Red Mosquito
Formerly RLB the Scrapple Boy
Thanks for the heads up, I will make my way over there eventually.
James Pearl Thinks Blogging is Dead
- Thread starter Norm
- Start date
Books
I've started reading a bit more again lately. Not too long ago, I made an effort to cut down on the social media time and as a result I've been scrolling less and reading more. I've also noticed my attention span seems to have gotten better. I am sure these things are related.
The image below is 6 of the 8 books I'm currently reading. I took 5 books out from the library, the bottom 5 in the image below, and started reading 1 each day, rotating every 5 days through them. I found some IG reel (oh the irony) talking about 5 books you can't put down once you start. I decided to try all 5 at once to see if any of them fell into that category. At this point, I'm about 200 pages into each and of the 5, just 2 would qualify. The other 3 are good enough, but not can't-put-down worthy.
The top one on that stack is something I found in our shelf and just decided to read before I picked these up. I will knock off a chapter now & again. The 7th book is a SciFi book I have on the Kindle. I've never been a huge Kindle fan but as of late, I find it harder & harder to read that medium.
The last book is the monster, and I read it every night before bed. The Pillars of the Earth, by Ken Follett. The book is almost 1000 pages and it's an investment. I just passed page 300 last night and I can say that it has absolutely pulled me in. I tried to read this over 10 years ago and couldn't get into it. After the Spain trip, I picked it up again and it just worked. The 2 are not unrelated.
It doesn't have to be books. It can be yoga or gardening or paint by numbers or staring at the wall. But there's a lot to be said about dialing back the social media in your life.
I've started reading a bit more again lately. Not too long ago, I made an effort to cut down on the social media time and as a result I've been scrolling less and reading more. I've also noticed my attention span seems to have gotten better. I am sure these things are related.
The image below is 6 of the 8 books I'm currently reading. I took 5 books out from the library, the bottom 5 in the image below, and started reading 1 each day, rotating every 5 days through them. I found some IG reel (oh the irony) talking about 5 books you can't put down once you start. I decided to try all 5 at once to see if any of them fell into that category. At this point, I'm about 200 pages into each and of the 5, just 2 would qualify. The other 3 are good enough, but not can't-put-down worthy.
The top one on that stack is something I found in our shelf and just decided to read before I picked these up. I will knock off a chapter now & again. The 7th book is a SciFi book I have on the Kindle. I've never been a huge Kindle fan but as of late, I find it harder & harder to read that medium.
The last book is the monster, and I read it every night before bed. The Pillars of the Earth, by Ken Follett. The book is almost 1000 pages and it's an investment. I just passed page 300 last night and I can say that it has absolutely pulled me in. I tried to read this over 10 years ago and couldn't get into it. After the Spain trip, I picked it up again and it just worked. The 2 are not unrelated.
It doesn't have to be books. It can be yoga or gardening or paint by numbers or staring at the wall. But there's a lot to be said about dialing back the social media in your life.
Yeah, IDK what it is but when I have several in play I look forward to it more. I have often done more than 1 at a time but they are compartmentalized. So like 1 SciFi, 1 non-fiction, 1 fiction, and maybe an audiobook. But since going with this approach I look forward to picking up "whatever's next" every morning.
Carson funny you mention that site. I just ordered the sequel to Pillars from Thrift Books last night. Pretty solid selection & prices.
None of them are bad. Just 2 of them stand out more than the others, with Flight Attendant being 1 of those 2. The other is The Last Thing He Told Me. That may be the bet of the 5.
Red Mosquito
Formerly RLB the Scrapple Boy
Thanks good timing since I’m between books. I picked up Salem’s Lot but having trouble getting started with this one.
Just downloaded three of these. Can't wait!
54
I turned 54 years old this past weekend. It's a number not entirely unlike 53. I pretty much no longer think of any of this, at least not any more than I do on a routine basis in terms of the mortality thoughts I wrote about earlier this year. 54, 53, 55 - they're all sort of the same, no? I will say, the age gap to my parents seems to have dropped over the years. When I was 20 years old, they were more than 2x as old as me. Now, not so much. Math is funny.
I didn't do anything spectacular on my birthday, aside from hanging out here and then going to dinner with some of the family. I got some stuff, which is nice. I think no matter how old you get, opening presents is always enjoyable. The day itself was good. I admit that leading up to the day I was sort of meh about having a birthday. But then, having another one beats not having any more, if you know what I mean.
This year has been a year of learning to deal with what getting older means, which more or less translates into acknowledging, identifying, and addressing whatever new ache and/or pain arises on any given morning. With the knee stuff recently, it really made me take a step back and slow down. I took it seriously and I think right now, the knees and hips are about as good as they've been all year. Sure, there's a little bit of creaking going on. But nothing hurts so much that it's impacting anything I do.
I'm not able to hit the same power on the bike. This isn't necessarily because of the legs, but if I push myself then the knee does complain about it later. I went a little harder yesterday than I had in a while, and I felt it when I went to bed. So I need to just take it as it comes, and make sure I stay within the confines of what I can deal with on any given day. And really, who cares what my power is?
But I'm still breathing and eating cake. So I got that going for me. Which is nice.
I turned 54 years old this past weekend. It's a number not entirely unlike 53. I pretty much no longer think of any of this, at least not any more than I do on a routine basis in terms of the mortality thoughts I wrote about earlier this year. 54, 53, 55 - they're all sort of the same, no? I will say, the age gap to my parents seems to have dropped over the years. When I was 20 years old, they were more than 2x as old as me. Now, not so much. Math is funny.
I didn't do anything spectacular on my birthday, aside from hanging out here and then going to dinner with some of the family. I got some stuff, which is nice. I think no matter how old you get, opening presents is always enjoyable. The day itself was good. I admit that leading up to the day I was sort of meh about having a birthday. But then, having another one beats not having any more, if you know what I mean.
This year has been a year of learning to deal with what getting older means, which more or less translates into acknowledging, identifying, and addressing whatever new ache and/or pain arises on any given morning. With the knee stuff recently, it really made me take a step back and slow down. I took it seriously and I think right now, the knees and hips are about as good as they've been all year. Sure, there's a little bit of creaking going on. But nothing hurts so much that it's impacting anything I do.
I'm not able to hit the same power on the bike. This isn't necessarily because of the legs, but if I push myself then the knee does complain about it later. I went a little harder yesterday than I had in a while, and I felt it when I went to bed. So I need to just take it as it comes, and make sure I stay within the confines of what I can deal with on any given day. And really, who cares what my power is?
But I'm still breathing and eating cake. So I got that going for me. Which is nice.
Thats a solid looking cake...orange and blue FTW
Here We Are
So here we are. I took this picture at 1:30 today and 3+ hours later we're still going strong. This isn't the first fire we've had this year. Nor is it the 2nd or the 3rd. We've had a handful and it's always nice to fire this up as a way to fight back against the cold that so quickly sweeps in. However, today is the first real, "This is winter, be ready for it," kind of day. It was cold & dreary & wet & humid. It was the first real day I started bracing for the imminent long, depressing winter of New Jersey. We even saw a few flakes while walking the dog today.
It's usually this time of year when I start wondering about moving somewhere else. Oddly, it's not really about moving south. Given the ski season it would be more about moving north. Ideally, I'd love to do shoulder season somewhere nicer, then ski season north, and I guess bike season north. IDFK, I just randomly say these things knowing fully well that until the kids are more stable in their footing we won't be going anywhere. But I can dream a bit.
So yeah, fire. It's nice and warm. I highly recommend one of these for your house.
So here we are. I took this picture at 1:30 today and 3+ hours later we're still going strong. This isn't the first fire we've had this year. Nor is it the 2nd or the 3rd. We've had a handful and it's always nice to fire this up as a way to fight back against the cold that so quickly sweeps in. However, today is the first real, "This is winter, be ready for it," kind of day. It was cold & dreary & wet & humid. It was the first real day I started bracing for the imminent long, depressing winter of New Jersey. We even saw a few flakes while walking the dog today.
It's usually this time of year when I start wondering about moving somewhere else. Oddly, it's not really about moving south. Given the ski season it would be more about moving north. Ideally, I'd love to do shoulder season somewhere nicer, then ski season north, and I guess bike season north. IDFK, I just randomly say these things knowing fully well that until the kids are more stable in their footing we won't be going anywhere. But I can dream a bit.
So yeah, fire. It's nice and warm. I highly recommend one of these for your house.
JDurk
Well-Known Member
The dilemma of going someplace warm, but still wanting to experience the cold by sliding down a hill. My inlaws live in P.S.L., FL and say they are never coming back to NJ. I want to go north, but FL is nice in January vs NJ.
iman29
Well-Known Member
FL in June-Aug tho 🥵🔥🥵
thegock
Well-Known Member
You could probably argue that it's cheaper to sell the NJ house and buy a shack in Florida, then just fly to ski every few weeks. I imagine the differential in house prices invested correctly could pay for flights until you're 200 years old. But all that sitting on a plane is tiring.
We occasionally meet people from warm climates and they are so stoked to be on the mountain. But it's weird to think that someone who loves to ski so much would choose to live in Florida. We seem to meet people from there every year.
I think I need an actual winter coat. I have spring jackets and a ski jacket, and pretty much nothing in between.