Media Fast

I have begun to read the fourth chapter in The Artist's Way - and so the clock begins to tick. You see I was warned by a poster on 43 Things that the 4th week contains a ban on reading. Yes, ironically enough, an *author* asks you not to *read* for one full week. The rationalization behind this ban is that reading is used by artists as a tranquilizer to escape and that by removing the distraction, we allow ourselves to participate in the sensory world. Cameron also encourages banning or limiting other media distractions as well such as movies, radio, television and the like so that is my plan. I have decided that music is the one medium I will allow myself.

Even before the fast begins, I have already begun to notice how addicted to reading I really am. I have been putting it off with the lamest of excuses ("I just need to finish this one book" or "I cannot possibly keep this movie out of circulation for another entire week") so soon I will bite the bullet. Honestly, going without food or even water for a week seems more do-able at this point. I don't believe I have gone an entire week without reading since I first began to read. This will certainly be a test of willpower if nothing else.

GFO 2008

Lovely table overlooking the parking lot

Just came off of another one of our "GFO" vacations that have become an annual and sometimes even bi-annual tradition. Despite hearing about things going on at work to equal the Elizabethan court (which completely wrecked any chance of actually sleeping that weekend), I was reminded once again of how special and how rare these friendships are. Here are a few pictures from the weekend. Hope to get more soon as (per usual), I completely forgot to take pictures most of the time!

Above & below taken at "Krystal & Becky's neighborhood bar"
Blue Martini
Shadow even got to be part of the "sleepover"

Annika demonstrates her dance moves

Things I worry about in the middle of the night

(1) Valuable Water Sources Disappearing

Lake Chad: 1972 and 1987. Lake Chad, which supplies water to Chad, Cameroon, Niger and Nigeria, was once one of the largest lakes in Africa. But extensive irrigation projects, the encroaching desert and an increasingly dry climate have caused it to shrink to 5% its former size. (The Guardian, 3/4/2008)

(2) Plague of Plastic Chokes the Seas

The yellow dots show the pattern that the trash moves so that there are spots where it accumulates into massive areas in the middle of the ocean. Below is the Pacific. The Atlantic has one too (how nice for it). (LA Times, 8/2/2006)

(3) Plastics & Microplastics in our Oceans

It's bad enough to hear about stories like the one about a whale that had basically starved to death because its stomach was full of the crap above. (Banish the Bags, Daily Mail, 2/27/2008) Even worse are the microscopic plastic particles that these plastics break down into that do the same thing to the fish and other marine life who eat them thinking they are plankton. (Invisible Plastic Trash Poses Newfound Threat to Sea Life, Live Science website, 11/2/2007)

getting easier

I got some reusable bags (you can get them for free at Small Steps for Better Living) last summer and at first it was difficult to (1) remember to bring them with me and (2) ask clerks to use the bags I brought rather than the plastic bags they brought with them. I typically got rolled eyes and sometimes (which was the worst!) they would proceed to THROW AWAY the bag they had already gotten out to use. Argh.

Anyway, I’ve noticed that as the idea has become a little more common, sales people are becoming much nicer about it and it has become such a habit for me that I have now been 1 full month without receiving any disposable bags. Perhaps not the euphoric bliss evidently felt by the woman in orange in the picture above but feels good nonetheless.

I keep thinking of something that lenon said to me the other day. Along the lines that God exists as a kind of karmic force in the universe, making things come together for people, basically working for the good. This also goes along with the (central?) theory behind The Artist's Way (e.g.,"As we open our creative channel to the creator, many gentle but powerful changes are to be expected." and "...when we move out on faith into the act of creation, the universe is able to advance.")

I can understand this argument and in fact, I think the basic principle is true; I just don't know that I believe it is true due to the existence of God. Similar to the effect of prayer or meditation, I think that what actually happens is by praying/meditating/chanting affirmations/what have you, we start to expect positive results and to watching and waiting for them so that as soon as an opportunity presents itself, we are ready to act.

I think that it's similar to finding one's way by acting subconsciously rather than consciously. There is certainly a great deal to the universe and to human abilities that are still unexplored. Look at how little medical science knows about the human brain. Perhaps religion somehow taps into some as-yet-unexplained mental abilities? Either way, it does not seem to be to be a sufficient argument for god's existence.