Welcome friends. I'd like to introduce you to a new series I'll be working on for the foreseeable future called, "The Touchy Feely n' Shit Series." I've been thinking about doing something like this for a long time, but thanks to procrastination and being perpetually exhausted, I've brushed it off for months on end. Much like I'm ignoring working on the book. See... there's a truth right there. I'm already being honest with you guys, isn't that nice?
Each entry will feature some sort of meme, snippet, photo, whatever, that might seem somewhat meaningful. For whatever reason, the selected meme, etc. spoke to me somehow, so that particular post will prattle on about that. Basically, I don't always want to post mindless, mundane shit. I don't always want to post about my kid, despite the fact that he's a hilarious bad ass, I know you fine folks probably don't want to hear about someone else's kid all the time. I know I sure as hell don't. So welcome. I hope you enjoy the series. Maybe you'll learn something new, or you'll discover something that you'd sooner forget. Either way, it's going to be a great ride. Let's get started.
Now this, this is an absolute truth in my life. I've carried a book around with me ever since I could read. As a younger, grade school kid, it was The Babysitter's Club, then it was the Choose Your Own Adventure Books, then on to The Goosebumps series, from the Goosebumps I drifted toward the darker books taking a huge left turn when I started in on the Stephen King books in high school.
A book has always been a comfort in my life. Maybe that's why they're so important to me. I've had a book at my side sitting at the doctor's office, the dentist's office, on a long trip, when I couldn't sleep at night, when I've needed to think about something else. A book on the night table, a book in the car, a book in my bag, everywhere a book! I've panicked a time or a thousand when I've forgotten a book when I knew I'd be waiting somewhere. Idle hands lead to twiddling thumbs, idle minds lead to automatically thinking the worst in every situation. Or is that just me?
When e-Readers rose to prevalence in the early 00's, I scoffed. Naturally. How could some electronic device ever take the place of actual, physical, glorious books? I always swore to myself that I would never in a thousand years own one of those infernal machines. Technically, I now own three. Let me explain... nothing with ever take the place of a big, thick book. You can't sniff an e-Reader, not without looking like an absolute psycho anyway. You can't physically turn the page in a e-Reader, no matter how hard they tried with their little forward and backward buttons, or swiping the screen. It's not the same, dammit!
When these e-Readers had been out for a little while, mid 00's, I skulked around them. Researching them trying to justify purchasing one. What convinced me to jump on the bandwagon was that instead of lugging my huge hardbacks around and possibly turning the corners of the books down in transit, I could just carry all my favorite books around on this little thing and still have the comfort of my books without having to worry about harming my precious babies. So, when I say I technically own three e-Readers, what I mean is, the first one I bought doesn't work anymore, the second one I bought works just fine, and the third in an iPad, which is used exclusively for work, not for iBooks, thank you!
These days, I don't use my e-Reader very much. I still love the feel of carrying a big ol' book around. A book is a conversation piece. No one has ever asked me, "Oh, whatcha reading on your e-Reader there?" People see the spine of a book and immediately become interested. What's the book about, who's the author? When you start to tell them about the kinds of books you're reading, then they start to judge you a little, like... maybe I shouldn't mess with this chick, she seems like she might cut a bitch. Admittedly, I'll read books that I'm ashamed to be seen with on my e-Reader. You know the kind of books I'm talking about. The kind of books that you would absolutely judge other people for. Those are the kinds of books I keep secretly stashed away in my safe little e-Reader.
Just last week, I was sitting in the doctor's office with my current read, "The Fireman" by Joe Hill, who happens to be one of Stephen King's sons. This one is about a virus called Dragonscale and causes its victims to spontaneously combust. There is an actual "fireman" in the book who can control the Dragonscale to his advantage and create fiery illusions whenever he pleases. I'm about 300 pages deep with about 500 to go. Pretty great so far. So I'm sitting there hunched over my book in the waiting room, occasionally looking up to observe the other poor bastards sitting there wasting their life in a waiting room, and every single one of them is staring at their phone. No one had so much as a magazine, they were all just stared at their phone. To be fair, maybe they were reading e-Books on their phones, obviously, I have no idea, but I'm inclined to say that they were probably on the Facebook, or surfing the "web." When I got back into one of the rooms and sat for another hour, the doctor came in and noticed my book right away. He even remarked that he rarely saw anyone come in with a book. I was immediately proud of myself, and then a little sad.
Obviously, books aren't going anywhere. Book shops still remain. Those indie stores are fighting hard, and I always try to support them whenever I can. Granted, I'm guilty of buying books from the dreaded Amazon monster here and there because I can find certain hardcovers that I'm looking for, but whenever possible, I'm lurking through physical book shops for some obscure find.
Getting through this now, I realize this may not be classified as too touchy feely. I can't just jump in and give it all up in the first post. How else am I supposed to hook you people and bring you back for #2 and onward?
