Paradoxical Us, Good 'Stuff' but Not a 'Stuff' Person; Being One's Own Role Model

Does it seem crazy that we're planning on a significant remodel of our cabin, when it's this close to the edge of a highly erosive 300-foot bluff?

 Does it seem crazy that we live here, period? I feel that my overall lack of concern is a good attitude and not 'head in the sand:' my intention is that we are safe and secure. However, ice is melting and water is running, wanting to take ground with it: there was more real estate in front of the windows when Phil bought this place 14 years ago than there is now. Every year at this time, Phil gets concerned, and spends many hours hanging off the edge of the bluff, repairing cribbing (you can see some stakes poking up below the lip of the bluff), and at those times, I start to wonder whether I should move all my more precious books elsewhere, put all my writings on an external hard drive somewhere else... Although I'm not working on the erosive face as Phil is, and although it's an unfamiliar situation in an unfamiliar land, I am working on tuning in to my intuition and trusting that my gut will tell me when it's time to run for the hills. Considering how much time I have spent anxious over trivial things, surrendering and trusting in the case of such a 'big' thing seems like good role model behavior.

Meanwhile, organizing our cabin so that we make the most of the space and have the greatest potential for self-expression is another piece of good role modeling for ourselves: especially for me: acknowledging the importance of the physical world.

Another acknowledgment of the importance of the physical world that has felt very rewarding in the last few days is recognizing that, although 'stuff' is 'just stuff,' having the right kind of 'stuff' can make life more easeful.

I've shared on here before that I received a turtle as totem in a dream/vision, and that there were so many attributes of the turtle beneficial for me to foster. However, one turtle attribute that I lately realized was overdue to be let go was my habit of carrying practically my whole house on my back! My daypack brims with 13-in Macbook and power supply, several writer magazines, each part-read; notebook, phone charger, and all kinds of miscellaneous scribbled notes, stevia bottles, rocks from the beach, pens, dental floss... It is heavy!

Well, yesterday I went out in much better style. Here's my new little netbook, with my paper notebook overlapping for scale--

...and here it is open.

 It's 10 inches, with a claimed 13 hour battery life (I haven't tested it completely yet--or taken off the plastic, for that matter). It's an Asus eee. The screen is small for full-time use, but anything that encourages you to take breaks from the computer is a good idea. I've downloaded Google Chrome for browsing, and Open Office for word processing and editing (hoping that it'll be compatible with clients' work sent in Word), and I've upgraded to 2MB of RAM. It was so exciting to me that I was able to do that myself: I am in no way a techie!

I'm taking a Creative Writing class these next few Saturdays, and am able to go unplugged. This little guy has no CD-drive, and is generally sturdier and less delicate than my Macbook. Speaking of intuition, everyone who knows me knows that I had decided--and saved for--a netbook months ago and was inexplicably dragging my feet over buying it. Falling on the ice with the Macbook on my back a few weeks ago, damaging the CD drive so that it needed replacing (costing almost as much as a new netbook) persuaded me of the foolishness of my delaying. Sure, the price could go down, or a new, better model come out, but that's always going to be the case.

And to carry the netbook, I gave my new lumbar pack (birthday gift from Phil) its first outing.

Yes, the little guy fits in there just fine! And so much lighter and more comfortable--and less turtle-like altogether--than my rock-weighted daypack. It's true, I took a mini-cooler of lunch too (a whirled peas smoothie and some carrots, mostly)...

... because it can't fit days' worth of food in it--but it fits some, and I'm excited about the discipline that it's going to impose on me--to pack light!

Discipline, but also challenge: part of the reason that my daypack becomes such a repository is because there's nowhere to unload it! Carrying a much smaller pack around on my travels will mean that I'll need to become both more creative and more ruthless about setting things down or throwing them out.

On a side issue, as well as not being a 'stuff' person, I am emphatically not a 'logo' person. So what's up with the fact that the boots I wear day in and day out are 'North Face' boots...

...my jacket that I wore all winter and am just now considering relinquishing for something lighter is North Face...

...and now this wonderful lumbar pack is, too?

We are such bundles of paradox, are we not?

Are you a good role model for yourself?