Sanctuary
It has been interesting, not having internet at home [I'm in the lab right now, at the end of our final long day observing ants]. It means that my only options for connecting to the outside world are to call somebody, listen to the radio, or go out the front door. On the one hand, it's a bit inconvenient to not have internet at home, especially when I don't check my e-mail on the weekends. On the other hand, it is forcing me to refine the time that I do spend on the internet, making it more purposeful and focused. If we're able to keep it up, it could have a longer-term consequence on how I live my life.
Yesterday was an interesting example of the above--I left school somewhat early because I wasn't feeling well, and went home and took a nap. When I woke up, I still didn't feel great, but simply flopping around the house wasn't really an option, because there weren't many flopping-around activities available.
Instead, I planted one of my tomato plants and two struggling squashes in the ground and rearranged a few things here and there. One of my new neighbors stopped by at one point, and we talked for a while, and after that I washed some dishes and tidied up a bit and spent some time reading a fascinating book about tropical leafcutter ants (it's fascinating to me, though I imagine it takes a rare mind to appreciate it).
I'm hoping that the internet-free zone will help me focus on writing the things I need to write, without the temptation to procrastinate on the internet as an alternative. Suddenly, I'm able to work on my dissertation proposal at home, which is something I haven't really been able to do until now. I hope I'll get back to writing more letters, too, and writing more in my journal and perhaps less on my blog. We shall see. And perhaps I'll be able to chip away at some of those projects that have been accumulating on my list of projects to work on.
Regardless, it will be an interesting experiment.
Yesterday was an interesting example of the above--I left school somewhat early because I wasn't feeling well, and went home and took a nap. When I woke up, I still didn't feel great, but simply flopping around the house wasn't really an option, because there weren't many flopping-around activities available.
Instead, I planted one of my tomato plants and two struggling squashes in the ground and rearranged a few things here and there. One of my new neighbors stopped by at one point, and we talked for a while, and after that I washed some dishes and tidied up a bit and spent some time reading a fascinating book about tropical leafcutter ants (it's fascinating to me, though I imagine it takes a rare mind to appreciate it).
I'm hoping that the internet-free zone will help me focus on writing the things I need to write, without the temptation to procrastinate on the internet as an alternative. Suddenly, I'm able to work on my dissertation proposal at home, which is something I haven't really been able to do until now. I hope I'll get back to writing more letters, too, and writing more in my journal and perhaps less on my blog. We shall see. And perhaps I'll be able to chip away at some of those projects that have been accumulating on my list of projects to work on.
Regardless, it will be an interesting experiment.