Home, free.

I think, after nearly a month, I'm finally past the withdrawal period. When I first lost access to the Internet at my apartment, I didn't really know what to do with myself. After work, I would head home, spend about half an hour attempting to get the wireless to work, write for a bit, read a little, make a few calls and then kind of mull around and make lists of things I wasn't able to do without online access (sad but true, har har).

Now, though, I don't know quite what to do when I do get an extended period of time to troll the web. I browse a few sites and blogs, but consciously stay away from time-suck things like Facebook because I've grown so used to stealing just a few minutes worth of personal Internet use at the office (other than that, there's just too much work to be done!) that I'd rather just get what I need off the Internet and then log back into the real world.

I've somehow been given the rare opportunity to extricate myself from the digital realm, and after living life without the burden of the web for a bit, it'll be hard to go back. Thus far, the reasons not to be constantly plugged into other people's lives are outweighing all reasons to do so, and I kind of like it.

Remember Neo in The Matrix? Remember what a revolutionary idea it was at the time to imagine that our waking hours were actually part of a subconscious dream, and that our reality was some sort of bleak, technologically charged world? I know it sounds dramatic, but being cut off from social networking and chatting and everything and focusing in on the present - not just the now, but the HERE - is a little bit like that. Unsettling at first, but then refreshing and welcome.

Generally speaking, life is a little more productive this way, I'm more able to focus on my own goals and tasks, and I've eliminated so much of the white noise that's been permeating the day-to-day.

Yeah, it's a little harder to keep in touch with people this way, but it makes those infrequent phone calls and emails that much more poignant. And it helps to put quite a few things into perspective - split your focus among one too many things, allow yourself to be pulled in too many directions and your core can crumble pretty easily.