Morning Ritual

[poliphilo]

I get up, creak downstairs, pour myself an orange juice, light a scented candle and check out the Guardian online- first the headlines, next the political comment, sometimes the arts news;  then I do the same for the Times. Only when I've assured myself that all's wrong with the world and our leaders are being as boneheaded and venal as ever, do I move onto the next phase- which consists of breakfast, email and LJ.

I don't enjoy the papers any more. I know what the commentators are going to say before I turn to their columns. It's just habit. This is what middle-aged men do, right?  They read the newspapers.

Ailz gets up a lot later than me. She also goes straight online- but instead of reading the news she clocks onto the Rabbits United forum.  I hear her chuckling to herself.  Sometimes she calls me over to look at something particularly cute. "Oh look, this rabbit has mal-aligned incisors."

I believe she's got the right idea; her early morning reading certainly seems a lot more entertaining than mine.  To hell with the gossip of the Westminster village! But what should I read instead?  You guys know what my interests are: can any of you suggest a non-newsy but everchanging website I could use as my home page?

Comments

[strange-complex.livejournal.com]

Maybe LJ's feed function would be a good way of gathering a selection of interesting regular output into one place for you, without the need to find one single website that can offer as much content for you as two daily newspapers? Some feeds I know of that you might like include pepysdiary, apod, fryblog and maybe a_dons_life - but there are loads more to explore.

[elegysostenuto.livejournal.com]

http://www.online-literature.com/forums/ ?

[margaretarts.livejournal.com]

I don't know about this as a home page, but I find myself drawn to this one because of the entertaining photos and the sweetly ironic comments:

http://quotation-marks.blogspot.com/

[bodhibird.livejournal.com]

Perhaps Arts and Letters Daily (http://aldaily.com)? It's a round-up of links from news sources and all sorts of review, commentary, and other periodicals.

[sculptruth.livejournal.com]

I have a collection of blogs I read daily through google reader (I have a gmail account but there are plenty of blog aggregators out there). You could scour the internets for blogs which discuss your interests and then collect them through the reader. Most of what I read discusses the art world, but I'm starting to really trim them down. Here's one home page that sort of covers everything in the arts, which I enjoy a lot:

Arts Journal Daily Art News (http://www.artsjournal.com/)


Do you like modern architecture? Here are a few blogs which discuss architecture around the world, but mostly contemporary (sometimes old):

BLDGBLG (http://bldgblog.blogspot.com/)

This is my favourite architecture blog. I particularly loved the post about abandoned hotel constructions in Egypt. (http://bldgblog.blogspot.com/2008/04/hotels-in-afterlife.html)

Life without Buildings (http://lifewithoutbuildings.net/)

A Daily Dose of Architecture (http://archidose.blogspot.com/)

Now you have a small window into my morning, which I am enjoying right now as I type this! :)

See if you get inspired by anything at...

[veronica-milvus.livejournal.com]

www.greatwriting.co.uk

Almost completely news-free. I'll be there.

[wyrmwwd.livejournal.com]

Believe it or not, I start my morning by checking my LJ. Y'all fascinate me. I can't wait to see what has happened whilst I was asleep.

[mokie]

Flickr! One could get lost in the Explore option so, so easily, and there are so many beautiful ways to start the day.

I also feel I should add a caveat for the earlier recommendation of PostSecret. If you're looking to start the day without the frustration, gloom and depression of the news, then you might want to leave PostSecret off, at least until later. I know the project is too much of a tragedy confessional for me to visit regularly. :/