Reading a Book, Again

Lately, I have been making an effort to spend more time reading books and less time on social media and entertaining internet videos. I have always loved reading books, but I haven't really read one in a while. Reading requires a disconnect from everything around you, and the hardest part is that it's not as instantly gratifying as simple entertainment on the internet.

As I did some reading today, some for a class, some for pleasure, I was reminded of how much it engages the imagination. Here is another stark contrast between books and a computer screen: you create more when you engage with books. On an electronic screen, everything is given to you. Every sound and sight that you need is provided (though there are many videos and movies that are good and worthy of praise). My favorite part about a book is that you get to create your own images, and there is more interaction between you and the content creator.

It is interesting to me that I, a guy interested in a career in libraries, should have a sort of rediscovery of the virtues of reading books. But, it had been a while since I had allowed myself the luxury of reading a book for my own reasons. I am grateful for the excitement and inspiration I find just from reading a book.

What's So Awesome About It?

An interesting phenomenon happened to me today. I was sitting in a religion class this evening, next to a person I knew to be generally quite cheerful and happy. Whenever this person spoke in class, they would speak with very positive overtones and would say things like "I just think it's so awesome!!"

Here's the strange thing; I actually felt a bit of annoyance at such superlative cheerfulness. As soon as I became aware of that, I was taken aback. Why on earth would I feel that way? What made me feel annoyed? Was I jealous or skeptical of something? It was so strange. Really, there was nothing wrong with that person's disposition or mannerisms. They had done nothing wrong. Therefore, this must tell me that something is missing or lacking about myself.

I consider myself a happy person, but I don't think I smile very often or show much emotion. I often take care to look and act professional whenever I am around people. I think I err on the side of being professional, though. This is something that will take some pondering for me. This internal interaction has shown me something about myself.

For all of these reasons, I am grateful for the cheerful disposition of the person who sat next to me in today's religion class.

Irregular Meter

My musical tastes include pop songs, classical pieces, classical musicians playing covers of pop songs, and a cappella music (covers and original songs). I also like avant garde music, to a point. This type of music is often influenced by the music of different cultures. The other night, I listened to an Iraqi musician play some stirring music, and it had irregular meter. This means that you couldn't quite count "one-two-three-four" to count measures because the beats were more like this:

1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2
1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2
1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2
1-2, 1-2, 1-2, 1-2

Tonight I came across a piece by Philip Glass, the second movement ("Abdulmajid") of his Symphony no. 4 "Heroes." That meter went like this:

1-2-3, 1-2, 1-2
1-2-3, 1-2, 1-2
1-2-3, 1-2, 1-2
1-2, 1-2, 1-2, 1-2

Determining such structure feels like solving a mystery, and I get excited when I figure it out. I am grateful for irregular meter in music. It may be weird and unconventional, but some good music can be made that way.

Post-Conference Talks

As much as I enjoy General Conference (and I do enjoy it a lot), I really appreciate opportunities to talk about it afterwards. It is encouraging to see other people that you know talking about and applying what they heard during the conference. Such conversations confirm the impressions I felt while I listened to the talks. I am grateful for conversations about General Conference after the fact.

Three New Apostles

It is General Conference time, once again! The messages are inspiring, as always. This General Conference is especially exciting because three new apostles have been called. They fill vacancies that have been left by three apostles that had passed away in recent months.  I truly believe that they and the other nine apostles hold the very same positions as the twelve that Jesus Christ called and sent forth to teach all nations some 2,000 years ago. Their primary calling is to serve as witnesses of Jesus Christ and to direct the affairs and direction of The Church  of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints today.

I can only imagine the sort of burden it must be to hold such responsibility. The three men called today to be apostles have already given many years of service in the Church, but now they will serve in a much higher capacity. I am sure the responsibilities of an apostle can be exhausting and time-consuming, so my thoughts and prayers are with them and their families as they strive to do the work that God directed them to do.

Some who read these blog posts may not see these apostles the same way I do, while others agree with me that they are directly inspired and chosen by God to be apostles. Either way, just about anyone can see that the leaders of the Church accomplish a lot of good in the world. For a few months, there were a few empty chairs among the apostles. Now three more have been called, and they are ready to get to work. I am grateful for the three men who accepted the tremendous responsibility that comes with being an apostle in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Poetry Out Loud

I came across a poem written by the Poet Laureate of the United States, Jean Felipe Herrera. It was a longer poem, and I didn't really understand it. It didn't really speak to me. I had no emotional connection with it. Then I remembered what one of my professors said about how poetry is meant to be read out loud. Poets don't just play with words, they play with sounds, like Shakespeare and many others did. So, I read the poem out loud. There was beauty in the rhythms and the sounds, and those elements created a mental picture of a place and time in America. I don't know if that was the poet's intention, but that's what I got from it that time. I am grateful for a professor who encouraged reading out loud.

Successful Navigation of the Informational Maze

More researching, more writing at the office today. My main focus for the day was one article that was especially difficult. There just wasn't much information readily available, almost nothing, actually. I made some inquiries and got mixed results. Back to my own devices (though my only device was my desk computer), I went back to Google. With maps, searches, Wikipedia, and a lot of scrolling, I hit a few breakthroughs and found the sources I needed to fill up several paragraphs for the article. I was amazed with how things unfolded. I was truly going one step at a time without quite knowing what the next few steps were until I got there.

By the end of the work day I still hit a couple of roadblocks, but I'm working with that. I am impressed and grateful to know how to navigate the internet for the benefit of my information needs. One of the main reasons I want to be a librarian is that I want to be the guide in people's quest for information (and, hopefully, truth). I don't want to be the guy who knows everything, but the guy who knows where you need to go next.