---
title: "Keep an Open Mind: Detention Without Amanda Jones Isn’t Necessarily Bad"
date: 2008-04-08
description: "$( document ).ready(function() { // Handler for .ready() called. $("
canonical_url: https://idratherbewriting.com/2008/04/08/keep-an-open-mind-detention-without-amanda-jones-isnt-necessarily-bad/
---
# Keep an Open Mind: Detention Without Amanda Jones Isn’t Necessarily Bad
In one scene, the main character, Keith, intentionally sets off a fire alarm to land in detention, hoping to sit near his daydream love, Amanda Jones. It turns out Amanda -- unbeknownst to Keith -- sprung herself from detention through her flirtatiousness with a teacher, leaving Keith to endure detention alone, with all the other deadheads.But it's during the time in detention that Keith becomes friends with Duncan, an outspoken deadhead who initially seemed his enemy. Through his friendship with Duncan, Keith is able to take Amanda to a private art gallery and later, at the movie's climax, escapes from Hardy's planned pounding because Duncan and his friends fortuitously arrive at Hardy's party to crash it.

Although Keith initially thought detention without Amanda Jones would be a big waste of time, and that associating with Duncan would bring nothing but misery, it turns out that detention allows Keith and Duncan to become friends, and Duncan later saves Keith in his moment of greatest need.

In general, I try to look at the Duncans I meet and the detentions I have to serve as possibly beneficial experiences. Many times undesirable experiences turn out to be beneficial in hindsight. This is why I don't mind trying new things, attending new events, and keeping an open mind. You never know what may come of it.

![Keith arrives at detention, surprised not to see Amanda Jones](https://s3.us-west-1.wasabisys.com/idbwmedia.com/images/017.jpg)

In the above image, Keith arrives at detention, surprised not to see Amanda Jones.

Below are some experiences where I opened my mind to something new and had a good experience because of it.

### Experience #1: SLC Bloggers

Last month I attended my first ever blogger dinner. Kind of nerdy, and I was reluctant to go. I had no idea that two months later I would still be keeping up with the blogs and tweets of people I met there. The same people let me know about [Podcamp SLC](http://podcamp.pbwiki.com/PodCampSLC), which was tremendously beneficial. And now [Wordcamp SLC](http://joseph.randomnetworks.com/archives/2008/04/03/get-involved-with-wordcamp-utah/) is in the planning. It's nice to have a group of bloggers nearby that I can find camaraderie with.

### Experience #2: Podcasting

Podcasting is another unexpected experience. I first started listening to podcasts in 2006 as part of a New Year's Resolution strategy to exercise more. That morphed into listening to podcasts everywhere, recording local chapter presenters and publishing them as podcasts, and then becoming a regular podcaster. Today I was IMing with a guy from Malaysia who regularly listens to my podcasts.