RIHLA #17

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Salutations my kitten bats!

My life is still as uneventful as ever, but with only one exception. Last Friday my school had their annual Fire & Ice Masquerade Dance in honor of Valentine's day. I royally stink at dancing. My efforts at moving my body have been described as a 'retarded toad suffocating on air' (Yes, I am THAT bad); however, I had a wonderful dance partner who never mentioned my horrible lack of rythm. There's a picture for your amusement.

The dance was a smashing event, aside from the fact that I was over twenty minutes late. My friends had dared me to straighten my hair since it's usually in a tight ringlet state, and my failed attempt at getting straw straight hair took way longer than I exspected it to. Thanks to my Mom's awesome mental map, I wasn't too late to the dance.

An article that I read (Is GPS all in our heads? ) begs the question as to whether or not GPS is destorying our capability, as a human, to create a mental map. A My Mom has spent years living in this city and has developed a pretty good mental map. Upon visiting my would be high school for the first time, she didn't even need to print out directions or use a GPS because she knew the general location of where the school would be.

The article agrues that GPS systems lack landmarks that help the human mind create a mental map of new areas. It also agrues that relying on GPS systems destroys our capability of creating a metal map. I agreed with this because I do not have a car and I do not like to be driven around. As an independent individual, I take public transportation. My routine for traveling to a new place constists of google the location, finding the right bus or train to take, and writing down simple notes like "Walk down blahblahblah, take bus blahblahblah going in blahblahblah directon, get off at stop blahblahblah, look for street blablahblah and walk". I rely on my mental map to note landmarks so i can find my way back home.

In future college classes, a mental GPS might be helpful in navigating my way around campus. As to my current World History Class, a mental GPS will be helpful in locating important cities, countries, and contenits.

A mental GPS is a good skill to have developed fully because it will better you in the future, so stop relying on GPS's and use an old fashioned map!

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