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Hello, I'm InternetWalker. I'm one of the laboring teenagers of the family (pretends to glare at mother and father). You're lucky I love you guys. lol
I read the posts Friendly Neighborhood Pirate and Wondering Mom wrote and I thought I'd add the view from my little perch in the tree.
We're not completely wacky, hippie like you might or might not have discovered. We feel we're more doing our little part to help out our world and support being local. You know how you want to make that yummy wrap in the middle of summer or a salad? Then you look in your fridge and you don't have any greens? Well, last summer, after, of course, the back straining work of making it, I was able to enjoy our garden by going out with a strainer tucked under one arm and an anxious stomach. It's nice being able to just walk outside and grab a few handfuls of leafy greens, a bell pepper, and maybe one of those tomatos that are dripping from their vines and pulling out the support that we put up and reinforced. Then to go inside, rinse, chop a little, and have a nice salad ready without having to walk more than 10 yards from your house. If only I could make Dorthy Lynch.
Anyway, we're not totally crunchy, but we're not technology oriented also. Yes, I love to go on those social networks on line, but, to keep me from spending all the time on the computer, I have a certain amount of hours to spend on the computer. It's nice in a way. No internet drama, and outside is pretty nice as long as it's not freezing cool (but, shhhh, don't tell my parents that). We're just the right balance I think. But if we did laundry by hand during the summer, or something like that, it'd probably help out alot more.
Okay well, I'll let you go, if you haven't already died of boredom. I'll blab at you some more later.
Loves to all of you.
Chuu (kiss)
Showing posts with label balance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label balance. Show all posts
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Balance
So I was just on Facebook IM'ing with a friend and...
Hold on here! Wait! Did you say IM? Facebook? Doesn't that involve a computer and, like, technology? Shouldn't you be in the tree, picking berries and contemplating the stars?
Okay, I understand the confusion. First of all, berries don't grow on trees, they grow on bushes. Second, I may have neglected to mention that I work with computer technology for a living. So naturally, I tend to use it at home as well. I'm actually typing this on a laptop (running linux, by the way) in bed. How decadent!
Sometimes it seems difficult to reconcile the high technology livelihood I've had with the sustainable lifestyle I want to attain. But to me, life isn't about absolutes; there are compromises to make in our lives. I couldn't share these thoughts with you now if I rejected technology; but if I embraced technology exclusively I would never smell the roses (or the lilacs, which I actually prefer.) Besides, I don't think that technology is completely unsustainable. Plus, there are plenty of ways to make technology more sustainable -- more on that later!
A year or two ago, I'd much rather have gotten my hands dirty with thermal paste and computer case dust than with garden soil. There are some days where I still prefer the metal and plastic; it's part of how I'm wired. But to achieve a balance, I also need to get soil under my fingernails and turn the compost every now and then. These evenings, I'm much more likely to be found in the kitchen than on the computer. That's attributed to a lot of things, but partly because I sensed there was something missing in my life: balance. I work with computers all day and don't want to do the same thing at home, most of the time. That's normal for one of my profession and age. It's also practicality: The family needs to eat, and making dinner a quality experience rather than a half-hearted microwaved effort seems a good use of my time.
And washing dishes can be, believe it or not, quite soothing after a long day. Just don't tell my wife. If she knew I enjoyed it...!
Hold on here! Wait! Did you say IM? Facebook? Doesn't that involve a computer and, like, technology? Shouldn't you be in the tree, picking berries and contemplating the stars?
Okay, I understand the confusion. First of all, berries don't grow on trees, they grow on bushes. Second, I may have neglected to mention that I work with computer technology for a living. So naturally, I tend to use it at home as well. I'm actually typing this on a laptop (running linux, by the way) in bed. How decadent!
Sometimes it seems difficult to reconcile the high technology livelihood I've had with the sustainable lifestyle I want to attain. But to me, life isn't about absolutes; there are compromises to make in our lives. I couldn't share these thoughts with you now if I rejected technology; but if I embraced technology exclusively I would never smell the roses (or the lilacs, which I actually prefer.) Besides, I don't think that technology is completely unsustainable. Plus, there are plenty of ways to make technology more sustainable -- more on that later!
A year or two ago, I'd much rather have gotten my hands dirty with thermal paste and computer case dust than with garden soil. There are some days where I still prefer the metal and plastic; it's part of how I'm wired. But to achieve a balance, I also need to get soil under my fingernails and turn the compost every now and then. These evenings, I'm much more likely to be found in the kitchen than on the computer. That's attributed to a lot of things, but partly because I sensed there was something missing in my life: balance. I work with computers all day and don't want to do the same thing at home, most of the time. That's normal for one of my profession and age. It's also practicality: The family needs to eat, and making dinner a quality experience rather than a half-hearted microwaved effort seems a good use of my time.
And washing dishes can be, believe it or not, quite soothing after a long day. Just don't tell my wife. If she knew I enjoyed it...!
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