I have the brain itch again!
It's not the exciting or exotic eureka! brain itch of many good ideas, just regular recipe drive myself crazy brain itch. You know the kind where you can't settle down and actually do anything because Oh My God, my brain itches!?? Like that. I wish I could blame it entirely on the stress of the election or the economy imploding or my byzantine work circumstances or the change in season or various other reality cudgels, but I think those things just ACCENTUATE some natural state of agitation that travels around the world like a virus, persecuting the innocent and absentminded. Fair warning: by the time I can talk about the brain itch, its effect is lessening. You might be next!
One thing that helps is crossing things off of a list, and one of the things on my list is getting the stuff I have checked out from the library down to under sixty items. (it is currently holding strong at 76. This is INSANITY.) Some of this stuff I've been holding onto because I think "I want to post about this!" -- so I'm going to try to do that in the coming days. (ha ha! No, really! It could totally happen!! )
Unrelated, OR IS IT???: I have spent some time this evening sorting out my goodreads ratings. I was using three stars for almost everything, which rendered three stars almost worthless. Sometimes half stars would be handy. Anyway. I'm coming to embrace "it was okay" (two stars) as a perfectly reasonable rating. I have also noticed a weird thing where I'm really reluctant to give a 5 star rating unless it's an art book or maybe poetry. What's up with that? I guess I shouldn't be surprised since I do the exact same thing with itunes/ipod ratings. (one star is an emergency DELETE THIS ASAP code, but otherwise things fall into the 3-4 star rating. As with books, this is not particularly helpful.)
oops. gotta go to bed. brain itching less already. (blog post was on list! now I just have to change my sheets (also on list) and then I think I will actually be able to go to sleep.)
I think a rating of 2 is fair. After I read something and consider telling someone about it I try to figure out what it was that I liked about it. I usually end up with, "It was just really good", which is true but not helpful. Or that wordy. I also feel a bit off when I finish reading something that I don't think anyone else should have to sit through. Just because I wasted my time doesn't mean that others should. And speaking of NOT wasting time, Wordstock is coming up soon and I think that no matter who is, or isn't there, I want to go both weekend days. And I will not ask for a student discount!
ReplyDeleteYeah, it is totally fair! It is perfectly reasonable for something to be just OKAY and not TRANSCENDENT, but then I feel guilty and it's just ridiculous. Oh, wait. That was the old way! the new way is "sometimes 2 stars happen."
ReplyDeleteYAY Wordstock!! I want to go both days too, and I barely know who will be there! Hey, do you think we can be creepy old people who try to get kids to buy us discounted tickets? Because it would really make me laugh to pretend to try.
p.s. I think you need to update your goodreads, mister!
I'm the same way with the library. It's like my own personal lending library and I keep things way too long. The new system that alerts you when books are due (so they can be renewed online) only makes it easier. Hooray for technology.
ReplyDeleteI will update my GoodReads list over the weekend. It just seems so hard. Which I know is idiotic. And speaking of idiotic, I think that I will be watching the VP debates tomorrow night...
ReplyDeleteha! renewing online does indeed make it easier to rationalize my NEED TO KEEP certain books. If it makes you feel any better, the library relies on part of the collection always being out -- if (god forbid) everyone had to bring back everything all at once, there wouldn't be enough room. It is our civic duty to maintain part of the collection!
ReplyDeletefactoid #2 (which you may already know): you can renew things up to 49 times as long as no one else wants it. That's almost THREE YEARS if you time it right!!
BBD -- I look forward to seeing what you've been reading! The VP debate -- I'll be watching, but I'm watching expecting a train crash. I thought this was pretty funny.