This doesn’t really concern the blog as such, but if you are following me on Twitter, just to let you know that I am going on my annual Twitter retreat from tomorrow. Lent always provides that opportunity. Not that I am religious in any shape or form; I just like the handy timeframe provided by this religious holiday. I don’t really have any vices, I guess. Responsible Boring adult that I am, I try to avoid junk food and sweets, I don’t drink at all, and the smokes are not really a major issue anymore. There’s no sugar in my tea I could give up, or other regular bad food habits. I always give up chocolate, crisps and fries for Lent, just as a little challenge, so I will do without those in the next six and a half weeks.
But my one big indulgence is the internet, I guess. Youtube and Twitter are my two major time-stealers. Plus, the latter more often than not also occupies a lot of my emotional energy. For the wrong reasons. Therefore I am going to sacrifice Twitter again this year to find my emotional balance. It will hopefully also provide me with the by-product of more time for my blog, for RAnet and for crafting. The blog is still set for automatic push-posting to Twitter, but in case you are reading there and I am not reacting to any replies, please be assured it is not you, it is me. I am simply abstaining until the 12th of April (Easter Sunday).
The drawback, of course, is that I will miss the immediate news and the fandom fun on Twitter. I am relying on *you* to possibly give me a heads-up on Richard’s latest shenanigans here in the comments, or on *your* blog. I guess I could also sneakily switch my Social Media activities from Twitter to Facebook for that period of time, but that would be cheating. So please do assume that I am completely out of touch with what is happening – and enlighten me whenever there is newsworthy stuff happening 🙂.
What about you? Any Lent resolutions?
PS: My abstention will not affect RAnet’s Twitter, btw. Whenever there is anything noteworthy to tweet, I’ll do it.
Guylty Pleasure 
Gosh, haven’t been active in church since my release. AKA, graduation.
Haha
Remember having to explain once what the smudge on my forehead was.
✝️
Still, I’m thinking it might be a good exercise to give up something, but I don’t think I can get away with giving up work, even tho it’s my biggest addiction. Maybe sugar. 🍨 Which means stuff like ice cream and yogurt. But . . . No way I’m giving up coffee. ☕️ Forget that craziness. ☕️ Don’t need sugar in my coffee. Mmmmm coffee☕️😁
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“release” 😂
I think giving up work would be a *great* idea for you, Mimi!
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Except my hubs says I’m like a caged animal if I run out of stuff to do.
😆
He gets that from when we first married. He was a chemical engineer for oil/gas company; there was literally nothing around out there. Well except for dirt, rocks, stuff like that.
⛽️
I might be a bit hyper personality type. Idk
😁
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LOL – you are definitely a lively gal, Mimi 😉. And I totally get what you are saying – and wish I had a bit more of that urge to be active. I can easily ignore my chores and spend hours watching YT videos…
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Haha, I tend to turn on the YouTube when not listening to music or audiobook to find documentaries to listen to while working. Started listening to really interesting BBC series of 4 on Celts, but hubs stopped by and was interested as well. Now I’m waiting to find time for us to get together to watch it. 📺
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That is a great idea, Mimi! Never thought of that. I have a number of podcast series I am listening to, but depending on how much crafty stuff I do, I run out of new ear material… Yet YT contains an infinite amount of interesting series…
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FYI – in case you’re interested in three parts: The Celts Blood Iron and Sacrifice ⚔️
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I will miss your tweets and replies but I hope you will enjoy your “free-from-Twitter” time!🙌🏻
I don’t have any bad habits to give up, I have no favourite dish I couldn’t live without, I can live very frugal, but I have many hobbies/favourite things to do and my life is too short to give up these things that bring fun and joy into my life 😊 Yes, I’m that self-indulgent 😁 Guilty!
❤️
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*That* is a compelling argument, Olga. And really, I do agree with that. However, I also somehow am someone who needs to challenge herself every once in a while. I love little challenges like – can I still sleep on the bare floor without a mattress. Or can I take on a new specialisation in my job and learn what is needed. Or can I limit myself and stay away from the temptation of social media. There are some deep psychological insights somewhere in this 😂
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I challenge myself all the time, every day. My whole life consists of these challenges 😂 Well, many of them I creat myself, no one made me (like studying Japanese for example 🤓).
Don’t get me wrong, I admire your decision. I was talking about myself. I can’t give up Twitter, for example, it’s the only social media I use every day, and it’s the only place where I can share my admiration for RA. 😊 I don’t like FB.
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And that is all absolutely fair enough, Olga. As I said, I think you really have a point. Life is short, why deprive oneself of the few pleasures it provides? Ha, I may have a masochistic streak in myself for creating my own challenges 😉
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*Can* you sleep on the bare floor w/out a mattress? Just curious, because I can and do on occasion as I will also lay on the floor to read. Hubs will chastise me if dogs lay on my reading material. (Sometimes it’s his reading material too and he is picky about condition.) He can’t understand how I can fall asleep anywhere, anytime, in the middle of talking and in any position. Example: If I’m not driving and tired, can fall asleep in the car sometimes using the car seat as a pillow.
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Hm, I draw the line at the *bare* floor, but I have no problem sleeping on a camping/yoga mat. I do have to admit, though, that it takes me longer nowadays to adjust to that. Like, when we went to our favourite music festival, it always took me two nights to adjust to sleeping on the ground – and then we left on day 3 😂
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That’s hardly worth the effort to get used to sleep-wise. 😁
I don’t mind the bare floor, but mostly it’s on carpet or a rug I’m laying on. I draw the line at camping in the wild. Not comfortable with Mother Nature. She’s a serial killer. The few times I’ve been to Yellowstone, the hubs knows he has to get us a hotel, I will not sleep outside. I’m a total wimp. Haha
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Well, understandably – the US is a different ballgame when it comes to wildlife. Over here, the worst thing you can expect from wildlife, is being eaten by mosquitos…
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One of my sisters is married to a firefighter/outdoors man that likes to camp and fish. Early in their marriage, they were camped out in the wild of Washington state sleeping in the bed of their truck that had a light shell over it. A bear smelled whatever they had in their cooler and while trying to break into it, kept knocking into the side of their truck rocking it so much they thought for sure the vehicle would be rolled on its side. She was never so scared.
We get a lot of wild life where I happen to live in Utah. There is an owl that is known to hunt, kill and eat cats and small dogs. We have one in our neighborhood. I never leave my dogs outside alone, especially in the dark when owls hunt.
As to those mosquitoes . . . Mother Nature can not to be trusted. 😬
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Eeek, that is exactly the sort of scenario I envisage for American wildlife. I am not so sure that I would go camping there… Mind you, I did go camping (without ground mats) in Namibia. But the campsites are all fenced in, and I was never worried about predators.
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Still, what about 🕷 spiders and 🐍 snakes? I don’t think a fence would keep them off me.
Sometime I should tell you about the spider incident where I thought they would eat and kill me while in Alice Springs Australia. This was in broad daylight one morning. I still shudder at the memory. 😑 Scaredy pants Mimi
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Trying to remember now but I don’t think spiders and snakes were a threat in Namibia. The only thing we were warned about were scorpios. I took great to shake out my boots every morning before putting them on 😂
But yeah, creepy crawlies are not really something I enjoy much. I can deal with them here, where they are harmless. It’s the one thing that puts me off Australia…
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I really like Australia and New Zealand but the 9 out 10 most deadliest snakes in the world are in Australia. New Zealand didn’t seem to have the same threats. 🐍 Sure they have some, we just didn’t run into them. Thank goodness.
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That’s what I loved about NZ. There were no threats from creepy crawlies there at all.
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I love Lent. This year I’ll give up sweets, meat and alcool – and less time on Instagram, my major time-stealer. Actually eating is not a sin, but a little detachement is good, just to make it clean who is in charge! Shall we start?
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Hooray, another lenter!!! Good decisions, Lurkerella. And yes, I like the way you put it – making clear who is in charge. That’s what I am testing, too. I am ready!!!
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Like you I also practice Lent. It was my mom’s childhood faith and she never dropped the Lent time. I am going to try to stay away from beef and pork as much as possible but as my 2nd son will be 21 during Lent if he happens to pick one of those for his meal I will make it and eat it then. There is also that time called St. Patrick’s Day that I make a Corned Beef for too. The rest of the time none. Just trying to eat cleaner during Lent. Since I am not on Social Media other than that Pintrest account I had to set up for school and have not used since then. I don’t go to church but I feel Lent is a good way to clear my head and to think of way to do good. I could give alcohol but drinking age is 21 here and with my son turning 21 he will want a drink plus we saved a bottle of wine from 1999 his birth year to open. We will see how that goes as I have been finding out that I am allergic to some wines and Sunday had a bad reaction to Pinot Noir with our Sunday dinner. Going for allergy testing the end of March as I have had bad eczema since fall. Might be giving up things due to allergies on a permanent basics.
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That’s probably the best way of explaining it. Lent is an opportunity to clear your head. Whether it is by sacrificing certain foods, or drink, or whether it is by avoiding other “vices”, it’s an opportunity to regain control over the urges.
I first came across the concept of Lent when I was 17 and met a girl at a week-long politics camp who had given up sugar. I couldn’t get my head around it at the time – voluntarily putting oneself through something like that. Took me a while to understand the concept, and ever since I have been setting myself little challenges every year, from giving up chocolate and crisps, or fries, to smokes or television or social media. It feels good to exercise some control – especially because you know that it is only a limited time 😉.
Best of luck with all the celebrations, btw. And I don’t think you need to feel guilty about breaking the fast for the occasion. It really doesn’t matter if you eat some beef or drink some alcohol for one meal – what counts is, that you have otherwise been steadfast for the 6 and a half weeks.
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I should have said that I did go to church when I was a child/teen but it was a hell and brimstone type of church. I believe I have said before about being able to listen openly to pop/rock music and that I had to hide the fact I did as to not get in trouble. This church also didn’t like the faith my mom grew up in. Why she agreed to this type of church was beyond me. Only when I was around 17 or 18 she told me she wished raise me like she was raised. Her family didn’t go to church every Sunday but still did go some. Funny thing is my dad’s family never when to church when he was a child/teen, he found religion as a adult.
No I will not feel bad at all. Your only 21 once and we or better he has decided want he wants to do that weekend. We will go to his house and stay the weekend and have a nice party for him. I will do a lot of the cooking and make his cake. He has not told me to much yet other than a Black Forest Cherry Cake. I am not surprised about that as he has asked for that many times.
The other thing that I have found is if I can give up something for six weeks then maybe longer. Like last year it was bagels, was eating to many of them while in college as they where fast. Last that is what I gave up for lent and in a year hardly had any other than a couple time my youngest son wanted some.
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That kind of church would have turned me off forever.
And yes, that is the great thing about the 6 and a half week Lent – it really establishes a new routine. Once you are over the 3 week point, it has become pretty easy abstaining from all the chocolate etc., and it is a new habit that you can continue with after Easter Sunday. It’s definitely one of the reasons why I still do it every year; just to clean the slate and start afresh…
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Oh this is a good idea, Guylty! May I join in with katie, Lurkerella, Olga and you? I shall give up cake, biscuits, chocolate and all kinds of dessert. Though maybe this doesn’t count as noble self-discipline, as I really, really need to anyway. 🙁
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You are definitely welcome to join us “Lenters”! Best of luck on the journey.
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Ony catching up to read his now. So, how you holding up? Any detox signs?
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It’s going well – except for the social media part of it. I caved in because I needed consolation for my cancelled trip. But otherwise I am weaned off chocolate by now, hooray 😉
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I could not imagine ever being weaned off chocolate… good for you!
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Just temporary. I look forward to Easter Sunday. Big time 😁
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