March saw the beginning of a slightly drier period as had been buffeted here in Northern California by a number of tropical storms over the previous weeks. With the clear blue sky came colder temperatures dipping into the high 30's. The Oroville Dam Situation improved with water levels hovering around the 850ft level required to lift the evacuation warning. This weekend we are due for a bit of rain, but from the Northerly direction which is said to be much less severe.
I've identified my yearly to-do list for 2017, and it involves backing away from the encroachment of technology and "screens" into a lot of my daily life. This is much easier said than done however. Youtube and Television in general are the top culprits in my experience that allow one to drift down the river of complacency and inattentiveness. Within YouTube, it is so extremely easy to be distracted as videos are queued up ad infinitum on an array of topics. If you start to stray down the path of casual watching, more "click bait" videos await and to an extent, begin to shape your future selections. The only way to break away is to pull the plug or close the whole thing down. These habits, more than any others are the ones I seek to break this year.
Reading, organizing and gathering with others are high on my list of activities to cultivate. Also high on the list are more carefully considering the effects of emails and other rapid forms of communication before I dispatch them. I may even get some letters written this year, and have tried to do so at a rate of at least once a month. Although my approaches can probably be considered "retro" by many, I see the need to gather and associate now more than ever. The Internet has become commercialized to an extent that unless you know exactly what you are looking for, it makes sense to hold off before staying engaged with it. Every browsing window now has commercials as sub-windows with attention grabbing items that are literally fine tailored to be something that would pull you away to some commercial pursuit.
As ever, what is read and focused on matters greatly. I have started to visit the library more frequently, and have these books on my bedside table currently:
-> Matthew Crawford's - The World Beyond Your Head (Recommended by a friend)
-> The Best of James Herriot -- Coffee Table book.
-> Autobiography of John Stuart Mill -- plan to take with me while traveling.
Within the realm of YouTube, I've tried to steer myself towards thoughtful Documentaries:
-> Chai Jing's - "Under the Dome" - Regarding Pollution in China https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6X2uwlQGQM
I also have Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities on my shelf awaiting to be read. I just completed Call of the Wild and White Fang. Finally, for the practical sailing aspect of things, I have a new book on Knots that I found at Barnes and Noble for a reasonable price. Gordon Perry - Knots.
