Constant Novelty

xkcd posted a comic last week that I want to write about. Specifically, I want to talk about the first line. "Constant novelty saps my initiative."

You've probably noticed that I don't update as often as I would like or as often as I have promised. When I get home from work, I usually turn the computer on and check my E-mail, several blogs and a fair portion of webcomics. I have tried to blame this on OCD before-after all, it is a routine and has some of the characteristics of a ritual. On the other hand, I have a hard time believing it's abnormal behaviour.

Checking the same websites several times an evening for updates does strike me as a bit odd. Admitted, some websites have fixed update schedules, and who wouldn't want to fall behind in our modern fast-paced world?

I don't think that I have an Internet addiction. I don't spend an excessive amount of time on the Internet, and I have gone long periods without any use of a computer at all. If it is OCD, I don't quite get it. What exactly am I obsessing over? And why exactly do I feel compelled to alleviate this obsession? What even am I compelled to do, exactly? I find it more likely that the Internet just offers too great a potential for distraction.

It's easy to go to a favorite website and a find a link to something new and interesting. Then you find another link, and another, and the cascade begins. It is simply too easy to fall into the trap of constant novelty.

I wonder if without the constant novelty, would I be better off? Would I have written that novel by now? Would I have performed better in school? Would I be blogging more? (On the Internet!) Or would my life be less for the enrichment and new ways of thinking that the Internet has exposed me to?

[I'm going to end this here or I'm going to start rambling. I've already had to police myself.]

Updates:

The Digital Cuttlefish is posting again, so I've returned his link to the sidebar.

I've also added a new poll. Look for the review of Inferno next.

Bonk!

If the title makes no sense to you, watch this. If it still doesn't make sense, well, it wasn't intended to address the issue anyway.

I've started reading Inferno. The cantos are fairly short, and I should have the book done fairly soon. I'm hoping to have the review up in a week's time. Eve: A Novel of the First Woman and Wicked were the runners-up, so those will appear in the poll for the next review.

I'm not going to comment on the Prop. 8 ruling in California other than to echo the sentiments of the Pharynguloid hordes. The problem is not with California's supreme court, but California law and the members of the electorate that voted for the amendment in the first place.

Work on the C.O.F. charter is somewhat slow, mostly due to my own laziness. I want the meaning of the articles to be clear, but pen and paper doesn't lend itself well to frequent editing and revising. I think I'll have a far easier time once I import it into an electronic format.

While I'm on the subject, I'd like to plug the following column by Greta Christina, and this follow-up interview as well. To me, it sums up much of what I'd been trying to express but couldn't elucidate. It also represents some of what I hope for in C.O.F. as a philosophical 'movement' - not simply a club created between friends.

I got my course registration package from the college this week but I can't register for any courses until June tenth. I'm not disappointed, I'm just eager to start.

I think I may go downtown yet again this Saturday. I found awesome and win at the comic shop, and I can't wait to share it. I want to keep mum on exactly what it is until Saturday evening though to maintain the suspense.

It's been said before by other people, but it's worth repeating. Thursdays and Saturdays have become the highlights of my week. I can't wait to get together tomorrow and I think I'll bring Dirty Minds too. Also Storyteller, you were right. The peach cider is very good.

Mid-May Update

Please go vote on the new poll! I'd like to have even more responses than last time.

It's funny how you can have something in mind to write, but as soon as you sit down it evaporates. That is happening to me now.

Regarding the recent B.C. election, I can't say that I'm particularly pleased with the results. I can't say that I'm surprised either. With the current global economic recession, it was unlikely that voters would be willing to rock the boat. B.C. has certainly experienced an economic boom over the last few years which the Liberal party was quick to capitalize on. Occasionally voters will vote against their own economic interests, but voters in B.C. seemed smart enough to do otherwise. For all their faults (closed hospitals and schools, tree farm license sell-offs, ballooning Olympic costs, high poverty and homelessness) the B.C. Liberals appear to have been good for B.C.'s economy.

I think that the NDP made some critical mistakes in their election strategy. The first of which was raising minimum wage to ten dollars. I strongly doubt business owners would support that initiative given the current fears about the economy. The NDP also campaigned against the Carbon Tax, which I think a fair percentage of British Columbians view as a progressive move.

The push for the Single Transferable Vote failed spectacularly. I saw many pro-STV campaigners in Victoria, but very few anti-STV campaigners. The No on STV campaign seemed to devote a fair amount of their efforts on television ads. I found the claim that votes would be divided into fractions and that the voter would not know where their vote went to be misleading. The disintegrating ballot that accompanied this statement was clearly intended to invoke an emotional response in the viewer. Overall, I think the No on STV crowd ran a slick and effective, if underhanded, campaign. The Yes on STV crowd didn't appear to make as much use of electronic media as their opponents, to their own detriment. The failure of the referendum in B.C. will probably mean that initiatives for electoral reform will not be seen in Canada for some time.

I'm clearly becoming more of a cynic as far as politics is concerned. I've come to the conclusion that no matter what happens, you lose.

I Get Free Advertising

Thanks to one of Blogger's widgets (or honest charity, I can't be sure)I am hyper linked at the home of that most gracious of cephalopod wordsmiths, The Digital Cuttlefish. Unfortunately, the good poet's blog is dormant. I still highly encourage my readers to pop on over and browse through his (or her?) collection of witty verse. Buy a copy of their book if you feel so inclined, I'm sure he (or she) will appreciate it in these tough times.

I suppose if I'm going to be getting more traffic (unlikely) I should do some more work and post more thoughtful entries more often (even less likely.) So please take the time to move your cursor over to the right and cast a vote. Hopefully, it will give me more focus and a better idea of what my readers like and/or desire.

I'm not going to participate in TMI Tuesday this week, and I haven't participated in it the last two weeks. The questions that were posted were either not applicable to me, or ones that I didn't find particularly interested in answering. Not to mention that most of them weren't very TMI. I wonder if maybe the more TMI questions they had were all used up in the first hundred or so installments. Maybe I'll have to suggest a few to the editors.

On a completely unrelated note, my hair is getting to the length where I would normally get a haircut. I don't want one. I've never had my hair fairly long, and I want to try it. I might get a trim here or there to neaten it up or keep it out of my eyes or ears, but I don't want one of these either. (Sorry, ichthyology joke.)

I also need to start writing some poetry for Storyteller's charity drive. Maybe I'll read some of the works of Sappho first, for some inspiration. (Now isn't that odd!)