05.01.08
A Day Off
(Incidentally, since the upgrade of WordPress last week I’d noticed that the cut mechanism I used had kinda disappeared. What’s worse is that I couldn’t find the plugin I’d used before– its site still existed but the link gave a 404. So, I found a different one, hacked it to my purposes, and there we go, good as new. If you see any other weirdness, please let me know.)
I’ve made mention over the past week or so about a phenomenon known as Shutdown Day, which this year falls on this coming Saturday, May 3rd. According to the site, the project’s goal is to see how people’s lives are deeply intertwined with the technology they rely on on a daily basis, and to see if individuals can thrive without the high-tech tools we’ve come to take more or less for granted. While I think it’s an admirable goal, and I am participating, their reasons are not my own.
When the project was announced, and discussed on Slashdot and Digg and the other social-networking sites, it was immediately met with derision. “One person can’t save the environment that way”; “Go ahead, faster download speeds that day for those of us who aren’t retards”; “You’re dumb if you think this will make a difference”. All of these completely miss the point of the project, and also miss why I’m doing it; oddly enough, those who voice the most vicious opposition to the project might just be the ones who need that day off most.
I’m a very quiet, solitary guy. I tend not to be around others much, and when I do I go for people with whom I’m familiar. So don’t go expecting me to go wander through the Strip District, bouncing from bar to bar on a skirt-chasing mission for any kind of contact. This Saturday I’ll be likely spending all day on my favorite chair in the back yard, reading, or writing out some notes longhand in an old, long-disused notebook (I kinda stopped carrying it with me around the time I got the Basroil, not coincidentally). I may even write some letters I’ve been meaning to for a very, VERY long time.
The thing is, why I’m doing it is a very personal, very deep reason: because I want to. In this instance, I don’t care about the environment, I don’t care about making a point about dependency on computers or technology, I don’t care about making a difference. I’m not doing this for any reason other than I choose to. Which, really, is something of a pattern with me. I’ve often told the story of how I jumped out of my dorm window in college, for no reason other than I was bored and I wanted to. I get inspired to do things sometimes, and maybe they’re something I can rationalize in a worldly-beneficial way; more often than not, they’re just what I want to do, have the opportunity to do, and see no detriment in doing versus not doing.
So, Saturday, I’ll probably have an automated post up saying I’m offline, and I likely won’t be answering e-mails or messages. I’ll take phone calls but only if they’re absolute, complete and total end-of-the-world emergencies. No net, no television, no movies, no music. Nothing going on beyond some reading and writing. As scary as it sounds to me– because, despite my protests, I’m very much aware of how much I lean on my tech gear– I’m really looking forward to it, mostly for the peace involved in it.
When I was in school, and this is something I just recently realized, I liked sitting in my back yard and reading. The sound of the wind in the trees was something I didn’t notice back then, but I remember now. Every time I get back to my parents’ house in the summer, I listen for that sound. When I’m at my house, over the summer, I sometimes hear it. Hopefully if the weather cooperates on Saturday– it’s set for a possible rainstorm– I’ll be able to hear that sound that brings me such calmness. Even if it does rain, that will be fine too– I love the sound of rain, too.
Besides. Computers aren’t the only things that need rebooting once in a while.