Story: 23/03/09-28/03/09
Sunday, 29 March, 2009
These days, the story of my life tends to get recorded on Twitter in 140 character bursts. But it's been a full week and I feel the need to debrief. So here goes ...
Monday 23/03/09
After a weekend of copious amounts of clothes shopping, eating Vietnamese and seeing a musical about Vietnam (the best amateur show I'd ever seen, even if it was Miss Saigon, which George loves and I loathe), going to a celebration picnic in honour of our nephew, church and dinner with my American cousin who showed us some of the antique Japanese swords and sword fittings he'd brought into the country for the Sydney Token Kai Japanese Sword Show Exhibition (from which we arrived home around midnight), after about six hours of sleep, I still got up, drove to work and got stuck into editing the May issue of The Briefing. I spent pretty much from 7:30 to 3:00 pm, hanging out for lunch but trying to get that final piece done. Then I ate my lunch, but thought, “It's practically home time. I think I'll go home”, and spent the second half of my lunch hour in the car.
At home, I tried to do some exercise. I wasn't too keen on going for a swim, but I also wasn't too keen on going for a walk. So I ran on the spot for about 20 minutes while watching an episode of Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex (noting, rather disrgruntedly, that the version I had purchased off eBay last year had subtitles which didn't quite sync with the Japanese dialogue).
Tuesday 24/03/09
Day off, but I had a busy day planned. To make up for six hours of sleep on Monday, I got around eight on Tuesday, and went to work in the lounge room as Ben was still asleep. I spent the entire day rebuilding The Faithful Writer website and putting it into Expression Engine. I had to do this because CASE changed servers late last year, and it was the perfect time to move everything to the domain I had bought (especially given that I no longer work for CASE and didn't have access to their new content management system). It took a while because my HTML, CSS and Expression Engine skills were rusty, plus I needed to tweak the design slightly and re-do the mailing list. I had cheese on toast for lunch, but accidentally burned one side of the toast in the grill because it's been about four years since I've actually made toast ... (Ben went off gluten and dairy in 2005, and I've never been a strong bread eater.)
Ben made dinner and we watched some TV. Then it was back to work—trying to build the front page of the domain according to the wonderful design Bec made last year. Needless to say, I didn't get too far with that. Plus, I had to the dishes plus this other thing for my mum before I could go to sleep (she wanted me to record myself singing 2 minutes of “Beatus Vir” by Monteverdi for an art thing she's doing). So I didn't end up going to bed until 1.
Wednesday 25/03/09
Nevertheless, I still got up at 6:40 and drove to work on five and a half hours' sleep. I ate breakfast at work (I think, apart from Tuesday, I didn't once have breakfast at home, but when I eat breakfast at work, I try to make sure I also read my Bible and pray). Then I got stuck into editing until it was time for my doctor's appointment. Another one of the awesome perks about having a Macbook is that I could take work with me, and I sat in the doctor's waiting room and edited while an elderly Greek woman occasionally glanced over my shoulder. (She was probably appalled at the subject matter because the article was about porn.)
Instead of the standard one-hour wait, I got to see the doctor after half an hour. Then, after getting my prescription filled, I headed back to work and edited almost a week's worth of Sola Panel. I had a cookies and cream KitKat for morning tea, and it must have filled me up, because I didn't feel hungry until 3 pm, which was when I finished the porn article. I figured I should probably just go home again, so I drove home, at my lunch while watching a bit of TV, then got distracted by TV and then didn't really get stuck into the second article I was supposed to edit that day. Part of the problem was I was stumped by the beginning, so I gave the author a call and sorted it out.
Then Ben and I went and caught the bus into town (we just missed one so we were sitting there for 15 minutes waiting for the next one). We walked to Badde Manors in Glebe and had dinner there (I had a very yummy risotto), then had churros for dessert at San Churro. Then we caught another bus up to Town Hall, and went to see Sia at The Metro. It was her only Sydney show, and it clashed with Bible study, but I was not about to miss it. The placed was packed—apparently it was sold out—and we found a space on the floor before the first steps and enjoyed the show from there (even though the heads of guys who were taller than me occasionally got in the way). And it was fantastic! She and her band came out with glow-in-the-dark costumes for the first number, then ditched them in favour of white apparel for the second (though she was an orange drapey dress). Bridezilla had been her support act, and in contrast to Bridezilla's rather breathy lead singer, Sia was just all power and emotion in her vocals. The crowd was so into it—I hadn't realised that so many people loved her music and knew all the words (they were singing along) but their energy and enthusiasm certainly affected Sia because she commented on it several times during the night. She did most of my favourites—“Breathe Me”, “Lentil”, “Little Black Sandals”, “You Have Been Loved”, “Playground”, “Electric Bird”—as well as a bunch I'd never heard before (and one which is going on her next album). I enjoyed every minute of it, dancing on the spot in my shuffly kind of way.
She and her band only did one encore. The crowd wanted more, but I guess that was a bit much, and it was getting late. Ben and I walked over to Castlereagh St and jumped on a bus, then walked home from the bus stop. I don't think I got to bed until about 1.
Thursday 26/03/09
Again, having had only five and a half hours of sleep, I got up, jumped in the car and drove to work (and ate breakfast there again). I had a lot to do, but I was running on very little sleep and wasn't sure if I'd make it. I dragged the bean bag into my office in case I hit the wall and needed to lie down. Green tea certainly helped, and I found I was able to focus and get the article I hadn't completed the day before off to the author by lunchtime.
This time I ate lunch at the proper time, then tried to edit a one-page review before staff meeting. During staff meeting, we read a bit of Proverbs 16 in small groups, then prayed together. After staff meeting, I finished the one-page review and then it was 4 pm and home time. I drove home, dragged Ben out for a walk for half an hour, then started the laundry while he cooked. I was getting stuck into the last feature article when dinner was ready. We watched some TV, then I had to get back to work. So I did the dishes and continued with the laundry, and finished editing the last feature article. It was about 9 pm and I still had the one-page Pastor's brief to go. It was mercifully short, so I finished that and emailed it off to the author, then called it a night and went to bed at around 10 pm.
Friday 27/03/09
I slept for around 10 hours, but I'm sure you'll agree I really needed it. I woke up at 6 to find Ben was up (not having slept well), so I persuaded him to go back to sleep because I didn't want him driving all sleep-deprived. (Surely I'm not the only one who is concerned about that!) I got up again several hours later to eat breakfast, read the Bible and pray (oh, so that's the other day when I did that at home), and then got stuck into the Resource talk article. Then Ben got up and got ready, and drove me to work because he needed the car.
I was only in the office for about an hour and a half. I finished the Resource talk and sent it off to the author. Then I did a few other bits and pieces for the May issue, gave Paul an update and went to meet Elsie at her office. We went to the Tea Inn to drink milk tea, chat and pray together. This made me a bit late for The Faithful Writer committee meeting at 1, but that was okay.
We were having it at the newly built New College Village, which is, I think, the only postgraduate residential college in the country. Trevor gave us a tour, and it's a really cool place. Bec and I agreed that it almost made us want to start PhDs so we could live there. After the tour, we had a lovely lunch provided by the college in the conference room, and got stuck into our meeting. It was over by 2:30 because Trevor had to leave, so we made our farewells.
Then Bec and I caught the 400 bus up to The Spot, and went to the really cool gift shop there (where I bought a better handbag holder; I used to have one that belonged to Ben's grandmother, but Lizz admired it and I thought she deserved to have it more than me, so I gave it to her and bought another when I was in Brisbane with Kathleen. Unfortunately that one wasn't too good with the weight of my handbag ...) We also had a poke around the secondhand bookshop, before going to Teascapes and settling into the lounges near the window. I had a big chai latte, and Bec and I talked for a while and started dreaming together about going to see Wicked in Melbourne. Then Guan showed up, we caught up since we all hadn't seen each other in a while (over a week—shock horror!) and then we got stuck into writing.
At around 5:30, Guan said he had to go. Bec went with him, but I stayed and kept writing. I manage to plot almost the rest of chapter 1 of my graphic novel, and then Amelia and her friend Jo showed up with their 15 mm knitting needles and Anny Blatt fine kid mohair, and I proceeded to talk them through how to knit the modified Lace Ribbon pattern so they could make the same shawl that I had made for Amelia last year.
The knitting clinic went for a lot longer than I expected (plus I gave them faulty instructions on the wrong side rows!), but afterwards Amelia dropped me at Guan and Mary's where everyone was gathered in the TV room. Ben had been rather frustrated because he had the Guitar Hero guitar, but I had the game, which meant none of them could play. So they played for a bit until the pizzas turned up, and then we started watching The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, which almost everyone seemed to enjoy.
Then Ben and I dropped Bec home, then drove home and messed around on the computer for a bit. That was when I hit the wall, I think: I checked Facebook, and under a status update about how I'd manage to get 10 hours of sleep the night before, someone (who will not be named, but she is a new mother) commented “sleep—what's sleep?? *sigh*” which just made me see red—probably because she's the third young mother to do that in the space of six months, and (more likely) because the commenter was more concerned with herself and her experiences than me, even though it was my status update. If she had just said something about her baby fatigue on her own status update, that would have been fine; why she felt compelled to mention it on mine is beyond me. As it was, she came across as callous, and she clearly had no appreciation for how hard I'd been working this week (not that she had to; I don't expect everyone to read all my status updates, but if she had, she would have known that working a 30-hour week with extra work plus housework is no mean feat). I was trying to explain this to Ben but I don't think he got it; I guess he doesn't often get other guys inconsiderately complaining to him about their lack of sleep because of babies. But George was online, so I ranted to her for a while, and we had a long IM conversation about all sorts of things.
I finally said goodbye to her because it was really late (around 1:30 am) and she had to drive to Canberra the following day, and I went to bed, but two hours later, I was still awake. So I got up and started doing stuff on my computer. I actually did work work—I uploaded all the web ads that Jess had sent me for The Briefing and The Sola Panel, and put them all into Expression Engine, and I did it while listening to Scapie's version of Watchmen (where some guy's cat tries to explain the plot of Watchmen to this girl), and then, when that was done, I moved onto my Last FM recommendations. At 5 am, I felt tired again, so I went back to bed and slept for about seven or eight hours.
Saturday 28/03/09
I got up at around 1 and spent the day feeling rather sad and mopey. I mucked around listlessly on the computer, watched taped NCIS, went for a walk to the shops with my Frou Frou parasol to buy supplies for the evening, tidied up the flat, and then Seamus and Little Rachel came over for dinner. I gave them the grand tour while Ben cooked (it's so wonderful when Ben cooks!) and then gave Little a bag full of clothes I was giving away to try on (and they all looked fantastic on her, so I was very pleased they were going to a good home!) Seamus had a go at Guitar Hero, and then dinner was ready, so we ate vegetarian stir fry with hokkien noodles and sweet chili sauce, and then we played about five games of mahjong (I finally won one!)
After they left, I did the dishes (putting most of them in the dishwasher—yay dishwashers!) and cleaned up. Then I sat down to write this.
But now it's 2 am. Bedtime, methinks ...
Current:
seen: Moon 15/10/2009
read: The Incredibles 11/10/2009
seen: She's the Man 05/10/2009
read: I Kill Giants (Joe Kelly and J. M. Ken Niimura) 04/10/2009
read: Astro City The Dark Ages Book 1: Brothers and Other Strangers (Kurt Busiek, Brent Anderson and Alex Ross) 04/10/2009
seen: Children of Men 02/10/2009
seen: Metric (The Metro) 30/09/2009
seen: 500 Days of Summer 25/09/2009
seen: The September Issue 18/09/2009
seen: Gilmore Girls: Season 1 17/09/2009
read: Flight (Volume 1) (edited by Kazu Kibuishi) 16/09/2009
seen: Ponyo 11/09/2009
read: Batman: Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader? (Neil Gaiman and Andy Kubert) 05/09/2009
heard: Aimee Mann (Enmore Theatre) 04/09/2009
heard: Ben Folds Solo (Opera House) 31/08/2009
read: Phonogram: Rue Britannia (Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie) 26/08/2009
seen: Northanger Abbey 20/08/2009
read: The Princess Diaries (Meg Cabot) 18/08/2009
seen: The Phantom of the Opera 17/08/2009
seen: Who Framed Roger Rabbit? 10/08/2009
seen: District 9 10/08/2009
read: Shortcomings (Adrian Tomine) 02/08/2009
read: AIR Volume 1: Letters from Lost Countries (Willow Wilson and M.K. Perker) 28/07/2009
seen: Persepolis 25/07/2009
seen: Ghost Town 25/07/2009
heard: Gutter Twins (Seymour Centre) 23/07/2009
seen: Coco Avant Chanel 20/07/2009
seen: Gutenberg! The Musical (Seymour Centre) 16/07/2009
seen: So You Think You Can Dance? Australia Live Tour (Sydney Entertainment Centre) 11/07/2009
seen: Every Little Step 07/07/2009
seen: Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen 03/07/2009
seen: Synecdoche, New York 30/06/2009
seen: Charlie's Angels 27/06/2009
seen: Penelope 26/06/2009
seen: Coraline 10/06/2009
seen: The Sky Crawlers 08/06/2009
seen: The Bourne Ultimatum 07/06/2009
seen: The Bourne Supremacy 07/06/2009
seen: The Bourne Identity 06/06/2009
seen: Stick it 05/06/2009
Comment:
Hi Karen,
Congratulations on Astrid’s birth.
A quick tip that we learned when we became parents and my wife was breastfeeding (don’t you love tips from strangers 
):
Instead of writing down which side to feed on next, stick a hairclip, or peg on your bra strap on the side they will next feed from. Then swap it over when you feed.
Then you never have to remember, and you don’t need to worry about writing it down.
That is indeed an epic post! Brings back a lot of memories of Puff’s first weeks.
As far as how long until Astrid hits 16kgs, you can read it off the graphs in her blue book. I would guess somewhere between 2 and 3 years old.
Hi Karen - yes! But we’re finished at Moore now and living back in Tassie so it’s unlikely. I enjoy still enjoy reading though, hope you don’t mind!
@Miriam - I had a very fast labour too (lets just say it was quite a bit quicker than 4 hours) and I almost felt embarrassed telling people! I’d never imagined I’d be one of ‘those’ women. Still, friends who’ve had longer labours followed by shorter labours assured me it’s the same amount of pain, just squeezed into a shorter time span so I try not to feel too bad 
Congratulations Karen & Ben. What a beautiful daughter. Thanks for sharing your birth story - sounds almost identical to mine, except my labour was only 4 hours! My midwife also told me not to share it at mothers group as people would be jealous hehe
Enjoy this wonderful time getting to know Astrid.
Miriam
Thanks everyone!
Wow, Bron, I still can’t believe I haven’t met you yet! Thanks for continuing to read this blog!
Little Rachel, now I’m intrigued!!!
It’s so funny reading your labour experience. It’s so funny she came out when you were standing up and the midwife had to catch her. Wow! I will remember to go through your blog more carefully when my time comes around. It’s very informative.
Congratulations to you all and many blessings. Astrid is a little sweetie.
Congratulations Karen and Ben. A gorgeous girl with a gorgeous name. Praise God!
Thanks for sharing your story.
Congrats, Karen! She looks wonderful, so alert and adorable! Glad that everything went so smoothly (comparatively).
Well, one of your details clears up a conversation Jess and Anna and Liza and I had! I’ll tell you later.
I think you and Ben did amazingly well, and that the staff were right: you were pretty tough! I will have to give all those exercises a go when that time comes.
Yay for Astrid! Such a beautiful name for a precious daughter.
Hello! Thanks for sharing. It sounded tough and bewildering! Can I come and visit sometime? Tonight or tomorrow night? I’m away for the next 4 days after that. Love George
Congratulations! Astrid Winter is a gorgeous name. So beautiful. Thank you for sharing your story. It’s interesting to hear from other women. Now I’m expecting my second I’m starting to think about all that again. Eeeeek!
RPA is very busy, apparently they’re at 3 times capacity for the area. When we were there last year the night my daughter was born there were something like 8 births in 45 minutes. As soon as I’d had a shower we had to be out of there! I remember being rather surprised at having to walk up to the post-natal ward. “you want me to what?!”
I don’t think it’s exclusively the change of temperature: young babies like to be cuddled up (or wrapped in a blanket or similar) as they adjust to being on the outside after so long being wrapped up on the inside.
Oh yeah, it makes perfect sense that babies would cry if you put them in a cold bed! I totally never thought of that!
I love your posts, they are so fascinating! :D
Oh Jess! There are so many good things about Sydney
Looks like really nice adventures! I don’t really think of Sydney as a place to explore.. hmm.. you have opened my mind up to The Staycation.
I get depressed at the adrenaline crash also because then I have time to think about how shitty everything is lol.
Hmm...food for thought indeed. V. interesting, thank you for posting
lol! Karen, you’re so frank and I love it. “the non-constipating kind” of iron pills. hahaha.
i know how hard it is to not tell people the sex of your baby. I am tempted to tell strangers or acquaintances what you’re having because, as Ben reasoned with the waiter, I’ll either never see them again or it’s not like their going to tell anyone of consequence.
Thanks Kathleen! Glad you’re finding them interesting!
These posts are fascinating, Karen, and I’m happy/sad for you.
Hey Little! One of the things that astounds me is that people all over the world give birth everyday in different circumstances, and they seem to get through it. Maybe all the bells and whistles of the western world are simply that—bells and whistles, and things we do to make ourselves feel better about such a painful and momentous occurrence. I’m sure Mongolia has its own ways of looking after their expectant mums!
Great post, Karen.
As I said to you last Friday: the Toturo thing is gorgeous!
Thanks for posting about the changing relationships between friends. I’ve been struggling to come to terms with my best friend’s relationship with her boyfriend and the loss I feel. It’s been 18mths now, but I guess it’s taking longer for me to deal with because he’s not something we talk about and I don’t often see them together. However, it’s still known. It’s good to know I’m not alone or going crazy or whatever.
Also, thanks for the updates on Peanut. Can’t wait to meet him/her!
I think that your child will one day be thankful that they can read about what their mother was thinking. They won’t have to wonder if you’ve forgotten anything or just telling the good things! I think the positives are more believable when accompanied by the negatives, that’s just more realistic.
The PGP sounds really hard! Also not something that people talk about, so is it hard to get understanding from people when you need to go a little slower? Though perhaps they just expect that of pregnant women… gah, there are so many steps at MM! :(
I worry about the money stuff too… though I guess in Mongolia maybe they won’t do all those medical things so I won’t have to pay for them! 
Keep blogging! You know I’m fascinated. ;p
Thanks Miriam! That’s good to know!
Hi Karen,
Thanks for the long update. It sounds like you are experiencing very common emotions (high and low) of first-time expectant mothers.
In answer to your question about breastfeeding in 5mins - that’s pretty common. In the first few weeks as both you and baby are learning how to feed (it takes a while to get the hang of it)feeding takes a little while (about an hour for me and Alex). This was actually a blessing for me as it meant I could sit and rest for that period of time, 5 or 6 times a day! Lovely, especially as it was such a tiring time of my life, with all the adjusting that comes with the birth of a child.
The milk flow can be quite fast to begin with(often too fast for baby!) and it means they take in too much and then need to be burped, which all takes time. After awhile though your breasts will adjust and regulate themselves as they work out how much milk is needed. THey are amazing the way they work. They actually feel quite soft and empty after a few weeks and lots of new mums worry that they don’t hvae enough milk, but it is very normal, and just means your body has regulated the amount of milk it makes.
Check out the Australian Breastfeeding Association webpage - it is full of excellent information. I would recommend joining the association - you receive a magazine every 2 months, which is filled with wonderful articles. I found it very helpful (and still do after 3 years of feeding). A great bit of reading to have in your hands while sitting down to feed. You also receive an excellent book “Breastfeeding....naturally” which answers just about any question you may have about breastfeeding. I read it many many times!
Mim
Congratulations again - and it is very interesting to hear what happens!
@Sarah: Thanks for the tip RE Australian Breastfeeding Association! I never would have thought to look there. Ditto KMart: I was wondering if they did since Target don’t.
@Rae: Thanks for the tip! I’ll check it out.
@Little Rachel: Oh, I’ll definitely be up for visitors! I may not be very good company (brain-dead, etc.) but I’ll certainly appreciate visits!
@Rachel C: CONGRATS!!! So excited for you Yours sounds like a good philosophy. One day I shall have to blog about Outliers!
@CafeDave: Thanks for the tip!
@Elissa: Thanks for your kind words! It makes me happy that you and Dave were excited we were getting married! Thanks also for the prayers!
@Elsie: There are lots of other lovely things I could have said about you, but let’s not overload my readers, shall we? ;P
Aww...thanks for the lovely things you said about me! I enjoyed reading this post (as I do with all yours). xo
Congratulations to you both. I know you will be such wonderful parents. You sound WAY too sensible! 
(Sorry to read that there were some unusual comments made about your marriage! We thought it was exciting. We still have a lovely photo of you & Ben in our lovely box of special memories. (I was only 22 when married & I was 30 when we had Bonnie...)
Everyone is different! I nodded through your post. SO many people feel the curious need to share their “horror stories” which is just dreadful. I remember complaining to David who said - go find people who are positive & listen to them. Great advice, which I did. Those people still have a big place in my heart because their advice was honest & gentle.
Bless you & Ben & the little Peanut. We pray all goes smoothly over the coming weeks/months ahead. We sometimes forget what a precious little miracle life really is…
Another book from the dad’s perspective I found helpful was From here to paternity - it’s an Australian book, and was followed up with a blog.
Hi!
I’m so excited for you reading your blog about being pregnant I am 13 weeks pregnant with #2.
You’re so right about all the pessimism “advice” that you get. I got so mad about it but never found a good response. I’ve had such joy right from day one with E that I just don’t want to buy into the negativity (I’m sure kids pick up on it too!).
My philosophy was/is to be a relaxed mum and from that figure out what was best for my baby/child. Get advice when you’re not sure on things or want to know how other people approached things, read books (loved Outliers!) that aren’t all about parenting… but just enjoy.
In a sample size of one to date, I’ve had such a happy, chilled out son right from day one. People say all the craziest advice… glad you don’t do guilt
With love,
R
Thanks so much for writing more! I love hearing how you’re going and all your thoughts.
After watching my sister I agree with you that it seems the first six months are perhaps the hardest. She got quite lonely at home all day; weekends were all right because then her husband was around but it’s just as you say… one feed ends then the next begins! If you are accepting visitors during this period then I hope to use some RDOs to come have grown-up conversations!
The book review of The Second Nine Months makes me want to read it now!
Names: We have one girl name that we both like and no boy names that we agree on. But they are also top-secret… so if anyone else uses them we can’t accuse them of theft!
Yay Peanut, keep on growing, can’t wait to meet you!
Hello! Thanks for sharing
I loved reading your pregnancy update! I am glad to hear that things are all going pretty well, and I hope the rest of your 2nd trimester is as good.
I just wanted to add, that some other blokes decided that there was not much for the fathers-t0-be, and made a couple of DVD’s just for expectant dads. They are called ‘Being Dad’and i think they are available at big W. I have both though, if you would like me to send them!
Just wanted to wish you all the best!
Love
Rae
re: gluten: no idea!! I didn’t have to go on that diet - it was probably related to the test I didn’t do.
At the risk of adding to your list of advice:
Re: maternity bras - because I’m big I had to look hard for something nice in my size and discovered the Australian Breastfeeding Association. They have a massive range online and most are (dare I say it) sexy.
Re: maternity clothes - Kmart have a nice range of basic stuff.. I only found out towards the end of pregnancy and I would have liked to know earlier!
Re: Parenting classes - if you’re at RPA you can just ring the midwives section (they’ll put you through) and ask directly.
Congratulations again
Don’t laminate your ultrasound picture That is my advice.
Congratulations! This is so fantastic!
Thanks so much for sharing all of this… people swap engagement stories but rarely pregnancy stories! And it’s kind of similar don’t you think, all this excitement leading up to a big day!
So happy for you guys! Actually never been more excited for anyone except my sister! I think it’s because I think that you will both be amazing parents and love the idea that someone could grow up in your family.
Looking forward to many more posts on the topic.
Blinks:
"For a long time, I was waiting for my life to go back to normal," he said. "And then I realized, this is my life. So this is my normal."
How to make wontons.
Short-sleeved cardigan with lace edging.
Interesting answer.
"We pick out people who have the same kind of unhappiness we do. And we gravitate toward them and try to help them.
"Many of us are like this. Every time we try to help someone else and fail, it feels weird. It feels bad. We do not know exactly what is going on but it is upsetting.
"Until one day we realize that what we are doing is avoiding our own pain. We have learned to act as though it is not our pain that is at issue, but other people's."
Cleaning tips for all sorts of things. White vinegar is apparently wonderful!
The case for print.
"Laura Miller has argued eloquently in Salon about reading on the iPad as a serene experience, a sanctuary from the link-surfing that dominates so much of what we read online. And yet, I know what having an iPod has done to my attention span and ability to sit through an entire album, in order, by one artist ... and I'll be damned if I let the same thing happen to the way I read. Out of every argument I've heard in favor of e-readers ... my least favorite might be the central point of the thing: the fact that it allows you to choose from thousands of books at any given time. I simply don't want that kind of potential for distraction ...
"For me, to deny books their physical structure simply ignores far too much of what makes them enjoyable. The commitment they require, the way they force you into a state of simultaneous calm and focus—these are things I have yet to duplicate by any other means."
Something to do with leftover wool. Makes good toys!
The reasons behind the creation of the 4 am news slot. Interesting how lifestyle fuels these sorts of cultural changes.
Via Elsie. Consumer addiction used to distract or cover for emotional emptiness/loss/grief, etc.
A parenting philosophy to introduce media to children late and slowly.
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Comments
I hear you on the sleep comment.
Nathan lived in postgraduate accommodation at Griffith University during the first part of his PhD. Then we got married and lived off campus.
I think Griffith uses it now to house some aspiring young cricketers.
dishwashers are the best thing ever
They are indeed!
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