Saturday (the book), Flights, Sinus Infections, and Marital Blogging Tandems
There is a scene in this book that I’m reading in which a man wakes up, walks to the window, opens the shutters, and looks out at the city. What makes this so unique is that the author describes this event in precise detail, with a rhythmically flowing prose that makes a narrative about a man walking to the window profound and inspiring. Nothing happens, mind you, except the walk to the window. But it lasts about a dozen pages. It’s wonderful. 3000 words to describe a trip from the bed to the window. And there isn’t a wasted or unimportant word.
On that note, I’ve missed reading, I really have. And it’s not so much about my lifestyle with work and kids and being a husband or even time. My mind won’t slow down long enough for me to digest words on a page, or words on a website, or words in a magazine. I can sense a shift back to simplicity, and back to the joys of reading. But there is so much out there to distract me.
That’s the trouble with all this media these days. I just don’t know what to turn to. For instance, right now I’m on a plane and I have a book, 2 magazines, my laptop, and my iPhone. So in the space of just over 2 hours I’ve:
- Watched 3 video shorts on my laptop
- Watched 1/3 of “The Savages” (Philip Seymour)
- Composed 3 mini-blog entries, including this one
- Organized my iTunes playlists and pruned unwanted songs (only 43GB now)
- Organized my iPhoto slideshows (including my 178 photo slideshow I made for Senja last year)
- Created a new desktop wallpaper mashup in Photoshop
- Read 24 pages of my Ian McEwan novel (Saturday)
- Read the entire May edition of MacWorld.
- Started reading the May edition of Mac|Life
And this is just media that is distracting me. I’ve also been thinking about:
- What I’m going to do and/or say when I land?
- When I’ll be coming home?
- Did Luke and Juli get their eyedrops?
- Are the Braves playing tomorrow?
- Exactly how long will this battery last?
- Legal expenses
- The shark attack today in SoCal and how many times I’ve been in those waters. 17 ft shark?!?
- Why CNN seems to always bash on Obama
- Why I only drink ginger ale when I fly
So yea, my mind is busy. It’s ALWAYS busy. At any given time I could make a list at least a dozen items long of things I’m thinking about…concurrently. I’m sure you could to. My point is though that…well I don’t really have a point except I guess I’m beginning to realize that I need to downsize. And I’ve known this for quite some time. Things just need to be let go. The things that hold my attention; are they worth it? The things that are worth it, stay. The things that aren’t, well they go, or have to wait for a better time. So how do I go about doing that? There are a few things to eliminate that are easy enough.
- TV
- Direction-less internet surfing
Well that is all I can think of right now, but that should free up some time. Not so much TV because I don’t really watch it. But aimless internet surfing? I’m guessing about 10 hours a week. So what is the solution? An internet surfing plan? I guess so, I mean why do I people use the internet, why do I use the internet? How could I use it better? How could I get more from the internet while using it less? Yes, see, THAT is the question that needs to be answered.
So back to my book. Literature needs to stay. But it has to be there in the first place, and I’ve lost my way as I entered parenthood. But it’s back, it’s part of the plan, and the only reason why I’m writing this is because of a certain paragraph in the book that set off a fire in my brain. Now the fire is out, and the charred remains are here for you all to see.
Senja and I blogged today at the same time, a rarity. She blogged about fires and silicone, and I did this. There is a joy that comes in blogging together, at least for me. Letting that creative side out, side by side.
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I really like the photo of you and Senja … I’m not sure what it is exactly, but I know I like it. There’s a type of calmness to it, yet there’s so much going on …