LIFE | SIMS 2, Books, Yoga

It is Monday again, so we due for another extract from Ms Winterson's The Times online column.

In case you're interested, you can read the column here.

I'm behind schedule on my reading of the Proustian epic. But in spite of my distractions, I still find the Proustian search of lost time seeping into my life and the things I read online.

Ms Winterson wrote on reading, and how we experience time:

If reading reclaims time, it realigns time too. Time for us is always slipping away — we talk about losing time, finding time, making time, and taking time. The wellbeing that we feel when we don’t notice time, because we are happy, or engrossed or in love, is the result of those rare moments when time inside us and time outside us are not in conflict. Reading is another way of allowing this to happen and, as it becomes a habit, like all habits, it affects the rest of our behaviour too. No question, reading is good for you.

I'm feeling that mild distress of "having not enough time." Between work, yoga and the rest of life (this includes chores like laundry) - I find less time to read.

For the past month I've stayed on course with my renewed commitment to my yoga practice. I go for yoga class straight after work, which means the earliest I reach home on weekdays is around 9pm. Dinner has become optional - but reading is still a priority after yoga.

I had intended to finish James Ellroy's The Black Dahlia over the weekend. I have not kept to this goal because I installed SIMS 2 on my laptap on Friday. I've been staying up late playing this game of simulated life - and it's addictive. On Sunday morning, I was up until 5 am even when I had a 11:45am Power yoga class later in the morning. Needless to say, it was a strain.

(Okay, I know - why not just skip yoga class and sleep in? Because I don't want to make it a habit of skipping class, that's why.)

Last night (or this morning) I was up until 3 am on the game. I woke up late for work this morning because of this. And I will be missing yoga class tonight. After work today, I'm going straight home to uninstall SIMS 2 - before it becomes a habit.

During the final years of university, a classmate neglected her thesis because she was addicted to MUD (Multi-User Dungeon). I have a similarly addictive personality, which is why I know I have to quit this gaming habit cold-turkey before it gets worst.

We are what we eat (and I'm also reading Fast Food Nation, so that's a scary notion) - similarly, the quality of our lives depends on what we spend time on. SIMS 2 allows me to control the lives of game characters. But I've neglected my own life in the process.

What I've absorbed from the Proust's epic is its journey for time lost. I speak of "lost" in the sense of time wasted. Like Charles Swann, after he fell out of love with Odette, I reflect on the time wasted in my life on things (and people) that did not matter. The revelation came only after I lost them. I decided there are things that are important and worth spending time on. I would rather give my time to family, friends, yoga and books.

This said, I'm taking time off yoga this Friday to meet up with Ms Foo and a mutal friend. Ms Foo will be flying on 18th September for her MA at East Anglia. She will be sorely missed for the year she will be gone.