(This is the 400-word summary from the assignment in lecture fourteen)

I am home alone, and I am bored. I have been messaging my girlfriend throughout the day, but she seems busy. I check my phone for notifications, but it has nothing to offer. I put it down and walk around my apartment for a few minutes. I check my phone again for messages, but there is nothing on screen. I open WhatsApp and I ask my girlfriend what she’s up to. I see that she is not online, so I put my phone away again. I sit down at my computer to watch some videos online about topics that interest me, but the experience is not fulfilling. I look at my phone from across the room and I see that the notification light is blinking. I rush to unlock the device, and I see that is was only the weather app telling me it’s about to start raining. I am frustrated by my lack of ability to entertain myself and the need to check phone every few minutes, so decide to I put it away once again. I open a drawer underneath my kitchen table, so I can place my phone out of sight, and I notice my old pencil case and sketchbook. They remind me of when I was young; I would sit in my room for hours on end, just drawing anything that came to mind. I remember being bored back then, too, but I am impressed by what I was able to create. I decide to see if I still have it. I take out the sketchbook and pencils, and I start drawing. The first four sheets of paper end up on the ground after I swipe them off the table in a fit of frustration, but after a while the inspiration takes me away and my attention is entirely focused on the drawing process. I hear my phone buzzing in the drawer. I’m pretty sure it’s just another weather notification, or maybe a message from a colleague. Nothing is interesting enough to distract me from drawing. A few hours pass, and I put the finishing touches on my drawing. I look at it and I feel the same sense of pride that I used to feel when I was a kid. Then I remember that my phone was buzzing earlier, so I open the drawer and take it out. “I love you”, it says.

Tim Hoogland

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