If you look in my desk drawer, you will find a mess of concert tickets, movie tickets, broken bits of jewelry, playing cards and even the occasional laser tag score sheet; and if you look on my bedside table, you will find an ever-growing collection of glassware comprised of shot glasses, wine glasses, mugs and champagne flutes. Call me an overly sentimental hoarder, but I’m a firm believer in souvenirs. I like things that I can physically hold in my hand, interact with, taste, smell. Sometimes photographs and digital receipts just aren’t enough.

I like the smell of a new book and writing all over magazines and newspapers in black Sharpie. I like looking at CD art and flipping through actual photo albums. I understand that it’s not the cheapest or most space-effective choice, but there are certain things that don’t transfer over to a purely digital realm.

Technology is part of the RIT culture, and sometimes, it’s really easy to take those other things for granted. I don’t know about you, but I spend at least 60 percent of my day on the computer. Between the hours of 5 a.m. and 12 a.m., my cell phone goes off roughly 270 times, and that’s no exaggeration. It has become such a problem that my sister and my cousins have attempted to wrench my gadgets out of my hands during family gatherings and vacations. They continually challenge me to go a day without my computer or my phone. I can tell you right now. I would fail.

Sure, at the moment, that isn’t a challenge I can face; but one day, I’d like to unplug myself from the world and just enjoy it. Maybe during the holidays.