I know, I know, it's been eons since I posted. I haven't stopped reading, but my reading has slowed dramatically with my major life shift. I have a full time outside-the-house job now, where before I worked about 30 hours from home, and even read while working.
Now my job doesn't leave much, if any, time for reading during the day. I had put aside even my audio books while I adjusted to the change, but finally was able to finish Lavinia - which was good - on my way to Baton Rouge last week. On my way back I started Twilight, and finished it up today. I plan to write my review of Twilight next, and if I can remember Lavinia I'll write that one too. I started a new-to-me author, Suzanne Enoch, with a series and I'm on #2, Before The Scandal. Her voice (it's a book - I mean her writing voice) - is ok but nothing special. It's almost as if she has a checklist of points to cover and checks them off as she goes. Also, her use of language is so different from anyone else's - almost too modern, although I don't claim to be an expert of how people spoke during the Regency period. "Apologies" her characters say when asking pardon, coming in tardy, bumping into someone. That sounds so modern.
It's hard to keep an audio book going when my driving commute is only about 10 minutes each way. When I was in Arizona, a trip to the grocery was at least 45 minutes each way, which got me a good ways into a book. But today I managed to just sit and play solitaire and listen to my book - something I hadn't indulged in in a while!
Even reading books is something I'm only doing at bedtime, and then only for 30-45 minutes max, so it's taking me much longer to get through a book. This is less about my being too busy and more about my not having developed a good reading area, and not having adjusted to my new status as single apartment renter - after so many years of sharing a domicile, first with the SO and then with my sister. I have renter issues- last night the air conditioning stopped! I ended up staying in a hotel until the landlord finally answered his phone this morning. (He got the electrician over and it's now fixed, thank gawd!)
I did make it through about 4 of the July releases I'd been looking forward to, and need to catch up on reviewing them. I didn't even try to do any sort of challenge this season - I am trying to get my bearings.
I do so love my new job! It's such a good fit, and everyone there is working hard to do their part. I love being a cog in the gear-system, and I love working for a non profit again, doing what I do best (organizing, bookkeeping, problem solving, the background stuff).
My new apartment is nice too, although this air conditioning issue had damn well better be resolved. I realized today that living in a rented apartment is like being a woman giving birth in a hospital - lots of strangers come in at any time and see your "stuff" - ok, the "stuff" is a little different, I admit, but still! I cleaned up one evening for the next day visit from the landlord's painters, only to discover they had already come in and finished - with my underwear strewn about the bathroom and various other things I would rather not have shared with house painter/strangers. I'm about over it - I have nothing to hide (although I am wondering where my little purse with my laundry quarters and the extra key to the house are...).
My body is not reacting well to the change - the less said about it, the better, but I think I better get serious about getting into better shape. Mentally I have 2 moods - the euphoria of working a job I enjoy, and the bland nothingness I experience when I get home and don't want to face putting together the chest of drawers and shelving units I bought for my clothes and books. I need to break out of the bland nothingness mood - as soon as the temperature in the apartment goes under 79, I promise. (It's at 86 now since the air conditioning wasn't repaired until noon.)
My social life is a little iffy, and I need to reach out to the many folks I know and get out more. However, I'm usually quite happy alone. But I know how I am, and I better start calling folks and reminding them I'm still alive!
So my to do list includes getting my apartment furnished properly, my books put away so I can take my PBS account off vacation and start trading again, my clothes put away, get out and start walking and... lose some weight. Really, even just 4-5 pounds would help, a lot.
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