No social media today. It’s 5:42am I’ve done my morning routine of cold water face rinse (I doubt you’ll ever get me to stick to the plunge thingy), yoga stretch, feet grounding outside and yes the grass is cold. I’ve made my coffee and taken my two first sips. The second is always better than the first.

By this time I’m shuffling medias back and forth, watching reels sent to me, answering messages, judging status updates and finding bits and pieces of the compromised news online. I did the no social media for the most part yesterday although I did scroll for a bit before I got my day started which is probably the worst time to do so.

I am gravitating towards Substack so far it seems to be a little more grounded and I can choose my algorithm to fit my own preferences. I get headaches from the Facebook eye rolling and it’s pretty much been weaponized to distract us and divide. Sure that’s a little over the top but is it really? Also it’s impossible to post even something comedic without inciting or flaring someone’s emotions. I get it there are certain subjects that make me want to thump heads on here but each day I backspace a little more and put my phone down. I refuse to lose my peace over someone online.

My screen time average is about 7-8 hours a day. Thats obviously not all social media my journaling is from my phone, emails, online orders, work messages but I’m willing to bet at least 4 hours of it is senseless droning online and media. Bored at a traffic light? Juggle my apps

In between box orders? Scroll on Facebook

Get home from work, shower, sit on the sofa and my phone is a permanent attachment to my hand for the evening. I’m very self aware of it and it bothers me a lot of the time. TV does nothing for me now if I do watch something it’s a movie or show I’ve seen a dozen times so it’ll play in the background on the big screen while I watch things on the little one in my hand.

Yesterday I spent about an hour on my phone total. Maybe hour and a half.

It was exhausting.

My mind still clung to the dopamine chase. So what did I do? I redid our whole dining room at our home, repainted all the scuffs on the wall at my deli, ordered 16 new bar stools, cut planks for four new tables and did some arts and crafts for a new charcuterie menu. All before 3pm.

I closed the deli yesterday so I could relax.

I will be searching for some less aerobic dopamine kicks today. Writing works, reading does also. I’ve got quite the list of books to read this year.

I got a gaming vest for Christmas. I’m not a gamer in fact the only game system I have is one of those Chinese plug and play systems with 2000 games from the 80’s and 90’s. I’ll play for about 10 minutes before I start getting a headache. The vest is an added bonus to my headphones when I meditate. It’s not always meditation sometimes I’ll sit on the sofa and vibe to music. I’m in my own little happy world. Add the vest with its vibrations and it’s amazing. I highly HIGHLY recommend trying this with a good 120-130 bpm song and eyes covered. It’s amazing. Physical Graffiti- Led Zeppelin with all these attachments will make your whole evening. I found this out last night. While everyone else was watching sports ball I was sitting by a candle floating in outer space with a vibrating bra.

Life lately

Led Zeppelin is the greatest band of all time. Are they my favorite band? No but that doesn’t change the fact that they are the elite of the elite.

They are a tad difficult to listen to while you’re writing though

*changes playlist

Paul’s Boutique it is

My cat likes the vest. She thinks her big dumb friend is purring. I kinda am to be honest. I feel good this morning. I haven’t read 4000 ridiculous opinions of others today. This may become a good trend.

Is it necessary to become emotionally attached to news all around the world?

Back to work today although I spent 5 hours at the deli it didn’t feel like it. I’m still in holiday mode I’m physically and emotionally attached to the deli it’s been my home for the last two months.

I closed down my chadcuterie account for the most part. It’s still up and will be for some time. I’ve got quite the gallery collection on there and I still have to reckon with orders from that platform until everyone evolves to online ordering. That may take months to a year. I’m tired of the commitment to posting. I may change my mind. I do it quite often. Wife handles Grazeland posts so I don’t have to deal with it.

I’m rambling a bit

With this vest, goggles and headphones I look like some sort of post apocalyptic steamer punk boomer. Like some version of Rutger Hauer in Blade Runner VI. Or an extra from Mad Max.

Add Eric B and Rakim to the best of the vest vibes. Don’t sweat the technic. My coffee is vibrating. Not sure if that’s the vest or the caffeine..

Peace and elbow grease