Powerless in Seattle, part II

December 17th, 2006

It occurred to me this weekend that the Seattle power outage marked the longest stretch of time I’ve gone without email, internet, TV, stereo, DVDs, and all things tech since April, when I went here. Which is pretty pathetic if you stop to think about it. Especially when you add up all the hours I could have spent chasing other pursuits, like, oh, I dunno, writing a six-figure-advance-worthy book, or hatching a plan to work overseas for a year.

At the wireless cafe on Friday, a neighbor and I, each unable to work in our dark, cold homes, were self-consciously chuckling about how hooked on technology we had become. I admitted that time had slowed down a bit for me that day, the way it is wont to do whenever I find myself lucky enough to be holed up in some remote cabin. In fact, I told my neighbor, I actually had spent ten minutes that morning enjoying the goofy little birds foraging for worms and whatnot outside my bedroom window. My neighbor related a story about an equally joyous moment or two spent doing nothing in particular in his garden. Then we each turned back to our laptops, where he continued to bid on knickknacks on eBay, and I set about sifting through the spam in my inbox.

Entry Filed under: Balance, This freelance life