Sporadic Thoughts on a Gray Day

I am skipping classes today. I have had a really hard time going to school this quarter. I am learning so much, and I have been writing and looking at the world differently everyday. But all this learning is taking place out of school. It seems like I actually get dumber at school.

A guy on the radio the other night talked about nano technology and how advancements in miniaturization is going to truly reshape the world. He was adamant: this is not science fiction, rather this is cutting edge technology that is happening now, in reality. Imagine this: A wall made out of manufactured molecules. The wall is able to take on different property as the atomic sized robots change configurations. It has something to do with quantum dots. Look that up, quantum dots. So for example in a classroom setting, the teacher might say, "computer, chalkboard," and the wall becomes a chalkboard. Then she might say, "computer, map," and the wall turns into a three dimensional moving topographical map! What about walking through walls? Replication, "tea, earl gray, hot."

Nano Technology is also making it not only possible but necessary for us to integrate software into our biological systems. Technology is advancing and so fast that we are quickly becoming obsolete. Nothing a few atomic sized computer chips implanted in our brains and eyeballs won't fix. WE ARE BORG.

Borg. What a world, what a world.

Sunday night after working all day, I had this overpowering desire to shop. I never shop. I hate shopping. But something told me that going to the mall and walking around would make me feel better. It was to late Sunday night so I went yesterday. I bought some new jeans and shoes. Shit I don't need but it made me feel better on some level.

The malls are quickly dying. How can they compete with Wallmart and online shopping. My prediction is that malls will change in the future. Adapt or die. There were so many stores out of bushiness in the mall. With the exemption of Alderwood Mall, all the malls I have been to recently are ghost towns. The Alderwood Mall is succeeding because the Mall form has changed. The malls of the future will only become successful if they go for a community center strategy. So more entertainment. More good food. More outdoorsy stuff. More art work. The mall has been our church for many years, only it was disguised as a market. Mall owners need to shed the illusion of the market and just change the damn mall into a church. Then they will be successful. I went to the mall yesterday not because I needed any product, no I wasn't there to buy shit, although I did. I was there for a holy experience. Walking around, looking at other people, putting food in my body, watching kids play, the search for something. Mall designers need to give us a spiritual experience, that is the only hope for the mall. Change or die. Resistance is futile.

I walked home from the mall on old telegraph road. The road was built in 1867 as a pathway to Alaska and eventually to Russia. A telegraph line running from Seattle to Russia. Impressive. There are cozy little rambler style homes lining the road now. Most with a new car in the drive way and a horse in the stables out back. I walked through the ditch on the side of the road with my new tennis shoes on. I was amazed that I was able to walk in a ditch in February and not drown. We are in the middle of a drought here. Never seen anything like it. California is getting all of our rain. I saw a puddle of mud and fur and bones. The remains of an opossum. An odd thing to see after perusing the mall--a reminder of mortality.

So yeah, I am skipping class today. I have discovered Amazon.com shopping and have already, today, spent some of my tax return on books about nanotecnology. The mall is sitting on my computer desk. I no longer have to walk around in mall space, just point and click with my fingers and type in credit card numbers. It is a good thing I take long walks down historical roads and run on the tread mill. I could probably get through life just fine sitting in a wheel chair, wearing diapers, and pointing and clicking like a son of a bitch.