77 // via HTC Evo:
Time can just get away from you, can’t it? Just a moment ago, in all it’s self-refective paranoid glory, I was swept into my fourth decade. Just as suddenly, there it was, 41.
Have you ever seen “The Time Machine”? Not the 2002 version with Guy Ritchie, but the far superior 1960 movie. In that, the film’s central character, George, sits in the time machine he’s constructed in his basement, pulls the lever, and the world rips by him, day to night, night to day, faster and faster and faster.
My life feels a little like that as I get older. Days are very full, and at the speed they’re moving, things get swept into the past before you have a chance to notice they’re gone — stuff you used to like doing, but because of the pace, haven’t thought about in a while.
Reading, for instance.
I’ve forgotten the sheer pleasure of a good book, of learning new things and expanding my mind past the sometimes opaque barriers of suburban living.
There’s a wider world out there, and though life may not be offering me those romantic choices of sun-soaked travel and cocktail parties with sparkling people right now*, I have access to that and more through books — even more so with through the accessibility of a first generation Kindle donated by my beloved mother-in-law.**
Books are good for your soul*** and food for your brain.
* Not that I was ever interested in those things. I love to travel, more for the adventure than to sit broiling on a beach, although I will take that as an option if presented. As long as I have a good selection of reading material.
** I’m not fussy. I love both e-books and the real kind.
*** I’m not endorsing the reality of a soul here, however, I do like the concept.
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WHAT I’M READING RIGHT NOW:
Kindle: I have a selection of books I’m noodling through. Happily, I found out that Maryland libraries are now e-lending — a boon to those who can’t afford to pick up e-editions frequently because of the cost.
An actual book: “Maryland Politics and Political Communication, 1950-2005” by Theodore F. Sheckels. What can I say? I’m a huge Maryland politics geek.
