Douglas ([info]beagley) wrote,
@ 2009-01-04 12:41:00
Previous Entry  Add to memories!  Tell a Friend  Next Entry
Entry tags:philosophy, photos

Blogger Reprieve
A lot of people I know should read this article.

It applies to me so starkly, so completely, that I think I need to read it once a day until it sinks in.

I'm full of clever energy, but if I don't do anything with it, I will have only myself to blame.

At the end of my life, I do not want to be untapped potential energy, unused star power, carefully saved bath oil, silk underwear with the tags still attached, and a browser history that could circle the globe four times. I love my brain, it should not be snack food for the ever-evolving, consuming machine of modern culture. The zombie apocalypse is real, and the virus's name is TCP-IP.

Paying Attention
Paying Attention at a Pottery Barn in Michigan

(19 comments) - (Post a new comment)


[info]yoicksandaway
2009-01-04 06:45 pm UTC (link)
A-frickin'-men. :)

(Reply to this)


[info]socialhermit
2009-01-04 07:13 pm UTC (link)
There's a LOT of truth in that article.

(Reply to this)


[info]curiositykt
2009-01-04 08:32 pm UTC (link)
it occurred to me yesterday that we could easily be in a new renaissance but because of these distractions we never get there.

(Reply to this)


[info]shadesong
2009-01-04 08:40 pm UTC (link)
When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, "I used everything you gave me".
--Erma Bombeck

But yeah. I need to be better about this, too. Installed a freeware timetracker yesterday, and I start policing myself more strictly tomorrow.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

[info]beagley
2009-01-04 08:48 pm UTC (link)
I've been in bed with a cold... which is probably why this affected me so profoundly. Nothing like several days of minimum productivity to frustrate and galvanize.

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

[info]shadesong
2009-01-04 09:46 pm UTC (link)
*nods* I've been pretty much confined to the couch this weekend, too. I am full of ouch and exhaustion. Argh.

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

[info]wildelven
2009-01-04 11:16 pm UTC (link)
And I was hoping to save you from a boring weekend. :(

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

[info]shadesong
2009-01-04 11:29 pm UTC (link)
I have faith that you will save me from a boring week!

(Reply to this) (Parent)

[info]petulantfrenzy
2009-01-04 10:58 pm UTC (link)
It was really hard for me to finish reading that entire article without flipping back to my friends page. Eep.

(Reply to this)


[info]wildelven
2009-01-04 11:19 pm UTC (link)
Interestingly enough, I sometimes find myself bored with the internet, but that there is little else that I'm involved with that grabs my attention.

(Reply to this)


[info]narfnitsirk
2009-01-05 03:45 am UTC (link)
I'm at the climax of a mystery novel...someone has confessed to the murder, but wait, there's more! I'm totally into it, and yet I walked past my computer to go put a glass in the sink, and here I sit. On LiveJournal. After checking my email and my Facebook. I want/need to finish the book, but I couldn't walk past my computer without spending ten minutes here.

Now, to the book. I think I'm staying up 'til the end...

(Reply to this) (Thread)

[info]beagley
2009-01-05 01:42 pm UTC (link)
Yah, I was up way too late reading a wonderful book, as well.

We are not slaves to the internet!@#!#!@

(Reply to this) (Parent)

(Anonymous)
2009-01-05 01:42 pm UTC (link)
In response to this article I am going to "mark all as read" for the other 315 unread items in Google Reader that accumulated over the holidays.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

[info]beagley
2009-01-05 01:51 pm UTC (link)
Hurrah!

I think in honor of you, I will do the same. (I use NetNewsWire, but same diff). Only problem is that I tend to check it DAILY... but over a hundred Digg posts vaporized is at least a start...

-d

(Reply to this) (Parent)

[info]my_daroga
2009-01-06 11:04 pm UTC (link)
I need to read that article. Lots.

I just posted about how I don't feel productive, despite all the things I'm actually doing. I don't feel productive because the things I'm doing are distractions, too, from things that seem harder. And perhaps the goals I'm not reaching are distractions too, in a sense--I don't feel strongly that I have much to contribute--but I need to be more considered in my approach and how I spend my "attention."

(Reply to this) (Thread)

[info]beagley
2009-01-07 03:38 pm UTC (link)
People like you and I, with brains the size of planets,
will always have untapped potential.

I think maybe the trick is to keep our eyes open and grab the right rope when we run into it, and run with it.

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

[info]my_daroga
2009-01-07 03:52 pm UTC (link)
True--and my periodic wallowing may seem cathartic, but may only be another distraction from those ropes.

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

[info]beagley
2009-01-07 03:59 pm UTC (link)
We'll keep stumbling into them, however.

Changing the world sometimes seems impossible. And sometimes seems impossible to avoid.

I find that talking to strangers helps.

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

[info]my_daroga
2009-01-07 04:03 pm UTC (link)
Hence the internet, I think. It's a place where I can whine, and people can choose to listen or not, and those that do often have a word or two that helps. As long as that doesn't take the place of actual work/meaning, I think that's okay.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

(19 comments) - (Post a new comment)

Create an Account
Forgot your login or password?
Login w/ OpenID
English • Español • Deutsch • Русский…