De Gaudiis Legendi

This past weekend I did something I haven't done for a long time: I wasted time by reading! It was such thrilling and gratifying experience that I almost don't consider it a waste of time (except for the fact that my stack of ungraded papers is now almost an inch thick).

When I was little I was an avid reader. My grandma, a teacher, used to make me feel so proud when she told me I was "reading at such-and-such grade level" when I was only eight. When I wasn't playing outside, I was reading. Granted, I wasn't reading things like the Iliad (which, I happen to know, some little kids actually read), but I was reading - engaging my brain. In high school between school and ballet there was little time to read for fun, which is when reading became my time-waster. I still enjoyed it, but I didn't get to increase my abilites.

Then my reading came to a screeching (yes, screeching) halt. With unlimited access to my own computer in college, I quickly shifted my time-whittling energies to the internet. First it was instant messenger, then Facebook, then the blogosphere. And all along were the movies and TV shows that suddenly became accesssible to me. Most reading, even relatively easy stuff, was edged out. I can think of one book that I read from start to finish during my college years. It was a good book, and I remember feeling refreshed by reading it, but it was the exception.

So I finally took some time out to read. It wasn't great literature, but it was substantial reading. I added back a part of myself that I had lost. My life is now a little less like white bread and a little more like whole wheat. Yay! I look forward to a lot more adventures in reading.