Our addiction to each other

We're addicted to the internet, to Facebook, twitter, blogging, all of it. We're uber-connected and yet have never been more isolated. So why do we spend hours on Facebook, etc..., sending our thoughts out into the web? Who do we think is reading our stuff, who cares about what we have to say? Why am I writing this, why do I feel committed to it and why does it feel good? Maybe because we crave "positive transactions": 
 
"In the 1960s, psychiatrist Eric Berne introduced a new model of psychology that he ultimately called Transactional Analysis. It has many components, but the simplest is this: Our days and nights are filled with small and large "transactions" between people. A quick hello from a friend is a small, positive transaction, while a dirty look from another driver is a negative one. A deep conversation with a lover is a large transaction — it might be positive or negative, depending on the outcome. Berne believed that people's happiness was a function of how these transactions went, and how many positive interactions a person piled up during the day. He believed that positive transactions were as important to mental health as water and food are to physical health. Chart a few days of your interactions with people, and I think you'll become convinced that Berne was onto something." --from Bob Sullivan's post at http://animaltracks.today.com/_news/2012/09/12/13825121-when-my-dog-lucky-died-i-disappeared-too

So here I am, sending my thoughts out into the great void, waiting for a positive reply to drift back and reaffirm my existence... It's kinda sad.  I think I'll go play with my Willow.  I think she's got a better handle on things than I do!

Stay focused!

Staying focused... it's hard!  But this mind-map is clever and useful, and it's from  http://mlkshk.com/p/6ONF

You only live once, but if you work it right, once is enough.             -- Joe E. Lewis

Waking up

 So my "exile" is over, I am once again fully connected to the web but our relationship will be better, much more balanced.  As I said, I achieved a lot of things while off-line, tidying, tossing out and cleaning up and am so glad I finally got around to these lingering messes... tossing papers from 2005, for example!!! 
  I also re-started two projects that have lingered a LLOONNGG time:  years ago (maybe 15?) I received an Emily Farmer miniature Teddy Bear kit which I started and then put aside.  That poor bear... well, I once again have him out and on my studio table and his legs are already finished!
  Dearer to my heart, I have blown the dust off my novella.  Wow, it's been 10 years since I last really looked at it and last night I went to a "Getting Your Book Published" panel discussion with my novella in mind.  Years ago, we had travelled so far as to actually have the attention of a small press, only to have that small press radically change its mission and decide it would only publish poetry.  So we lost our publisher, and I have to admit after a pile of rejection letters I was rather disheartened.  Well, time has passed and the whole publishing thing is SO different now:  I can self publish and hearing the authors on this panel speak, R. J. Anderson, Terry Griggs, Ruth Barrett and moderator Deborah Cooke (a.k.a. Claire Delacroix) was inspiring!  (Check out http://stratfordauthors.ca for more about this growing group).
  Of course, at this time, blogger is having issues with uploading photos... gesh ("Chrome" works though, if you have it.)  Couldn't have happened while I was off-line, of course.  ;}
 

Off-line and loving it!

I've been without internet at home since Friday, Dec. 28th and hope to be hooked up again Jan. 9th.  It's a matter of not informing all involved companies (and not knowing that I needed to contact them) when switching from one phone provider to the other!  Ooops!  Who knew!?  Not us...
  ANYWAY, I've been without access to the web from home and on withdrawal... and then realizing what freedom I've been granted!  What a gift!!!  It's amazing how poorly I managed my time and how the computer somehow stole itself such a high priority on my list of things to do.  So now that I have been made aware of how things can be, there will be much more balance in my days.  And you should see how tidy and organized my work spaces are!  I went through and put away 4 years worth of Hallowe'en Studio Tour papers, all my bat information and all my Hallowe'en printouts are organized and sorted into categories!  Potentially I could FIND what I seek now, wow! 
  Also, we dived into sorting photographs to be printed and placed into albums, all of 2012.  It feels great to review the year in this fashion, all the new things we took part in and places we visited. 
  Anyway, I have to keep this short, so HAPPY NEW YEAR!  and do yourself a favour:  turn off the computer!!! 

Save the Planet!

Dear Friends! Try to do what you can to make this Holiday green, and the New Year too!  The Polar Bears are counting on us, and our future depends on it too! 

HAPPY SOLSTICE!

This year Solstice is 21 Dec 11:12 (UTC), when the sun reaches its most southerly declination of -23.5 degrees. 

And here are some alternatives to Xmas: http://www.religioustolerance.org/xmas_other.htm

My Kinda Christmas shopping!

A very cool Krampus Lauf in a Christmas Market in Munich, Germany!  My favorite is at 3:16, very cool!



And Philadelphia has a video:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqezJxPc9PE  Okay, it's a start! 

26 moments of hope

It's been such a bleak Season, when I came across this I just had to share that there IS good out there:  http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/moments-that-restored-our-faith-in-humanity-this-y . Take a few moments to go through the list, wipe away a tear or two and feel a little bit better about humanity.