Where I am right now

So, I just thought I’d give you a post, starting where I am right now and go from there:

It took my wife Kim and I about 20 minutes to find this, after surfing through various café jazz channels on YouTube. The coffee shops and houses in the visuals weren’t what I wanted, so my wife suggested a Studio Ghibli theme. We both find the movies strange and not particularly our cup of tea, but we like the animation and it is a nice place to start our Sunday morning.

For Kim, it is perfect after a 12-hour workday/night before a day off; for me, fitting as I ended my work week yesterday and because of a new part-time work schedule (by our choice), only working one day this coming week.

That said, what am I going to do with my time this week? Besides helping Kim here around the house and running errands here and there, I plan on catching up on some Tara Brach meditations and talks via Spotify, a little bit of reading, and a little bit of journaling. Amongst all that, we’ll take time to watch some fun things, including the Rifftrax version of Dune tonight:

As for what I’m reading, I have lots of choices from frivolous fiction to thoughtful nonfiction in print, ebook, and audio. I won’t recite them all here, but will let you know next week what I dipped and delved into.

How about you? Where is your head at today and where will it be this coming week?

My Favorite Reads of 2022

To start this year, I shared my favorite moments in photos from last year. Two weekends ago, I shared the 20 songs I had on repeat last year. Last weekend, I shared our favorite TV shows and movies that my wife Kim and I watched last year.

This weekend, I’m sharing my favorite reads of last year. I read a total of 24 books:

I split evenly between fiction and nonfiction, 12 each, but my four favorites from the year were all nonfiction:

Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman, which I heard about first from fellow blogger Melissa Firman, and then on various podcasts so I had to read it.
Is This Anything? by Jerry Seinfeld, a collection of his favorite material through the years that made my way slowly through for several months.
Riverman: An American Odyssey by Ben McGrath, the true story of a man who, over the course of more than twenty years, canoed solo thousands of miles of American rivers–and then disappeared near the Outer Banks of North Carolina.
Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story by Bono, to which I listened on audiobook, which for me as a U2 fan was the only way to experience it.

Next weekend, I’m thinking about adding the books, TV shows, movies and music I’m looking forward to reading, watching, and listening to this year. We’ll see.

So, what were your favorite books read in 2022? Feel free to link to blog posts.

2022 #thankfullyreading Weekend has kicked off

Click on the image to be taken to Jenn’s kickoff post.

Officially the event, hosted by Jenn of the blog Jenn’s Bookshelves, began on Wednesday and runs through Sunday. Unofficially, I began this past weekend as I was/am off until Monday.

How will/did you celebrate Thanksgiving?

My wife, who is a 911 dispatcher, worked this morning, so she prepared part of Thanskgiving dinner earlier in the week. We had some last night to celebrate our 26th wedding anniversary and will have some again after she sleeps a little. Right now, as I draft this, I’m watching the Mystery Science Theater 3000 Turkey Day Marathon, and we might watch some more later after she awakes.

What’s in your TBR pile of the weekend?

I started with listening to a bit of Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story, written and read by Bono. Also on my list are Paul Newman’s autobiography, The Extraordinary Life of an Ordinary Man and the Serge Storms series by Tim Dorsey, of which I’m on the 14th: When Elves Attack. Apropos or not, the latter is a Christmas tale of sorts.

How much time do you think you’ll have for reading?

A lot. However, will I use it to read all the time? Today, not so much. Tomorrow, a little more and hopefully Saturday and Sunday, even more.

What book are you starting out with?

See above.

Are you reading print, ebooks, or audio?

In addition to listening to Bono’s memoir, I’ll be reading Newman’s autobiography in print and Dorsey’s book on ebook.

What books will you be talking about during Thanksgiving dinner?

My wife and I probably will be talking about whatever MST3K episode is on at the moment. If you’d like to tune in, here’s a link (you even can rewind and it makes great background music):

So how about y’all? How are you spending Thanksgiving?

Starting 2022 Thankfully Reading Weekend Early

That’s what I am doing today. Officially the event, hosted by Jenn of the blog Jenn’s Bookshelves, begins on Wednesday and runs through next Sunday.

Click on the image to be taken to the sign-up post for this year’s event.

As I mentioned in my last post, I’m off for “9 Days, 17 hours, 30 minutes”. I have a list of possibilities of what I want to read, watch, and listen to. This morning, I’ve already started to listen to Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story, written and read by Bono, which is on the list. Also on my list are Paul Newman’s autobiography, The Extraordinary Life of an Ordinary Man and the Serge Storms series by Tim Dorsey, of which I’m on the 14th: When Elves Attack. Apropos or not, the latter is a Christmas tale of sorts.

Even as I’m writing this, I’m listening to Bono’s memoir. I just fell into it and now I don’t know when today I will be able to get out of listening to Bono’s ~~tenor~~ baritone voice accompanied by his, and his band’s, music, some “reimagined” just for this recording. I’ll leave you with a sample: