a letter to the reason
On his birthday, I wax poetic on what FunkyPlaid has come to mean to me.
Read MoreRSSless: day 7
This will be brief, because I am extremely ill today due to accidentally ingesting gluten in last night’s dinner. The worst part is that I dread eating the next day so much I tend to avoid it until I can’t anymore, and then scarf something vaguely disgusting down just to have some nutrition. Clearly I am new at managing this disease, and have a lot to learn. My experiment in giving up my RSS reader for a week is complete. I’ve made my point to myself: I don’t need to keep up with 269 RSS feeds to lead a complete, informed, happy life. Also, I prefer getting my news from communities that encourage participation instead of from one-way news blasts. The exception to this is Twitter, which is eminently useful to me as a means to keeping up...
Read MoreRSSless: day 6
It is absolutely remarkable what happens when you choose to let go of fear. It is a choice, of course, not immediately apparent while we are clinging to it, like a necklace worn so long its weight no longer registers. If this seems to be a melodramatic way to talk about changing RSS-feed-reading patterns, perhaps it is, but no less relevant. I have been afraid, for many years, of missing out on information, of not knowing while others know. Working at the public library has changed my entire view of knowledge and information in this regard; it is clear to me now that none of us know, at least not in the way I understood knowledge. We think, and believe, and wonder, and learn, and these are all valuable, important things. Knowledge is a tool, not a belief...
Read MoreRSSless: days 4 and 5
FunkyPlaid and I were at the store until late last night, so I didn’t post my non-progress on the RSS fast. No matter; absolutely nothing has changed. I spend my time writing, reading, and puzzle-solving instead, and my stress levels are markedly down. Now I am absolutely convinced that I need to ditch my RSS reader permanently, and only read a handful of feeds on a start page like iGoogle or Netvibes. We ran lots of errands today, relishing in our pre-cohabitation domesticity, wringing out the moments of our only day off together. Right now I am sipping pomegranate wine and eating dark-chocolate-covered pistachios while chatting with some old friends online as FunkyPlaid‘s WoW character busies herself with the usual smiting of evil. Yawns...
Read Moremorning way
The way a morning comes upon you, discovering you in sleep, slicing golden on the lid, opening the Ziploc of your dream, is not how the poets would have you think. Not even this one. It is not a stealing softly, nor is it an infusion of warmth. After a night spent dwelling in (not on, because you, ever resourceful, armed with paintbrushes, have made them more than habitable) your doubts, morning arrives like a sneezing fit with no tissue in sight, like a lost dog limping you can’t let inside, like the last bus on the worst corner. You will stave it off with promises to be productive, with hints of increased understanding and self-worth, with brute force of blankets yanked up over your head. You will stave it off for minutes, even an hour. But the morning is...
Read MoreRSSless: day 3
Day 3 of the RSS fast: today I only visited The WELL, MetaFilter, and Twitter for lunchtime information input. I spent the rest of the time reading Special Topics in Calamity Physics, which is nearing conclusion, after which I’ll continue reading Matter. (It’s dense, and I needed a bubblegum break.) I did hop on to my Netvibes page, but avoided the tabs containing RSS feeds. However, I could see using that every day instead of an RSS reader; I like the interface, and it is a multipurpose start page. It made me want to revisit iGoogle … but not now, because I know there are RSS feeds on it. So far, I’m not missing any feeds, and am particularly grateful for folks who use Twitterfeed. Forcing myself to visit communities for news...
Read MoreRSSless: day 2
Day 2 of my RSS fast has been uneventful. Lunchtime was a little strange, as I reflexively opened my RSS reader and quickly had to shut it again. I recovered with Thai food and crossword puzzles and reading. If I want headlines … well, I work in a library on the same floor as a bajillion periodicals. I get headlines the old-fashioned way. Aside from email, my information inputs today were all community-based: Twitter, MetaFilter, and The WELL. I fiddled with popurls.com for a little while, but lost interest, perhaps because I don’t much care about what is statistically popular, instead preferring what people I like find interesting. Speaking of people I like, I’m heading to Board Game Night at Gamescape North...
Read MoreLibraries get their due in two very different books
Libraries get their due in two very different books“It’s National Library Week. USA TODAY’S Bob Minzesheimer examines two books about libraries — one mystical, the other more mundane.” (via monkeemind)
Read MoreRSSless: day 1
As I mentioned in my last post, I’m a bit overwhelmed by information right now. In a fit of pique (which just the other day I learned, thanks to FunkyPlaid, is monosyllabic) I decided to stop reading all RSS feeds for a week. Day 1 has gone swimmingly, perhaps because I spent the majority of it in a workshop. Regardless, I did not check my RSS reader on my iPhone during my lunch break. Email and Twitter were my only two information sources, and I subscribe to the BBC world news feed with the latter, so I have a vague notion of the day’s headlines. I read my book, chatted with FunkyPlaid, window-shopped in Hayes Valley, and started a crossword puzzle. Tonight I will meet with my writing group, and then head to the Halou show at Café du Nord, so...
Read Moreuninformed
I dread opening my RSS reader these days. Right now there are 876 unread items glaring at me, from a total of 269 feeds. How does anyone keep up? Every time I attempt to pare down the list, I get fed up, close the browser window, and pick up my book. In other news, thank you for your comments on my upcoming move. We’re going to do it ourselves after all, with, to quote a famous band, a little help from our friends. That means I have to be diligent about tossing out everything I don’t need before the 3rd. Good thing I like culling. My new-to-me XTi is about 24 hours from being in my hot little hands. Let the picture-taking, possessions-tossing, information-ignoring fiesta...
Read MoreNestcam
The cam was last on Friday, May 4.
Hello What
I am Halsted, a/k/a cygnoir, and I do stuff with words.
My favourite things to do with words are keeping this diary, writing stories, and organising information.
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Plugging
