News flash: I am reading a fiction book.
This is huge. I don't read fiction. But, I have finally just given up on the internet. My life as it once was just isn't. It's too hard.
I am constantly running around. It takes 20 minutes to get to town (pictured above). Town doesn't have much, an over priced market, shops for tourists, an awesome thrift store and well, yeah, Cowgirl Creamery.
It takes 50 minutes to drive to yoga, the sauna, and the health food store.
And, in need of new exercise destinations, I have taken to the Dipsea Stair incline in Mill Valley, which is really far.
My social life is mostly in San Francisco, which is over an hour away.
I hike, do yoga, take pictures at golden hour, photograph things for business, sauna, work. I'm busy, busy.
When I first learned I would be living with no cell phone or internet service, I thought I'd read a ton but California is too much of a good thing.
I had a hard time sitting still but then I picked up a piece of fiction. Ahhhh. You can just loose yourself. It's so easy and entertaining and a nice break from the busy life. J used to always call it "brain candy."
That it is. I'm actually so sucked into it, that all I want to do is go home and read. It's been way too long since I have had that feeling.
Maybe it will inspire me to write again and better. I have so many stories to tell.
Last night I conversed with a man living in the Philippines as his wife works there for the World Bank. He has a PhD in Economics, so there was no work for him in Manila. So, he wrote a book. What else do you do when in a foreign country with ample time?
That's what I loved about being misplaced in foreign lands, the writing and reading were far better than they are on the home front. I will always long for that.
I read my blog from times I was in that small village in the mountains of Galicia or the Sahara desert and man, I took the time to write and ponder and observe! But, in country, I am always trying to fit everything in, the creativity is lost.
But seeing how amazingly fast the interent is in San Francisco, I realize it's not even worth it in West Marin and that's why I read now and take golden hour shots. I will take this as an opportunity to find inspiration again.
I was thinking how people take vacations to disconnect, well, I am gonna need a vacation to connect. A week with high speed internet, TVs, movies, radio, a phone! I suppose my lack of internet is partially responsible for my desire and longing for community. I don't have the web as a distraction, so all I want to do, is chill with my people and connect on a more visceral level.
I'm always thinking about connecting and disconnecting in some form or another. Now is the time and opportunity to connect to the land, to people, to image, to words...