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Post by impulse on Jan 13, 2020 16:42:07 GMT -5
I get into ruts where a book can't grab my attention, either, or a video game can't grab me, or I don't feel like watching any shows, etc. I've found it helps to switch to music for a while, but that may be largely because I listen to most of my books in this current life stage. Anyway, sometimes it helps to disengage the active part of the mind needed to read a book and go with the more physical response portion and get into music. I will eventually get bored of just music and want some mental stimulus, so books are great again.
On that note, there is a somewhat recent release of the entire Sherlock Holmes' stories narrated by Stephen Fry, so when you are ready that might be an enjoyable way to ease back into some stories.
Also in current life stage working with small kids... my entertainment time alternates between video games and movies. Sometimes I am too tired and burnt out to play games, so go for passive entertainment. Sigh. If younger me could conceive of being too tired to lay around and play video games...
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Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
Posts: 10,143 
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Post by Confessor on Jan 13, 2020 18:15:59 GMT -5
Just focus on music 'til the reading bug bites you again, slam.  |
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Post by berkley on Jan 13, 2020 18:57:02 GMT -5
Just focus on music 'til the reading bug bites you again, slam. Or a book about music.
I often try to go for some look for some kind of contrast between successive books - whether, as mrp suggested, it's poetry vs prose, or fiction vs non-fiction, or genre vs genre, or genre vs straight "literary" fiction, or whatever the case might be.
Another thing I try sometimes is to get something that doesn't necessarily need to be read in large chunks, or something that I can pick up and read in short bursts without feeling I should try to plough on to the end before starting something else. Anthologies are good for that, especially poems or short stories, but also some non-fiction stuff - some philosophy for example is written as a series of short essays or paragraphs or "aphorisms".
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Post by Deleted on Jan 13, 2020 19:00:35 GMT -5
I just do something different until my mind clears and then ... you can start afresh and things will be better for you.
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Post by berkley on Jan 14, 2020 0:23:17 GMT -5
Another trick I like to use in finding things to read/watch/listen to is to pick things from roughly the same era: for example, I just finished a 1952 SF novel, Frederick Pohl's The Space Merchants, and just started Graham Greene's The Quiet American (1955), so the comics I'm reading are Caniff's Steve Canyon, Eisner's Spirit, and Hergé's Tintin book, On a marché sur la lune. And if I have time, I'll look for music and movies from the early 50s to go along with all that. Actually, I did just see a 1954 movie the other day, Sabrina, but that was just luck: it happened to be playing at the local cinema, so I would have gone to see it no matter what I happened to be reading.
With me, it's usually the prose books that drive the other things, but if I was having trouble finding a book or comic to get into, I might look for something from the same year or at least decade as any music or films or tv I happened to be enjoying at the moment. Of course that doesn't always narrow things down much all by itself, but there's such a backlog of things I've always meant to try that I usually can find something.
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Post by beccabear67 on Jan 14, 2020 14:40:20 GMT -5
You're just resting your eyes for awhile.  I might be off line more than on the next while (weather and other stuff). Just thought I'd say in advance. Cleared a bit of snow yesterday and today which is luckily pretty light here still. |
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Post by Duragizer on Jan 14, 2020 14:54:40 GMT -5
Upon booting up my laptop today, it created a loud, harsh hum. The hum subsided seconds later, but the laptop’s been behaving erratically as of late, so I’m afraid it may be nearing the end of it’s life. And I don’t have a backup computer.
I’m not planning on departing, but if I should vanish into the ether one day soon, that’ll be the reason why.
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Post by impulse on Jan 14, 2020 16:02:46 GMT -5
Upon booting up my laptop today, it created a loud, harsh hum. The hum subsided seconds later, but the laptop’s been behaving erratically as of late, so I’m afraid it may be nearing the end of it’s life. And I don’t have a backup computer. I’m not planning on departing, but if I should vanish into the ether one day soon, that’ll be the reason why. sounds like either a hard drive and/or fan might be about to go. Not expensive to replace, but if you've got any data you care about like photos, documents, whatever, this would be a good time to back them up. |
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Post by DE Sinclair on Jan 14, 2020 23:49:54 GMT -5
Upon booting up my laptop today, it created a loud, harsh hum. The hum subsided seconds later, but the laptop’s been behaving erratically as of late, so I’m afraid it may be nearing the end of it’s life. And I don’t have a backup computer. I’m not planning on departing, but if I should vanish into the ether one day soon, that’ll be the reason why. sounds like either a hard drive and/or fan might be about to go. Not expensive to replace, but if you've got any data you care about like photos, documents, whatever, this would be a good time to back them up. Those were my top choices as culprits as well. And if the laptop is acting erratically, then the hard drive is the most likely. Impulse is right, backup your data as soon as you can. Good luck. |
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Post by The Captain on Jan 15, 2020 12:03:48 GMT -5
I got an interesting e-mail today. When I was out of work four years ago, I had applied to a local company for an open procurement manager position they had, but they rejected my resume without giving me an interview, saying they had gotten some better-qualified applicants (which is likely true, as I was stretching a bit with my application).
This morning, I got contacted by one of their talent acquisition people completely out of the blue. This company is overhauling their entire procurement function and he had kept my resume on file and thought I might be a good fit for some of their open positions (it looks like they have cleaned house entirely,as they have at least a half-dozen positions available).
I haven't been actively looking for a new job, but this seems a little too intriguing to not at least explore. Going to be polishing up my resume this afternoon and will be seeing if what they have would be worth pursuing.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 15, 2020 12:47:17 GMT -5
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Post by brutalis on Jan 15, 2020 13:09:41 GMT -5
Go The Captain go The Captain! Any opportunity should be looked into. Worst case it isn't worth it, best case it improves your pay or life circumstances! |
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Post by The Captain on Jan 15, 2020 13:49:35 GMT -5
Go The Captain go The Captain! Any opportunity should be looked into. Worst case it isn't worth it, best case it improves your pay or life circumstances! Thanks guys! It's not really about the pay. My current employer compensates me well for what I do, and there is usually an annual bonus of some kind to sweeten the pot. As for current life circumstances, it isn't really about that either. I work from home three days a week, my commute the other two is easy, and I can pretty much set my own hours. My vacation allotment is a little light, but it's bearable. This is really about setting myself up for the final stage of my career. My current situation doesn't appear to have long-term viability, maybe 3-5 more years, and at 46 today, I don't want to be out in the job market NEEDING to find work at the age of 50 or more. Ageism is rampant, possibly the last acceptable bias in hiring, as companies are constantly looking to go younger (which typically lends itself to going cheaper in conjunction). This is about finding something relatively stable for the next 10-15 years until I can reasonably start considering retirement (or at least a shift in my work life, maybe to consulting or doing something part-time for a non-profit). |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 15, 2020 18:46:23 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Jan 15, 2020 19:24:53 GMT -5
I got an interesting e-mail today. When I was out of work four years ago, I had applied to a local company for an open procurement manager position they had, but they rejected my resume without giving me an interview, saying they had gotten some better-qualified applicants (which is likely true, as I was stretching a bit with my application). This morning, I got contacted by one of their talent acquisition people completely out of the blue. This company is overhauling their entire procurement function and he had kept my resume on file and thought I might be a good fit for some of their open positions (it looks like they have cleaned house entirely,as they have at least a half-dozen positions available). I haven't been actively looking for a new job, but this seems a little too intriguing to not at least explore. Going to be polishing up my resume this afternoon and will be seeing if what they have would be worth pursuing. Good luck with it all. Hopefully it'll all lead to where you wish to be. |
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