I Surrender

 I am a bookaholic. I have admitted that before.  I love to read and have always preferred physical books over digital ones. At least that was how I felt up until this past week.

There was a little Kindle on sale on Amazon before Christmas.  It was calling to me and I was so tempted.  I had enough gift cards from the surveys I do to cover the cost but I talked myself out of it. I prefer real books, as I said, and can read Kindle books on my tablet anyway. The problem is, the tablet is not as comfortable to hold as a real book. A bigger problem is that my tablet is already overly full and though I dump the cache and clean it several times a day, it still malfunctions often. Downloading another book would only add to the problem.

It was only after that amazing sale price was gone that I regretted not taking advantage of it.  So, last week, when I saw the sale reappear I jumped on it.

This cute little Kindle arrived at my door a few days later. I wondered at first if I would be able to read such a tiny screen. My tablet is a 10-inch version and actually bigger than some books.

A friend suddenly sent me a link to a free e-book she thought I would enjoy. I figured it would be a good way to test out this new gadget.

The text was clear and easy to read with none of the glare a tablet screen produces. This Kindle has a matt screen that doesn't reflect light from my surroundings, and it's not backlit either. It's like reading a regular book page and very easy on the eyes. The Kindle weighs nothing and is easy to hold, even in bed.  It is small enough I can easily tuck it in my purse and take it anywhere. I used it while waiting in the car twice already this week.  I have already finished reading that first book and written the review. Now I have another one lined up and ready to go. I caught myself saying, "I love this thing!" more than once this week.

I still have a lot of physical paper books to read. I also realize that they are filling up my house just as apps and files are filling up my tablet. Buying the Kindle was a good decision after all, and I no longer hate e-books.

Two Years In

Two years ago we went to a new restaurant in a nearby town. It was a really enjoyable event and I remember telling my friends all about this place. I know some of them have been there since, but I never have. Shortly after that dinner out the pandemic changed all our lives.

Not only did I not go back to that restaurant, or any other for that matter, but I didn't go into any stores either. In the beginning, friends picked up what I needed in grocery stores, and if we really needed something else it was ordered online.  That first Christmas came and went and was totally ignored by us as we were not comfortable shopping in crowded stores and the lineup outside the post office grew ridiculously long and the weather too cold to stand in it so we were no longer ordering online.

The grocery stores installed safety measures and I went back to shopping for food myself. We only ventured into a city mall a couple of times this past year to pick up something needed at a specific store so those were just quick in and out experiences. It was not crowded so that made me feel relatively safe. We did not go there during the Christmas season but we did manage to get some gifts bought this year.  Most of them have not been delivered yet but we hope to remedy that soon. 

The latest variant is highly contagious so once again I am not shopping in the grocery stores. I now order online and we park in the lot and have the order brought out to us.  I tried this in the beginning but there were too many bugs in the system and I gave up. Now it's quick and easy at my chosen store. After only one month I find I have already saved over a hundred dollars on my food budget shopping this way, despite the rapidly rising cost of food and the added convenience charges.  It probably saves time too, but I am losing out on the added exercise of walking around the store.

Yes, I have had both vaccinations and my booster shot and know a lot of you are feeling safe now. But the case numbers were rising again because of that and the extra contagion. Right now, though things are improving, the number of people with Covid-19 is still higher than it was at the beginning of some previous shutdowns.  I am a senior who gets bronchitis to the point where I can't catch my breath when I catch the regular flu so I do not want to take chances with this virus. They say this Omicron variant is milder than the previous versions but that is just doctor-speak for "it's not as likely to kill you," but it still could, and has taken many.

I am part of the Stop-Cov Study and routinely send in dried blood samples to check for antibodies. They check my antibody levels against those of other people in my age group and how my group is doing compared with other age groups.  My latest report shows that I have had no antibodies and have been basically unprotected from September until my booster shot in January. That's not everyone, but that is the results my tests show. We are all different and I am certainly glad I have remained careful.

I had to travel to a city an hour and a half away for a medical test. Since it was Valentine's Day we decided we would venture into a restaurant partway through the afternoon and enjoy a meal out. It wasn't busy at that time and it was great to finally have something other than fast food or takeout in the car.  The restrictions are being lifted soon but that does not mean I will jump back into normal life right away.  If the trucker convoys and other related demonstrations don't cause a superspreader I will feel more confident that it's time to get back to pre-Covid life.  

Just Start

Is there something you would like to do but think you can't?  Have you ever actually tried? Or did you try and not do as well as you had hoped and then just give up?

I remember seeing a painting of a dalmatian in a how-to magazine once that totally fascinated me. I was learning to paint but I didn't think I could ever do anything like that. I came across that old magazine recently and now that painting doesn't look nearly as intimidating as it once did. I've learned some skills.

I didn't use to be able to draw a decent stick figure but I have now been commissioned to draw two pet portraits just because I post what I'm learning on social media. If you want to do something you don't think you can do, take steps to learn how. Start today and just keep going. I know you can do it, whatever it is. It might take training. It might just take practice.  It might take luck or it could be that even your happy accidents lead to the success you weren't even expecting.

Sometimes something you do will lead you to do something else you had not thought of before, or it might even inspire others.  A new cyber friend of mine went out to take pictures of the new snow clinging to the trees.  She was disappointed later when she realized the photos were badly overexposed. We interact on a creativity page and she decided to share those shots after all. She ran them through a filter and was surprised by the truly lovely results. If she had just deleted the pictures without trying something new she would never have discovered how beautiful her mistakes really were.  And today, when I tried to take a specific picture, the angle of the sun was making it next to impossible.   I was inspired by what this lady had done and decided to see if I could turn an over-exposed picture into something beautiful too.  There are no mistakes, there are just opportunities.  

Go create some opportunities for yourself. Whatever it is you ever wanted to do, go take that first step. You may really love where it leads you.