Well, well, well my reader. Has it been only seven days since our last rendezvous?
Holy shit this past week feels like the blink of an eye. Seven years might as well have flashed by in a nano second for all its worth.
I don’t have anything fabulous to report today. Although, I’ve heard that any check-in with me can be interpreted as life-altering or soul-quenching therapy at any moment, yet I wouldn’t try to reconquer Rome or set up an alien contact station to blast my musings into a nearby stratosphere based on anything you’re going to glean from me today.
Even your outlandish and self-deprecating alter ego Q-FI has some Machiavellian limits.
So, what’s up?
The move is progressing.
We finished up the transportation of all our physical objects… precious desirables… holy bastions of a consumer society yesterday afternoon. Whew… that was a big relief.
(Sidenote – this is probably the first time I seriously contemplated missing a week. Between running on empty and having zero desire to write anything at all, I thought I’d just let it slip until that spark of creativity lit up my artistic mind again. But then I woke up this morning and found that old chip on my shoulder whispering, “Who the fuck do you think you are Q-FI? Are you going to let your fans down? The show must go on! Get the fuck after it little bitch!” So beware, I’m writing today against my will and as a shackled prisoner to my subconscious. Ha!)
As I sit here in my new house, furiously writing this morning to knock-out this post, I’m reminded of how much has happened in such a short window of time.
This is one of the first occasions that I’m forced to blog from a new spot.
Fellow writers, do you have a favorite writing spot, chair or couch? I never realized I actually did until it was gone. We had this large brown sofa couch in our living room (it wasn’t pretty, but man was it comfortable and my favorite location to sink into the cushions, kick my feet up on the coffee table and create). But alas, that old friend didn’t make the cut into our new life. It was just too old, large and bulky to make the perilous voyage and sail that concrete canal of highway mileage.
Farewell old friend – if a piece of wood, leather and metal could only know what happy memories it bequeathed me with over the years.
But enough about that – superfluous details that I know an educated reader such as yourself cannot be distracted with.
Overall (as much as can be said for one week of moving), slowly the vision is coming into focus and our progress taking shape. Although, now all the real fun begins. Unpacking boxes, re-organizing things… way too many things I might add. I was shocked to realize that the missus and I have accumulated a lot of crap. We’re moving from a small one-bedroom backhouse that only had a single car garage to much more space (well relatively, much more space in my small shrink-wrapped world that is), but it still seems we have more stuff than we should have.
All this time I was thinking I was doing a pretty valiant effort like one of the knights of the round table slaying the dragon of whimsical desire and upholding the virtues of minimalism, but now I’m not so sure… hahaha. Maybe I’m just a sucker accumulator like everyone else.
It’s funny the stories we tell ourselves to believe the narrative that we choose to see. Nothing like a “move” to slap you right back down to size. Haha.
Oh well.
But amid all this chaos and swirling change like a riptide about to cast me out to sea, another first has transpired.
I can honestly say, that this past week is the first time since I began writing in September 2019 that I have been cut off from my online community. And I both miss it and feel the lack of its presence like a void from a missing person in my life. Which I’m not surprised by at all. Because as my blogging interactions have increased, my reading broadened, comments braved and online personalities debunked, befriended and now dependent upon, I realize what an important social circle this online smorgasbord of differing amalgamated senses, emotions, feelings and thinking have become.
It’s a part of me now. Integrated into who I have become. To be cut off is like missing a fifth limb.
And to be cut off wasn’t a conscious decision so to say. I definitely knew it would be a possibility simply with the move and work beginning a new hectic chapter of M&A rounds. But I still think deep down I thought I’d find the time to be able to read and catch up on all the blogs I love reading.
But I didn’t.
Is that a failure?
To my Alpha side – “I’m-going-to-take-over-the-world-conquering-personality,” yes. To my pragmatic side – “I did all I could with the time I had to the best of my ability,” no.
That’s what life is. Making decisions. Weighing trade-offs. Accepting opportunity costs. Knowing that great things and people usually don’t have a shelf-life, will be forgiving and waiting for you with open arms when time arrives back on your side.
So, I rolled the dice, took a gamble and did what needed to be done.
I took an entire week of disconnection simply because I utilized every second of my time to accomplish another task. I was doubtful this would be possible, but there I go again, being amazed by myself and the unpredictability of this journey of massed-cells through the continuum of time.
Anyway, I think the biggest emotional vacancy for me was not reading and commenting on other blogs. I really do enjoy consuming good material and dropping a line to other readers because I know how much I enjoy the same. Plus, I feel like I’m missing out a little. What’s happening behind the scenes while my own life is a roller coaster of daily bumps and bruises from the transportation of material desires from one locale to another?
Hahahaha… Fucking FOMO is always nibbling at my heels.
I’ve also unplugged from the love/hate Twitter machine. Although this is my best tool for keeping up-to-date and interacting with other bloggers, there is just so much hate that always finds its way into my feed. I wish there was a better way to keep the good and filter out the bad, but as of now, I sure as fuck don’t know any way to do this.
Well, as I sit here contemplating the million things planned for today, a final thought has dawned on me.
I’ve written previously about how I never seem to have the problem of boredom. When people write about how bored they are in retirement, this notion has always baffled me simply because that’s not my personality type: What are You Going to do When You Retire?
My entire premise was that when someone would ask me, “What are going to do when you retire?” I would reply with, “What am I NOT going to do when I retire?”
However, I am contemplating changing my answer to something different… something new.
Maybe… “buy a house.”
Hahahaha. As I’m making my list of the millions of things to do, petty upgrades that some distant day might or might not ever be realized in/on my new home, I have stumbled upon the best kept secret that no one has ever revealed to me.
If you never want to be bored in retirement, simply by a house. There’s no end to the countless tasks that will fill your golden years to the brim.
Hahaha.
Home ownership… the true boredom killer!
Who would have ever thought that?
-Q-FI
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Have you ever disconnected from blogging for a time period? By choice or not by choice? And either writing or reading? Why or why not?
Happy house warming! Isn’t it amazing how much stuff we cram into even to the smallest homes? I weeded out before moving and still found so much more to weed out after. How does that work?!
As for your favorite comfy writer’s spot casualty, well, I’m sorry. But hopefully this emptiness makes way forward something equally good for you.
Not missing a week of Twitter’s hate isn’t a bad thing. I’m not sure how their algorithms work, but I also find more to bring down my day on there than positivity, so I relate. I choose to spend as little time on there as possible.
Anyway, I’m still so excited for you I’m this new stage of life! Congratulations to you for finding the energy to write in the midst of all this chaos!
How are those precious doggies adjusting?
It’s a trip Katie realizing how much stuff you have accumulated over the years. The wife and I aren’t crazy minimalists, but we’ve tried to cut down our life style to only things we really need and enjoy. However, once you actually physically transport all of your material from one spot to another, you realize holy shit what I thought wasn’t that much stuff, actually is. It’s kind of blown my mind.
Twitter is always a tough one for me. I just don’t like how social media makes me feel, nor how people act on it. But it really is the only good social interaction for me with bloggers – not that I tweet that much, which I don’t, but I can at least see what others are up to and feel that sense of belonging. I don’t trust Facebook or instagram at all, so it’s only the Twitter machine for me now. But yeah, I don’t think social media has actually been a net benefit for the human race.
Oh the doggies. The move has been a challenge for them. First actual night was Wednesday and now on Sunday they are getting a little better. The problem has been we have to leave them for a while doing all the moving each day. So they’re left alone in a new place and it’s taken them longer than I though to adapt. We have a way bigger yard so Max is loving it running around. Actually had him chasing a Possum at 1am last night, which I don’t think our new neighbors appreciated, but hey, that’s how it goes. Pebbles has to walk a little farther than usual at the new pad, but I think she’ll benefit the most in the long run. Our old place was only wall AC units and now we have central air, so she should be way more comfy in the summer.
I should be back to reading and catching up this week. The hardest part of the move has been accomplished, just got to unpack and re-org our lives now.
Thanks as always for chiming in!
I have a theory that our stuff multiplies when we’re not watching. Especially the crap in the garage or in the cupboard under the stairs.
Who knows, it might even be true!?!
Twitter became tolerable for me once I ditched the native app in favour of one called Twitterrific. It gives you a chronological feed of only the tweets and retweets made by only the people you’ve consciously chosen to follow. No algorithm junk. No random tweet order. No promoted tweets. Less noise, and providing you choose your follows carefully not much hate. Might help preserve your sanity?
Hahahaha… I love that theory Indeedably and I 100% agree with it! As I was mentioning to Katie above, there’s just something eye opening about having to actually physically move your stuff from one spot to another and then unpack it. I haven’t moved in 10 years, so just going through this process has motivated me to try and get rid of even more stuff I probably don’t need.
That is a great idea. I have never heard of Twitterrific before but I’m going to try it. Thanks on that one. If what you describe has been you experience, that will definitely save my sanity.
Thanks for the reccomendation bud!
Congrats on the move and we missed you. I figured your relative silence was due to lugging your precious treasures about town. Glad you got ‘er did! Sorry to hear about the couch. Always tough to leave a crucial aspect of creativity behind, but nature abhors a vacuum, so I’m sure you’ll find a new choice writing location.
My last post was almost missed due to heavy distraction, but, like you, I succumbed to the nagging voice that ultimately compelled me to get it written and published. Glad you did as well.l because I enjoyed this one.
I don’t follow a lot of folks on Twitter and curate, mute semi-regularly, so my experience is always pretty positive.
Anyway, glad you’re getting settled in and, yep, having a new house will definitely fill all the time ever in a retirement.
I have my sights set on your Guinness post. Probably get to that one tomorrow or Tuesday. I’m very curious to read it because having a Guinness on St. Patty’s day was always one of my favorite things to do, being Irish and all. Also, touring that brewery in Ireland was an amazing experience back in the day. I’ve also got into some NA craft beers recently that I’ve been meaning to write about. So for the first time in four years I got to enjoy a nice NA stout on March 17th… hahaha. It’s the little things in life.
Thanks for the well wishes and I’ll be popping over to your site shortly.
Nice way to christen the new home by writing your first blog post from it, even if there’s no motivation. Forced writing is a great practice. I can attest that home ownership comes with the silent price tag of time dedicated to fixing things every other weekend. But there’s nothing better than working on a house you own and then enjoying whatever it is you did to make your living space better.
I don’t have a regular publishing regiment yet. Everything in my life that can be controlled is structured in some capacity except the blog posts. So I’ve yet to have the guilty feeling of missing a post. It drives my type A personality a bit crazy. I’m trying to decide if my life would be more stressful having one more deadline or one dangling thing out of place.
Yeah moving is a great time to clean house. It’s nice though to start from scratch and set up the home to be well organized from the start. I did that for my garage when I first moved in and I’ve never regretted buying the quality racks and shelves to keep things in their place. Congrats again. I’m happy for you. This is a good time in your life. A new chapter.
I agree with you Noel. Just in my short time of doing stuff this week, it does feel better when you own it… hahaha. Hanging that picture from the wall… yeah, that’s my wall I’m hanging it from now! Haha. Good shit.
I also think forced writing can be a good thing. But honestly, a schedule is up to the writer for motivation, at least that’s my two cents. When I first started writing I decided to post twice a week for a year and then see how I felt. At first I kicked ass because I was so excited to write that I was pumping out a ton of content. But then when unexpected life events would happen, it got more stressful in the end. So after I hit my goal of one year, I dropped down to posting once a week. For me, posting at least once a week has always been easy except for this past week. The move just drained me and I’m not ahead on posts, which I don’t like to be, but I also don’t like to write unless I’m motivated and feel like I’ve put something quality out there. So, I don’t know. If you’ve done fine without a schedule so far, I’d keep rolling with it unless you think you need that structure for motivation. But then again, the point of writing is for fun, so maybe the structure can drain the fun from it sometimes. Hahaha, I think I just rambled on and contradicted myself ten times above. =) I’m going to blame it on a zapped moving brain.
Word bud. I’ll get to your posts this week. Looking forward to catching up on them.
And definitely a new chapter and good time in my life. Thanks again for your words of wisdom.
i can attest that i am terrible about trying to write a blog post from “not my usual spot.” for instance, if we visit my mother in law’s place during a week off or a holiday i really struggle to get anything out. it’s not like anyone is demanding 100% of my time and attention, i always have plenty of downtime but can’t seem to find any groove. i’ve had short periods where i didn’t write anything in the past and have no real posting schedule but have gotten a post or two ahead and scheduled a few recent posts.
with regard to home ownership i am always one to put off tasks that will wait, unlike mrs. smidlap. my task/relaxation ratio is truly binary. i am either working on a task or taking it easy…100% either way. the mrs. however is a multitasker. we had a friend come over yesterday for the 1st day of sunshine in the backyard. the dogs were playing and the whole time m.b. was hanging out but pruning the backyard grape vines. all the sudden the job was done but she didn’t miss any socialization. it was like black magic to me.
Yeah, finding that groove can be tough sometimes. I do force myself to write on occasion, but I’d much rather be in the right mood to do it. It just seems to come and go with me.
That’s funny how you are with house tasks. I think I’m more the multi-tasker, but if it’s a big purchase I might put it off for a little longer. Who knows. We’ll see how things evolve this year with the endless house projects that have already popped up.
At least for me, working from home, I have a better schedule to try and get after it. Whether anything ever happens or not, will be another story. Hahaha.
Thanks for the comment Freddy!
Congrats on the move. And yeah, it’s amazing how you still collect ‘stuff’ even when you really aren’t into buying it in the first place.
As someone who’s had the dubious ‘pleasure’ of fixing various water related house issues over the last couple weeks, yup, owning a house can keep you busy in all the wrong ways!
I remember well when we first started trying gardening. It took us one summer to figure out that really really wasn’t our thing. Spent the next year transforming it all into a low maintenance beer/chill/hang-out. Sorted!
A week away is nothing – when I’m travelling I’m horribly sporadic about staying in touch, commenting and my writing defn becomes dependent on the hiking weather 😉.
But you know what, this community is cool, people so far seem to welcome you back regardless. And you just got to look at LivingAFI’s comment page on his latest post 5 years later to see how much he was missed by many.
Enjoy unpacking – be warned – you may think where you put something is temporary but 3 years later, it’ll still be there…..🤣
Hey Michelle. You’re right a week is nothing. But I still feel bad when I fall behind on commenting on other blogs. But I’m learning to let that go. The move coupled with one of my craziest work times, has just left no time for other things. Plus, if I’m exhausted, the last thing I like to do is read on a screen, and I’d rather indulge posts when I have the energy to write a thoughtful comment. I’m still going to try to keep my schedule up, but everything’s alterable on a blog, right? So, we’ll see what the future brings.
I’m still learning (obviously with only being in the house a week and a half) with our space what is going to work or not work. That’s funny on your gardening remarks – but now you have it dialed in!
I loved your last comment. That’s been our “key” phrase this week – “this placement is just temporary.” We’ll see what happens in the long term.
I read LivingAFI’s post the other day and really enjoyed it. I hadn’t heard of him before, but it was some great writing. I also hope it’s a wake up call for a lot of people. Not sure why so many aren’t expecting the unexpected to happen. The longer you live the more concrete this fact should become.
Thanks as always for chiming in!