Things to do while listening to audiobooks
Blog Yeah, kitt finished writing this at 14:35 on 29 June 2015Go for a run
Go for a walk
Cook / bake
Prep food in some way (cutting, mixing, but not actually cooking)
House chores (laundry, dishes, sweeping, vacuuming somewhat difficult with the noise, but doable)
Weight lifting
Sudoku
Doodling / sketching
Riding in a car (ehhhhhhh, driving)
Sort things
Knit / crochet
What else is there? What other brain-semi-disengaged activities can be done when listening to audiobooks?
The Drop
Book Notes Instead of being asleep at 01:48 on 29 June 2015, kitt created this:
Okay, I have to say, Bosch has this most annoying habit of keeping all of his theories and suspicious to himself until he can play them out and confirm every little detail with them. I would f---ing hate working with him because of this trait. I want my coworkers to be working WITH me to an end goal, not hoarding knowledge and ideas that could help the rest of us achieve the goal we have set out for ourselves to accomplish.
This particular habit has become tiresome in this detective.
That all said, this was one of the better Bosch books. Oh, we had someone die. We might have even had a bad cop do it. And we most definitely had tunnels, though perhaps not in the most literal of ways.
There are two cases being solved in this book, the second was a bit too clean and, oh, look, one, two, three, follow the trail to the cold case perp. How convenient. Perhaps the whole idea of hiding in plain sight isn't so far fetched, though, really, this is fiction and all.
Yeah, so, it's a Bosch book. Bosch is getting old and I'm nearing the end of the series. Two more books and I'm done, even if there is another Bosch book after 19. After 19 books, ugh, this series is longer than the Dresden series, and THAT is a series I'll actually actively recommend.
The usual, if you're reading Bosch, clearly there's a reason why, so keep reading recommendation.
Just before its unavoidable demise...
Blog Written with a loving hand by kitt some time around 17:42 on 27 June 2015
Optimize for Delight
Blog Instead of being asleep at 07:01 on 27 June 2015, kitt created this:This was originally posted on The Pastry Box for 27 June 2015.
Last time I went to buy socks, I bought 32 pairs of socks, all white, all of the same style. These 32 pairs of socks replaced the remaining 10 pairs of white socks I had purchased years before. I had decided long ago to optimize for efficienty, both at laundry time and in the morning. By buying socks all of the same color and style, I didn't have to pair them when folding my clothes. I also didn't have to worry about grabbing socks in the morning, I grabbed two socks from the basket and off I went.
Last Christmas, I received a set of six pairs of short colored socks with bears on them. They're variations of pink, tan, grey and black. They are colorful and goofy and girlie and completely not my style.
And they are wonderful.
I smile every time I put on a pair in the morning.
I grin every time I see them when I cross my legs and notice the color as it peeks out from below my pant line.
I chuckle every time I take them off at night.
I might just wear out these socks by having them in full rotation every week.
They bring me unexpected moments of delight during my day. So much so that I have finally realized that for years I had been optimizing for the wrong thing. Instead of optimizing for efficiency, I should be optimizing for delight.
My new mission: find ways to optimize for unexpected delight.
I'm open to suggestions.
The Reversal
Book Notes Written with a loving hand by kitt some time around 22:02 on 26 June 2015
This book was a Harry Bosch / Micky Haller combination book. Contrasting how the last Micky Haller book claimed to be a Bosch book wasn't really a Bosch book, this one is half of a Bosch book.
In particular, the narrator's perspective oscillated between third-person Bosch-is-doing-stuff to first-person here-is-Haller's-viewpoint. While initially jarring, the changing perspective worked for this book. I suspect that Connelly writes all of the Haller books in the first-person, the previous one was, so this is likely keeping in line with that style.
We see more of the dynamic between Haller and Bosch, and Haller and his ex-wife. There were a lot of mis-directions in the book, which, honestly, were a nice contrast to the normal Bosch style of he gets everything right. You know, part of the Bosch formula.
Speaking of that formula: someone dies, tunnels. The bad cop might not have done it. You'll have to read the book to be sure. I enjoyed the book enough to say it's not the first of two books in a row needed for me to stop reading a series, so I'll keep going. Bosch has to slow down at some point, right?