I wanted to know something... (or How many times can I say smartphone?)

I wanted to know something.

The world we live in allows us to know the answer to any question in mere moments. The answer quite often is literally at our fingertips, at arms length and as easy as asking our smartphone the question.

I wanted to know something but I was in the middle of  doing something else. It wasn't important, but it was what I was doing at THAT particular moment and the smartphone was in the other room where I would also be as soon as I finished what I was doing. And so I arrived in the room with the smartphone, with my tea and toast.

That's what I was doing... making tea and toast. I make tea and toast every morning. My routine is identical every morning. I roll out of bed, I dress into some clothing, I have my morning visit to the toilet, then I head to the kitchen to make tea and toast. I follow that process up by heading to the living room and turning on my TV and either watching some CNN or I watch a show on demand that I had missed in the previous two or three days. Occasionally I just surf through Netflix, Hulu or Amazon Prime for something new to watch.

There's something comforting about routine, but routine is a gateway to laziness. Routine is cyclical and life was never meant to be cyclical. Or was it? The sun rises and sets every day. Winter is followed by spring and then summer begets autumn and the whole thing repeats itself year after year. But given the choice between cyclical and linear, which is the better option? Imagine never living the same day twice. Could you even literally do that? I mean waking up in a different place every single day of your life is a near impossibility. Feeding yourself and the people you've made almost demands the cyclical. Loving one person for 20, 40, 60 years is the core of a cyclical life. So routine and the cyclical are the foundation of a successful life and the very bulwark against loneliness and despair.

I wanted to know something.

I was in my living room drinking tea and eating toast and looking for something to watch. I had settled on a movie with Ben Stiller called "Brad's Status". I connected with Brad. I often get stuck in my own head, pondering the multifaceted world we live and the part I'm supposed to play. I think I narrate my life to myself as I live it and often wonder if I've ever accidentally narrated out loud. Has anyone ever heard me telling myself how I felt at that moment or heard me imagine a future version of myself enjoying the fruits of my own success? I can so easily get distracted in my own thoughts that I often miss the things that people around me are talking about. In fact I've learned to laugh in public situations based on tonal cues from the person speaking even though I have no idea what they just said.

While watching "Brad's Status" I noticed Ben Stiller's hair has grayed over the years. My own hair has grayed, but mostly my side burns and my beard. Isn't it funny that my facial hair has gone completely gray but my hair on my head is still the same color it's always been? Over the last year my hair has thinned. I'm not bald, but you can see the skin of my scalp through my hair now. I've always said that if I ever start to go bald I'm just going to go all in and not try to hide it through creative brushing of my hair. I told Meg and Annie that I intend to shave my head bald soon and they're both adamant that I don't. They think I'll look terrible bald. "Oh, thanks for the support guys." Feel free to voice your own opinions on whether or not I should just shave my head bald. I had done it once before in my 30's as seen here.

Anyway, I wanted to know something so I picked up my smartphone.

I looked at the time. It was 9:00 AM. My pill alarm usually goes off at 7:00 AM, but it didn't this morning. I was wondering why it hadn't and I recalled that I didn't hear it last night either at 8:00 PM when it usually goes off.  So I went to the clock app, checked the alarm section and they were all gone. Oh right, I was cleaning up my phone yesterday. Going through every app in the settings and clearing the data and cache. I didn't really think about the fact that this would erase all of my pill alarms and early morning meeting alarms. I had received a gift at Christmas, one of these devices that allows you to interface with the internet through first calling out the name of the device, then asking it a question. Basically a smartphone that isn't a phone so much as a stationary device that lives in the house with you and acts like a smartphone. Before you can set it up you need to download an app onto your smartphone. I tried to do that a month or two ago but there wasn't enough room so I've been meaning to get around to cleaning up my smartphone.

I took my pills.

I wanted to know something. It's so easy to get the answer to any question these days. You simply press a button on your smartphone, or call out the name of your device if you've set it up, speak the question out loud, and your smartphone or device gives you an answer, or perhaps several options. But there is nothing that you can't find out about by simply asking your smartphone or smartphone like device.

I wanted to know something, so I picked up my smartphone pressed the button, but could no longer recall the question.