Monday, April 23, 2012

Musing Monday...That's Life...

It's Monday, very early Monday here in the Garden State, but still Monday, so let's see what Miz B at at Should Be Reading has in mind this week...

This week’s musing asks…
Other than working at a job, what is your biggest interruption to reading? What takes you away from your books?

"That's life, that's what people say.
You're riding high in April,
Shot down in May...."
Actually, my time at work is one of my most productive reading times!
I have talked about this before, and I don't want to dwell on the point (especially if there is ANY chance my boss reads my blog) but I get a fair amount of reading done at work. No, not when I work the day shift. That is actually 12 hours of natural gas, clean, efficient, home grown natural gas, related activities. But after two or three days of that and a couple of days off, I am on the 12 hours night shift for the next 2 or 3 days and my responsibilities change. Several hours of each shift I am fully occupied, especially the first and last and one in the middle. But for about 6 of the 12, I have about 45 minutes when I am in a more observational mode, a mode which requires alertness but does not preclude reading.

No, it is my days off that making reading time a little more limited, due to a little something called Life.
I live alone, no one making demands on my time. But still, the time, the non-reading time, just flies. For example, I have found that living requires eating which in turn requires shopping for food, cooking food, cleaning up from eating and cooking food. Then there are clothes, something I fully believe people should wear. Yes, I saw online a place, I think it was the travel oriented Magellan catalog, that sells disposable underwear, which would require no laundry, but since you still need to wash shirts and pants and socks and PJs and such, it would not help, would it? Paying bills, cleaning the house, going through the mail, trips to the Home Depot, yard work (even though I threw in the towel in hired someone to mow my grass) all take time, time I could be reading!

And then there is the new addition of Larry, a time sink if I ever saw one. That cat's care takes more than 10 minutes a day..every day. He wants food, he wants a clean litter box and he wants...no, he demands!...to be brushed and have his belongings sprinkled with cat nip.

Still, it is better than vacation, when, as I have admitted, I often do no reading at all. On my last vacation, two weeks on the road through Maine, I read one book, which with my vacation time history was actually good. Sad.
So I am happy that tonight I am back to work. Just fought my way through a book for some unknown reason..have we discussed 'giving up' on books on MM and why some of have a problem doing that?...so time to pick a fresh one and start the productive part of my reading week..back to work!

And sleeping! Let's not forget sleeping! 7, 8, 12 hours a day with yours eyes shut, making reading impossible. Really, what a waste. But, what are yu going to do..that's life.
As this Jersey boy says...

14 comments:

  1. LOVE this post! Your cat sounds adorable! My cat is on my list too! They are so demanding and mine has a habit of nudging books out of my hands or biting the ribbon bookmarks. So true about sleeping. If only we could sleep read. I have fallen asleep with a Harry Potter audiobook on before but it made me have nightmares about Dementors and I woke up in a fright and was like 'Who's there?!' So that didn't work. Lol.

    My MM: http://www.pocketfulofbooks.com/2012/04/musing-monday_23.html

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  2. Real life was a biggie for me too. Sleeping--good point, I didn't think of that one.

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  3. I forgot about sleeping also. Again this week the answer is a winner in my book.

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  4. I LOVE your answer - thank you for sharing! :)

    Here’s mine:

    http://amylunderman.blogspot.com/2012/04/musing-mondays-to-z-challenge-t.html

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  5. Life always gets in the way but sometimes that's a good thing. Here's my Musing
    Thanks,
    Cathy @ Addicted to Books

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  6. my husband is the biggest interruption to my evening/weekend reading .. it feels rude to open a book when someone else in the room isnt reading .. and if you are about to suggest I go into another room to read .. well, I could go into the bedroom (our other room) but its not as comfortable to read in there.. no chair .. no reading light .. so I get a lot of reading done on the way to/from the office and during lunch and occasionally when things are slow at my desk ..

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    1. What is he doing then? Watching TV..I have no issue reading if someone is watching tv...

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  7. Now that our dog is 16 she requires a lot of care and I can't do much of anything without an interruption.

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    1. awww, poor girlie. doggies, when they are young they give so much to you and when they are older they need you to give to them.
      Larry needs so little..at this point.

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  8. I didn't even think of sleeping interfering with my reading--especially on the weekend because I'm a major napper!

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  9. Yes, everyday life does take up too much reading time. I must admit, as much as I love my cats, they are another interruption.

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  10. Haha yeah, real life can really make a dent on reading time :)

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  11. Hello! Thanks for visiting my blog!

    Ah yes life does take away a lot of reading time. I totally agree. I do a lot of reading while commuting to and from my workplace. I do a lot of blogging at my workplace. Hope my boss doesn't find out!

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  12. I agree … life does get in the way of reading. Which is why I put little or no effort into cooking and housework. I've got to cut corners somewhere!

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