Back From the Abyss

So, I sort of feel like I fell off the face of the Earth over the weekend--hence the title. At least with regards to the Internet anyway. My internet involvement, at least since I've been in Seminary, though I would say it's been longer than that, has been cyclical. I got through these periods of apathy, where I pretty much just read up on things on the 'Downs and LJ, and that's about it.

I'm in one of those troughs at the moment, seemingly, but not an entirely voluntary one. This one has been boiling for a while, as the post below regarding my new computer obsession will indicate, but it came to head this weekend with the loss of internet here at the Seminary.

For reasons as yet unbeknownst to me, sometime Saturday afternoon/evening the phone lines (including the internet) to Newman College and the Seminary were cut, a state of affairs that lasted until Tuesday sometime.

I hardly noticed, as far as my normal internet rounds went. And for good reason, since I've been working on my History paper the last week or two. Not in great bursts of all-nighterly effort--haven't had to pull an all-nighter yet--but steadily. The lack of internet was a bit of a problem there, since my printer has decided it is permanently in the state of being jammed (though it most assuredly is not), and I needed to print from another machine... and I couldn't email myself.

But socially?

As most of my contacts can aver, I haven't been on MSN regularly since January, or earlier. I've made an effort to sign in on weekends, with an eye to talking to Abby, and whoever else might be on, but it's no longer habitual. AIM signs itself in automatically, but I don't think I've chatted with Jamie in weeks, and AIM was never more than a backup for those not MSN-enabled.

Forums? I'm keeping up with my favourite threads on the 'Downs and that's about it. I just don't have any desire to get involved in the debates, or interest in getting involved in the fun stuff, or even much stamina for roleplaying (that energy is probably being consumed by the LEGO books).

I know my habits well enough to know this is just a cycle. It'll pass. Probably in May, when moving back to Olds will mean that my current social structure will be missing, and I'll be craving contact with people my own age a LOT more than now.

But it's intriguing, I find, watching me slipping out of the Internet circle, as quietly as I can. Like it or not, that's probably going to be the trend of the future for me. A priest doesn't have the time I do for frivolous internetting. Or LEGO books.