On Saturday, April 5, 2014 I took a sabbatical from social media and temporarily deactivated my Facebook account.
Wow, I am so addicted. Seriously. So very addicted. Today is the eleventh day off Facebook and I still really, really, really want to post things. And have I done the writing I wanted to do, which was the impetus for getting off Facebook? Not yet. I have done ONE exercise from a book titled What If? Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers. I've made two blog posts and this will be the third. I should be doing better than this.
I'm having difficulty figuring out how to block web pages from my browsers. I want to block my other time wasting sites: Slate, Brainbashers Daily Nonogrids, and Goobix Nonograms. I thought I had it figured out but I have still have access to the sites. Must work on that.
Tried to find the science fiction book club at the library...looks like they aren't meeting right now. The last meeting was in January. This winter was bitterly cold so if they suspended the meetings until spring I wouldn't be surprised, but I thought they would've started back up by now. I really need something to get me out of the house.
I'm looking into the SCA group in the next town. I'll be attending an event in Bloomington on the 26th. I'm nervous and scared and excited all at the same time. I think this will be a very good experience for me, the one friend I had in this area has moved to Minnesota, so I'm kind of lonely. I guess I'm just not a small town type of person. I don't know where to go to make friends. Also? I'm not good at making friends, being painfully, horribly, cripplingly shy.
Coelocanth Press
Wednesday, April 16, 2014
Tuesday, April 8, 2014
Day Three - Purging old energies
All times are approximate. I'm calling this entry an exercise in recall and writing. It isn't a pathetic attempt to ease the withdrawl symptoms of not being able to post statuses on Facebook. It's NOT.
7 am: Start looking for TheMan's paper shredder. It's larger than mine, plus I know it's in the office somewhere. I don't know where mine is off hand. I want to make a start at getting rid of old paperwork, old bills and such that have my name on them. Like five year old credit card statements and such.
When I got married in June and moved into my husband's house my office stuff was crammed into his office with his office stuff and neither of us is terribly organized. We're both pile-makers. I want to get rid of old energy and clean some of this stuff up.
7:15 am: Found the paper shredder. It was sitting right beside my desk underneath a couple of books. TheMan and I are also both bibliophiles. (That sounds better than book hoarders.) Start shredding.
7:20 am: Paper shredder jams. Printed on the top of the shredder, "MAXIMUM 6 SHEETS." I only put in four. Turn off, unplug, start pulling out shredded bits. Oh, good. It's a crosscut shredder. I'd forgotten that. Get pliers to pull out the stubborn bits. Reassemble and it works again. Shred the last few things in that pile. Look for more. Sort through piled file folders. Immediately start to confuse my piles of shred, keep, refile, reuse.
7:40 am: Realize I need to go to the bathroom. Realize my four days of spotting is not going away and yes, I actually did start my period on Saturday, eight days early. Feel annoyed, even though my flow is very light and that's unusual and I don't have cramps and I'm hardly cranky at all. WTF? I've been early before, but I don't remember ever being this early. Is my real age finally catching up with me? I'm 42 but I don't look it. Lot's of people have told me so, it's not just vanity, thank you. Many people can't believe I have two sons aged twenty-one and nineteen. So I like to ignore the fact that my body is definitely not 32 years old. But it's always there at the back of my mind, "You're not getting any younger." Menopause maybe? Shudder. Find phone and make a note in my period tracker app.
7:45 am: Realize I haven't eaten breakfast. Get the banana nut muffin out of the microwave that I had warmed up at 6:45 and forgotten about. More coffee. Remind TheDaughter that it's 7:47 am. She slept through her alarm this morning and was playing on her iPad at that moment. I didn't want to have to drive her to school when she usually rides her bike. Sit down at the dining room table to eat my muffin and drink my coffee and read my current book. Every Which Way But Dead by Kim Harrison. Rachel Mariana Morgan, witch bounty hunter.Witches, vampires, pixies, werewolves and such in a modern mystery novel setting could easily be trite and ridiculous but Harrison's excellent realistic writing style makes it damn entertaining and fresh. TheDaughter leaves for school.
7:55 am: Sit on the back porch and smoke a cigarette and read some more.
8 am: Back into the office and make this blog entry because damnit I need to write something.
8:30 am: Waste half an hour playing nonograms online. I play Brainbashers Nonogrids and GoobixGoobix Nonograms. These time wasters are self limiting because if I make a hopeless mistake on a grid and I've already spent over five minutes on the puzzle I stop for at least a while to reset my brain. I have no idea what I mean by that, it just came out of my fingers into the keyboard.
7 am: Start looking for TheMan's paper shredder. It's larger than mine, plus I know it's in the office somewhere. I don't know where mine is off hand. I want to make a start at getting rid of old paperwork, old bills and such that have my name on them. Like five year old credit card statements and such.
When I got married in June and moved into my husband's house my office stuff was crammed into his office with his office stuff and neither of us is terribly organized. We're both pile-makers. I want to get rid of old energy and clean some of this stuff up.
7:15 am: Found the paper shredder. It was sitting right beside my desk underneath a couple of books. TheMan and I are also both bibliophiles. (That sounds better than book hoarders.) Start shredding.
7:20 am: Paper shredder jams. Printed on the top of the shredder, "MAXIMUM 6 SHEETS." I only put in four. Turn off, unplug, start pulling out shredded bits. Oh, good. It's a crosscut shredder. I'd forgotten that. Get pliers to pull out the stubborn bits. Reassemble and it works again. Shred the last few things in that pile. Look for more. Sort through piled file folders. Immediately start to confuse my piles of shred, keep, refile, reuse.
7:40 am: Realize I need to go to the bathroom. Realize my four days of spotting is not going away and yes, I actually did start my period on Saturday, eight days early. Feel annoyed, even though my flow is very light and that's unusual and I don't have cramps and I'm hardly cranky at all. WTF? I've been early before, but I don't remember ever being this early. Is my real age finally catching up with me? I'm 42 but I don't look it. Lot's of people have told me so, it's not just vanity, thank you. Many people can't believe I have two sons aged twenty-one and nineteen. So I like to ignore the fact that my body is definitely not 32 years old. But it's always there at the back of my mind, "You're not getting any younger." Menopause maybe? Shudder. Find phone and make a note in my period tracker app.
7:45 am: Realize I haven't eaten breakfast. Get the banana nut muffin out of the microwave that I had warmed up at 6:45 and forgotten about. More coffee. Remind TheDaughter that it's 7:47 am. She slept through her alarm this morning and was playing on her iPad at that moment. I didn't want to have to drive her to school when she usually rides her bike. Sit down at the dining room table to eat my muffin and drink my coffee and read my current book. Every Which Way But Dead by Kim Harrison. Rachel Mariana Morgan, witch bounty hunter.Witches, vampires, pixies, werewolves and such in a modern mystery novel setting could easily be trite and ridiculous but Harrison's excellent realistic writing style makes it damn entertaining and fresh. TheDaughter leaves for school.
7:55 am: Sit on the back porch and smoke a cigarette and read some more.
8 am: Back into the office and make this blog entry because damnit I need to write something.
8:30 am: Waste half an hour playing nonograms online. I play Brainbashers Nonogrids and GoobixGoobix Nonograms. These time wasters are self limiting because if I make a hopeless mistake on a grid and I've already spent over five minutes on the puzzle I stop for at least a while to reset my brain. I have no idea what I mean by that, it just came out of my fingers into the keyboard.
Monday, April 7, 2014
Day Two - Purging a Facebook addiction
So. This past Saturday I deactivated my Facebook account. Not deleted, just deactivated. Like...taking a sabbatical. From social media. I don't want to delete my account because my friends and family are spread out all over the United States. Many of them I haven't seen physically in years (and some I haven't met yet!) but Facebook lets me know about their lives. So I'm not giving it up. BUT...
I was spending far more time on Facebook than is healthy. And what was I NOT doing? Writing.
I knew it would be difficult to quit, but I hadn't realized how much time I spend on there until after I made deactivation. Sunday I had to work. I was booked solid so after six and a half hours of massage and an hour drive plus a half hour detour to pick up my step-daughter and stop at the grocery I was exhausted. I didn't even go on the computer.
But today.... Monday is my rest day. Sundays at worked are always busy so I try to keep Mondays totally free if possible, so I don't have to go anywhere. Do have any idea how many times I wanted to share the inanest of thoughts on Facebook? How much I wanted to run to the status window with every frustration? Jeez. I couldn't sit at the computer long without wanting to log in. Blech.
I blocked Facebook in my browser too, along with Slate, because it was another huge time waster for me. And I uninstalled Lord of the Rings Online from my computer. Because I can play that damn thing for an entire day and not even realize it.
I want to get back to writing and forcing myself away from time wasting. If I can get myself writing on a regular basis maybe in six months or so I can attempt to check in again.
This entry was a lot more boring than I'd hoped. See? I can't even write an interesting blog entry anymore. Well, just keep bashing away, genius will return. Return, damn you!
I was spending far more time on Facebook than is healthy. And what was I NOT doing? Writing.
I knew it would be difficult to quit, but I hadn't realized how much time I spend on there until after I made deactivation. Sunday I had to work. I was booked solid so after six and a half hours of massage and an hour drive plus a half hour detour to pick up my step-daughter and stop at the grocery I was exhausted. I didn't even go on the computer.
But today.... Monday is my rest day. Sundays at worked are always busy so I try to keep Mondays totally free if possible, so I don't have to go anywhere. Do have any idea how many times I wanted to share the inanest of thoughts on Facebook? How much I wanted to run to the status window with every frustration? Jeez. I couldn't sit at the computer long without wanting to log in. Blech.
I blocked Facebook in my browser too, along with Slate, because it was another huge time waster for me. And I uninstalled Lord of the Rings Online from my computer. Because I can play that damn thing for an entire day and not even realize it.
I want to get back to writing and forcing myself away from time wasting. If I can get myself writing on a regular basis maybe in six months or so I can attempt to check in again.
This entry was a lot more boring than I'd hoped. See? I can't even write an interesting blog entry anymore. Well, just keep bashing away, genius will return. Return, damn you!
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