Tethers and Confessions

I have a confession to make - I'm really don't have a cell phone.

Well, I do actually. But I sure act like I don't have one...quite a bit, actually. Often times, it's turned off and resting on top of a drawer, or perhaps in the bento box on my bicycle, for days at a time.

A cell phone was a compromise to some actually sage advice. I resisted signing up for a cell phone for the longest time, but my parents insisted I should have one for emergency purposes. I finally relented and added one to my possessions.

It's not like I haven't used the phone to text or talk to friends, family, etc. I guess it's just not ingrained in me that it's a absolute need to check the thing every hour, much less every day, for better or worse.

This cell phone mentality I think derived to how I have historically felt about wearing a watch. Generally, I haven't felt the need nor the want to wear a watch.

This leads me to another confession - my mom gave me a very nice watch as a graduation present. Oh, nothing that's truly a collectible or anything - just an upper-end Seiko. To this day, it still sits somewhere among my possessions, resting in its original case, never having seen the outside light of day.

Nowadays, I do wear a watch, but for utilitarian purposes. My Timex Ironman is almost always with me - you never know when an outdoor run might happen, and I like to keep some record of how long the run was.

But even here, I have a third confession. A fair number of runs I've logged in the past have been guesstimates in terms of time, though this is admittedly a rarity these days. Some argue that a run in its truest and purest essence is one where you head wherever you feel like and for however long you want. It is those types of runs that tend to act as a salve to the soul or uplift the heart or work out some frustration; a watch in these cases is at best a secondary consideration and in reality, probably unnecessary.

Recently a question was posed to my running group about what zodiac sign I was. One supposed quality associated with my sign was a tendency to roam, and this fits me to a tee. Maybe part of being a roamer is a natural allergy to technological tethers like a watch or a cell phone. Even on the Internet, which is the closest thing to a technological tether for me, inherently built-in is the ability visit multiple-millions of different websites covering a plethora of information in a myriad of forms.

As far as my cell-phone-itis, maybe someone will loan me an iPhone to test drive for a couple of years, where I'd be open to reconsideration of this I guess somewhat odd stance of mine. But even if that outlandish scenario came to fruition, I'd probably at least give some passing thought to turning the offer down.