We have reached Day 31.

I cannot believe it has been a month... 4 weeks.... 31 days since I started this crazy experiment. There were weak moments, but hey everyone is human. I did get to experience life without the internet and television, and it has been an interesting experience.

When something becomes so habitual for you, it can be very hard to break. I'd like to say I've definitely BROKEN the television and internet habits, as they previous existed in my life. I'm concerned with going back to the way things were because I'm afraid I'll forget what I've learned, and fall back into old ways.

The reason I don't want to fall back into old habits is the fear of losing what I have gained from the experience. I learned that I can't blame my short-comings on these distractions anymore. My laziness, my procrastination, will still exist. My work ethic did not improve during the course of the last 31 days. This was a disappointing realization, but one I needed my eyes opened to. The effort, and focus required to get things done need to come from me. It doesn't lie out in the world to be discovered, I won't find some secret self-help secret, motivational quote or image that will transform me into a sensation, accomplished person. Every single drop of accomplishment I strive for needs to come from my sweat and blood. "There is no substitute for hard work."

I have learned to live more. With more hours in my week freed up, I have more time to accomplish goals (all while ignoring homework, hehe).
- bedroom is finally and truly clean
- had friends actually spend time in bedroom
- the pets'living quarters are cleaner (but impossibly never clean for long)
- my dog, Oliver, and I shared longer walks
- the hermit crabs are enjoying their new crabitat with new foods daily
- reconnected with friends that I hadn't been making time for
- improved consideration of my messes in shared areas of my home
- working on some personal art instead of assignments
- took advantage of some opportunities

Obviously, this list falls short of EVERYTHING I did this month, but those are the highlights. In terms of imagination, I continue to have ideas brewing, but as mentioned above, my work ethic needs more focus. I can't blame anything but myself anymore for not getting things done. And with all the great ideas I have, it's a shame less that half of it ever gets accomplished!

"Don't put off till tomorrow what can be enjoyed today."

I didn't accomplish everything I hoped to during March, but I did learn a lot and intend to continue to improve. I want to thank all of my friends who encouraged me, busted my balls, and helped me through the last 31 days. This has been the Imagination Experiment.

Day 29

Two days left. I've been too busy, so I've felt indifferent about this up coming deadline. I've been thinking about how I will handle my life after the 31 days are over. I may extend this, or set new rules. New rules sound necessary.

- Sarah Marie

Day 22 is here.

Sorry I haven't been posting a lot. Perhaps it's a side effect of this experiment. Or perhaps I have a small ammount of guilt. While I have been doing a great job of staying away from the television and internet, there has been a smidgen of cheating. It's hard to stay couped up in my room away from the television in the family room so when I'm out there talking to my mom, I'd catch clips and glimpses of whatever she's been watching. I've also peeked onto the webs to check prices for something and order myself some make-up... the make-up was a must though because I'm pretty sure it's only available online and I had run out on concealer!

Any who, enough confessions. A friend asked me today, if I've done anything creative. I haven't, aside from homework in my art classes. I was house sitting all of last week, which takes up a lot of free time and you lose the convenience of the other stuff you could do at home besides watch television or browse the internet. A Cosmo magazine helped fill the blanks, hehe. Saturday was spent playing laser tag, chatting around a campfire, and falling asleep while watching the movie 9 with my boyfriend.

I have plenty of homework to keep me busy these days, playing catch-up in my math class, studying for bio, throwing lot's and lot's of cylinders for ceramics and learning after effects for 2D animation. Not sure when I'll have the time to finish applying for colleges (although I NEED to make time) as well as esty business stuff. I'm happy to announce I will be selling at this year's AnimeNEXT 2010 in the artist alley with two very cool people.

They say it takes 21 days to establish a habit. I have reached day 22. Things are looking good. 9 days left!

Day 14

Since my last post, I feel like I have cheated a little. I guess the amount of movies I watched made it feel like I wasn't still under the experiment. That's okay, however, as I'm two weeks in!

Denny and I watched "Where the Wild Things Are." I like a lot of elements about this movie, but most particularly, the emotions of a young child that were expressed through the main character and the monsters. I think, as adults, we all wish we could just break down and revert back to those simple emotions and moments sometimes. Now I don't condone biting someone or throwing a fit necessarily, but just, expression and play. We've had some major flooding in my area due to the heavy rains we experienced the last few days. I took my dog, Oliver, out for a walk before dinner and we headed over to one of the flooded roads. While the waters have receded a lot, this road was still under. I don't go out exploring much anymore. This has started to change and I like it. There are qualities of children that I envy; they find the best in everything, and they have no fear of being themselves. I want that back.

"Life is too short to be anything but happy."

Day 9

It's amazing how responsible for your actions you become aware of after you remove some of the excuses. They kind of dangle there, gently in the wind, saying, "Oh hai we're still here and now that we're mud-free, we still need to be folded and put away." Weird underwear analogy >>:

Well, I suppose I failed a little in my challenge. It was a tiny one, I swear! In the 1,748 hours I've endured in the challenge, I watched approximately 1 hour of television. It was in a public place, I was with friends, and it was educational! (Super giant squid FTW!) Just wanted to fess up.

It hasn't stopped me, I've been too busy to really mind the lack of TV and internet access. It seems my days are still just as busy, although it's still very early in week 2. I've turned to books for recovering information. Perhaps it's destiny that I received a friendly reminder from my local library that I owe $25 and that they'll send me to collections if I don't pay it. Didn't know you could get sent to collections for that... here's a tip, don't ever return borrowed DVDs 3 weeks after the due date D:

Day 7

I had a very sleepy weekend. I supposed I needed it, but I slept for almost 20 hours. Kinda scary to think you can really sleep a whole day away. Leads to a whole lot of crazy dreams. Must ponder about those dreams, meanings which touched on priorities and minimalism.

I took Oliver to the dog park this afternoon and we had a good time. He made friends with a young yorkie named Baxter, who's owner was my 6th grade teacher. Saw my neighbor's dog at the park too. After a while Oliver got cranky so I drove him home and popped his feet into a bath since they were all muddy. He then curled up into a ball on the couch to ignore me for giving him a pseudo bath. Cat-dogs *shakes head*

Took a shower, then took another nap!? What's wrong with me!!?

Ode to day 5

"I never felt too good but in this world who would
I wish I was thinking something wasn't right
Then you went away and i sang a song
And now I feel a bit okay and something something...

You know we got a good thing going and I don't wanna see it end (good thing!)
You know we got a good thing going and I don't wanna see it end
Are these the good days that I've heard so much about,
There goes the heartbreak that I can live without! oh-oh-ohhhh!

Life felt so frustrated bitter mean and jaded,
I've taken for granted all the things I got.
Now you are no where near this, anger disappears
And I'm happy to something something!!!! (it's true!)

You know we got a good thing going and I don't wanna see it end (good thing!)
You know we got a good thing going and I don't wanna see it end
Are these the good days that I've heard so much about,
There goes the heartbreak that I can live without! oh-oh-ohhhh!

ect ect..." - Reel Big Fish (bolded added by me :D)

Okay so this is what happens when you want to quote a song but won't allow yourself the internet use to look up the lyrics. Note to self: never become a lyric translator recorder. This is my love storybad romance about the internet, and how good it feels when it's gone.... or something... I'm not sure if the song conveys it well, but now you know!

Look who's bright-eyed and bushy tailed at 8am! ME! I've been up since seven :D Got a whole day ahead of me, what to do what to do?

To quote RBF one last time, "I gotta go gotta go gotta go before I do something stupid, I gotta go before I do something lame!" See ya later interwebz!!!

Long Day #3

Wednesdays are long days. It isn't a bad thing though, because I'm with plenty of friends throughout the day. Boy was 2D Animation quiet this morning! I guess when Woody said if you don't have most of your midterm done, don't waste his time, the class must have thought he meant it!

It's cute, Denny ponders what I'll be doing to keep myself busy through March, knowing I'm going to be super bored without my two biggest forms of simple entertainment.I feel more determined to push through those hard days!

It's time for bed, tomorrow sounds like it wants to be busy and long too.

Day 2, withdrawal begins....

Now I'm sure it is going to sound petty to be whining about how hard it is to go without television or the internet. But when you're used to doing something for most of your life, hours at a time, it becomes a habit. Habits can be hard to break! I believe it takes something around 21 days to change a habit. And here is day two.

My sleep schedule is still way off. I went to bed late, but in trade for the pleasure of spending time with friends, it was well worth it. Couldn't get my butt out of bed until 30 minutes before I had to be out the door for Craft Club. Got there on time, however, and starting working on prototypes :) Then, I actually went to my algebra class, which was good timing because we started a new chapter today. Sure, I need to go back and learn all that stuff I missed, but at least I get to play catch up on a clean slate. I hate math.

After class I rushed over to work. We were warned that people aren't earning their keep, but I'm not too worried, we try our best. With a new doctor coming soon they're gonna need all the help they can get. I had the very grotesque honor of viewing an unofficial necropsy today. While the circumstances were sad, it was really cool to watch. I got to touch a spleen!

In other news I was corrected over whether or not my pet sitting gig and spring break aligned - it doesn't. This is nice because school is a way for me to stay busy while house sitting, and home is a way for me to stay busy when school isn't available during break. Being stuck at someone else's house for a week without television and internet = no bueno!

Home is where trouble has started to brew in distraction land. My mother has been watching television in the family room since I got home. I catch myself watching bits and pieces before I have to drag myself away and find something else to do. I am way too used to sitting down, clicking on the tube and doing my internet thing in the evening. This will most likely be the hardest time of day to adjust to.

It's fascinating what you end up doing to keep yourself busy though!

Hello from the other side!

So, we're about 20 hours into the Imagination Experiment. Despite the slight nagging feeling to check my facebook, things are good. It just feels like one of those days where you're too busy to care about the internet. Give it a few days, heh!

For those of you wondering if I'm cheating by checking my e-mail and updating this blog, it doesn't really feel like I am. Checking me e-mail is like standing on the foyer of a bumpin' party. Writing this blog is like yelling at the security guard to let me in. Not like I've ever been to a party that requires security >>;

So, what has been accomplished today? My shitty sleep cycle hasn't changed yet, but it will. The hermit crabs were moved into a finally set up and running 30 gallon crabitat last night, which they have been busily exploring and rearranging all my pretty decorations ;_;

Made bird food today, suppose that's an accomplishment since I haven't made fresh bird food in a while. I'm sure Kiwi, my lone yellow budgie, will eventually appreciate it, haha. Also, I read a book on clicker training and have done my first session with Oliver, my yorkie-thing.... we'll see how well that goes.

So, I suppose that is all I have to update for this evening. The only reason I'm even on a computer right now is to move something from my school server to my flash drive. Flash animation assignment due in two days... *sigh*

Must.... refuse... urge... to check... FACEBOOK!!!%$^%#@.....

<3 Sarah Marie

The Imagination Experiment Begins!

Wow and I even shut off the TV 15 minutes early just to concentrate on all my good-byes!

I hope everyone got the memo so that I don't miss any important message but oh well, can't rely on the internet for important stuff, huh. Soap, the is it! No more internet and television!

What the hell am I going to do with myself?

- Sarah

Rules of the IX

1) No internet.
exceptions: purposeful research for homework, to check my personal and school e-mail (all subscriptions will be turned off), to update this blog.
2) No television.
exceptions: to watch a movie. i don't really watch movies, unless it's already on tv. intentional movie watching is rare for me, thus not a real distraction.

sounds fair?

back from wicked faire!

i supposed i had a small taste of the IX at wicked faire this weekend. who has time for interwebs and television when there is just so much to see and so many people to meet!

oh wow, so 6 days until march 1st, huh? damn you february, i forgot about the shortage of days this month. gotta finish setting up the game plan for my internetless, televisionless month. i am super curious to see what develops!

What and Why?

The Power And Decline of Imagination

I won't break this article down like the other, but I do recommend giving it a read. It conveys the importance and uniqueness that imagination is to only us, humans, and how it's being negatively influenced and dulled.

Imagination is important to unique thought, and we're being force-fed what to think. This isn't good, and the reason I started this blog. More on that in the next post!

Imagination Deprevision

When Toys Take Over

The gist of the article discusses the cons of having too many toys. Children are overwhelmed and overstimulated. Back in our parents' day, and our parents' parents' day, toy were few, and cherished. What fascinated me the most about the article was the idea that too many toys stunt development, and that simpler toys initiate more use of the child's imagination.

A nursery in Germany would remove all those toys for 3-month periods, and watched the results; "Initially, the children were bored but by day two they had turned tables and blankets into dens and were absorbed in make-believe games. They became more imaginative and contented, and in the process learned to concentrate, communicate better and integrate more in groups."

"Simpler toys mean imagination has to do all the work. Minimal facial expressions on dolls, for example, make children bestow them with emotions and act out scenarios. Natural materials, like wood, stimulate their senses."

After reading the article, I wondered, how does this apply to adults? We may not play with doll anymore, but we still have video games, television, the computer, and our cellphones loaded with more apps that one could imagine! Where does this leave our imaginations?