Going Off the Grid

 Okay so its a shit Monday, time for some day dreaming. We've all probably thought about it at least once or twice in our lives. Make a Kerouac like departure from society and go "off the grid." In this day an age it is easier said than done.

Apparently this book is the How-To guide to disappear from the map, but I know you don't read, you probably already stopped reading this when you found out there wasn't a funny video involved.

This article from life hacker is what we're working with, I'll editorialize as necessary.

First off they recommend "How Not to Disappear." Don't be overly dramatic. This is some fluff and bullshit if I've ever heard it. You think the average joe who wants to separate himself from society is going to stage his death in some crazy way or pull off some Mission Impossible stealing of a helicopter or something? Christ, I got a backpack full of weed, a coat and a wallet, I'm not MacGyver.I'm just going to hop on a bus.

The next step is obvious, they call it "minimize social connections," I call it "get off the fucking internet." With Facebook and Twitter and eighty other ways for people to get hold of each other, you have to stop this shit first. Delete the old Facebook, after you're done crying say goodbye to Twitter, even your favorite bloggers. The idea here is the less presence you have on the internet, the harder it is to get in touch with you.

A lot of the article deals with evading "skip tracers" or investigators hired to find you. We'll skip this bullshit since you and I are dropping off the map to lead simple lives, not because we uncovered a Government conspiracy and now the CIA is after us. This isn't a movie, its real life.

The next step is fairly easy, but a hard thing for Americans to do especially. Use cash, that's right, little stacks of paper that sit in your hand and you trade for goods or services. Ditch all your credit cards and useless plastic. They say to set up a corporation through a lawyer to handle purchasing of things in your new life, this is actually a fairly good idea, but I hate lawyers and so does everyone else so unless you have one in the family I say fuck it.

The main ingredient to jumping off the grid is a plan, and a will to see it through. You want to sell everything and leave in a weed co op in California? Then do it, too many people are afraid to do something other than the good old societal track, school job marriage kids, death. Sounds like anything but fun to me.

I would recommend doing something like this at least once to aspiring writers. I plan on doing it myself someday. Because the time spent alone with one's thoughts are the best times to learn about yourself and the world. Instead of sitting on Twitter all day waiting to see Brett Favre's cock pictures.

In short if you are ever an international fugitive this article and this book should be like your bible. Trust its authority regardless of how ridiculous it  may seem. If you're just looking to drop off the grid and take a deep breath from a world of Facebook and depressing news and mind numbing politics, then come up with a plan, and like Phil Knight would say, just do it.