Fog City

I've been in a slump. A reading slump to be exact. Once I read everyday, but my habits have changed due in part to a cultural shift. At my age, old, I viewed technology, especially social media, inundate society like a tsunami. I lamented the loss of my comfort zone. What to do? I decided to embrace the change and the speed it was happening. My sons aided my immersion into the world of devices. I remember a time, which seems surreal, when a transistor radio was the only device necessary. The fear and trepidation facing me, while learning and navigating constant obstacles, took awhile to overcome. I encountered a random voice with a certain explanation, which helped immeasurably. I learned intuition was the key. Intuition: instinctive knowing (without the use of rational processes). Here lies the poetic nature of interacting more comfortably in the digital world. Now when I get stuck, I don't cry for help. Usually no one is there anyway. I resort to intuition. I click icons backward and forward until the desired result is achieved. Risk and reward. The affect is tangible. Spontaneous, abstract, a degree of stream of consciousness are components I find in both poetry and the digital world. Surprisingly the time I once spent reading novels of choice, I'm now reading all sorts of random writing on line. I've adjusted. I think I read as much, but the source, the authorship, comes in waves and of varied lengths. Writing can be as short as a significant comment on a Facebook post, or as long as a featured article in the Atlantic Monthly. My effort is sporadic and the impact seems less. Albeit I've become more comfortable scrolling and navigating a tremendous range of sources, there is still a disconnect. Hence my slump.

So I take time to read novels, this is my current choice. Life is learning lessons. When you want to maintain a certain weight you push away from the table, or you stay out of the refrigerator. If you want to remain debt free you budget your money wisely. If you want to read and write you must portion your time accordingly. Easier said than done, right?