Computer curse

I'm trying to get to everyone's blog but as I'm still under the computer curse it will be difficult. I'll be around as soon as everything settles down.




I got locked out of blogger. For no reason I could find. It just wouldn’t let me log on. Still won’t in my normal browser, even after clearing caches and passwords. I have to log on in explorer. Also, I mysteriously lost two days of work. Fortunately, it was only two days but it’s very hard to understand why I lost it when I save it Every. Single. Time. I use it. And why only two days? I didn’t lose the documents. One of them was saved on my computer; one on dropbox but each has the same problem. I’m perplexed. I have to put it down to the curse.

Yes, really I’m cursed.

Electronic devices hate me. They toy with me. My computer teases me, taunts me, and does crazy things. When I try to describe what happens to The Engineer, he says it’s impossible, that a computer can’t do that, that he doesn’t know what is happening  and am I sure I wasn’t asleep at the computer again? Of course when he sits down and looks at it, it works fine. Usually he doesn’t even have to look at it. Just his walking into the room makes whatever electronics I’m having problems with work fine.

Maybe my computer is a cat, one of those cats that is a perfect snuggly angel for one person but a conniving, creepy, stalker cat for others. 

It’s not just my computer though, tablets, phones, my car. You name it I break it. Just by being around it. It’s not a comfortable curse to live with.

Do you have a curse? Or maybe we should call it an amazing talent. That sounds a lot better than curse.

reading

I owe my mom an apology.

Yes, there are so many things I need to apologize for.  Sorry, mom.

But in this instance, I need to apologize for reading.


I realize this because now I'm that mom. The one who tries to get their kids to stop reading, put down the book and become a functioning member of society. Granted, society is overrated, but they do need to know how to function enough to stay alive, fed and dressed.

I remember quite a bit of my youth was spent finding ways to read. I would ditch chores, leaving them half done, or done poorly just so I could open up that book again. I held my book open on my lap during dinner so I could read between bites. For some reason my parent's didn't like that. I remember leaving my siblings working hard (sorry guys) while I sneaked upstairs or hid in a corner, just so I could read. Books were a comfort, a promise that no matter how much life changed and demanded, the book would always be there, waiting, a friend. I remember that nothing else seemed as important as what came next in a novel.

I remember because just the other night I stayed up way too late to finish Barbara Rogan's HINDSIGHT. 

So, now, when mini-engineer says he can't pass a certain book without dropping everything to read it, when he says he can't get ready for school until he's finished a book, I smile.  I remember.  My heart glows because I've taught him to love reading and books. Then I tell him to put it down, that the book will be here waiting for him when school is over, and for the love of the written word, please put on some clothes.

What have you ignored, put off or ruined, just so you could read?

Worlds without end

I'm looking for resources on world building, do you have a favorite or something that has helped you greatly?  Or maybe resources on how to layer the world building into the story.

When you need help, where do you turn?

libraries

It seems like everywhere I turn people are downsizing. Many people because of the economy, others because they want to simplify their lives. Still others because they're pursing a dream, or different life goal. For whatever reason, I know many people who are giving away their books. 

I know, it makes me want to cry.

But, I can also understand it. Even before the move I had boxes of books I didn't have bookshelf room for.

I know these people, they like books, they still buy books, but they're downsizing their libraries. How does that work?

I came up with only one answer.

Ebooks.


Now, I love ebooks. I also love book books. They give me different reading experiences and they both help in different situations. But, I have to ask, are ebooks contributing to the  downsizing of personal physical libraries?

The answer I come up with is, yes.

My move would have been a lot harder if I didn't have a kindle. I don't have room for all, or even many, of my books in our interim apartment. I miss them, but I can deal. Mostly because I have a few hundred books on my kindle. Without those, this would have been a lot harder. A lot.

Ebooks are wonderful.

Except I still see a problem.

With books, when a person dies, their libraries can be shared, passed on to future generations. With ebooks, you're only buying a license to have a book. When you die that license expires and your books are gone. You could spend a fortune building an ebook library only to have it electronically disappear on your death, leaving the other readers in your life inheritance-less. So in a way, you're still downsizing.

Nothing is ever perfect, I guess people will do what adjust their library needs to their own situation. I'm still working on my situation but I expect it will be a mix of the two different formats.