Thursday, December 4, 2008

On Covert Operations

I had a very interesting experience yesterday when I went "off the grid" as it were. Some would argue that, due to my lack of cell phone, I am never really "on the grid" anyway, but this time I was intentional with it.
A friend of mine and I were going to hang out together and study, but we had noted that whenever we make attempts to do this, we end up surrounded by a group of friends that we love, and little studying or homework is actually accomplished. So it was that we made the decision to barricade ourselves in a conference room at SG for three hours and deny all human contact. We told no one of our plans, not out of distaste for their company, but solely because we actually needed to get work done.
This would not normally be a problem, but it just so happened that while I was hidden from the world, my director for a student directed scene decided to move the rehearsal time from 11:15 to 10:00: a wise choice. No one likes starting a rehearsal after 11:00. It is just gross. Apparently, when this decision was made, the world exploded, because no one knew how to contact me. After working for an hour, I briefly emerged from the conference room and was immediately attacked by a fellow actor in my scene, desperate to make sure I knew about the change. She informed me that no one knew how to find me. After this, I hopped on facebook briefly because my mind needed a break from researching, when suddenly facebook chat started thrusting its way into my life. Immediately, two people, one of them another actor, the other not, told me about the change. Later on, two other friends happened to see us in the conference room, and while chatting for a bit, they made sure that I knew that the rehearsal had been moved. Apparently everyone with whom I have ever come in contact was called in an attempt to discern my whereabouts.
I just found it remarkable how dependent we have become on instant communication. People complain and/or tease me often about the fact that I do not have a cell phone. However, due to the "wonder" of facebook, I am usually reachable. But this one time, when I was out of contact for a scarce three hours, no one knew how to handle it.
Is it wrong that I was very amused by all of this frantic confusion and desperation?

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