Whiplash! – “B” careful what you do.

Whiplash: An injury to the neck caused by an abrupt jerking motion of the head, either backward or forward; And in the case of writing or speaking, can be caused by a rapid change of topic without prior notice.

Whiplash! – “B” careful what you do.

Binge watching. It’s the new thing in watching TV. Not only can you watch a complete series of old TV shows, but you can also watch a complete series of new shows. Look at Netflix. They don’t make you wait week after week for the next episode of a series, they put up every episode of a season all at once. I can watch all 13 episodes of Marvel’s ‘Iron Fist’ season 1 the day the first episode is released because they release all 13 episodes on the same day.

While I like the idea of having all these programs and episodes all in one place and time, the list becomes way too long.

On the plus side, I don’t have to wait a week for cliffhangers to resolve (unless it is the last episode of that season). Also with watching the same show one right after the other, I have less information that I can forget between episodes, which I tend to do a lot, especially if there are lots of simultaneous plots and a multitude of characters.

On the downside, as I said, this increases the amount of time needed to complete the task. There are times when there is at least one TV show every day, that each run for an hour, that I like watching. While I’m only watching those individual episodes, I can balance the time I spend doing real stuff, like doing things with my wife, going outside, writing, working on stories and even clean the house and bake stuff. Yes, I do have to wait a week for each of those shows to pick up where they left off, but I get a variety of shows throughout the week. Binge watching means I have to focus on one show. When you binge watch, you don’t mind watching 2 or 3 in a row. More time is used up on a daily basis as the number of shows you want to watch, that are now in the cue, grow larger. It’ a daunting task.

Whiplash!

There’s an app called “Goodreads” (https://www.goodreads.com/) that allows you to challenge yourself each year and predict how many books you think you will read that year. It also allows you to rate each book after you’ve read it and share your rating with others. This helps you when you are looking for recommendations. I’ve discovered that my prediction depends on the books I count as being read. My prediction for this year is 21 books of which I’ve completed 10 so far. One of those 10 I started last year and finished just as the new year began. A number of the other books were picture books that I read as I was learning stories. Some of them were actually long books of over 400 pages.

The problem I have is reading them. If it is an adventure/fantasy book, I read it a lot faster than a non-fiction book about science or the writing process. Then there is also the form of the book I am reading. It takes longer to read a physical book because it is not always with me. An e-book is always with me as it syncs to both my phone and iPad. E-books also allow me to switch to night mode (white letters on a black background) making it less distracting when my wife wants to sleep and I still want to finish that chapter. E-books also allow me to look up words by just tapping on them. With a physical book, I either have to ignore the word or get a dictionary.

And there are so many books on my list of books to read! I especially enjoy reading the same book, at the same time, my wife is reading it. It’s like our own private book group. It’s nice to share your reading with someone else who has read the same thing. I’d have to say that reading books and stories is one of my favorite relaxing activities.

Whiplash!

Anyone having a birthday coming up soon? Do you send that person a real card in the mail, or are you like me and resort to ecards. I have a whole collection of paper birthday cards that were sent to me over the last 30 years. I tend to keep the ones that are either funny or have meaning to me. You can’t really do that with ecards. You can save the link to the card, but at some point in time that company discontinues using that card and you can’t find it anymore. When I send an ecard to someone for their birthday, I always have the company send me a copy of it. Then when that person’s next birthday comes around, I go through all my ecards (which are stored in one file in my mail program) and look at every one of them to make sure that the new one I choose is not one that I’ve sent before. You can’t do that with paper cards since once it’s sent only the recipient has a copy of it. There have been times that I’ve sent the same card to someone on multiple years.

I wonder if people that get ecards feel that I’m not thinking of them in the same way as when they get a paper card from me? It is taking the easier way out.

Whiplash!

And what are your “B” thoughts? Do you binge watch? Are you addicted to it? How many books do you plan on reading this year? Paper books? Or E-Books?  And what kind of cards do you send to people to celebrate their birthdays and anniversaries?

Till next time… “C” you later