One post a year seems about right

Welcome back old friends. I also say “hello” or “nice to meet you” to new readers of this corner of my brain. It’s been a long while since I put some thoughts through a keyboard but I’m back for the time being, cheerio.
The snow’s piling up outside and I’m sitting inside reading more often so I couldn’t help but discuss something irking me. Who decided ‘speed reading’ was a good idea? Isn’t it bad enough that we speed through our daily lives? I think of two situations in which speed reading compares; ‘speed eating’ and something I like to call ‘speed living’. Let’s compare life to art (damnit another cliché…I’m breaking the rules of proper writing with one of those…or is including one simply challenging the idea of writing clichés?). We should take time, when we can, to reflect and enjoy most moments (notice I didn’t say all…cause some we would like to forget…you remember those awkward bathroom stall breaches when someone forgot to say “occupied” or lock the door when you knock?) as though we will not find ourselves there again. When I say ‘there’ I mean in a given particular time and space. Minutes in that regard are unique (they seem to pass so quickly…) but I won’t go into that right now because this is already a ludicrous discussion and I’m thankful anyone is still reading on.
Those of us who enjoy reading understand the importance of ‘digesting’ words as our eyeballs hover over each page. The slower the reading, the more time the mind has to paint a picture of the wonderful descriptions the author provides for the reader. What’s the point of reading so fast we are only able to catch “beautiful…..park….on the sidewalk….dogs”? I don’t know about you but I spent some time in high school speed reading and I missed half of the description words that helped give the text meaning.
Going back to the food comparison (talk about a terrible transition)…it’s like going to a nice restaurant where the food has been prepared with care and you shovel down everything so fast you don’t realize what you just tasted. “Well yes it was a bit salty and chewy…and then I remember there was some water I drank at some point..it was a bit metallic”. Okay sometimes we are just so hungry we can’t help it but regardless, the point I am trying to make here is slow down…in everything. Take time enjoying someone else’s creation (music too) because isn’t that what we are all here for, to create? Yes we are all guilty of speeding through everything, but let’s try not to. In some ways it just seems disrespectful to our fellow humans.
All audacity aside, think about how terrible most things are if you do them quickly…yes my friends, going to the bathroom can best be enjoyed slowly….we all know it.






Speed reading sucks.