EricaJoy

I Wasn’t Always Like This

This may come as some surprise to you but the woman (geez, when did I become a woman) that you all know and love *ahem* has been through quite a few iterations. There was the tomboy revision, the “athlete” (I use that term very loosely) revision, and the tough chick revision (now coming to a close), with a few other short lived revisions in between. However, before the revisions, there was the core code; bookworm and computer lover.

For the last 8 or 9 years, the computer lover has been at the forefront. I’ve immersed myself in technology, gadgets, and the internet and had a blast of a time doing it, meeting some people and influencing some lives along the way. However, true immersion comes at the cost of losing a bit of ones self and for sure and certain, I lost the bookworm. Oh, I’d listen to my audiobooks and read the random best seller I picked up in the airport but it wasn’t the same. When I was a real bookworm, my library card showed frequent stamps since I was checking out books at least once a week, often twice a week. I used to wake up dead tired in the morning for school because I’d stayed up until 2 am reading a book under the covers. There was a point in my life where I used to get yelled at by my mom for using all the hot water after losing track of time while reading a book in the shower.

Anyway, it seemed all that faded away as I became more engrossed with computing and the intarwebs.

Until this evening.

Tonight I got on the train to come home at about 8:30pm (post TGIAF shenanigans kept me at the office until that hour). I opened my Kindle cover, did the ALT+Home thing (that still seems so awkward) and continued where I’d left off in my book. I’d been reading that book while I was walking the halls at work, on the train ride to work, sitting in the DMV, and on the train ride to the DMV. When I got home around 9pm, I continued reading my book while laying on my bed with a cool breeze coming through the window. Aside from the sound of the fan oscillating, the occasional car door slamming, and the “ice cream” (I use that term loosely as well) man, there were no other sounds. When I got up to take a biobreak, I checked the clock on my cable box in the living room and realized 3 hours had passed.

Let me explain the gravity of that. I got home and didn’t turn on or touch a computer for 3 hours. If you know me well, you know this is unheard of. The last time I did that was the night…wait I actually don’t remember the last time I did that. Tonight though, I sat back, relaxed, and immersed myself in a book instead of a computer for 3 hours. Come to think of it, I’ve been spending a lot more time reading and a lot less time stressing or geeking out. I’ve bought and read 3 books in the last few weeks because its been so easy to do so. Finish one book, connect to the store, buy another book. Sure, I haven’t returned to my old book devouring pace but I can feel that part of myself coming back out and until 45 minutes ago, I was starting to forget that part of me even existed.

Thanks for that Amazon, Jeff Bezos, and whomever else was behind the Kindle.