I finally went a day without turning on the computer and felt an odd feeling of freedom. Toward the end of the day I thought about actually going out! I didn't but it made me realize that with all the Internet and television stimulation the need to actually socialize was sublimated. (I was clicking maniacally and now am limiting myself to maybe an hour a day of emailing, no more mindless surfing.)
I feel that I'm on the road to recovery from Internet Addiction but I could easily slip back into it. I've also cut my TV viewing down to just about only Daily/Colbert and The Office. Of course on Friday nights on HBO (starting at 9pm) I must watch Ricky Gervais, The Adventures of Tim, and Bill Maher, although it was weak last week with no conservative to balance the pseudo-lib panel.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Country Living
I suppose I was the classic dirty hippie living in a tiny cabin in the woods with no indoor plumbing or shower but no one ever said I stunk--hmm, maybe they did too! When the little platform shitter a ways down the hill got full I took a post hole digger, found a random spot, and dug a hole a couple feet deep--that would last for weeks; when it was full I'd dig another. And another.
There was a more established neighbor a mile away, a well-liked community-minded woman who actually had a real bathroom! She put a little can by the shower with "25 cents" pasted on it--I believe it went up to 50 cents later for her shower-less neighbors.
That can belongs in the "museum!"
There was a more established neighbor a mile away, a well-liked community-minded woman who actually had a real bathroom! She put a little can by the shower with "25 cents" pasted on it--I believe it went up to 50 cents later for her shower-less neighbors.
That can belongs in the "museum!"
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Back To The Land
Life used to be really simple living in a small cabin in the hills, another middle class white kid who moved to the country and didn't really know what he was doing. I never went to the dump, didn't have any garbage! Yeah, the original ecologists: if you don't have money you don't make trash. That still blows my mind: I didn't have garbage! And no running water either so I decided to do something about that and it brings to mind this episode.
The first year on the mountain I hauled gallon glass jugs up the hill, maybe five gallons twice a week up from the county road. I didn't pay rent and had never met the owner of the land. I had helped a friend move out because this other guy had promised the owner some improvements if he'd let him move in. Then the new guy changed his mind so I wrote the owner a one sentence letter telling him that I had moved in. I never saw him in the three years I lived up there doing whatever I wanted on his land--that's just how things were back then.
I went back home during the winter and came back the next Spring with a $300 Dodge Dart stationwagon. The first time I drove up that steep dirt road with a 55gallon barrel of water in the back there were lots of other things in the car wedging in the barrel. At the top of the road I ran the water into another barrel above the cabin. A black plastic line snaked to a faucet over the little sink.
The next time I hauled a barrel up the hill I thought gee I don't remember doing anything special to secure the barrel; I filled that sucker up at a nearby spring and headed up the mountain. When I got to the top the barrel burst out of the back of the car smashing the window and hurtled down the hill--440 pounds of out of control water! If it had hit the cabin there would have been two holes in it.
Live and learn/ What a hill muffin.
(After that misadventure I started securing the barrel with an old tire; the next year I got a truck and could haul two barrels--I was on my way!)
The first year on the mountain I hauled gallon glass jugs up the hill, maybe five gallons twice a week up from the county road. I didn't pay rent and had never met the owner of the land. I had helped a friend move out because this other guy had promised the owner some improvements if he'd let him move in. Then the new guy changed his mind so I wrote the owner a one sentence letter telling him that I had moved in. I never saw him in the three years I lived up there doing whatever I wanted on his land--that's just how things were back then.
I went back home during the winter and came back the next Spring with a $300 Dodge Dart stationwagon. The first time I drove up that steep dirt road with a 55gallon barrel of water in the back there were lots of other things in the car wedging in the barrel. At the top of the road I ran the water into another barrel above the cabin. A black plastic line snaked to a faucet over the little sink.
The next time I hauled a barrel up the hill I thought gee I don't remember doing anything special to secure the barrel; I filled that sucker up at a nearby spring and headed up the mountain. When I got to the top the barrel burst out of the back of the car smashing the window and hurtled down the hill--440 pounds of out of control water! If it had hit the cabin there would have been two holes in it.
Live and learn/ What a hill muffin.
(After that misadventure I started securing the barrel with an old tire; the next year I got a truck and could haul two barrels--I was on my way!)
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Obsession
I have a major case of Internet Addiction. I am constantly jumping on the computer to check my email, online newspapers, and blogs. In fact this has gotten so bad that today I am going to try to limit myself to checking no more than once an hour, and then just checking each site once.
I am checking my email more than 100 times a day. I've probably overused the Internet in the past but its gotten worse the last two months since I've been putting personal ads on Craigslist. I've put twelve ads on in the last two months. March starts tomorrow and I think I'll stop with the personals. That's why I check so much: In my isolation and lonliness I am desperately hoping some woman will contact me.
They say living well is the best revenge--Damn! My enemies WIN!
For now.
I am checking my email more than 100 times a day. I've probably overused the Internet in the past but its gotten worse the last two months since I've been putting personal ads on Craigslist. I've put twelve ads on in the last two months. March starts tomorrow and I think I'll stop with the personals. That's why I check so much: In my isolation and lonliness I am desperately hoping some woman will contact me.
They say living well is the best revenge--Damn! My enemies WIN!
For now.
Monday, February 22, 2010
The Dating Game
What's it take to meet a woman these days? I don't know what you do but I put a personal ad on Craigslist. Whenever I do that I invariably get 20-30 robo-hookers and one real person. Of course its easy to spot the bots--they never make any reference to anything in your ad. I don't know exactly how the robo-scammers operate but I assume they're trying to steal money or sell sex or something.
The real woman emailed me for a few days then disappeared, didn't answer my last email. What to do? I waited. After a week I sent her another suggesting we have a coffee or walk on the beach and beat each other over the heads about our childhoods. ((Both of our therapists had suggested we investigate our childhoods and both of us were resisting.) I also had won tickets to a concert from a radio promo and I invited her to the show. She said she already had a ticket but would love to meet me after the show.
I agonized over this for days leading up to the weekend: did I really want to drive 100 miles to try to see this fascinating woman for a few minutes after the show or who knows what? And should I bring a friend for my other ticket? What if something clicked with the woman? Could I graciously dump the friend somehow? But I wanted to have a guaranteed good time and that meant bringing the friend along to the CL hookup, even though it was fraught with peril as he is more funny, smart, and entertaining than me, and could conceivably steal the girl! But that was a chance I decided to take.
The real woman emailed me for a few days then disappeared, didn't answer my last email. What to do? I waited. After a week I sent her another suggesting we have a coffee or walk on the beach and beat each other over the heads about our childhoods. ((Both of our therapists had suggested we investigate our childhoods and both of us were resisting.) I also had won tickets to a concert from a radio promo and I invited her to the show. She said she already had a ticket but would love to meet me after the show.
I agonized over this for days leading up to the weekend: did I really want to drive 100 miles to try to see this fascinating woman for a few minutes after the show or who knows what? And should I bring a friend for my other ticket? What if something clicked with the woman? Could I graciously dump the friend somehow? But I wanted to have a guaranteed good time and that meant bringing the friend along to the CL hookup, even though it was fraught with peril as he is more funny, smart, and entertaining than me, and could conceivably steal the girl! But that was a chance I decided to take.
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