As always, a day like this prompts one to give thanks for many things, especially family, friends, health, society, work, a place in space and time, and so on.
This year, I want to focus specifically on what I am thankful for in 2019.
Well, 10 years ago, I was enjoying Thanksgiving with my full family, and thinking deeply about a journey that was to come. I was nervous, but thanks to writers who had shared their adventures and lessons from their own travels, I had the courage to proceed with the most valuable, educational and worthwhile experiences of my life. And when I was on the move or needed something else for companionship, there was music.
2019 has been challenging in various ways, yet through it all, there have been books, and music. I'm always reading something on any given day, but in recent years I've mostly been content to read on the train, or, all too often, spend more time reading news magazines and articles online than in actual books. Even when I read books, it was rarely fiction. It seemed those days had passed.
Earlier this year I made a point of buying more fiction, interspersed with nonfiction. I would buy 5 to 8 books at a time, and tell myself that since I'd bought them, I'd have to spend more time reading them, as opposed to various other activities that had been taking up my time. A couple months ago, I was in a bookstore one of my few Saturdays this autumn when I was actually in the city, and I got carried away. I'm talking REALLY carried away. It was ridiculous, and it was beautiful.
You see, a couple days before I'd been in a Best Buy for some reason or other, and couldn't help but notice just how inexpensive these fancy new televisions were, and although I already had a nice large one I'd gotten in 2016 or so, I thought maybe I could use a new one without any nicks in it. Luckily, I talked myself out of that.
When I found myself in a bookstore the next Saturday, kind of on a whim, I intended to purchase one specific book, only to be entranced by the classics section, where each title was under ten bucks. I decided I could spare to spend more, and soon my arms were filled. After a while, I got out my calculator and started figuring out a new budget to see how much I could really get away with. Then I remembered how much money I had been prepared to invest in a new TV, and decided to make a comparable investment in books. Then it turned into a much larger investment. I thought of all the things I'd spent money on in my life, and how I'd never spent that much on books in one place at one time. Yes, libraries are important, and less expensive, but I had made full use of the New York Public Library during my first stint in New York. At this point, I figured if I was ever going to be monetarily rewarded for my written tales, I'd have to make a karmic investment in the industry first. That, and I really wanted to read all of them. I eventually had to ask for a basket, and they brought me a cart with wheels. It looked like a stroller. Luckily, I don't have kids (for now... who knows... ), which is all the more reason to take advantage of this free time I may not have forever. So I filled the stroller with books. They cry less and don't require diaper changes.
I've been averaging completing a book a week the past couple months, and, depending on the length, plan to increase my consumption in the winter months. Somehow I've managed to have a social life, stay employed, go hiking and have a few new adventures at the same time. Some of those mini-trips have involved explorations of notable quaint upstate New York towns, so naturally I had to check out their little bookstores and pick up a few titles. What I'm trying to say is that I'm thankful that people continue to write books, publish books, and still buy enough of them that people are willing to print them on paper.
As for music, I'll explain that strange project later. But I am very thankful for all the artists who amplify universal magic.
This year, I want to focus specifically on what I am thankful for in 2019.
Well, 10 years ago, I was enjoying Thanksgiving with my full family, and thinking deeply about a journey that was to come. I was nervous, but thanks to writers who had shared their adventures and lessons from their own travels, I had the courage to proceed with the most valuable, educational and worthwhile experiences of my life. And when I was on the move or needed something else for companionship, there was music.
2019 has been challenging in various ways, yet through it all, there have been books, and music. I'm always reading something on any given day, but in recent years I've mostly been content to read on the train, or, all too often, spend more time reading news magazines and articles online than in actual books. Even when I read books, it was rarely fiction. It seemed those days had passed.
Earlier this year I made a point of buying more fiction, interspersed with nonfiction. I would buy 5 to 8 books at a time, and tell myself that since I'd bought them, I'd have to spend more time reading them, as opposed to various other activities that had been taking up my time. A couple months ago, I was in a bookstore one of my few Saturdays this autumn when I was actually in the city, and I got carried away. I'm talking REALLY carried away. It was ridiculous, and it was beautiful.
You see, a couple days before I'd been in a Best Buy for some reason or other, and couldn't help but notice just how inexpensive these fancy new televisions were, and although I already had a nice large one I'd gotten in 2016 or so, I thought maybe I could use a new one without any nicks in it. Luckily, I talked myself out of that.
When I found myself in a bookstore the next Saturday, kind of on a whim, I intended to purchase one specific book, only to be entranced by the classics section, where each title was under ten bucks. I decided I could spare to spend more, and soon my arms were filled. After a while, I got out my calculator and started figuring out a new budget to see how much I could really get away with. Then I remembered how much money I had been prepared to invest in a new TV, and decided to make a comparable investment in books. Then it turned into a much larger investment. I thought of all the things I'd spent money on in my life, and how I'd never spent that much on books in one place at one time. Yes, libraries are important, and less expensive, but I had made full use of the New York Public Library during my first stint in New York. At this point, I figured if I was ever going to be monetarily rewarded for my written tales, I'd have to make a karmic investment in the industry first. That, and I really wanted to read all of them. I eventually had to ask for a basket, and they brought me a cart with wheels. It looked like a stroller. Luckily, I don't have kids (for now... who knows... ), which is all the more reason to take advantage of this free time I may not have forever. So I filled the stroller with books. They cry less and don't require diaper changes.
I've been averaging completing a book a week the past couple months, and, depending on the length, plan to increase my consumption in the winter months. Somehow I've managed to have a social life, stay employed, go hiking and have a few new adventures at the same time. Some of those mini-trips have involved explorations of notable quaint upstate New York towns, so naturally I had to check out their little bookstores and pick up a few titles. What I'm trying to say is that I'm thankful that people continue to write books, publish books, and still buy enough of them that people are willing to print them on paper.
As for music, I'll explain that strange project later. But I am very thankful for all the artists who amplify universal magic.
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