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I miss reading

Posted: Fri Sep 16, 2011 1:41 pm
by deer of the dawn
I used to read voraciously, 50 books a year at the least. Now I can barely get to twenty. I love my job but I am so darn tired when I get home!! I try to read and after 20 minutes I'm falling asleep.

Music helps somewhat, but I need more wordless music or it distracts.

Hmm.. ironic. When I was 20 I read 50 books, now that I'm almost 50 I read 20.

At least I get more nooky now. Not a bad tradeoff. :D

Posted: Sat Sep 17, 2011 1:16 am
by aliantha
:lol: You go, DotD! :lol:

I've gone back and forth on my consumption of music over the years (lately I'm not listening to much of any at all...), but I have always been a reader. I probably read less when the kids were younger, just because they sucked up so much of my time. These days I mostly read on the bus to and from work; seems like my relaxation time at home gets sucked up by knitting and the intarwebz.

I have a theory about that middle-aged falling-asleep-while-reading thing, and it relates to wearing bifocals. When I didn't need the darn things, I could sit and read for hours at a stretch -- *and* I could move the book around, tilt my head different ways, and still see the printed page just fine. Now, however, I basically have to keep my head in the same position all the time, with my eyes looking through the bottom third of the lenses -- which means my eyelids are already at half-mast, right? So...eventually...they...just...close. :Z:

Posted: Sat Sep 17, 2011 5:59 am
by sgt.null
i read tons of graphic novels - but have fallen way behind on word novels. work also screws up my reading.

Posted: Sat Sep 17, 2011 11:53 am
by deer of the dawn
Thankfully, I can still read without my glasses-- except in the morning when I do Bible reading-- so I can't blame that.

Getting old has a lot of great benefits. I am so much more at peace with the world and myself then when I was 20 and full of conflict and misgiven ideals and a libido that made me do insane things.

But to have half the energy I had!! :/

Posted: Sat Sep 17, 2011 1:10 pm
by Fist and Faith
deer of the dawn wrote:and a libido that made me do insane things.
And yet you're getting more now?? I think you're my hero!! Let us know if you publish your memoirs! :D :lol:

I had several years when I could barely read at all. I was exhausted beyond my ability to keep my eyes open for a single paragraph. Lots of tests revealed nothing. Turned out to be sleep apnea. Now I can read again, and do quite a bit. I've never been able to read quickly, compared with anybody else here, but I still love it, and read for as many hours as I can squeeze in.

Posted: Sat Sep 17, 2011 3:44 pm
by Menolly
Fist and Faith wrote:I've never been able to read quickly, compared with anybody else here, but I still love it, and read for as many hours as I can squeeze in.
uh...
Me thinks that should be qualified a little bit.
anybody else here?
I don't think so.

Posted: Sat Sep 17, 2011 5:45 pm
by wayfriend
There's no excuse for anyone not to read. There's a room in everyone's house made just for that purpose. Some homes have two-and-a-half of them even.

Posted: Sat Sep 17, 2011 8:52 pm
by aliantha
wayfriend wrote:There's no excuse for anyone not to read. There's a room in everyone's house made just for that purpose. Some homes have two-and-a-half of them even.
<nod nod> Isn't that why laptops have batteries? So you can take it into that special room with you? (Seems to be what Magickmaker thinks, anyhow...)

Posted: Sat Sep 17, 2011 11:39 pm
by sgt.null
bathrooms are made for magaizines like entertainment weekly, sports illustrated and mental floss....

Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2011 5:02 am
by Avatar
Yeah, sorry, can't help you guys on this one. :lol: Reckon I average between 3-5 books a week, depending on how busy I am, how much time I spend on the PC, and how big the books are. (The Malazan books for example, take me more than a week each usually.)

(I managed 3 this weekend. Started DT1, had second thoughts so read 2 Terry Pratchett books, then finished DT1 and started DT2.)

Sorry, I'll leave y'all to your misery. ;)

--A

Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2011 2:20 pm
by Menolly
Let us know if that pace keeps up in another fifteen years or so, Av... ;)

Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2011 10:01 pm
by Fist and Faith
If his pace drops by 50%, he'll still be at least a few times faster than me. And it's currently only a part of his life, which includes being the champion poster here, admin on at least two sites, a full-time job... :lol:

Posted: Tue Sep 20, 2011 4:38 am
by Avatar
Menolly wrote:Let us know if that pace keeps up in another fifteen years or so, Av... ;)
:LOLS: Well, I've managed that or better for the past 20 already, so I'm not that worried. It has dropped off a little since I got out of school, (when I had more free time), I'll admit. But as Fist implies...I can't imagine ever getting any busier than I am now. :lol:

--A

Posted: Tue Sep 20, 2011 4:37 pm
by Menolly
Avatar wrote:
Menolly wrote:Let us know if that pace keeps up in another fifteen years or so, Av... ;)
:LOLS: Well, I've managed that or better for the past 20 already, so I'm not that worried. It has dropped off a little since I got out of school, (when I had more free time), I'll admit. But as Fist implies...I can't imagine ever getting any busier than I am now. :lol:
Nothing to do with getting any busier, Av. More a follow up to ali's comment above about bifocals, which I very much agree with...
aliantha wrote:I have a theory about that middle-aged falling-asleep-while-reading thing, and it relates to wearing bifocals. When I didn't need the darn things, I could sit and read for hours at a stretch -- *and* I could move the book around, tilt my head different ways, and still see the printed page just fine. Now, however, I basically have to keep my head in the same position all the time, with my eyes looking through the bottom third of the lenses -- which means my eyelids are already at half-mast, right? So...eventually...they...just...close. :Z:
I do have progressive lenses, and the demarcation of the lenses is far less obvious than traditional bifocals. But I do find myself drifting off to sleep whenever I try to read longer than twenty minutes or so, regardless of the time of day.

So, in a decade and a half or so, should you also need bifocals once you hit 50-ish, then let us know what your reading pace is, OK? ;)

Posted: Wed Sep 21, 2011 5:12 am
by Avatar
Should that ever happen, I won't use bifocals. :D I'll have a single focus set just for reading. :D

--A

Posted: Wed Sep 21, 2011 7:16 am
by sgt.null
i can read for short periods without my glasses. seems to focus me at times. but i am blind without the damned things.

Posted: Thu Nov 03, 2011 12:11 pm
by deer of the dawn
Update: Been reading more lately. Just sick of TV, DVDs, and other timesuckers I was using just so I didn't die of boredom or fall asleep before 7:30 pm. Reading LoTR yet again, which helps. It's just so darn good, and I don't know how many times I've read the thing!! Yay!! :D

Posted: Thu Nov 03, 2011 12:47 pm
by High Lord Tolkien
I just started using reading glasses.

Posted: Thu Nov 03, 2011 4:37 pm
by aliantha
High Lord Tolkien wrote:I just started using reading glasses.
Keep us posted on the progress of your naps. :lol:

Posted: Fri Nov 04, 2011 12:02 am
by Cambo
I go through stages of reading hardly anything at all, then reading 2 or three books in a week. I do the same thing with video games- my Xbox can sit unused for months, then be on for 4-6 hours at a time. The only thing I'm really consistent with is music- at least one album everyday, ususally on top of random YouTube vids and background while I do other stuff.

PS Not to get too R-rated, but doesn't "nookie" refer to the female anatomy? :P I look forward to the time I get some more of that myself. :lol: