When I was PC-less and could only keep up with the Internet at work, or on the Wii, there was only so much news, so many podcasts, and so much Internet I could do. I had to transfer files BY HAND. I had to exist without the luxury of copy and paste. I use the Internet so much that a lot of things, like instantaneous recall of information, is nearly an ingrained habits at this point. I walked around for a week wondering details that I’d normally have looked up when I got home, but couldn’t bother to find out without a computer.
Luckily, also had something to entertain my time, namely planning the D&D encounter I was hosting for my friends. I had to work around the limitations of not being able to look up everything when I wanted, but that forced me to be creative and plan what and when I needed to my limited resource: Time on the Internet. It wasn’t that bad. Being removed from the Internet got me to finish two novels, and a game. I could actually focus and complete a longer, more intensive task to the end.
I’ve got a new video card, a functional computer, no pressing work or social obligations, and more free time when I’m actually home. Work has been a killer, with a morning class schedule, but if I get home, I’m home earlier. My wife is still sitting with her mother in the hospital until the stitches get removed. This means I’ve got the alone house with my dog when I get back from work. I have long stretches of time to do whatever I want.
While this summer vacation isn’t nearly as bad as the previous ones during the school, I find myself looking forward to days off as much as anyone else would. With my wife away at the hospital overnight and most of the day, I’ve got to handle all the day to day stuff myself, like keeping the refrigerator stocked, going shopping, and doing the other things that keeps a household from falling apart. I’m doing all of this alone at the moment, all of this while working a longer schedule.
After I post on the website, surf a few sites, and possibly play a game, I’ve got nothing more to do. I don’t have the energy to entertain myself more than just renting a cheap movie. I’ve got nothing keeping me busy other than house work now that I’ve finished my last game that was eating up my spare time. I could potentially catch up with what I “missed” on the Internet if I choose, but I haven’t felt that compelled. If I’m offline for a day or two, my rss feeds pile up into the hundreds. I had to pick and choose the podcasts I wanted to listen to, because I’d be listening to stale news for weeks if I didn’t draw a line in the sand and say, “Okay, sorry New York Times, but last week isn’t getting listened to. I’m going on.”
Television shows, podcasts, feeds, etc seem like a lot of work all of a sudden. Perhaps it is the weather that is to blame. The weather has absolutely miserable, so even though I’d like to go out and do something, I’m usually trapped at home. If I lived near the ocean, I’d be swimming, or at least outside enjoying myself, but when I’m forced inside because of rain, or oppresive mugginess, I’m not happy.
Due to my schedule, I’m usually too burnt out from classes to socialize. I managed to go to a bar and chat with a friend last week for a few hours, but paid for it the next day. I had classes in the morning. I was sleep deprived and a bit spacy. That just made the day seem longer, and took me days to recover. Despite not having anything to do, I have two days of sleep debt I need to work off.
I’m busy, but feel bored. Tired, but can’t rest. Interested, but unamused. Even with my computer working, I might go to bed early and take a step back. This week without the computer showed me that it’ll still all be there when I do get around to it, so I don’t have to devour it all. All this twittering and blogging can eat up a lot of time if you don’t put a limit on it from time to time.
