On breaking the online habit

My work colleagues were almost as excited as I was when my modem arrived in a large express parcel in the internal mail on Tuesday afternoon.  Now they won’t have to listen to me whinge about my crumbling online existence.  By 11pm on Tuesday I had plugged everything in, had the Belkin man talk me through turning the flashing orange internet icon into a solid glowing blue – actually, he hung up on me before I had confirmed it was working… I think I upset him when I said “Hello?  Hello?  Helloooo, are you there?” into the one minute silence down the end of the phone after I asked him a question – then had my ISP man talk me through connecting both our laptops wirelessly.  As soon as that was done I logged onto Facebook, announced our re-connection then went to bed.

Having a connection to the internet at home after an absence of nearly one month feels a little like going back to work after a holiday of nearly one month.  I’ve forgotten the routine and I’m not sure I want to get back into it when I do remember. 

Actually, I almost decided, while I was away, that I was going to remove Our Piece of It from the routine.  Then after subjecting my friend Heather to one or two emails that were almost stream of consciousness in their uneditedness about why I was going to stop writing my blog and then why I thought maybe I should continue, I decided at the last minute to continue.

I was going to stop writing Our Piece of It because I’d forgotten what it was like to want to lay on the couch and read a book from beginning to end without needing to get up every five minutes to check something online.  But, I’ve decided to continue writing my blog, because I actually enjoy it, especially when I don’t feel pressured to do it, which I don’t right now thanks to our inefficient new ISP, because I’m out of the habit.