weather and books

[edenfalling]

I got an email from my church saying all Saturday and Sunday activities have been canceled, which is not very surprising. It's not snowing at the moment, but we had light snow from ~9am to 11:30ish, and it's expected to pick up again around 4pm and then just snow like the dickens through ~10am Sunday morning.

I am at work, since Susan and I canceled her visit, and aside from a spate of furious activity in the first half hour, it's been slow. We do have an apartment tour scheduled for this afternoon, and people have expressed interest so I expect at least a few people to come, but after that I suspect activity will once again drop off as the weather closes in.

In mostly unrelated news, I applied for a New York Public Library card today, since all New York state residents (and apparently even people who just work and/or pay taxes in New York) are eligible for a free card. I am now in a weird sort of limbo where I have an account and can log in to place holds on stuff, but can't actually check anything out until my account has been validated and they mail me a physical card. Anyway, I took a photo of my drivers license (both the old card with photo and the paper temporary one for my renewed Real ID version), so hopefully that will get handled promptly. The NYPL, you see, has access to A LOT more ebooks than the Finger Lakes library system. :)

I've been reading a lot of books this January, which on the one hand feels weird -- I'm out of practice at it -- but on the other hand is a return to old habits and patterns. I have always been a voracious reader; it's just that in the past decade or so I switched more to fanfic, magazines, and random internet articles. I'm still kind of "eh" on a lot of original fiction, but nonfiction has always been my jam and there's something really sort of... hmmm... let's go with satisfying, about finishing a book and closing the covers on a journey. I've missed that.

I'm not sure how much of my shift away from books was related to getting internet access at home and how much was related to depression (I am much more likely to seek comfort and/or low-effort reading when I'm in a funk, and fanfic saves me from the work of getting invested in and figuring out a new world and new characters), but I am very sure that not trying to juggle college on top of work has freed up a bunch of both time and mental energy that I haven't yet managed to effectively corral into regular writing. (Even high-effort reading is still lower-effort than writing, alas. And also easier to do in disorganized scattered patches.)

Anyway, back to my current book: Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly. :)

Comments

[domarzione]

I live on NYPL's ebooks. It's faboo. They also have videos and music and whatnot, but the books are great.

And I feel ya on depression sucking the energy out of low-energy activities like reading. It's too much work sometimes and sleeping is easier. I'm still working on getting enough energy to write again.

[edenfalling]

I am really enjoying ebooks! They're so convenient, both in the sense that I don't have to maneuver around library hours to pick them up, and in the sense that my Kindle is much smaller (and often lighter) than hardcover books.

It always annoys me how much energy it takes to write, because writing is also an excellent way to recharge energy -- at least it is for me -- and so the high starting cost is doubly frustrating because I know I'd feel better if I could just make myself start typing.

[domarzione]

I cannot believe I used to shlep hardcovers books to and fro on the subway! I didn't think I'd need a kindle until I got one as a gift and now I cannot imagine commuting without it. Or going to the doctor or anywhere else where I'm going to be waiting.

The joy of depression is that a lot of things that you know would make you feel better require too much starting energy. Writing, showering...

[autumnia]

Didn't know you could apply to get a NYPL card even from way upstate (goes to read up on this on their website...)! I do have some coworkers who still use their cards even though they've moved out of the city but they're still working here.

I've been terrible about using the NYPL even though I know its archives are vast and there's a branch literally 2 blocks away from my office. Been getting a lot of my books online and reading on my phone during commutes so that's turned me off from reading actual books for now since it's just so much more convenient. Plus, the waiting list for e-books sometimes can get pretty long.

It's definitely been a few years since I've actually used my library card which means by the time I want to use it, I'll likely have to reactivate my account (not sure if this is still the case but the NYPL was making people renew/reactivate their cards every few years).

They also have an app you can download to read books but I fond it still a bit clunky last time I used it.

[edenfalling]

aishuu told me about NYPL's state-wide lending program a while back, but at the time I was still bogged down in residual depression and also hadn't worked out how to borrow ebooks from my own library, so I just sat on it for a year. But now I am in a position to take advantage of the knowledge! *rubs hands, cackles gleefully*

My local library card is old enough that it's from the TCPL's previous location, which they moved out of in... I think 2001? I go through phases of using it a lot and then having nothing to do with the library for months, but my card is also useful for other stuff, like using the library's scanners, printers, and free wi-fi (which was a lifesaver before I got my internet connection fixed so it stopped regularly glitching out on me).