Yesterday I set about a great journey, a journey to get my cracked iPhone screen fixed. So like any good Apple user, I logged into my iCloud account all set to make an appointment with an apple genius at one of the three nearby Apple Stores. And much to my distress, I saw that the only Apple Store with appointments available on a busy Friday afternoon, was of course the Apple Store right in the heart of Downtown Portland. So I gave myself a pre-traffic pep talk and got in my car and spent the 45 minutes to drive 15 miles and found a brilliant parking spot and headed into the store. Everything was going swimmingly, I was flirting lightly with my new Genius friend, and then he dropped a bomb on me. "It's going to take 2-3 hours to fix your phone today." Dude. I thought we were friends. Now, this is about a fifteen minute job, so I was expecting to be in and out in an hour. But now I was facing a reality...I was about to be trapped. Downtown. With no cell phone. Alone. For two hours. And I was terrified. But the genius was cute and I couldn't let my vulnerability show I sent my mom a text (because I'm not stupid) "Going to leave my phone with Apple for a couple hours, call you later!" signed the papers (and by this I mean I signed the digital form presented to me on an iPad), put my empty phone case in my pocket and like a baby bird flying from the nest, I walked out onto the busy streets of Pioneer Plaza, Portland, Oregon. I learned so much in the next two hours I now feel the need to share all of my infinite wisdom with the world. So hear it comes lucky readers...What I learned in two hours of a city without my phone.
Fresh in front of the Apple store I was terrified and sulking inside but determined to appear confident and put together I had on my best "I have my life together" smile. I was convinced that if I kept that face, I could manage to scare away the possible scary murderers and no one would bother me. SO imagine my horrified thought process when I hadn't walked two feet and suddenly this random man in a vibrant traffic looking vest was suddenly waving at me. A stranger. Making eye contact. And waving. "WHAT DO I DO??? ABORT MISSION! GO BACK TO THE SAFTEY NET OF THE APPLE STORE! YOU ARE NOT READY TO FLY!" Is what every fiber of my being was screaming at me. But the stubborn, determined, woman inside of me pressed on anyway.
"Insert charming clever line here" Says the stranger as he sticks his hand out to shake mine. I shake it hesitantly while trying to smile and make eye contact without turning around and bolting. "There we just had a meet cute, I'm Roy!" Says the stranger. And I made a new friend! Because this man wasn't a scary stranger, he was a cool volunteer for a company feeding starving children. Yep, the fact that I wasn't wrapped up in my phone while walking down the street opened me up to making friends with my new pal Roy (who I actually only talked to for five minutes and don't really know) and taught me about a cool new charity. Cool right? Maybe, if I was less worried about where Siri was telling me to go, I would be more approachable? huh...who would have thought?
Freshly off of this triumphant experience I continued on my journey. Turning the corner, I saw a park, And something was happening there?? What are all of those people doing? What are they building? And so I kept walking, because, having no plan was giving me a new sense of freedom. *taking careful note of every turn I take because I was terrified of getting lost* And soon I found a sign explaining exactly what was going on. There was a movie. In the park. They were going to show Aladdin. On a giant blow up screen. Outside. WHAT!? This was so cool. How had I not seen this on the internet? Is it possible to find cool things to do without the help of my cell phone? Does Siri not know everything? Wow. I was learning so much. I was starting to be very confident in my ability to handle the next hour and a half without my phone. When suddenly, I see the entrance to a mall. Well of course I should go in there.
I walk in, past the couple being coupley and the woman in a super cute t-shirt. And the older man reading his book. And the Grandma walking with her daughter. I begin to wander pretty aimlessly and wandered into a new store "Fuego". A T-shirt in the window had caught my eye it said "Be a pineapple, tough on the outside, sweet on the inside, wearing a funky hat". I spent 15 minutes laughing at all the quirky store things before I decided to leave. Heading back to the outside world, because suddenly, I was getting hungry and why would I eat mall food in downtown Portland? Wow...I was suddenly noticing everything. I was so aware of all of those people in the beginning of the mall, and finding so many new things. Could this too, be because I wasn't swaddled in the security blanket of my iPhone?
I wander some more before happening into a little restaurant named "Freshiis". And just..OMG. I found a diamond. A very typical Portland place. With so much good fresh food. I ordered a beautiful salad bowl and it came out with looking picture perfect..but I indeed did not take a picture of it. But it still tasted good?? I really thought the picture is what made pretty food taste good. I didn't check the restaurant's reviews on Yelp or search to find a Groupon. I just saw it and wandered in...and the world in fact, did not end. Guys...I was learning SO MUCH.
After enjoying my meal in the rare Portland sunshine and watching the people gather for the showing of Aladdin I saw a clock and that clock told me that "Oh my gosh it's been an hour and a half!" SO now proud of myself I started heading back towards the almighty Apple Store. and who was I greeted by as I proudly approached the familiar corner of the Apple store (which I found without Siri's help!!!) but my new friend Roy! After laughing about how I didn't wont up murdered I dropped my leftover dinner off at my car before heading in to grab my now fully functional phone. Turns out...It had been ready for almost ten minutes before I got there. What a feat.
So this is mostly the silly story of my day without my phone but really, I did learn some very important lessons. Maybe the reason I never know where I am, is because I always let Siri tell me. And if I would stop being so worried about the map on my phone and that notification from BuzzFeed, I would open myself up to being more approachable by others and notice all the cool things going on around me. Google doesn't need to teach me everything, and maybe Yelp doesn't have ALL of the answers. Don't get me wrong, I won't be wandering around without my phone anytime soon again, but maybe next time, I'll just leave it in my pocket..for emergencies and Starbucks orders only. Obviously.
Fresh in front of the Apple store I was terrified and sulking inside but determined to appear confident and put together I had on my best "I have my life together" smile. I was convinced that if I kept that face, I could manage to scare away the possible scary murderers and no one would bother me. SO imagine my horrified thought process when I hadn't walked two feet and suddenly this random man in a vibrant traffic looking vest was suddenly waving at me. A stranger. Making eye contact. And waving. "WHAT DO I DO??? ABORT MISSION! GO BACK TO THE SAFTEY NET OF THE APPLE STORE! YOU ARE NOT READY TO FLY!" Is what every fiber of my being was screaming at me. But the stubborn, determined, woman inside of me pressed on anyway.
"Insert charming clever line here" Says the stranger as he sticks his hand out to shake mine. I shake it hesitantly while trying to smile and make eye contact without turning around and bolting. "There we just had a meet cute, I'm Roy!" Says the stranger. And I made a new friend! Because this man wasn't a scary stranger, he was a cool volunteer for a company feeding starving children. Yep, the fact that I wasn't wrapped up in my phone while walking down the street opened me up to making friends with my new pal Roy (who I actually only talked to for five minutes and don't really know) and taught me about a cool new charity. Cool right? Maybe, if I was less worried about where Siri was telling me to go, I would be more approachable? huh...who would have thought?
Freshly off of this triumphant experience I continued on my journey. Turning the corner, I saw a park, And something was happening there?? What are all of those people doing? What are they building? And so I kept walking, because, having no plan was giving me a new sense of freedom. *taking careful note of every turn I take because I was terrified of getting lost* And soon I found a sign explaining exactly what was going on. There was a movie. In the park. They were going to show Aladdin. On a giant blow up screen. Outside. WHAT!? This was so cool. How had I not seen this on the internet? Is it possible to find cool things to do without the help of my cell phone? Does Siri not know everything? Wow. I was learning so much. I was starting to be very confident in my ability to handle the next hour and a half without my phone. When suddenly, I see the entrance to a mall. Well of course I should go in there.
I walk in, past the couple being coupley and the woman in a super cute t-shirt. And the older man reading his book. And the Grandma walking with her daughter. I begin to wander pretty aimlessly and wandered into a new store "Fuego". A T-shirt in the window had caught my eye it said "Be a pineapple, tough on the outside, sweet on the inside, wearing a funky hat". I spent 15 minutes laughing at all the quirky store things before I decided to leave. Heading back to the outside world, because suddenly, I was getting hungry and why would I eat mall food in downtown Portland? Wow...I was suddenly noticing everything. I was so aware of all of those people in the beginning of the mall, and finding so many new things. Could this too, be because I wasn't swaddled in the security blanket of my iPhone?
I wander some more before happening into a little restaurant named "Freshiis". And just..OMG. I found a diamond. A very typical Portland place. With so much good fresh food. I ordered a beautiful salad bowl and it came out with looking picture perfect..but I indeed did not take a picture of it. But it still tasted good?? I really thought the picture is what made pretty food taste good. I didn't check the restaurant's reviews on Yelp or search to find a Groupon. I just saw it and wandered in...and the world in fact, did not end. Guys...I was learning SO MUCH.
After enjoying my meal in the rare Portland sunshine and watching the people gather for the showing of Aladdin I saw a clock and that clock told me that "Oh my gosh it's been an hour and a half!" SO now proud of myself I started heading back towards the almighty Apple Store. and who was I greeted by as I proudly approached the familiar corner of the Apple store (which I found without Siri's help!!!) but my new friend Roy! After laughing about how I didn't wont up murdered I dropped my leftover dinner off at my car before heading in to grab my now fully functional phone. Turns out...It had been ready for almost ten minutes before I got there. What a feat.
So this is mostly the silly story of my day without my phone but really, I did learn some very important lessons. Maybe the reason I never know where I am, is because I always let Siri tell me. And if I would stop being so worried about the map on my phone and that notification from BuzzFeed, I would open myself up to being more approachable by others and notice all the cool things going on around me. Google doesn't need to teach me everything, and maybe Yelp doesn't have ALL of the answers. Don't get me wrong, I won't be wandering around without my phone anytime soon again, but maybe next time, I'll just leave it in my pocket..for emergencies and Starbucks orders only. Obviously.
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