'A' for Ambitious Attempt

A.M.

I have been mulling on the idea of taking the plastics challenge for a while. And, true to my usual procrastinator ways, I waiting until Sunday, December 5th to take the challenge. I had concluded weeks before that Sunday would be the easiest day to take the challenge for many reasons. However, I had to tork the 24 hour time slot from the start. This is because I bar tend on Saturday nights at a local bar. I work until three in the morning, officially imposing on my Sunday and therefore on my plastics challenge. I would like to say that I could work for three hours without coming into contact with plastics but there was simply NO WAY! We use all plastic cups/shot classes, intoxicated patrons would have been confused and annoyed if I tried to tell them I can't serve them because I have vowed not to touch plastics. Distributing drinks in glass cups would have been a solution to this dilemma, however glass has caused some serious injuries before, I always see people dropping their cups and have thought to myself "Thank goodness that is plastic." Furthermore, we don't have that many glass cups, we would have run out within a half hour. So my challenge was officially from 3:00 am Sunday morning to 3:00 am Monday morning. Let me continue....

3:00 am Sunday - I get home from work and would love nothing more than to brush my teeth, however I am currently using a plastic tooth brush, tooth paste from a plastic disposer, and floss from a plastic container. Sooo I guess I am not brushing my teeth. (At this moment I am grateful that I do not have to go to bed every night with unbrushed teeth, I have never thought about it before but I am sure most of the humans on earth slumber every night with unburshed, and especially unflossed, teeth...)

I would also love to wash my face and apply some night time face serum, but this is also not plausible due to the packaging. So I put water on my face and get over it.

I move to the kitchen, I like to drink a lot of water before I hit the hay, reduces dark circles under the eyes (or so I read in Cosmo). Anyways, my Brita filter is made of plastic so I am forced to drink unfiltered tap water. I neglected to put my dish in the dishwasher, since that whole machine is made of plastic.

I go to bed, without setting an alarm, because doing so would involve touching my I-phone, a plastic I-phone that is.

11:00 am Sunday - I awake a little later than normal (I actually awoke once in the night to go pee due to the aforementioned water, I was able to avoid plastics for that two minutes). I arise and inform my seven roommates of the challenge I have embarked upon. I then ask if one of them would be so kind as to pour some mouth wash in my mouth, careful not to touch the plastic to my lips. My roommates ask if that is cheating, I secretly think it is but I say no anyways, because I have awful breath in the morning and would be very self-conscious about it all day.

11:10 am Sunday - I would normally go to the gym and get my endorphines going. However, those treadmills are plastic and I m not aloud to touch plastic (by this time I am getting curious pleasure from this challenge, as if I am having a little battle against modern consumerism, I thrive off competition so this competition I created in my head is becoming sort of fun for me...) After a full minute or two of thought on the gym situation I decide to go, I will just run around the track and lift only steal weights. However, in order to enter the serf I need that little red plastic card that acknowledges my enrollment at the university. I decide I will tell a room mate to put the card in my pocket and then I will ask someone at the serf to take it out and put it back in. (I still don't know if this sort of thing is cheating.....)

At the serf I successfully avoid plastics and have a lovely little workout!

P.M.

1:30 pm Sunday- Uh-oh time to shower. This is were the plastic plot thickens and I become annoyed rather than intrigued. I want to wash my hair, I really do. However, my shampoo is in a plastic container. So I don't wash it, I just rinse it. Upon getting out of the shower I want to put on lotion. These winter months suck the moisture right out of my skin. I want to moisturize, I really do. However, my lotions are all in plastic. So I don't lotion up, I just dry off. Now I realize that I will be unable to brush my hair! It is at this time I curse this stupid project and am about to call it quits, not even 12 hours into it, and then I remember that one of the room mates has a wooden brush from Aveda. This particular room mate has a lot of boundaries very clearly drawn, she dislikes people using her things. She especially dislikes people using her hygiene products. I have lived with her for two years and know she would be annoyed if I use her brush. But it is in the light of an academic project, so I use her wooden brush. (I found I also got some curious pleasure out of using her hygiene product...but that is neither here nor there...) After I brush my hair I realize blow drying it was out of the question. Which means I have to stay indoors until my long locks dry, because I don't want to catch a cold. Finally I have done all I can without using plastics. I feel very primitive and am really disliking this project...

2:30 pm Sunday- At this time I am sitting on my bed brainstorming activities that are plastic free and will take up a long time. I decide to do homework. Psyche!!! I can't do homework! My pens and pencils are plastic, my notebook covers are plastic, many of my text books have plastic on them. This does not upset me, I am happy I have a reason to avoid my studies for a day!

I am very hungry at this point as well, I ate a banana on the way to the gym but hadn't ate anything since. So I migrate to the kitchen and try to find a plastic free meal. I settle on preparing a dish of couscous. The packaging is cardboard and I used all glass or steal cookware/dishware. (Again I didn't put the cooking utensils in the dishwasher, the aforementioned roommate didn't like my accumulating pile of dishes in the sink, furthermore I can't even soak them because of the plastic that holds the dish soap.) I would have loved to put some fresh veggies on the couscous, but they are all wrapped in plastic. So I go without veggies, thus compromising my nutrition intake to avoid plastic. Interesting trade off...

3:30 pm Sunday-

I am bored. I can't check my e-mail or my texts or my missed calls. So I sat cross legged on the floor. I had mustered up a wooden pencil by this point and began writing in my journal (not my plastic journal, my real journal). I haven't written in a while so this occupies a decent amount of time. I then start to write letters to my friends from abroad and my on-again, off-again boyfriend who is working in South Korea. This delighted me, I find letters much more personal than e-mails, and am happy that I took the time to write to my friends. After writing to my friends abroad I wrote to my friends from high school, they are all state-side but it is still fun to send letters to them.

6:00 pm Sunday- La ti da, La ti da I am going crazy. I sat on the floor for a half hour thinking that I can feel a cold coming on (possibly from my wet hair??) and about how I would love some Emergency-C or a multi vitamin. But in order to get to these I have to go through plastics. Boo. Damn you plastics, damn you.

6:30 pm Sunday- I am not having fun anymore. My roommates are watching a creepy movie called Human Centipede (this movie would later give me nightmares) I don't want to watch but I watch anyways because I have NOTHING ELSE TO DO!!

8:00 pm Sunday- I eat two more bananas.

8:30 pm Sunday- I never go to bed this early but my day has been a big ball of nothingness, no work was done, no e-mail was checked, nothing. (I also realize that no money was spent, my money is plastic so that explains that!) I tell my room mate to unwrap some NyQuil so that I can fall asleep early and end this backwards day. She pops the little blue pills into my mouth. I am happy because I am really affected by medicine so I know that I will be fast asleep sooner rather than later. I go strait to bed, not even bothering going to the bathroom first because anything I would want to do in there is not possible. (I realize that it is a good thing I am not on my period because feminine products are, at least partially, plastic. My room mates may have felt a little uncomfortable helping me avoid that encounter...) Can this day please end???

9:00 pm Sunday -I am sleeping.

A.M. Again...

2:15 am Monday- I wake up and glance at the clock, I continue to look at it until the big hand reaches the 3. I AM FREE FROM AN UN PLASTIC LIFE! I reach for my phone, I feel as though I have connected with an old friend. I am happy that the day is over and am proud i didn't give up, even though it really wasn't that fun.

My Analysis of the Plastic Challenge Project:

I could have guessed how over saturated modern day America is with plastics, but having to go through and consciously avoid it is really eye opening. In hind sight there were times in the day I came into contact with plastic not even realizing I did. For example, the little things on the end of my shoe laces as I was dressing for the gym: plastic. The buttons on my flannel I wore after getting out the shower: plastic. The counter top: plastic. The sequence on my blanket: plastic. PLASTIC IS EVERYWHERE!