I would agree with Lincoln that doing this task on a day off from work would mostly result in a fairly boring praxis, mostly just laying around reading and playing with my cats - not a bad day, but nothing you guys would want to necessarily read about. Unfortunately, my job is set up so there is a large amount of mandatory button-pressing, and although I could tell my staff I was avoiding buttons for the day (they don't know about SF0, but they are aware that sometimes I do weird things at work and are pretty okay with it), we're in the busy retail season now. My getting someone else to do the button-pressing would slow things down and seem frivolously unfair. So, then - how to make this interesting for you to look at? Maybe some artwork?

I can draw passably well. That is to say, when I draw something, people can generally tell what it's supposed to represent without a lot of squinting and deep thought. That being said, I don't think I'm an awesome artist or anything and only draw when absolutely necessary. I have a stick ballpoint pen that has a cap instead of a clicky-button, so I could do pen and ink drawings. I chose to do a set of artist trading cards, so if the drawings came out okay I could trade them later, give them to people, or make them otherwise useful beyond this praxis.

I had to come up with a way to document the not-pressing, so every time I thought about pressing a button throughout the day, I drew the button I did not press. Here's how that went:

1 - I didn't set my alarm clock, since I would have to press a button to shut it off. I woke up at 9:01, looked at the clock, and immediately thought, "I don't have to press that this morning."

2 - I got up to make breakfast and realized I couldn't use the microwave, because even though mine has dials to make it cook things, it has a button that actually makes the door open.

3 - After eating things that came out of the kitchen cabinets, I went to look at my cell phone. I could open my phone to see the screen, and if it rang, opening it would automatically pick up the call, but I couldn't check or send any text messages. I love texting, so this made me a little sad.

4 and 5 - I fed the cats, then went into the bedroom and stared at the TV remote and television. I went into this task knowing I wouldn't be able to use either of them, but I wanted to see the weather forecast and could not.

6 - Some amount of books and cats and taking a shower later, I began to pine slightly for the use of the computer. It's hard to go a day without visiting you here on SF0.

7 - I thought about whether or not I could go anywhere in my car. At first, I thought I'd be able to if I didn't use the radio.

8 - Or lock the doors from the inside, as I have manual locks that require button-pressing.

9 - Oh, crap, or put the thing into gear. I drive an automatic and there's a big button on the gear shift. So only walking, then, and it was dark and snowy and cold. No thanks.

10 - I made peanut butter and banana sandwich and stared at Molotov's Nintendo Gamecube, which I have been "borrowing" for a few years now. I like to play Animal Crossing because it cracks me up. It has a button to turn it on, though.

11 - Not to mention a controller that is loaded with forbidden buttons.

12 - I wish I could use my camera to document this. I'm tired of having to draw things. I like to draw sometimes, but not when I'm "forced" to. Some part of my brain resists this. I get frustrated when I can't make drawings come out the way I want them to, and because I've chosen to do the praxis this way, I have to do the best job I can even if I'm not happy with the drawing. It's a little like school, and I don't like it.

13 - Around 10pm, I realize that I can't do any laundry before I go to bed. The washing machine is okay since it starts automatically when I push in the slide that holds the quarters, but the dryer has a button to make it go.

The results - I knew that it would be a slightly frustrating day, what with thinking, "Oh, I'll go do this thing", and then being thwarted by buttons. However, this task also made me somewhat melancholy, as some of the fun or necessary things I like to do on my days off were not possible. Also, I like machines and honestly enjoy using them - I probably take them less for granted than the average person. I missed having them be part of my day.