Tuesday, March 27, 2007

way too much time online

i am continually amazed by how much time and energy people spend online... from technocrats to myspacers to bloggers, it's a little ridiculous. i'm rather tired of it all, and i don't want to lose myself in it... you see, as of late, i'm just as guilty of it... doing a bunch of online marketing for my brother's new book... anyway, it's easy to get sucked in, to compare pages & profiles, to forget how to directly interact with others, and to waste endless amounts of time on it all... it's sad, really... i definitely think we all need to take a serious break from it all. otherwise, at this rate, where will we be in 5, 10, 20 years from now? with microchip implants in our brains or something? it's like we're mutating into cylons. (did anyone see this week's season finale of battlestar galactica? crazy.) i mean i know for a fact that there are a LOT of good, progressive, interactive online communities out there, but i'm just worried about those folks that aren't necessarily doing something positive with their time online.

so these are some of the many reasons i'm taking a break from the world and participating in a 10-day vipassana (silent meditation) retreat near yosemite at the beginning of april.

... btw, one cool hybrid of online and offline communities is SF Zero, which hosts real world "tasks" and creates community online too... in fact, my brother posted an innovative task in conjunction with his recently published book Seeing Beyond Sight. check it out and join his myspace page. (how's that for an ironic twist... encouraging you to extend your time online.)

Sunday, March 25, 2007

unconditional love

after a red-eye flight back to SF from AK and then a day-long trip cross-country to SC, i spent a week visiting my sister, brother, sister-in-law, baby niece and mom (who also came down for a visit from CT). it was like a mini-family-reunion. i loved it... it's amazing to have such a supportive family with unconditional love, open-arms, and generous, genuine care for one another, even if i'm down and out about something.

unfortunately, however, i've realized that i pretty much expect everyone else to be capable of the same sort of behavior. is that wrong to hope or assume about the world? i know that everyone is effected by different things and has had different experiences in life, but what would happen if everyone relinquished all fear and embraced genuine love for each other? what would the world be like? it almost doesn't seem possible to even imagine.

anyway, speaking of the world... our travel plans are coming along, but we need to get into high gear. my sister is doing some fundraising as well as some investigating into 'round-the-world plane tickets. i’m supposed to figure out all the other travel logistics, like visas, travel between countries, places to stay and website stuff... all very time consuming and easy to procrastinate on.

in fact, i'm dragging my feet a little because i've had some serious mixed emotions about the trip... the length of it (constantly on the road), the extreme self-awareness (for our safety), the fighting for rates on everything from cab fares to basic information, the anti-americanism everywhere, the sticking out like a sore thumb as 2 white american women with backpacks... and, to top it off, the sacrifice in leaving my beloved behind for so long. am i selfish to go and make him wait anyway? shouldn't i just have faith that everything will work out for the best? i'm trying to listen to my heart, maintain a balance with my mind, discern what's right, and let go and let God... that's one of the several reasons why i signed up for a 10-day vipassana retreat near yosemite: to clear my mind of all this mental chatter and to more clearly make the right decisions.

Thursday, March 08, 2007

Anchorage, AK

so now i'm in big wild alaska!

it's gorgeous here in the winter. i'm surrounded by beautiful majestic snow-covered mountains. 10-25 degree days with clear skies and high wind gusts (for now), and 5-10 degree nights. cold... but i managed to get out to see a little reggae music our first night. then i went out and about to check out a little of this winter festival as well as the ceremonial iditarod dog sled race, which actually started the next day up the valley.

on sunday, i went to Mass at noon, then caught a parade downtown (closing the furroundy), and finally i ended up going back out to watch the sunset… which are super-long here (nearly 4 hours long) because the sun just hangs really low in the sky before it finally gives way to the horizon.

anyway, that's all for now. gotta run.