Getting Organized

Downgrading Instead Of Replacing

PETERMBALL Adventures in Lifestyle Hacking ,

Me, three weeks ago: “Time to replace my phone. The battery isn’t quite enough to get through a busy day without charging, and everything’s running slow.” I resented the expense, and the time required to switch everything over, but it felt like a necessary upgrade.

Then I went through and cleaned off apps I didn’t want to transfer to a new phone. It cleared off half the screen. I followed it up by going minimalist on other apps as well. I went through them, one by one, and queried whether I was getting any value out of having them on my phone. The results were surprising:

  • No more mail app (I don’t answer emails on the phone, only read and ignore them);
  • No more IMDB (I only ever look things up on my couch, and the computer is right there);
  • No more YouTube (often used for streaming music during the day, and easily replaced by less distracting alternatives)
  • No more Chrome app (I still have a browser, but not one that remembers my bookmarks and search history, giving me a work-around way of accessing social media like Twitter and Facebook)
  • No more Instagram (I schedule and post images from Facebook’s business manager, mostly).
  • No more RSS reader (I never remember to check it on the phone, only on the desktop).

The short list of things that survive the cut: ereader apps; messaging services used by my closest friends; check-in apps for COVID tracking; the handful of apps I used to run Brain Jar Press and the long-form aspects of my web presence; a handful of apps for tracking eating and health.

The sole new app added: a music app for streaming tracks without playing videos, so I didn’t backslide and download YouTube again.

The phone became a useful tool, rather than a place to waste time, and the battery rarely dips below 60% now. No need to replace it unless I backslide and load all the deleted apps again, but in three weeks I’ve lived without everything and gradually weaned myself off constant checking.

I’ve never resented my phone less.

And if I do want to waste time on my phone, there’s still a backlist of ebooks and comics that need to be read. Which hardly feels like wasting time at all, compared to the other options.

205

PETERMBALL Adventures in Lifestyle Hacking , , , ,

VictoryFor those who may be wondering, allow me to clarify what exactly it is you’re looking at in the accompanying photograph. That, my dear peeps, is a photograph of victory in action. Or a pile of 205 books that are ready to leave my house forever and never return, thus clearing shelf-space and giving me tacit permission to buy new books should I ever find myself in possession of discretionary cash ever gain.

The problem, at this point, is that I have no idea how I’m going to get many of these books out of the house. Some I suspect will be claimed by friends (particularly the gaming material and fantasy books) and I expect the rest will go to charity of some kind, although the logistics of carting a box of this size to a salvo bit could be a bit of a problem.

Still, the cull is done, and when I originally wrote “get rid of 200 books” on my to-do list I seriously thought it was the thing least likely to get done. Getting rid of books is hard work for me, but I kinda found a rhythm for it at the end.

Between this and the submission of the Cold Cases draft, I’ve now completed 11.25% of the 80-point-plan for an Awesome year I wrote back in July, meaning my year has finally stepped into double-digits. I bring this up because I suspect the plan is going to be due for a quick revision over the next couple of weeks, since there are some points on it that are now more-or-less impossible* (relying, as they did, on having the computer that died in September rather than my laptop) or irrelevant (focused on options that have been cut off for various reasons).

*technically, this doesn’t make them impossible so much as really difficult and more time consuming, but given their primary role in the plan that’s effectively renders them null.

On Getting My Groove Back & The Clarion South Donation Drive

PETERMBALL Journal , , ,

I’ve sent off three four submissions in the past 48 hours. I’ve done a rewrite of an old story that I’ve kinda figured out how to finish. I’ve cooked meals. I’ve washed up. I’ve forced myself to query some submissions where responses have obviously gone awry (I hate querying; it makes me feel needlessly pushy). I’ve done pro-active things on a bunch of little projects. I’ve cleaned out my e-mail backlog until there’s only a handful of things left to answer. There are the beginnings of new stories. Tomorrow, if the small change in my bag blesses me with enough space to hit the laundromat, there will even be wishing.

There is a groove, and I’ve almost got it back. Let’s see how I’m doing by this time tomorrow.

Of course, in cleaning out the backlog I was reminded, yet again, that I hadn’t posted this all public-like. With that in mind:

Due to a run of really bad luck, Clarion South Writers Workshop has hit
some rocky financial times (not unlike the rest of the world!) For the
month of March, we are running a fundraising appeal to help set us
straight again and ensure future workshops continue. We hope to get to
$4000by 31 March 2009.

There are a few ways you can help…

1. Donate to our Fundraising Appeal
Simply go to http://www.clarionsouth.org/donate.htm to make a PayPal
donation directly to Clarion South.

We really do appreciate even tiny donations, and if you are not in a
position to give, that is perfectly okay. We know it’s grim out there
for everyone right now.

2. Spread the word
Even if you can’t donate to the Appeal we would love your support to
spread the word about our fundraising drive. By the end of March we are
hoping to raise $4,000 for Clarion South. If you know any friends who
are sympathetic to the aims and activities of Clarion South, please let
them know – via Facebook, MySpace, your blog or any other means. We’ll
have a Facebook group up shortly, but in the meantime, please feel
free to direct people to our website at http://www.clarionsouth.org

And if you’re just wondering what the heck Clarion South even is,
meander on over to our website at http://www.clarionsouth.org

Thank you in advance for your love and support. We’re incredibly
passionate about Clarion South and would like to see it thrive and
continue into the future. Your contribution can help make this a
reality.

At time of posting I’d heard that they were a third of the way to their goal, which is good new to the future spec-fic writers of Australia (and the world, as my American peeps who flew south for Clarion continue to prove).