April 29
Night one was actually quite painless. I spent a fair bit of time watching a hockey game followed by checking in on my aunt’s cat while my aunt is away. Amazing how cats can be so solitary and yet still expect you to clean out the litter box. A friend sent me a video on Skype and nearly derailed my efforts, but I realized the link lead to Facebook, and I was able to save myself. A quick alt-F4 preserved the endeavor. I haven’t felt any pangs or cravings, though, to be fair, it’s been less than 24 hours. We’ll see what tomorrow brings. Already, though, I feel like I have more time. I don’t miss the internet, and I’m not all that sure it misses me, either. It’s interesting how we, as humans, tried to make life more convenient, but it comes at a cost.
April 30
Night two was pretty easy as well. After I wrote last night’s entry, raccoons spent about two hours humping in the backyard despite my neighbor cursing and banging pots and pans. Two in the morning… After twenty minutes, I had enough and found stale candy in the cabinet. I threw it at them, but the rebellious exhibitionists just dodged their heads around the multi-colored projectiles. I cracked up laughing when I saw my neighbor shine a flash light and say sternly, “NO. NOT. HERE.” They were quiet for a little bit after the flying candy, but they were back at it twenty minutes later. The sound was something incredibly odd, and then I saw another two raccoons come running down the alley way and chase the one off, his squeal-purrs getting fainter with distance. Definitely one of the oddest nights of my life.
As for today, not too bad. Another hockey game (and a frustrating Rangers loss), but I read the second part of Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis, which I quite enjoyed. Still working on DFW, albeit slowly. Interestingly, I realized that Saturday is Independent Book Store day, and I was planning to head to the city to visit one anyway, so it’s a nice coincidence.
I will admit to giving in and checking a few blogs…I can’t be that isolated, right? And I said social media—Wordpress is fair game. Other than that, I haven’t missed Facebook at all, and I check Twitter infrequently enough that it’s not a habit to break. I feel like I have more time during the day, but I also spend a good chunk of it trying to decide what to do. I’m hoping I’ll get a bit better with practice. In any case, so far, so good!
Motion Sick Lit 
When you have humping raccoons, who needs Facebook, really?
I agree that, the longer you go without it, the less you miss it. I restrict my Facebook time pretty severely, and I find myself more inclined to actually do things – read, write, code, etc. – when I don’t have aimless scrolling as an option. I hope this experiment continues to go well for you!
I’m a hockey fan as well, and Washington’s last-minute regulation win was really unexpected. Six games to go.
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I actually don’t have Facebook or anything (except Twitter for my blog) so I’ve always felt a bit weird when people go on about how it controls their life. Fair play for doing this though, and actually sticking to it (so far anyway…). I tried to stop listening to music for two weeks earlier in April and I had succumbed within two days.
I also have a feeling that these posts will be like someone suffering from cabin fever or something like that. They’ll start benign and cheerful, but will end like the ramblings of a raving lunatic. Hopefully it won’t go down that route, but it would make for a good book (I’ll get the copy and paste buttons ready…).
Well that was dark.
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Oh god, I should really implement something like this for my last couple weeks at school. I’m a mess. I just love checking twitter, I can’t help myself. And checking blogs is totally fair. No need to cut yourself off from the internet entirely. I’d probably go through withdrawal if I did that. I even try to check twitter while I’m camping, it’s so shameful.
Those fucking raccoons.
Good luck. Get off goodreads.
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