i'm heading off on an alpaca adventure with joyce, but wanted to share my birthday bouquet and a few other things before i go.
my first week of sabbatical. delicious. i cooked. i read. i wrote. i sat. i surfed.
my second week of sabbatical i want to cook, read, write, sit, walk, sketch something everyday. surf less.
leslie shared this link to practice being human a zine/pdf about giving up technology. so so good. i remember when i switched internet providers and was off the grid for a month. i loved it! of course i wasn't completely off because i was going to the mcdonald's or starbuck's parking lot to get email each evening. still i remember the feeling of spaciousness and possibility. if you aren't so connected to the internet in the first place you probably won't understand the feeling that happens when you disconnect. but i want more of that. MORE. so somewhere between here and alpaca country i'm going to stop and buy a stopwatch. i have an idea that i think will work for me. will share it in the coming days.
i'll be off the grid completely till i get home. see you sunday!
Hi Mary Ann,
I’m really glad you liked Practice Being Human! Since I wrote it, I go back and forth between being ok with my online usage and totally distracted and disgruntled by it…..but I guess I’m happy with just being aware that “putting it in a drawer” is an option, and knowing when I need to studiously take a break, even if it’s just from one particular thing (Facebook being a very glaring example).
I have a 12-year old penpal who is VERY strident about hating technology…she rails at her teacher when her teacher talks about having an email address because that’s the “only” way people communicate. I try to remind her that it’s all just a tool and it depends on how you use it!
Anyway, I just wanted to say hello (found you in my referral stats), and happy birthday!
Carolee
Have fun!
Oh man. I too loved the zine and shared it on Facebook. Then the next day–the VERY next day–my Internet was down. The WHOLE day. I was devastated. Lost. I said I wanted to go off the grid a bit but on my time–when I chose! haha. I did manage to do some art stuff though so all wasn’t lost. I look forward MAM to seeing your idea.
I often think about how less complicated my life was when I had an electric typewriter, a phone attached to the kitchen wall with a 25-foot cord, and I would get cards and letters in the mail. Good times. Getting away from technology feels so good, especially when you remember how great it actually was without all of it. It just does.
oh man. that zine is fantastic.
I’ve been trying to spend less time online lately too and its HARD but I keep reminding myself it’s worth it. and i feel tons better about my life, my house, my work, when I’m not constantly comparing it with others.
i love alpacas, give one of them a nuzzle for me. 😉
I use a nice little brushed steel Ikea kitchen timer when I want to limit net time and/or if I’m doing some cleaning out project I’ve avoided. For the latter, I get a 5 min break, and I have a lot of songs in an iTunes playlist called…5 minutes! I also have one called 15minutes if I want to do something that’s been avoided. When the song ends, I can say Enough.
Happy belated birthday, Mary Ann, and better yet: JOYOUS SABBATICAL! You deserve to enjoy the days in your life! I just listened to an interview on “Artists Helping Artists” today with a painter I know named Lisa Daria Kennedy. She talked about waking up and not checking emails, phone, etc. b/4 doing her “painting a day” (which she’s been doing for over 3 years!) b/c it’s so easily distracting. Might be worth your listening to. Those interviews could be a way of using technology differently b/c you can listen to other artists while you make your own art. Just a thought. Have fun with the fluffy alpacas (one of my favorite yarns to knit with).
Enjoy the alpacas! They are such sweet animals. I love seeing them at the State Fair here in Sacramento. Alpaca is so soft and lovely… in fact I have decided to relearn how to knit and the scarf I am making is from alpaca wool. Love how it feels!
Happy be-lated birthday. Just caught up on my blog reading-I think I need more than a stop watch because surfing is so **** addicting. Always something new to stimulate, but there’s goes the minutes, hours…kind of lost time in some ways. Hope the alpaca farm is fun. Their under bites make me giggle.
Loved the zine. Enjoy your alpaca adventure!
Goodbye! Enjoy the sounds of real life!
I just got back from an online break of several weeks. I always do this around the holidays and it feels…cleansing somehow. I love the interwebs, but it’s good to get away from it from time to time and just get back to the essential and basic stuff life should be about. Hope you find your balance in this. Good luck and…have a wonderful weekend.
Great zine, Mary Ann. Thank you so much for sharing.
Love that zine, thanks so much for sharing! Enjoy your weekend with the alpacas, I look forward to photos on Monday.