A love affair re-KINDLEd

In the last year I have been so caught up in writing that my personal reading time has fallen wayward. The Kindle App on my iPad was beginning to look abandoned and screaming for attention. Every time I looked over and glanced at it from my laptop, while hacking away at writing a text, a story, a chapter, or working on a layout, I promised the iPad that I would spend some quality time with it. The closest we came to a reconciliation was the long-haul flights last winter, and even then, it was a brief interlude.

Being tech-savvy to some extent and active on the internet means that there are so many other alternative time wasters out there that eat up your reading time before you know it, and this is being written by a person who isn’t even on Facebook! I am an ardent blogger, but also dedicate time to my photo communities. The first mistake was to discover Bored Panda, and sometimes spend more than 15 minutes at a time on it when I should have / could have been reading something more substantial and intellectually challenging. Then there is the ridiculous Neko Atsume App which serves no purpose other than to take care of a virtual cattery, and this was closely followed by a virtual Koi Pond as well. I deleted the koi pond months ago already but the cats are too cute to give up, as is Tetris!

Then I fell into the clutches of Pinterest. Ugh. Talk about the ultimate internet trolling time waster. The trouble with this site is that you end up looking up DIY ideas, recipes, travel suggestions or travelogues, etc. before you know it, half an hour or more is gone.

Most recently I wandered into the photo sharing swamp called Instagram out of sheer curiosity. OK, this is one place I don’t see myself spending too much time like on 500px because of the ridiculous feature that most of the photo sharing is done primarily through the mobile phone app. It is a great time waster, but as far as I am concerned, I also lose my patience here very quickly.

Saturday morning my TV was picked up by its new owner and that left me with no alternative brainless entertainment. It was a great companion though, especially during the quiet evenings when everyone has gone home and I also needed to shut the world out. Even Champagne would sit beside me and keep me company. Without the TV, we stared at each other for a while, and both felt a bit lost. Some of you will say, well you have the internet… yes and no. My arch enemy PLDT, the internet provider, has once again conspired against me and I have run out of the monthly volume and used up my two top-ups. There is no way of adding volume to the ULTERA package, which is a really ridiculous situation. So I have to be careful with the internet consumption from my mobile data. Thank goodness I am using pre-paid, and I must say that Globe is a faithful companion that hasn’t let me down yet. I looked back at my laptop and decided I had spent far too many hours working already and needed a break. Besides, I was waiting for some edits to come in and had to contend with time difference. My eyes then fell on the iPad.

So it came to pass that I did something this weekend I haven’t done in ages. Read a book from cover to cover. Like I said, I got caught up in all the writing, moving, mourning, and still have a ton of unfinished work, so it was like a vacation for my soul, a long overdue gift to myself. The cat was a bit confused but kept me company nevertheless, calling my attention when she needed attention herself or some other utilitarian service, as cats tend to do. Thank you ERPL for taking the TV away, it was perfect timing!