paris Hilton (save her) whipped out a series of magazines and articles on her experiences and stories so far in jail. It was immediately the focus of the night. I tried to pretend that I was uninterested, which is a blatant lie, and distanced myself from the group. Now my friends are bright and educated people, but they do not read the paper everyday nor do they ever turn on CSPAN or CNN. So, I never expected this experiment to coincide with my social world. I have now realized whether you realize it or not, the print world, while many claim it is outdated and only check the news online, still reach out to these outlets without even realizing it. I felt left out, but it was a nice reminder that print journalism is still as important as ever.

A tough one...

Today was not an easy one to manage. With all the live television blasting in my house I struggled to find a way to avoid live information. I went to the gym today and I saw the post staring at me. I wanted so badly to pick and up and read it during my workout. As a journalist, the paper is my own little sanctuary. I can escape my normal routine and pretty boring life and go to other states, countries and worlds. Nothing beats a great headline.
So i skipped the paper and reached for a magazine. But of course, those are off limits as well. So in conclusion, I had probably the worst workout in a very long time. I was information deprived and basically just plain bored.
My eyes have become tired of looking at a computer screen. While it may be easy to flip through stories on the internet, nothing beats the feeling of flipping through the paper pages yourself.

Internet to the rescue...

I started off my day as any morning. Got up. Made coffee. Got breakfast. On my way to my internship I couldnt help but think how I was going to avoid all the newsfeeds that flow through the office. The television is always blasting the news and people are constantly turning on the radio or making reference to today's paper. It would be 6 straight hours of strictly internet. Not exactly something I was looking forward to.
That was until I got in a car accident. Perfect.
All I have to say is that I owe my swift finding of a body shop and the number to my insurance agent because of my little mac. The whole time I was thinking, "this would be painful to find all this information if I didn't have internet access". This could possibly be the only positive thing that has come of this whole experience.

First day down...

Living without what I call the "real media" is not easy. All of a sudden, the songs in my ipod seemed to be less interesting than the radio. I found myself dying to turn it on and see what everyone else was listening. All I wanted to hear were those small little news briefs, even if they may be about Paris Hilton or Nicole Ritchie, I just wanted something. Anything.
While we may be so dependent on our ipods, our recordable television or laptops, nothing comes close to watching or experiencing something in the moment. There was a television premiere tonight that I wanted to watch with all my friends, but I have found myself watching the recorded version to stay in line with this experiment. Needless to say, it is not nearly the same.
I don't know what to expect when I go to my internship tomorrow at the Baltimoresun.com. It could be worse...I could be working at the print bureau.

Let the games begin...

Today begins the experiment where we will test what happens to a journalism major who cannot access traditional media outlets. No television, newspapers, books, magazines...the list goes on. It's a good thing I am addicted to my laptop.
At first I must admit I didn't understand how hard this would be. The house I live in doesn't subscribe to a newspaper or any other print outlet like a journal or magazine. However, as soon as I sat down to eat breakfast the house turned on the television. So, I had to leave. Talk about painful. I absolutely live off of live newsfeeds off the television. NBC, CNN, CSPAN...I love them all. To go online and find out what was going on was not only more time consuming, but annoying as well. I hope I can get used to this...

Adaptation...

I was hesistant to start my own blog. I do not frequent blogs nor do I like exposing myself over the internet. However, after speaking with a few of my friends, it looks like this is a cake walk and I may be in the minority when it comes to dreading blogs. I guess I'll have to adapt.