19...

It's finally the weekend! What a long week it has been. Woke up early - couldn't sleep anymore. Decided to go on an early walk in the park...blipping this structure today. Not quite sure what it is, but it was hanging from a tree, left-over bird feeder maybe?! I liked the shape. It is absolutely freezing outside by the way...I had 4 layers of shirts and a winter coat on.

I read an interesting article yesterday about how spending too much time online can alter the brain and essentially your behavior...sort of create an iBrain. Which I don't disagree with at all. Most people I know spend between 8 and 12 hours online. 12 hours... that's like half the day just starring at a screen. Article went into how it alters behavior by making people anti-social and creates this persona behind the monitor...changes social behavior offline. Myspace for example - I was on there for a while but never got into it. Yes it helped connect me to some poeple I lost touch with but wow, if you look on there, I mean really look, you have 16 year old girls, even 42 year old women, half naked - just putting it all out there...pictures, personal information about their phone numbers and where they live, everything. Why?!!

I really don't understand how someone can sit there in front of a monitor for 12 hours and pretend that's reality. You can be just about anyone online - maybe people are trying to escape reality and create what they really truly want, who knows. A friend and I were recently discussing emotional online cheating. That's a topic close to me and I do feel pretty strongly about it. Cheating is cheating to me - emotional cheating may even be a little worse, because that bond is harder to break than a physical one. And I don't think men truly understand that little fact. To them, it's just online, so therefore it doesn't count as being unfaithful...because nothing really happened. Oh, I would just love to have a guys mind for a day...

If a person spends hours online getting attached to another - they are not really committed to the person they are with, in REAL LIFE, you know, away from FANTASY world that exists in your screen. Yes you can have friends of the opposite sex online and chat - but lines can easily be crossed if you let them. It may be fantasy to men, but relationships are built on trust, that emotional connection, and that's a connection that's shared between two people. When your partner takes that trust and shares it with others, focuses their attention on that, it's a disaster waiting to happen. What you spend your time focusing your attention on is what you get back. Plain and simple.

I could really go on about this topic...I have a love/hate relationship with technology. Its what my college degree is in...Im around it all day...I know that's not going to change. But I can change. I deleted my myspace account - it got to the point where I wasn't even logging on. I check email, I shop online for things I need, I check stocks...just the basics. I do use Flickr/Blip but I try to limit my usage w/ that to an hour maybe. That's my creative release time. But mostly, my computer is on just to stream music, for work, and to process photographs. I actually like my real life...I don't feel the need to sit there in front of the screen talking to people that I don't even know if they are real or just feeding me lines. It's just not worth my time. I would rather focus on real people, real connections and foster those relationships. Might be an age thing too - these kids have sadly never known a world w/out computers...so thats all they know. I would just love to drag them away from their monitors and throw them out into the real world...go travel, explore the world...try different things.

But obviously the internet does bring people together. I was at Barnes and Noble this week just looking around to see what's new. I was in the art section and a guy was next to me struck up a conversation about abstract. OK, its my favorite art form, so I listened. He is actually a local artist who has had exhibits at a gallery that I frequently visit. Painting is his side hobby, passion, we are also in the same line of work. We sat down and he opened his laptop up and showed me his work...ironically enough, I've seen his paintings! I fell in love with a piece...it was black canvas with a stripes of red and gold...amazing work. He looked like your typical artist...strong features...very attractive...he was almost too pretty...mid 30's. Name was Jeff. We sat down for coffee/tea and talked for a few hours actually. I showed him my flickr site and he analyzed my work, quite a few actually inspired him he said.

That was nice - actually having a conversation about art and photography - that is something that I can't have with just anyone. Because he got it. We talked about my lack of inspiration to draw. I haven't picked up my pencils in forever. He gave me some tips to get that creativity going again. It was really the best conversation I had in a long time, it intrigued me. It was nice to actually have someone be attentive to me and take interest in what I want to do with my photography - look beyond the surface of my photos and see what I'm trying to get across. It was just a very interesting connection...kind of like an old pair of jeans that just fits right. He has a gallery show next weekend that he's invited me to...we'll see. He informed me yesterday that there will be a piece on exhibit that might look familiar to me...hum. I like creative new friends ;)

Meeting my friend Tera for lunch...India food, yum!!! Then going out to catch a game with friends tonight. I've been trying to keep busy...it's definitely been helping. Hope everyone has a great weekend...