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These last three months have been the most exciting, scary and interesting months of the last few years. I’ve gone from being a student who was shoved out into the real world only to be unemployed for six months to now having steady income, lots of interesting friends and a load of upcoming interesting projects.

But at what price?

I feel my artwork has really suffered recently. I haven’t done any new work in about a month and I feel bad for that. Sure, my computer did delete all 25 of my unfinished projects, but these were mostly old projects.

I’m glad that my current style of artwork is taking off rapidly, but I need time to develop my skills, explore new territory and plan where I want to go in the future. It’s really hard to do this when I’m spending a lot of my time trying to keep up with the blogscene, attending an endless amonut of meetings and gallery openings or simply doing anything but art.

so

Within the coming week I think I’m gonna be off the Internet more and indulging in art a lot more. Expect the Projects page to actually have some noteworthy content on it as well!

Two Antonio’s in one room. Never had this before. The other is Antonio Gould.

I found the Linux Alternative Project to be quite useful in finding alternatives to popular software packages that are Linux compatible. However, for those of us still on Windows/Mac, the Open Source Alternative website is more regularly updated and probably more useful ;-)

• Do you feel preoccupied with the internet? (Think about your online activity or anticipate your next online session.)
• Do you need increasing amounts of time on the net in order to achieve satisfaction?
• Have you repeatedly made unsuccessful efforts to control, cut back or stop internet use?
• Do you feel restless, moody, depressed, or irritable when attempting to cut down or stop internet use?
• Do you stay online longer than originally intended?
• Have you jeopardised or risked the loss of a significant relationship, job, educational or career opportunity because of the internet?
• Have you lied to family members, a therapist or others to conceal the extent of your involvement with the internet?
• Do you use it to escape from problems (eg, feelings of helplessness, guilt, anxiety, depression)?

If you answered yes to more than five of those then, according to some studies, you may be addicted to the internet. Why do I not find this surprising?

I remember years ago that my school was given loads of money to buy lots of computers and essentially give each child a computer with a free Internet connection. Even back then I thought this was a bad idea. How can sitting in front of a computer, having all this information thrown at you enhance anyones lives. Sure, the Internet has a lot of uses, but it’s kinda replacing socialising. Tools like Twitter do actually enhance some aspects of socialising but Facebook and the like are mind numbing!

I think generally there’s this fear that if you’re not connected then you’ll miss out on something important and/life changing. The downside of trying to stay up to date with everything is that you may actually be missing out on the most important thing in your life…. oh, and that thing is your life. Duh!

Isn’t it ironic that I’m complaining about Internet addiction whilst writing this at 2am? Well, I needed a break from doing my artwork!

It looks like I’m now part of/somewhat involved with Birmingham Visual Arts Coalition that was advertised this time last month. A couple of the artists had a bit of a meeting on Saturday and, well, lets just say I’m very interested in seeing where this is all going to go. It’s all very exciting, especially as I’m relatively new to collaborating with many artists at one time (although a.a.s. thrive on this)

I know, this is all vague, but once we’re all more involved I suspect you will be, if you know what I’m sayin'!