Kevin's Watch

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.

You go, DotD!

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.

i read tons of graphic novels - but have fallen way behind on word novels. work also screws up my reading.

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!! :/

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!

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.

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.

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.

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...)

bathrooms are made for magaizines like entertainment weekly, sports illustrated and mental floss....

Yeah, sorry, can't help you guys on this one. 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

Let us know if that pace keeps up in another fifteen years or so, Av...

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...

Menolly wrote:Let us know if that pace keeps up in another fifteen years or so, Av...

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.

--A

Avatar wrote:

Menolly wrote:Let us know if that pace keeps up in another fifteen years or so, Av...

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.

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.

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?

Should that ever happen, I won't use bifocals. I'll have a single focus set just for reading.

--A

i can read for short periods without my glasses. seems to focus me at times. but i am blind without the damned things.

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!!

I just started using reading glasses.

High Lord Tolkien wrote:I just started using reading glasses.

Keep us posted on the progress of your naps.

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? I look forward to the time I get some more of that myself.