How Do You Feel Today? v4

[Savor Dam]

My one experience with audiobooks was (appropriately!) Scott Brick's reading of the First Chrons. Menolly had bought it as a gift for me some years earlier, but it had gone unheard until Dam-sel and I took a two-week roadtrip in 2019. We listened to those recordings from Seattle to Twin Falls to Durango to Las Cruces to Alamgordo to Phoenix to Bakersfield to Livermore to Red Bluff to Canyonlands to Seattle.

Yes, we paused the story in places like Salt Lake, Albuquerque, Phoenix, the SF Bay area, etc., where conditions required full attention for one or both of us...but on the open road in BF Nowhere, it is easy to listen to tales like the Chrons and use the Landscape around you to further enhance your mental imaging of the story's setting.

It was also Dam-sel's first direct exposure to the content of the story. She's known that SRD was a favorite author of mine since the mid '80s, but she is more of a Brooks reader (not that there is anything wrong with that). She puts up with Menolly and I talking about the books and our Watch participation, but that trip was her first engagement with the story.

[Damelon]

I can't listen to audio books while I'm driving. Either I lose track of the narrative or get lost in the story and miss a turn.

That’s why I don’t listen to them. I have a couple of podcasts that I like to listen to in the morning over coffee. If I get distracted by, say working on the days Wordle, I lose track of the conversation. It would be the same thing if I was driving listening to an audiobook.

[Avatar]

Yeah, that's my other issue with them, apart from them being slow...If I do something else while listening to something, I actually stop hearing it. I can't even listen to a "talking head" video...I have to watch it, otherwise I lose the thread instantly.

--A

[Fist and Faith]

apart from them being slow...

I hadn't considered how bad that must be for someone like you. Not bad for me with my reading speed. But you must climb the walls!

[StevieG]

Yeah the pace of audio books is fine with me - I'm a slow reader too

They definitely need to be listened to in the right setting. Household chores are a good one for me. I hate household chores, but if I can listen to a book whilst doing them, it's bearable!

I am listening to my first Scott Brick book now - not bad, although I think Stephen Fry set the bar high with the Harry Potter books.

[Menolly]

Last night's Meet and Greet for the 2022 edition of P.ink Greater Seattle's P.Ink Day was a blast. All of the recipients were excited and so grateful to be there. The donation of food from the Tacoma Olive Garden was appreciated and devoured, helping the atmosphere of comradery and anticipation develop.
I'm really looking forward to the actual event today; to chatting, laughing, and possibly singing with ladies while they're getting their artwork, and seeing the designs the recipients are receiving.

[aliantha]

but on the open road in BF Nowhere, it is easy to listen to tales like the Chrons and use the Landscape around you to further enhance your mental imaging of the story's setting.

I can definitely see that happening here in NM. I dunno how much time you guys have spent in the northern part of the state, but I am continually stunned by the varied typography.

While Magickmarker was here this summer, we drove up to the fiber spinning mill in Mora, then drove through the burn scar from the Hermit's Peak/Calf Canyon fire to Taos. Beautiful and terrible.

Driving up toward Ghost Ranch from Santa Fe, you get a whole different landscape -- multicolored cliffs and Cerro Pedernal. And if you drive up US 550 from Bernalillo to Farmington, you go through Georgia O'Keeffe's "black place". That has a different wow factor.

Back to the topic at hand, I'm not sure I could drive through any of those places while listening to an audio book. I'd run off the road trying to concentrate on both the book and the scenery.

[sgt.null]

Hi Ali.

Buying a new house. We will move at the end of the month.

Son, pregnant daughter in law and 14 year old granddaughter moving in with us.

Two years until retirement.

[Damelon]

Same town, Sarge?

[sgt.null]

Two towns over, 10 minutes from my current unit. But that is by coincidence, not planning.

[MsMary]

Good luck with your move, Sarge.

We just moved into a new house to be close to the kids and grandkids. Well, we're partially moved in. We still need to ship stuff from our old house to here. But we moved stuff from my temporary (since 2019) apartment half a mile a way to here. So we're functioning with a subset of our stuff.

[aliantha]

Best of luck with the move, Sarge -- and Ms. Mary, too.

Those last two years before retirement were the longest decade and a half of my life.

[sgt.null]

Ali - ive moved into the office. My current major worked in different departments at the same time at my first unit. His wife was a building captain there.

My second unit closed. (Ramsey 20 years. Retrieve 11 years) and our trusty camp was taken over by a neighboring unit, Clemens. I was kind of hiding out at the trusty camp for a year when my department
Head in Huntsville told my current major I was there. Babcock, the department head and I worked together at Ramsey for a some ten years. We stayed in touch.

So thus major let's me run the kitchen for the most part. He stays out of my way. I'm happy. Everyone knows I'm running it. I get as much overtime as I want. I'll get some 30 hours ot next week.

I've missed you Ali. I hope you stick around. It's nice to see old friends returning.

[Avatar]

Meh, I'm looking for a place to move to as well, but it's such a mission...my current rent is ridiculously low, there's no way I can move without more than doubling it at least, not to mention animals, new landlord, etc. etc.

On the other hand buying seems a bit like a commitment I don't want to make right now in our current climate of uncertainty.

But the place I'm in now is really headed downhill, issues with the municipality and stuff...so some anxiety around that too.

Bleh.

--A

[Menolly]

Celebrate every day.

[Menolly]

Time to feast and express gratitude.

[aliantha]

It's good to be back, Sarge. I might just stick around this time.

Av - waiting won't make it any easier, y'know. How long have you been at your current place?

[sgt.null]

I've committed to around 30 hours of it next week.

Ugh.

[Avatar]

Av - waiting won't make it any easier, y'know. How long have you been at your current place?

17 years...

--A

[Damelon]

I could see us moving in the next 5 years. To a single level structure so we don’t have to climb so many stairs.