This is where I pretend I’m an otter.
by Mike
People seem to be curious about our blackout nights, so I thought I’d explain it a little more:
In an effort to live more effortlessly, to sync our bodies’ cycles with the natural daily rhythm, we’ve stopped using electricity at night. As night falls we light candles, we close the computers to read or talk. Instead of using the phone, we shout down the street. We don’t have a TV, sorry to be one of those people.
It’s not about saving money – Seattle has some of the cheapest electricity in the world. In fact, I’ll bet it’s more expensive to burn candles than flip on lights. Nor are we motivated by saving energy/the environment, though it’s a nice side effect. It’s health, it’s (pagan) spirituality, it’s simplification.
We start to light candles as the sun sets, a couple in the kitchen, if we’re still cooking, and one in the bathroom so we can be sure we’re peeing in the sink, not on the faucet. Around 9:30 or 10 we go to bed, and we’re usually asleep before 11pm. (click here to expand this blog post lol)
I’ve gotten a great sleep every night.
We fall asleep gently and wake slowly as the sun rises. We keep our blinds open so we get as much early light as possible. Early morning is rad, I’d always wanted to be in the habit of waking earlier, but fuck alarm clocks. Now we wake up around 6 or 6:30, without an alarm, totally refreshed. The morning is no longer pinched between sleep and work, it’s now a lazy couple hours that I can read or meditate or talk with Azure or satisfy my internet addiction, ordering too many books on Amazon before I’ve even earned the money to pay for them.
My internet addiction frustrates me, and this is a good way to hobble it. TV, the internet and phones (especially as they’re used now) separate people from presence, almost always unnecessarily, so I’m glad to be rid of them for the night. In fact, I’d dramatically smash my phone with a wine bottle, shirtless in the rain, at night, by candlelight, with long hair, if my clients didn’t need it (the phone) to contact me, but that’s another story.
Do we cheat? Occasionally, but don’t worry, we feel really guilty about it.
What does this have to do with travel? Deprogramming.
What we get from the new rhythm:
- Blog content.
- Better sleep.
- More quiet, focused time.
- Early mornings.
- A sense of superiority.
- A predictable nightly rhythm.
The negatives of not using electricity at night:
- We miss out on media-based cultural narratives (news, Lost, internet memes, the Mariners)… which isn’t itself so much a loss as the fact that these narratives connect people.
- Internet withdrawl.
- We aren’t physically able to stay up late with friends, though they seem to be falling asleep earlier too, because they’re old now.
- Sometimes it’s hard to cook by candlelight.
Posted on May 17, 2010 at 12:40 pm.
Azure by the river.
by Mike
Since we intended to ride all over Southeast Asia & Europe on two wheels it was prudent to take Washington’s motorcycle safety course. So, the weekend before I left, I sat with four other guys in a classroom captained by a well-intending man who reminded me of Dr. Phil, though not quite as stern nor insightful.
In his introduction he explained that he loved helping people safely experience something that’s given him so much joy. But he especially loved getting to know his students. This was a safe zone. There would be no wrong answers, he emphasized.
That said, we jumped into it. “First off, can anyone tell me the greatest risk to motorcycles on the road?” The answers he wanted were pretty obvious – other cars, potholes, dangerous surfaces – but we were reluctant to raise our hands. I’ve met a lot of idiots, but maybe the biggest idiot I’ve met was in the class, and he finally spoke up:
(read more)
Posted on December 10, 2009 at 3:15 am.
