Yesterday while my camera downloaded photos onto my computer for my post, my gaze wandered to the view out the windows. Right then Mount Rainier floated on a bed of fog while the low sun lit the snow patches on its peak and the varied patterns of cloud strata above cast different depths of shadows on themselves.
I reached for my camera. And I promptly came to the limit of the cable connecting it to my laptop.
With effort, I waited patiently for technology to run its course while my light changed subtly. I have seen, and sometimes missed, better skies for photographing. But I hadn't posted a sky photo for a while and I like them and think I take pretty good ones.
Obviously, the moment did not completely pass before the equipment finished the task I'd given it.
Thursday I ran into an enlarged version of this issue as my husband made some large updates and downloads and then backed up my laptop. He hadn't finished by the time I returned from an appointment. I wandered aimlessly around the living room for a few minutes. Every time I thought of something to do, it involved my computer. Check the stock markets, read some blogs, see what's on TV that night - none of these or other tasks/amusements could happen right then.
Finally I settled down with Twyla's book for a bit, then watched a TV show I'd recorded. The computer finished before I did. E-mail got checked and the world hadn't ended while I wasn't looking.
But I realized as I read Twyla on setting up routines to free your mind, that really I'd come up against an interruption of one of my routines. I get home from some task, I make tea, I do a couple things on my computer. Maybe I only have a few minutes or maybe I spend a while; either way, it's one of the routines that frame my day. Not having access to it disrupted my pattern.
Goodness knows, I have plenty of other things to occupy me. I may try to emphasize some of those things more and break this pattern myself. I'd like to get in more reading of books not just the computer, now that I have time to read something again. Not all routine frees your mind or is useful. Most doesn't and some isn't.
Well said! I'm completely with you on the daily Internet touchpoints. They've become so ingrained that the lack of them, while not earth-shattering, is certainly irritating.
Posted by: Karen B. | September 27, 2008 at 09:30 AM
That mountain really does come out of nowhere doesn't it!?
Posted by: margene | September 29, 2008 at 08:14 AM