Reactions
So I haven't told a whole lot of people about Sunday, and interestingly enough nobody outside my immediate family appears to have even been aware that I posted this huge wordy blog yesterday. I can't say that I'm all that surprised but it still annoys me. I pay attention for their updates - why can't they do the same?
So yesterday was Day 2 of my -- whatever you want to call it. It was okay in the morning because I stayed busy enough that I didn't have time to let my mind wander all that much. Yesterday afternoon was much more difficult though. The execs were in their weekly mtg, I was caught up on work (including the little things) and it was very quiet. That's the time that I usually pull out my phone, grab a link from my email list, and start reading.
I did good though and stayed away from both the email and the internet. In exchange, I flipped through 2 different Oriental Trading Company magazines, emailed a friend at church about some crafts that her pre-k kids can do that would tie into the theme of the Christmas musical the older kids are doing, and found a couple things that would be cute for my own family activities. Chatted with a couple friends via email too. That was pretty much it I think.
It was harder once I was home of course, especially since the Twilight Hollywood premiere was last night and my myspace friends were a buzz with excitement. I did not watch the streamed premiere, although I did pop onto a blog later in the evening just to see a couple of the pics. One thing I noticed is that it's much more difficult to resist the fanfic than it is normal articles and interviews. I don't know why.
I'm trying to reach and out and meet new people online, stretch my horizons if you will, in order to help keep me distracted. Someone left me a message about just deleting the links, but that doesn't work for me. Yes I can delete them, but I still know where it's at and it's just as easy for me to type the link into the address bar as it is to scroll through my favs or history lists. Avoiding it completely doesn't work for me - I've btdt in the past and ended up right back where I was. What happens is that I successfully manage to avoid whatever it was I was trying to avoid for an extended period of time so I think I've got it beat and it's safe to read "just one chapter a day" or whatever. Maybe that works well for others, but not for me b/c before I know it, that "one chapter" has become a 30-chapter fic that I've spent 6 or 7 hours reading.
That's why I'm trying it differently this time. It's there, I know it's there. It's 2 clicks away - a tab and a link. But by seeing it and NOT going there, I've beaten it, it hasn't beaten me. And each day that passes without me clicking those links takes me one day closer to the day where I'm completely free from the obsession it holds.
I still enjoy the series, but I can feel the difference now. Yesterday a co-worker came up to me and was talking about it being 3 days till the movie opens. She asked if I was excited. I said I was and I am, but now it's just one of a half dozen movies in the theatre that I want to see. I'm still going to the premiere, what's going on won't change that since I'd already bought the tickets. Now if I hadn't bought the tickets a month ago, it might be different. Or it might not. Since it's not an issue so I can't really say what I'd really do.
Today I was swamped at work. Alanna was out - she had to take her furbaby Kelsey to the dr's - and I had meetings almost back to back most of the morning, then another immediately after lunch. In between I worked on f/u items from the meetings and a few odds-n-ends that came up. Luckily I was able to corner Philip late in the afternoon and got him to tell me what he wanted to do about time approvals for his folks so that was another project I was able to wrap up and get out of my inbox. I talked to Halley on the way home - she and Ronnie are coming out early on Thursday, and they + Manny, will have Thanksgiving lunch with Andy at school. I'd planned on going earlier in the school year but they've just restructured all of my project meetings and now I've got a high level mtg at 3:30 on Thursday that I need to be at. Andy's fine with it though - he was happy enough that Daddy's going and excited to find Aunt Halley and Ronnie are too.
My turtle is shedding again. Just an observation I thought I'd share with you.
So what's going on this evening you wonder? Not much. I did read 2 separate chapter updates. I wasn't sure if it was a smart idea or not, but then I read the 1st one and it was disappointing and a waste of time. It was obvious the author didn't put a lot of effort into that chapter. The 2nd story's update was much better and it was enough that I don't have any more desire to read fanfics tonight. I haven't watched any of the vids from last night's premiere either. YAY ME!!
I've got some comments to respond to here and there, and then I think I'm going to grab my ipod and get some stuff done. There's a pile of clothes on the couch that belong in my room, another pile in the room waiting to be put away, and still more that need to be washed. I also need to run to the grocery store for a couple things and should probably go do that before I don't want to go and put it off again. That'll work cuz I can resync my ipod while I'm at the store and then it'll be ready for when I get home and work on laundry. It'd be nice to go to sleep having done something that left me feeling a sense of accomplishment rather than a waste of time.
Have a great night and a great Wednesday.
So yesterday was Day 2 of my -- whatever you want to call it. It was okay in the morning because I stayed busy enough that I didn't have time to let my mind wander all that much. Yesterday afternoon was much more difficult though. The execs were in their weekly mtg, I was caught up on work (including the little things) and it was very quiet. That's the time that I usually pull out my phone, grab a link from my email list, and start reading.
I did good though and stayed away from both the email and the internet. In exchange, I flipped through 2 different Oriental Trading Company magazines, emailed a friend at church about some crafts that her pre-k kids can do that would tie into the theme of the Christmas musical the older kids are doing, and found a couple things that would be cute for my own family activities. Chatted with a couple friends via email too. That was pretty much it I think.
It was harder once I was home of course, especially since the Twilight Hollywood premiere was last night and my myspace friends were a buzz with excitement. I did not watch the streamed premiere, although I did pop onto a blog later in the evening just to see a couple of the pics. One thing I noticed is that it's much more difficult to resist the fanfic than it is normal articles and interviews. I don't know why.
I'm trying to reach and out and meet new people online, stretch my horizons if you will, in order to help keep me distracted. Someone left me a message about just deleting the links, but that doesn't work for me. Yes I can delete them, but I still know where it's at and it's just as easy for me to type the link into the address bar as it is to scroll through my favs or history lists. Avoiding it completely doesn't work for me - I've btdt in the past and ended up right back where I was. What happens is that I successfully manage to avoid whatever it was I was trying to avoid for an extended period of time so I think I've got it beat and it's safe to read "just one chapter a day" or whatever. Maybe that works well for others, but not for me b/c before I know it, that "one chapter" has become a 30-chapter fic that I've spent 6 or 7 hours reading.
That's why I'm trying it differently this time. It's there, I know it's there. It's 2 clicks away - a tab and a link. But by seeing it and NOT going there, I've beaten it, it hasn't beaten me. And each day that passes without me clicking those links takes me one day closer to the day where I'm completely free from the obsession it holds.
I still enjoy the series, but I can feel the difference now. Yesterday a co-worker came up to me and was talking about it being 3 days till the movie opens. She asked if I was excited. I said I was and I am, but now it's just one of a half dozen movies in the theatre that I want to see. I'm still going to the premiere, what's going on won't change that since I'd already bought the tickets. Now if I hadn't bought the tickets a month ago, it might be different. Or it might not. Since it's not an issue so I can't really say what I'd really do.
Today I was swamped at work. Alanna was out - she had to take her furbaby Kelsey to the dr's - and I had meetings almost back to back most of the morning, then another immediately after lunch. In between I worked on f/u items from the meetings and a few odds-n-ends that came up. Luckily I was able to corner Philip late in the afternoon and got him to tell me what he wanted to do about time approvals for his folks so that was another project I was able to wrap up and get out of my inbox. I talked to Halley on the way home - she and Ronnie are coming out early on Thursday, and they + Manny, will have Thanksgiving lunch with Andy at school. I'd planned on going earlier in the school year but they've just restructured all of my project meetings and now I've got a high level mtg at 3:30 on Thursday that I need to be at. Andy's fine with it though - he was happy enough that Daddy's going and excited to find Aunt Halley and Ronnie are too.
My turtle is shedding again. Just an observation I thought I'd share with you.
So what's going on this evening you wonder? Not much. I did read 2 separate chapter updates. I wasn't sure if it was a smart idea or not, but then I read the 1st one and it was disappointing and a waste of time. It was obvious the author didn't put a lot of effort into that chapter. The 2nd story's update was much better and it was enough that I don't have any more desire to read fanfics tonight. I haven't watched any of the vids from last night's premiere either. YAY ME!!
I've got some comments to respond to here and there, and then I think I'm going to grab my ipod and get some stuff done. There's a pile of clothes on the couch that belong in my room, another pile in the room waiting to be put away, and still more that need to be washed. I also need to run to the grocery store for a couple things and should probably go do that before I don't want to go and put it off again. That'll work cuz I can resync my ipod while I'm at the store and then it'll be ready for when I get home and work on laundry. It'd be nice to go to sleep having done something that left me feeling a sense of accomplishment rather than a waste of time.
Have a great night and a great Wednesday.