Like and Share.

I don't want anyone to take this personally. I don't want anyont to think I have no  respect for the expressions of social engagement, (and participation in debates conserning our society) people show on the internet, through their social media accounts. We read, like and share.... because we both like what we read and think others should read it too.

And yet, knowing this, I have this disliking of online petitions. "Dislike of" is probably too strong a word, maybe even the wrong one too… but when you sign something by liked and shared it just circulate inside the bubble of a social media. Noone can feel the real engagement and liability people wish to express and be heard on.

Back in the days, you knocked on a door and carried a truckload of boxes into an office; boxes full of papers with signatures on the dotted line underneath. We physically vouched for what we believed in, and whoever received it could see there was a strong opposition, and they felt the unpleasantness of the opposition’s resistance. We made things visual and physically real.

Today… well, not so much. I get a lot of “Please like and share to show….!” And sometimes I do, but not often. I just can’t see the point in showing disagreement by presenting a number of "like"s and "share"d.
 

But there are groups and applications on Facebook I enjoy a LOT! And which I am more than happy to both like and share: Goodreads and Bookcrossing.
 

Goodreads keeps me updated on great books. I have to admit there are books I would not have read if they had not been recommended by ordinary readers… like myself(?). Now that I think about it; I have no idea who writes the reviews, but the reviews are well written and gives a good insight in what you might expect from reading this book. There is no fancy lingo, with multisyllable words I have not even heard of before...
Often, when I read about literature, there is someone zealous who explain everything by using what to me come across as (psychedelic?) linguistic gambol. But you don't find that on Goodreads. Goodreads tells you if a book is good or not, it recomends to you good books you should read... preferably for your own likeing.

When I read a really good book... I just can't find it in me to part with it... ha ha ha... it took me 25 years to learn to get rid of ANY book.
 I wrote about it before on my blog, but I give you the summing up here: I handed approximately 2500 Harlequin books over to the Salvation Army. Suddenly my office looked more empty, the Salvation Army told me they sold out within a week.... and these books, (which I read when I need to escape from thinking) were MINE and not something my family should bother with: I never missed them a second after I removed them from my house.

There is a scary attraction to what allows me to empty my head from pondering. I know, before I even buy the book, how it will end, and yet I still buy and read it. Some of them are ridiculously bad written… that adds another dimension to them as well… a bonus if you will: How NOT to write.

Anyway, when I read a really good book I sometimes buy the paperback and release it. I always carry a couple of Bookcrossing labels with me and release the books I have finished reading. Then I register the books online. It is great fun to see how my books travel, or just disappear and then show up again long time after the release. I think those who pick the books up also read them, and enjoy doing so.

Sometimes, far from always, I release books in my own town, but I always release the books I read when I travel.

So: Goodreads and Bookcrossing; two applications I really enjoy. And since I enjoy; I "Like" and "Share".

 

Challenge yourself!

My goal is to read books in 2013.

 

www.Goodreads.com
www.bookcrossing.com

Tired

 

Today I just felt like staying in bed, which is rather unusual for me. Usually I am the last to go to sleep and the first one up.

I love those crisp early hours when everything is quiet and the world is still lulled in the warm comfort of blankets. In summer I take my coffee outside and sit on my outdoor steps listening to the birds greeting the new day welcome.

If it’s raining I draw a bit back to avoid getting wet and enjoy the sound of drops hitting the roof above and the ground. Something soothing about rain, I always calm down when it’s raining. Whether I sit on my outdoor steps, indoors listening to the rain ticking on my windows, or if I just challenge my dislike to rainwear and plunge into the force of the element: rain is a good remedy for a strained mind.

Growing up where I did, I learned at a very young age to embrace the elements rather than fight them. So, I do.

But today it wasn’t raining. Today the sun was up at the crack of dawn, reminding me summer is just around the corner. Usually I get a feeling of anticipation when this notion hits me, but today… I just felt an avalanche of doings not yet done hit me.

It is like being overwhelmed by an insurmountable race against time. So much to do and so little time… It is like I don’t even want to try.

Tempted as I am to give up before I even try, I went to work feeling exhausted. I am crazy tired, but I keep on going; like the energizer bunny till it runs out of juice! Determined to at least show up and prove to myself I can cope. At least on a negligible level. I think I just need a little down time, but I can’t for the life of me figure out when that down time should take place.

When summer is here and the vacation starts it doesn’t matter what I did or didn’t get done: it will be too late. Then I clear my desk, go home and open every door in my house letting the wind blow through my house and sweep it clean. My head resets and I charge the batteries. By the time summer is over I look forward to meeting my new students: A new school year, new challenges and possibilities.

Strange that is, really, when I know that in a year from now I will feel exactly the same way I do today.