November 8, 2023
Before sitting down to watch a
video that purports to be “Funny/Very Funny/Funniest Memes/Tweets About A/B/C”
it would be a good idea to first understand who concocted the compilation, and
what it is in this world that they consider to be funny.
Now I can’t likely do that,
really, but it has occurred to me that if I became a more astute viewer of compilations,
I might get to recognize the “name” of the creator and whether or not the video
is worth watching. This is a rule anyone can follow, if they have it in them to
suffer through all those compilations that have no earthly connection to the
concept of humor.
One more of those things in
this life that I know I’ll never accomplish, because I really don’t have that
brand of patience.
However, as I was doing my
nightly stroll through YouTube on the weekend, watching interesting videos, I
couldn’t help but think back to the days before we had something called the
Internet. Today what I do as I scroll through various videos, or read different
articles, is that I’ll often stop and google someone or something, because I
want to learn more about some facet or another of a topic.
Sometimes I lose sight of what
a marvel that, all by itself, is.
In the way-back machine, I
used to also sometimes have questions and wonder about stuff…and what I would
do back then, was I would make a list. And even back then when I was writing
but not yet published, I would need to do research. So, about three or four
times a year, I would arrange to go to a major library in my neck of the woods.
A few times I went to the University library, other times just the huge public
library in Hamilton. I would have a list of topics, and I would have those topics
organized by relevancy (to my writing). I’d go and find a few pieces of source
material, then I would hunker down in one of the cubicles they provided (at
both libraries). I would sit and read and make notes—yes, with pen and paper—and
then I would get up, exchange some of the books, and settle in once more.
These excursions lasted
several hours, of course. I didn’t always find the answers to every question I
had, but for the time that I was in that wondrous place of books and knowledge,
I thrived. The bonus was that as a mother of three young children, my life for
the most part was work and home; and once home, housework, cooking, childcare…not
much “me time” in those days at all. But being busy for others was made that
much more tolerable by the fact that I could look forward to going to the
library for peace and quiet and knowledge whenever I needed to do so.
I count it as a positive that at
my age, I’m still curious about things. I’ll be watching television, be it news
or any other program, and I’ll hear a name or learn a little about a subject
new to me and I’ll wonder….so I’ll make a note and check it out. I still learn
things and want to learn things. And yes, it might also be true that I have to
learn that thing more than once these days, because I already have so much
knowledge crammed into my brain, that there’s not a whole lot of room left for
more. So, I have to learn it a couple of times before it fits into my noggin.
Sort of a version of jamming that dress into the suitcase until you can close
it.
That’s my story and I’m
sticking to it.
One of the things I have never
understood about humanity is that there are people who are not very curious
about anything at all. I can’t imagine living my life that way. I really can’t.
To my way of thinking, learning
about new ideas and new things, reading new books (though I do like to re-read
my favorites), that is the spice that flavors my life. Something new. Something
different. Something wonderful.
The probability that I’ll find
that just around the corner? That’s the siren call that makes me look forward
to getting up each morning.
Love,
Morgan
https://www.bookstrand.com/morgan-ashbury
No comments:
Post a Comment