Why Am I In This Handbasket?

I've recently realized that I've been behind on the stuff I follow for over a year. I frantically get caught up on one thing only at the expense of letting other things fall behind and using time I should be using for more productive things.

I'd really like to try to start writing again and all too often the large unread pile facing me when I boot up the computer is an excuse not to. "I'll do that after I catch up on Twitter, after all there's a limit to how far back you can go and I wouldn't want to miss X" has become a lie I tell myself on a daily basis. After all, by the time I catch up on Twitter then I need to catch up on Tumblr and in the meantime I got update notices for stories that I really love reading and I'm two weeks behind on a comic strip I love and I haven't even opened Google Reader in a month.

Since I don't have a TARDIS I'm going to have to bite the bullet and unfollow at least a fourth of the stuff I'm following between Tumblr, Live Journal, Twitter, Blogger, and an assortment of other sites through Google Reader. Better to miss out entirely on a lot of stuff I like then to just end up getting frustrated because it backs up unread. I have several hundred fanfic update notices in my email box right now. It just took me several hours to get caught up on Twitter after a busy week and I'm still at least 3 days behind on Tumblr.

I hate this since I originally followed these blogs, twitter feeds, and Tumblr streams because I liked the stuff that was posted there or personally liked the person doing the posting and wanted to get to know them. I'm trying to ease into it and unfollow one per day until such time as I look around and find I'm managing to read all new material while occasionally having time to read some of the bookmarked backlog.

If someone reading this gets the cut, I'm sorry. It wasn't anything you did to offend. Right now if you aren't personal friend posting about your real life, someone that I have actual conversations with from time to time, someone who posts content directly relevant to my current obsessions, or someone who posts information that keeps me from being culturally illiterate then you have a chance of being unfollowed even though your stuff is really excellent. I'm reading posts about important real life events in the lives of people I actually know several months after the fact and I can't participate in a forum I'd love to be active in with several people I've met in real life because I'm constantly behind there and something has to give.

If you feel that there are other blogs I haven't cut that aren't as good as yours please don't be offended. It may just be that on any given day in the next month your post was the first I saw that didn't fall into one of those safe for now categories, or you post a lot more then they do,  and they may be next. You are in good company. I've already unfollowed a well known actor who I admire and a professional journalist. Besides, I found the things I follow when they were linked or reblogged by others so there's a chance I'll still see your best stuff.

If I do unfollow you know that I'll miss your stuff and I really do wish I had a TARDIS or a Time Turner. If you happen to have a TARDIS or a Time Turner please contact me immediately.

Yesterday I ordered my first Smart Phone. It will get here Tuesday and even though I've resisted getting one for years I'm finding I'm really excited about playing with it. IT at work is making noises about blocking streaming audio again and if I can't listen to music on Pandora or old radio shows on YouTube I might commit work place violence.

After looking at the options it didn't make sense to get an iPod that would stream audio when I was illegible for a free phone upgrade. Plus, I've had a lot more things added to my duties in the last several months that require me to be in a given place at a given time and I can't always rely on being at my desk for Outlook to remind me.