Archive for category Reading
Unplanned
In a city where you walk around, it’s impossible to plan your day and your life, as accidents will happen; you’ll overhear things, bump into people, and take unexpected turns.
Jason Schwartzman
I’m back from my vacation (did you miss me?) and I have a lot to share in the next week! With the exception of two visits to Starbucks for refreshments and free WiFi, I was unplugged and offline; I loved it and needed it. The adorable page flags were purchased at Inklings — a great independent bookstore in Yakima, Washington (the page flags are also available at Paper Source). While my visit there was brief, I loved the well-appointed indie shop; it’s obvious that it’s owned and staffed by true book lovers. If I lived there, I’d visit the shop weekly — it’s right next to a Starbucks with outdoor seating and picnic area between the two.
Even though things didn’t go as planned a few times, the unplanned and spontaneous things ended up being the most fun and rewarding.
Bogota Blackberry
Posted by Janet in Beauty Products, Reading on June 27, 2010
I painted my own nails this week and managed to do an okay job. I got through that unbearably long time it seems to take for my nails to dry by starting the Kindle sample of The Passage, by Houstonian Justin Cronin. I made it through the sample and couldn’t wait to read the rest, so I downloaded it. The book wasn’t even on my radar, but Lolly’s Goodreads review made it sound irresistible. It has almost all of the elements I enjoy in an epic novel – dystopian science fiction, strong female characters, and an undertone of horror. When I was younger, I loved Stephen King’s The Stand and this feels a little bit like that so far. And I totally forgot about my nails.
OPI Bogota Blackberry: not really a summer color, but still an old favorite. I visited the Chanel counter at Macy’s last week with the intention of getting a nail color as a splurge (the object of my obsession was Particuliere), but the one person working at the counter that day couldn’t be bothered — even if I was the only customer. I moved along.
Paradox
From the Wall Street Journal, Does the Internet Make You Dumber?
When we’re constantly distracted and interrupted, as we tend to be online, our brains are unable to forge the strong and expansive neural connections that give depth and distinctiveness to our thinking. We become mere signal-processing units, quickly shepherding disjointed bits of information into and then out of short-term memory.
Since I started reading more, my web surfing habits have changed and my ability to focus has improved. I’ve been challenging myself to focus on one task at a time, retraining myself to pay attention to the task at hand instead of worrying about online obligations. I’m not great at it yet, but definitely better. The most difficult part was becoming aware of the problem!
Ironically, I received a Touch for my birthday. I’ve been wanting one for a while and seriously considered the iPad, but ultimately, I wanted to untether myself from my Macbook — from having a device in my lap at all times. I like that I’m not unconsciously multi-tasking on my Touch. I don’t read my emails on it, but I do have my calendar and contacts handy if I need them. I can pick up where I left off in one of my Kindle books, or I can finish listening to an audiobook. I use ZipList for my grocery lists and Everyday Food for meal ideas. If I find a recipe I like, I can send the ingredients to my grocery list and/or save the recipe there. An iPhone would have been just as useful and handy, but for at least another year, I have a Blackberry.
Bottom line for me: I want to be able to think again without relying on Wikipedia and Google to do my thinking for me. I want to forge my own neural connections and not overload my short-term memory. I need to daydream more.
This new blog space was designed to be much less distracting for me. I no longer get emails when readers comment and I am now in control of potential comment SPAM. That’s one of the main reasons I switched to WordPress — so I don’t have a feeling of dread about dealing with SPAM comments. It also helped that I turned off my comments over there.
I didn’t want to cut myself off or take an internet sabbatical. I just wanted to manage it better. Surely it’s not just me, right? I’m not alone in thinking that I need to retrain myself to focus, am I?
Gifted
This crocheted bookmark was a thoughtful gift to me from So KnitPicky – to reflect two interests we both share: reading and crochet. She learned how to crochet less than a month ago and is already working with crochet thread.
It’s much easier to find excellent crochet pattern support these days; obviously, that could be due to Ravelry, crochet bloggers, and the fact that I’m now actively looking for great crochet patterns. Often it’s really difficult for me to see beyond a poor visual representation of a crochet project – or to navigate a button- and blinky-filled list of crochet patterns to find a gem. Again, well-photographed crochet projects on Ravelry help immensely!
Here’s the free pattern for the bookmark: Fan Bookmark
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