Falling Off the Face of the Earth
Tuesday, March 17th, 2009It’s really tough to get work done if you’re an out-of-work web designer or content producer and your only computer breaks.
I learned something about myself last week. If I’m cut off from my three major creative outlets (writing, music, and design), I go a little bit crazy.
I think I first noticed it Tuesday. I got up at my normal time in the morning and sat down at my desk with a spiral-bound notebook where my laptop usually goes. I’m not entirely sure when my handwriting started to look like that of a psychopath, but after two or three pages of scribbling down ideas and lists of things I wanted to accomplish, I had created something that looked like it could be admissable as evidence in a court of law.
Next I moved on to drawing. If I had to put my web design projects on hold until I got my computer back, I’d spend the time drawing. At that moment, I drew robots They started off innocently enough with rectangular heads and recessed headlights for eyes. But each itration became a little more menacing and angry-looking. I drew about a dozen before that started to frighten me, too.
I won’t even go into detail about the noises that came out of me and my guitar when I tried to work on some unfinished songs.
Everyrhing went wrong. My creative process was thrown for a loop. I left my apartment and walked down to the Inner Harbor. Did you know the high school kids like to hang out down there after school? Like, every single high school kid in the greater Baltimore area? I turned around and came back home.
And that was Tuesday.
Then, a few things happened at once. My parents got a great last-minute beach house on the Outer Banks of North Carolina and invited me to come down for this week. The rental company promised free wi-fi. I figured it would be the perfect opportunity to get a change of scene, apply for some jobs, knock out a couple freelance projects, and get myself generally back on track. I ordered a netbook that arrived Friday, the same day Apple unexpectedly called to tell me my MacBook Pro was fixed a few days ahead if schefule and ready for me to pick up. Two computers and broadband by the beach? Not making it to SXSW didn’t seem so bad. Good things were happening. I was on track for some serious productivity!
I’m writing this from my phone. The Internet never worked here. They promised a fix by 10:00 am yesterday, then bumped it to 3:00 pm today. Not a problem, I thought. I’ll just go walk on the beach and play with my parents’ dog.
But it’s been colder and rainier here than it’s been back home in Baltimore. So here I am, sitting at a table, catching glimpses of an angry gray ocean through blurry slabs of rain, scribbling in my spiral-bound notebook and drawing robots.
But you know what? I love it. Sure, the weather and lack of Internet are annoying setbacks, but there’s nothing I can do about them. Maybe I’ll grab my camera, bundle up, and take the dog out for a walk anyway. If I’m going to be forced into a mandatory vacation, I should just relax and enjoy it. I can get back to blogging, podcasting, and job hunting next week. The freelance work can wait a few days. Until then, maybe falling off the face of the Earth for a little while is exactly what I need.
