Unplugged Weekend

This is stock footage of St. Simon's Island, and is only representative of our brief trip to the island.  We really didn't watch any sunrises or sunsets.  I have seen them before, in relation to the beach though, not the marsh.  We really didn't have a view of the beach or the marsh.  Mostly it was kudzu.

Sometimes it's good to get away.

We had a friend who was generous enough to let us use their St. Simon's condo for a weekend, and we took advantage of it.  It was a great weekend, mostly spent reading and visiting familiar places.  Alison and I have probably spent more more time there than any other vacation/getaway spot.  For several years, my parents wintered there, and we would see them virtually every weekend.

I prepared the laptop to take with us, so I could keep up with my blog, Facebook, Twitter; maybe watch Netflix, Hulu or Pluto TV.  The laptop bag also had the iPad that Alison uses more than I do.  It had all our chargers.

When we got to St. Simon's and I unloaded the car, I realized that I had forgotten the bag.  The only electronics we had were our iphones.

At first, I was upset, particularly in my losing my ability to write and post to my blog.  And I was used to posting from my blog stories to Facebook, and also select the Song of the Day.  There were a couple of games that I was used to playing at least once a day. It was frustrating at first, but that did not last.  Reading, playing cards, getting out and doing other things more than filled the gap.

I tried, via the smartphone, to keep up with a few things on Facebook, but it was more frustrating than enjoyable,  I realized that I couldn't research my answers well, so my responses became, uh, less well thought out.  I was in danger of becoming part of the 'uninformed" responses I so disliked.

I therefore have decided to continue my break from Facebook, at least for awhile.  I need some time to clear my head, restore using Facebook in a more effective manner, returning it to a more positive experience. 

I may not have the time to construct the type of responses that I need to when trying to discuss political and social issues.  Right now, I need to use the time that I was playing games to instead learn the lines I need to for The Diary of Anne Frank.  I have to start writing query letters, or whatever it is you do, to get actually published,

It won't be easy.  Most of my social connections are through Facebook.  For someone who deals with mild selective mutism, connecting with people through writing has been a godsend.  For me, I either have friendships through Facebook, or I don't have friends.  I have work, church, guild and theater connections, but real friendships are very, very rare.

It will hurt the flow of traffic to The Strait Line.  Much of my traffic comes in my posts via Facebook. Without that, my numbers will go down drastically.  Some one suggested I offer a subscription and people get notices via their e-mail.  That might be worthwhile, but I would have to figure out the technicalities of how that is done.

How long will this be, before I feel comfortable in using Facebook again?  Could be 10 minutes, a day, a week, a month, longer - I just don't know.  

We' ll just have to see.