tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7366909960546184927.post944028628107819424..comments2023-06-11T02:19:27.429-07:00Comments on Academic Cog: A vacation from the vacation --- now with Books!Sisyphushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09880634753539329199noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7366909960546184927.post-22555202705944755012007-07-01T10:41:00.000-07:002007-07-01T10:41:00.000-07:00yes, i understand the frozen in time, life on hold...yes, i understand the frozen in time, life on hold aspect....i think it is grad school.gwoertendykehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00542058287462910446noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7366909960546184927.post-32899710436415774062007-07-01T09:46:00.000-07:002007-07-01T09:46:00.000-07:00adjunct whore --- no, no, I still _feel_ 22; 22 is...adjunct whore --- no, no, I still _feel_ 22; 22 is long gone and 32 fast approaching. But entering grad school feels like your life is put on hold or you're being cryogenically frozen, to be thawed at your defense date. I keep thinking "I should go see that movie" and then looking up to discover that they've made two sequels to it, which are now all on DVD. You know? Maybe the feeling out of it is just me and not grad school.<BR/><BR/>And TR: Noooooooo! (clings to the Bookcase of Shame) Not my books! Don't take them away from me! "There are limits to what I can know"? Ack! I reject that statement! <BR/><BR/>In my defense, my sister and her daughter are reading through my collection at my parents' house, along with a lot of my old favorites from undergrad. And it's been about a year since I bought books in a bookstore, so the credit cards aren't any worse than usual. For some reason, buying books seems less of an extravagance than treating myself to a nice dinner out or a massage.Sisyphushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09880634753539329199noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7366909960546184927.post-61279563750026161292007-06-30T19:48:00.000-07:002007-06-30T19:48:00.000-07:00as usual, TR has the most sage advice. the librar...as usual, TR has the most sage advice. the library is your friend. but more to the point: you're 22???? good grief you make a girl feel old.<BR/><BR/>my childhood town is chicago--in fact, i was not much older than you when i saw smashing pumpkins under an alias at a kind of newish, slightly undergroundish club in wicker park. i still love them....gwoertendykehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00542058287462910446noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7366909960546184927.post-8099217191876798952007-06-30T08:20:00.000-07:002007-06-30T08:20:00.000-07:00OK, here are some techniques from someone who shar...OK, here are some techniques from someone who shares your pain. I am a book hoarder too, now recovering.<BR/><BR/>1. Find a bookstore that will give you decent prices for your books, pack up a bag of them that are so out of your field and old, and sell them. They will ask if you want cash or double the money in books, which means you have to practice saying "CASH!" before you go. Take the money and go buy something else -- a really nice lunch, clothes, cds -- something foofy and not about work. Experience how much fun that is so that you will want to do it again.<BR/><BR/>2. You are buying these books partly to insure that you will read them, which you don't. The good part is you are excited about knowledge; the bad part is you are fending off the fact that there are limits to what you can know. After you have completed exercise (1) a time or too, decide on a field, assemble all the books in that field, choose three to retain, and sell the rest. Use the money to pay down one of the credit cards that are probably shrieking in pain from your compulsive book buying. If you don't have credit cards, open a Roth IRA so you can put your book sale money in it as you can bear to part with your unread books.<BR/><BR/>3. I suspect that for those of us who do this, it is a phenomenon akin to people who run up financial debts because, although the debt causes them anxiety, it focuses their anxiety as well, so they don't have to be anxious about a lot of things that are less concrete and more nebulous and might demand action. Everytime you figure out a source of shame or fear that the bookshelf of shame represents for you, sell another bag of books and feel lighter as you walk home with the cash.<BR/><BR/>4. Try taking out new novels from the library. Sooner or later, the library will want them back (if it is a public library, it will be sooner.) Then you can easily differentiate "I want to read" from "I will read" without spending a nickel and without having to keep them forever.<BR/><BR/>5. Imagine that there are other people who actually will read those books. Give them away to those people, or view selling them as a form of recycling.<BR/><BR/>BTW, I tagged you on the 8 things meme.<BR/><BR/>TRTenured Radicalhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05703980598547163290noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7366909960546184927.post-4619203893732346362007-06-29T19:02:00.000-07:002007-06-29T19:02:00.000-07:00Oh, feh, you don't need those newfangled writers. ...Oh, feh, you don't need those newfangled writers. I like me the old stuff.<BR/><BR/>Acually, I had a great summer reading jag last year when I worked through Tom Jones and The Mill on the Floss. I'm serious; I loved them. And then I read The God of Small Things, which is newish and which everyone adored and I'd felt that I should read for like YEARS, and just found it...I dunno...kinda irritating? So clearly I'm tragically unhip and can read the dusty old tomes that populate my bookshelves with impunity.<BR/><BR/>That kinda went in a different direction from where I meant it to go; I had some idea about how it can be fun! and wholesome! to read that stuff you've been collecting, but I lost it. Anyway it sounds like you're having some fun with the project already. So I'll stop typing now and say: Good for you!heu mihihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08529298049179816825noreply@blogger.com