Yesterday, I went to a bookstore in Clearwater, Florida. A Borders. Walking through the doors, the scent of literacy teased at my nose and mind and soon I was lost - for one, looking for a copy of Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent - someone close to me wanted a copy. There were none to be had in the store, which didn't surprise me that much: either it was sold out or it wasn't carried.

Wandering, I inhaled titles. When it came to Latin America, I found it amusing how little there was - but there was still much more than I have seen in bookstores in Trinidad and Tobago. In the computer area, there was more of the same acronyms in their continuous juxtapositioning to find meaning. Perhaps late at night new books are formed of acronyms imagined in this area. Science was littered with pre-science: pre-algebra, pre-this and yes... pre-that. Business? Not much of a selection when one considers the recent changes in the global economy. Fiction? Some of interest. Science fiction? Some of interest.... the list goes on.

Magazines? Plenty of magazines. 4 Linux related magazines, including the Linux Journal. Some automotive stuff, but nothing that had context for me.

Nothing that would compel me to buy something.

I went 'off the grid' for about a week, and it is a bit funny where I chose to do it - in Ottawa, Canada. I had made a pact with myself and a few close friends that I would not write on my websites during the time I was gone. Let's take stock - I went to a far more developed country than Trinidad and Tobago and went off the grid. Most people try to do the reverse, to come to the developing world citing tourism and going off the grid.

What can I say? I've never been accused of normality.

On the way, I saw Georgia Popplewell of Caribbean Free Radio on the plane to Houston, Texas. She said she would follow me on the blog, and I quipped as I passed, "No you won't...". She couldn't. She can't. You can't. It's all written down in a journal, by hand, with a few diagrams and doodles obtained for the price of coffee in Canada.

So, aside from not writing on websites, I put myself on a free writing exercise where I actually filled a 200 page journal by hand in 5 days. I allowed myself to take lots of pictures, but I did not post them until I was back in Trinidad. They are some good pictures if you want to check them out. I needed to break away from dealing with land ownership issues, family issues, and being pulled in a thousand directions by the forces of Life that sometimes seem to conspire against us.

Here's a hint: When you think Life is conspiring against you, its time to go off the grid.

In IM within Second Life, a fellow blogger asked me if I was attending the inworld get together today (in an hour, in fact). Of course, I am going. But then something was said that made me slightly amused: You've been gone for a while, but now you're back! That's great!

He was, of course, meaning that I had slowed down on posting on Your2ndPlace.com and KnowProSE.com. And I had, and I will again. I read a lot, and I think a lot. When reading, I typically don't write - and I consider simply pointing to what other people wrote as bad form for a blogger. I suppose the best way to explain it is to say that I am a reserved blogger, and that I take what I write seriously. This is not to imply that others don't take their blogging seriously - far from it - but if I were to write down every incomplete thought I had, the world would be cluttered with my mental meanderings.

And then, when reading something - such as Homo Ludens - one ends up revisiting a lot of things in one's mind. Instead of writing about every little piece as I poke ideas and thoughts with a stick, I write things more congealed - or try to. Maybe I'm not a blogger, but my aspiration is not to be labeled by the technology I use to write with.

Manuel Marino posted a troublesome piece for me - a piece about reading - or lack of it. He's quoting an article by Isaac Marion who runs BurningBuilding.com while working various jobs until his writing/music/art career take off.

I know that feeling.

But the article itself is worth the read - for those of you that do read, and it made me think of the journey of reading. These days, the 'semantic web' and search engines are the glory of the internet - but they are, I think, a hollow glory. It has been my experience that the most interesting things are found by accident - not on purpose. At first, they may not even be useful in a practical sense.