Tuesday, February 7, 2012

I think quotes have expiration dates or limits on how often they can be repeated...

... because there are lots of old lines being copy-pasted out there that although "witty and insightful" cannot seem to overcome sounding cheesy and cliche (at least not to my noggin). I'm sorry, but I think it's time to bury those forever hackneyed phases. And gosh, do you realize how many quotes are paraphrases and overlaps of each other? How about a quote that expresses that creativity plays absolutely NO component in genius, for a change! I might actually buy that adage out of disenchantment. Maybe we've really run out of things to be profound about. Personally, I just stay away from quotes. Especially ones by Einstein. 
End Rant.




Saturday, February 4, 2012

A Fail... Or Maybe Not

          So at the beginning of last year, I pledged to do something that ended up being quite unachievable for me. I had pledged to (oh, boy)... read 50 books by December 31, 2011. Embarrassingly, I didn't even make it halfway.  Now perhaps you'd expect me to justify here that annual resolutions are a setup for disappointment, but my 50 Books endeavor was actually a relative success.
          I'll just put it out there: my number was 14. 14 books, I read from cover to cover in 2011. This might seem like a fail from the perspective that it is 36 books short, but I can't help but think about how much more 14 probably is than how much I read in 2010 or 2009. (Won't go back too far because I was a freakin' book-monster as a kid.)
          The lesson learned? I'm going try the book challenge once again this year. I am 99.9% certain I won't reach 50 by December 31, 2012, but I'm 110% sure I'll be proud of how much I accomplish. At the end, it really isn't about the number, but about maintaining the habit to pick up a book rather than get on Facebook when you have downtime in this low-literate generation.

Let's be literate, friends.
Peace.

New page on my blog: "50 Books"