It’s 4AM and i just took the N to Wonderland after my last night in New York before heading out to a week with my family. I can’t even begin to exclaim the glory of taking a vacation, the preciousness of laughter and late-night conversations. I feel so thankful for my life and genuinely refreshed. Of course, i’m really wary of diving back into the life inside the machine.
There’s no good way to sum up my trip so perhaps a photo will do:
::giggle:: Really, Thailand was about daily Thai massages, my first acupuncture, private yoga, meditation, temples, one evil jellyfish, fasting and a hell of a lot of beach. I stayed at a place called The Sanctuary on Koh Phangan which is utterly glorious for anyone looking to chill out in Thailand at a non-pretentious resort.
New York has also been filled with chilling goodness too, ranging from goofy nights in the Ye Olde Carlton Arms Hotel (“a riot of visual cacophony”) to a day spent with mermaids and Clay’s little boy to getting kicked out of Washington Square Park in “the city that never sleeps” (ha! things do close!). All amongst amazing company, seeing old friends everywhere and finally getting to meet a fellow troublemaker. Oh and pizza and bagels and Belgian frites. I love New York sooo much.
The weird thing is that i don’t really miss my computer life. I don’t miss the OCD hypertension, the time spent zoning out with human contact coming in bubble form locked in my room. Roaming the streets, human synchronicity, adhoc exploration, walking my ass off, doing yoga… it has been so lovely to interact with people constantly that my computer feels so cold and blogging feels so remote. I love being back to intellectual engagement with friends but i do not miss email one bit. I wonder if it’s possible to just give up on email entirely, to just turn it off. Hmmm….
Anyhow, i still felt the need to blog re-entrance even if i’m still not responding to anything sent my way. ::wave::
Weclome back! We missed you!
Welcome back! As I recall, there’s a story about a guy who was fairly well known in internet/computing circles as a scholar who’s given up on e-mail. It took me a while of hunting to find it (thank god for del.icio.us), but it is here. If you go to del.icio.us/museumfreak/email there’s a couple articles that are good starting points for serious reflection on e-mail as an issue.
E-mail is a serious issue for me not because of how much I get, but because I become obsessive about revising, worrying about how I’m going to sound to people, etc. And I’m not really sure what to do about that particular timesink aspect of it. I can actually do really good writing in the e-mail medium, or comments, (better than in my own blog and sometimes even better than in papers), but I have a hard time taking that kind of writing and making it into something usable because of the nature of the beast. Sometimes I even start papers as letters to the professor in question, because I’m not afraid of the e-mail typing box like I am of the OpenOffice or iWork document.
I’m really glad you’ve had fun on your travels!!
Don Knuth did.
Oh, *NOW* I get it… it’s a funky New York hotel.
email is so yesterday
Remember when we first had email?
I was so excited about email, I would dial up my BBS and download mail from the two people I knew that had email. Soon more people I knew had a reason to communicate this way, again like before I was excited about…
Years ago in IS204 a Thai student wrote a social-uses-of-technology paper for me about the kind of motor-scooter use your picture shows — I think she was writing about interpretive flexibility, and how flexible the idea of motor scooter is.
Welcome back. I thought you would enjoy the Sanctuary. Your photo is fascinating. It could be anywhere.