The Beginning

I am addicted to the internet. Every morning, I wake up and begin going through the list of websites I visit every day. (APCleveland, travian, travian forums, Huffington Post, Hathor the Cowgoddess, Mama Is . . . , MDC, Failblog, Change.gov, Cakewrecks, Neopets . . . ) And when I finish going through the list, I briefly interact with my kids, and then go through the list again. Rinse and repeat.

So sitting and thinking of what I'd like to do this year, I have decided that the most important thing is to concentrate on the Important things and get rid of that which is unnecessary. Things that keep me from concentrating on my kids and my marriage. Things that suck my time. Things that keep my eyes turned away from the real world. Things that cause stress and friction in my life.

And the biggest thing, the one that does all of these? Teh interwebz. They'se gots to go.

So after a bit of preparation, we have decided to call today and arrange to have this tentacle of technology removed. I have notified the important people on certain message boards. I have notified the leaders of my alliance in a certain game. I will be sending out an email and posting a myspace blog today. I'll be unsubscribing from the various groups and blog updates in my email. And I'm done.

So follow me, why dontcha? I'll be updating weekly, chronicling my withdrawal from the internet. Answering the question, what does one do when there is no internet to waste one's time? I hope to play with my kids more, to finally finish an afghan, to read more books, to have good conversation with my husband, to actually see my friends face to face rather than emailing, and to get outside and feel the sun on my face. Or the cold wind, this time of year. Who knows, maybe I'll even produce some poetry that is fit to be read?

What will probably happen? I see compulsive playing of Bejeweled in the near future. Also a desire to subscribe to various newspapers and magazines. Likely obsessive nail-chewing. Perhaps some over eating. Maybe some moodiness. And agonizing impatience for the construction company to just freakin finish the lovely new library already, dammit. And of course the thought that this was just a horrible idea and I don't know what I was thinking.

So here we go. I've gathered the tattered threads of my will. Can I weave them into a rope to hang onto? I guess we'll find out.