Regaining Routines
Today I realized there is this wonderful 90 minutes of my day where I am technology free. I am not attentive to the buzzing of my phone, a friend’s twitter status, or the constant mass group emails my studio mates seem to be so fond of dispensing. I am not even free in my sleep, as I have dreamed of writing emails and pushing pixels.
But for 90 minutes of my day I am focused completely on the present and the near-present. My bike commute takes me from the north of Brooklyn, down through Williamsburg, over the bridge, and up Manhattan. It takes my full concentration, mostly because I try to be a cautious biker. I need to anticipate the actions of pedestrians, cars, and other bikers as I navigate across broad intersections, narrow streets, and that ambiguous space between truck deliveries. It’s lovely, and I haven’t been doing enough of it.
Since getting back from the Thanksgiving holidays, I’ve really only taken my bike around Brooklyn. It’s easy to hop on the subway, even if that provides its own amount of stress. And even though I have no network in the tunnels, I find myself attached to my phone anyways (games, reading, music…).
Today was the first time in a while that I biked to the studio. And it was lovely. I need to hold on to the wonderful feeling of biking to keep me going as it gets colder.
