A Week In Review

I did four things differently last week.

1. I wrote every single day. I worked on blogs. I worked on a couple of longer/larger works I've been kicking around.
2. I turned off the notifications on my smartphone except for the ringer. I went from 8 AM Monday, August 4 to 8AM Monday, August 11 without being signaled by my phone. I only used it to answer calls or respond to messages (Hangouts, SMS) sent directly to me.
3.  From 10 PM Friday night to 10 PM Saturday night I did not use technology. My smartphone was off. My laptop was off. If I owned a TV it too would have been off. I went "No screens" for 24 hours.
4. I started x-stitching again. I'm using someone else's pattern to get my hands/fingers nimble again, but I will start creating new patterns next month.

So what does this all mean?

     a)  It means that my brain is less foggy.
     b)  It means that I both appreciate and respect the screens in my life a little more.
     c)  It means I got a METRIC SHIT TONNE done around the house.
     d)  I really enjoy stitching swear words and odd things into fabric.

Ultimately, this is what I learned:

1. My brain, some days, is not as broken as I think it is.
2. My Pavlovian response to my smartphone notifications isn't strong. That's actually a surprise. But I appreciate what they do for me to make my life easier and respect the fact they can also allow me to fuck up my day fast and efficiently.
3. I require 7 hours sleep to properly recover from a day of light activity. I require 9-10 hours sleep to properly recover from a day of heavy lifting and physical activity. This helps me with my time management more than I can possibly explain.
4. I really, really like to swear. A lot. Like as much as I love coffee and baked goods, I love to swear.
5. I really love lists, too.

Stuff that's got me thinking

1. I was told the other day that my biggest barrier to employment was that I was too awesome. For serious.
2. What would/do I consider success?
3. I need to make some time to change all my passwords to 14 characters or longer, including numbers and special characters (if allowed). When will I make that time?
4. I love The Container Store and they have no plans to expand to Canada at this time and that makes me sad.
5. Self-employment, even part-time hours and part-time income, is looking and sounding better and better.
6. I might have to learn to like people more than I do in order to be successful in business, even part-time.
7. "Everyone's a libertarian until their state is under 10 feet of water."
8. I wonder if I could convince Joe to change our last name to something cooler?
9. If it weren't for the internet my life would be totally different. I would not live in Vancouver, I would not be married to the person I am married to and would not have spoken to anyone I have spoken to (other than my mum and my sister) in the past two months.
10. I forget where I was going with this. I wonder if that is a problem like my word choice cognitive problem?

Stuff that matters to me

A List

(Offered without comment or reason and only in order that they occur to me. If you have a question, comment.)

1. My marriage.
2. My health.
3. My spouse's health.
4. Our families.
5. Making our life comfortable.
6. Good Indian food.
7. Good governance.
8. Good character.
9. Good Thai food.
10. Good manners.
11. Good bath products.
12. Good Japanese food.
13. Good cocktails.
14. Good thinkers.
15. Good burgers.
16. 16 out of 18 items on this list.
17. The Montreal Canadiens winning a(nother) Stanley Cup in my lifetime.
18. Figuring out what I want to do with what is left of my life.
19. Being organized.
20. The Daily Show.
21. Rick Mercer.
22. Shoes.
23. My friends.
24. The people I like and respect for their public conduct.
25. Bacon.
26. The word "Fuck".
27. Remembering where I came from.
28. Writing.
29. Collecting Airmiles.

30. Goading people into helping me raise money for the MS Society of Canada.