Addictive Devices, Voyeur Culture - Boon or a Curse - My Choice!

It's been some time that I've known that I'm battling an addiction - like all addicts I still tell myself that I'm in control - but my inner voice tells me otherwise. It's not just checking emails or Facebook first thing in the morning- thanks to that demon device (an iPhone) it's pretty much in bed - out of bed - probably every 20 minutes. By now you are probably smirking at me - but hey it's not just me there's a million or more out there - and it's widely known to be the biggest online Time sink.

I actually Googled up a couple of links that may help me heal myself - and all you closet addicts out there are welcome to sneak a peek:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twelve-step_program
http://www.thedailymind.com/productivity/facebook-syndrome-8-ways-to-beat-your-facebook-addiction/
The first is a link to the Alcoholics Anonymous program - it's been adapted for several other addiction programs so I'm guessing the basic tenets should work for online/Facebook addiction as well - So here are the main steps:

• admitting that one cannot control one's addiction or compulsion;
• recognizing a greater power that can give strength;
• examining past errors with the help of a sponsor (experienced member);
• making amends for these errors;
• learning to live a new life with a new code of behavior;
• helping others that suffer from the same addictions or compulsions.

I've already taken the first step - and believe in the second - the second link is actually a write-up by someone who was able to cure his Facebook addiction so that covers the third step. The one I've hurt most by this addiction is unfortunately me so I'm planning to make amends by communicating with my inner self - as a first step I look forward to reading once again - for academic interests, self-help books and my long-time favorite fiction! so off to the 5th step.
This is the part where I get to create and master a hopefully sustainable plan to help me take care of myself - otherwise I wouldn't be able to take care of anyone else right? Easier said than done - but I will consciously limit my online time as suggested in the second link. So if I don't reply to your email with my usual alacrity please understand that it's not you - it's me! And I'm not saying I won't be on Facebook - just not always there - if you miss me just feel free to give me a call!
By publishing the two links here I'm hoping that some one person out there might be helped as well - AND I will be on to recovery. Thank God I'm not yet a Twitter addict -I've heard that's a pretty tough one as well! Peace!

To Old Friends and New!

I finally got to see Sex And The City 2 and frankly 'am wondering what's all the complaining about ... I enjoyed it - probably enjoyed "being" able to see it just as much as the actual movie! Apparently watching a movie together isn't as easy as it used to be - so boy am I glad that a "new friend" humored me! So I'll start with a shukriyan 'Abu Dhabi' style to this gf - and to those who could have perhaps made it - sorry this was a very last minute plan and hopefully we can catch the next one ;) (and I'm not just talking about the SATC series)

So the girls are now a tad older, more things to juggle - husbands and babies (and nannys), work- life balance, and life itself. What I like about the series and the girls is that they are so easy to relate to - no I don't shop Prada but I do believe there's a little bit of the "Kid" in me ;)- the hopelessly emotional-romantic part. And then I see fragments of Ubercool-Super Savvy Samantha, Type-A Miranda, Striving-for-Perfection Charlotte in some of my favorite girls. I say fragments because as Women all of us (including the reel characters) have many many more dimensions.

True in this movie Samantha is sort of a drug junkie :)) - her regular Cosmopolitans seems to have been replaced by a Suzanne Somers Vitamin cocktail (in order to beat menopause) - and some of the stuff she does in Abu Dhabi are way over the top - But 'they' took away her "magic pills" so it could be withdrawal symptoms right? What hurt me more was the allusion to the subservient Indian labor ever present in the Abu Dhabi hotel and Carrie's inability to pronounce Gaurav. But well people have the right make their life choices (or so we hope) and I'm not too good at French either ...*sigh.* Another thing that's sure to bother some of us is the girls' fascination with the hijab and the burqha - definitely not politically correct - but are we always pc with our friends? What is totally unacceptable is poor Sarah Jessica's eye make-up - Ouch!

See how easily I overlook some of the issues ;) - it's because like many of you out there these girls have already created a niche in my heart by the way they handled their little and not so little strifes. Samantha overcame breast cancer, it wasn't easy for Charlotte to build that family, Miranda took care of her Alzheimer's affected MIL, and how can we forget Carrie's public humiliation when Mr. Big stood her up at the altar.

So if the girls seem flamboyant and frivolous - I say let them be - and that holds for us real life people too - yesterday might have been difficult and who knows what tomorrow holds. If someone's out there enjoying the present - or trying to - you might just be the one losing out if you are too quick to judge them ;) - My my ain't I wise!

The other bit that's so endearing about these girls is like all of us their choices are myriad - yes they'd love to have validation from their friends but too bad if they/we have to choose to agree to disagree. Like adults (are supposed to)they have a mutual agreement to respect and appreciate each other's choices even if they can't 'understand' always. However, the best and most important part is that if the issue is a fundamental one they don't lose their voices in the spiral of silence - be it Samantha's overt sexual innuendos that don't sit well with Charlotte, or Charlotte's inability to accept that being a mother ain't so easy ...

I could go on and one - as you can see :)) - but to cut a long blog short(er) we all need our "interfriensions" from time to time and the True Soul Sisters will always be there (husbands, babies, whatever) - and I so love my reel and real ones! Yes the series had so much more than the movies - but isn't life with the girls so much more fun than a one-off dinner? If I really think about it the one thing I missed in this movie was "the City." - Hope to see more of it next time! Cheers!