Reading

At home, I don't always have a lot of free time. When I read something, it's usually because it's a school assignment. So the idea of having a month of school where all we're reading is 4 short books and a bunch of poetry is pretty nice. Then on top of that, I don't have work, and I only have 3 channels on the TV. Holy cow, it's reading time!

I've been reading books like a parched man drinks water. I did a quick estimate, and I've read somewhere in the range of about 3,000 pages, and I feel like I've barely read at all. It's gotten so bad that I'm thinking of going down to the post office and shipping some books home. It seems silly to carry all of these spent books home in my luggage, right?

Unfortunately, I want to read more. I read All Quiet on the Western Front one afternoon while I was in the Lake District and then I was out of fresh books. When I came back to London, I felt like I was missing something (I mean, aside from home and hearth and all that). So last night, when I found that I had a book I hadn't read yet, I figured I would just read a chapter or two then go to bed at something like 10:30ish. I finally got enough self-control to put the book down at something like 2:30am. I then finished the book this morning before breakfast (tea and toast with nutella, just in case you are curious). And it's not like this is a short book. Sure, it has fairly big writing, but it's still a good 500 pages.

I suppose there are worse habits to have. The problem is that now I've read all my books (and I won't buy any more until I get Harry Potter on Friday night), so now the only thing to do is... well, be productive. Forget that. I think I'll just go for a walk instead.

It's a little weird thinking that this is my last Monday in London. I don't have anything formal planned until Wednesday (although I think I'll be going to the Tate and Tate Modern art museums tomorrow), so I'm kind of in a holding pattern. I really don't want to regret missing things that I wanted to see in the city, but I also don't want to feel obliged to do... well, anything. I enjoy having time where I'm not beholden to anything or anyone. It's such a rare thing to truly only have to consider yourself, and it feels a bit selfish. Kind of like the joy of moving out for the first time and realizing you can indeed have ice cream for dinner if it so suits you. We get locked into these roles that we put ourselves in -- employee, student, spouse -- and to be able to shrug all of them off and step into a role that's largely devoid of responsibility is freeing. On the other hand, if you're like me, you do stuff like forget to eat, get too little sleep, and ignore most of the very few responsibilities that you do have. The structure of my ordinary life is good for me, I can see now, but it's nice to be able to realize that. I'm sure I'll go through a bit of culture shock coming back home, but I know I'll secretly welcome the routine it brings.