Twiddling Thumbs

I turned thirty a few months ago. I’m getting old. It’s very sad. Already, I’m showing signs of getting old. My knee hurts, my back aches, my memory is fading. I’ve got a hip that pops when I walk and creaks when I stop. My balance is starting to give and I keep hitting my head or bumping into walls and doors and people. There are other tell-tale signs too. For instance, did I mention my memory is fading? (Aahh… you knew it was coming.)

For my thirtieth birthday though, I got tickets to a rock concert, Kings of Leon. As my wife said, “I knew they’d be good, but I wasn’t expecting them to be true rock stars.” To me, they were simply awesome. While a few favorites definitely stuck out, all the songs were great, start to finish.

Throughout the show, while I was happily singing along and occasionally making fun of how short my wife is, I was struck by how many people were twiddling their thumbs rapidly into a cellphone. Maybe the world has changed more than I’d like to admit, but I remember the good old days when all you could do with a cellphone is talk with it… five years ago. The last thing I would want to be doing at a rock concert with pretty hefty ticket prices is LOLing or OMGing or updating my Facebook status. What happened to just enjoying the show?

I really sound like an old grump, don’t I? In my defense, I am thirty now. And it seems like I’m one of the few thirty-year olds who generally does not carry around a cellphone. I used to and I imagine someday I will again, but I’ve found that most of the time I was using it to ask my wife questions like “Did you need salted or unsalted butter?” Sure, it might be best to ask the question and get the answer, but there’s a certain freedom in rolling the dice and hoping you’re right.

A cellphone would definitely come in handy, however, if say my car broke down or something, but part of me secretly looks forward to that happening. It would be like Problem Solving 101: What To Do When…. Don’t get me wrong, it would suck figuring it out and I would probably curse myself for not having a cellphone, but I’d get to fully experience that level of suck, like people did way back when… ten years ago. And just like people should have been fully experiencing Kings of Leon at the show.

Of course, I spent a portion of my time at the show enviously watching people with their glowing cellphones, pondering how best to incorporate them into my blog. Sure, I was listening and enjoying myself, but I've got fans of my own to please... you! Perhaps there's not such a big difference between those with cellphones and those without after all, and like the star-bellied Sneetches, maybe I'll learn to get my nose out the air.