Books

An amazing thing happened to me recently. I was unable to watch television. This was a life changing moment. Before you say, "Wow. You stopped watching TV and realized that it was a waste of time? Good for you, moron." hear me out.

I am in the process of moving out of my house - as it is currently on the market to be sold - so, the cable was cancelled. It is not possible for me to turn on the TV and glean anything from it besides a headache. Since the TV is newer, it does not even allow me to watch the static - just a bright blue screen - unless, of course, I go through the painstaking trouble of changing an option a couple of menus deep into the settings. Who has time for that now a days anyway? Not I.

What else have I not had patience for? Reading books. For as long as I can remember, I have never been much of a book reader. I will read all sorts of manuals, the news (online, not the newspaper), the comics (in the newspaper and even 'books'; although I would hardly call 'The Essential Calvin and Hobbes' a book), and pretty much anything else on the internet.

In recent years, I felt a desire to read books. All attempts miserably failed. While I was in college, I only read what I absolutely had to. Even then, I would accept a low grade as an acceptable trade for reading less.

Now that I have my degree, I still cannot get myself to read 'books.' Countless people have tried the whole, "try this one, you'll love it!" Or, "this is the book that got me into reading." A couple pages in I would get bored and find something else to do. When I would actually force myself to read, I was unable to concentrate. I would start reading something and two hours later, I would be on page four. The whole time I would spend thinking about other things while my eyes attempted to scan the words. Once I realized this was happening, I gave up. I had no idea what the first three pages were about anyway.

More to come Wednesday, May 1st.