De-electrifying...

Twitter is gone. If people really want to know want to know what's going on with me they can call or email. Or better yet we can go out for supper some time and talk.

My electronic planners are on the way out. I'm going back to a book, with paper. The next cell phone will be just that, a phone, and if I need to find my way I'll open an atlas first, GPS second. I'm even working my music backwards and away from the plugs. I want to hear sounds made of wood and steel, breath and valve, stick and skin.

There are simply too many devices around telling me what to do, where to go, and how to communicate. I remember reading once, it was fun as I recall. I remember as well what life was like without the need for a constant supply of batteries. Many years ago watching a thunderstorm was entertainment from the safety of a front porch and when I wanted to experience nature I actually went outside.

No, I'm not a luddite. I'm keeping the computer and the blog and I'm not keen on the idea of cutting the power lines to the house. It's just that too much is too much and I've reached my own personal saturation point. I like pencils, music on the front porch, sun in my face, and hanging out in person. I have this image of myself as a pale, emaciated, creature with large eyes staring at a screen while a tube feeds nutrients in one end and evacuates waste in the other and I'm choosing to rebel against that future.

And it all started with pot. Yes I did "inhale" in high school because I was 17 and at the height of my personal stupidity but that's decades gone with no regrets. It was more about an incident some days ago when a musician in the acoustic jam I attend talked about how he sometimes smoked a bit before coming to play. My response was that I preferred to be alive, awake, and yes even nervous before I played because I wanted to feel everything as it really is.

Then it occurred to me. There are too many times when I, clean and sober for years when it comes to chemicals, still hang out way to much in a fantasy e-world. I started thinking about whether all those buzzing and whirring devices, the plugs ins and screens, were becoming my own personal "weed".

And just in case I'm going cold turkey.