Reading is FUNdemental

I arrived in New Zealand a little less than two months ago, and in that time I've read twelve books. That's six books a month--not bad. Now, granted, for the first month, I didn't have a job, and thus did have a lot of spare time; however, I've had a M-F 8-5 for three weeks now and my pace hasn't slowed. I attribute that directly to the fact that my television consumption (aside from a few Super 14 rugby matches) has been precisely: nil. It's amazing how much time you can find when you aren't spending countless hours on your duff in front of the boob tube.

What's more, I've found I can now multi-read. I'd never before been able to pick up and start reading a new book if I still had one unfinished. But no longer. I'm reading four books at the moment: Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad; Xenophon--the story of the Greek general leading his 10,000-man mercenary army out the heart of the Persian Empire in 431 BC; The biography of John Lennon; and a book on bio dynamic wine making. It's just like pausing one program and changing channels.

I've always enjoyed reading, but the new voraciousness of my appetite for books has led me to discover one of the greatest places ever: ...the library! Okay, so I can't take credit for "discovering" the library, as if it were some long-lost and forgotten concept, but it was definitely a "re"-discovery for me. I haven't had a library card since I was probably twelve, but that's exactly what I was looking forward to all last week. I simply couldn't wait for Saturday to get my library card. You see the library closes at 5:00pm on weekdays, and I could never make it there after work in time to get one. You know, it's funny, but I never thought of going to the library when I lived in Dallas. Not ever. Never crossed my mind. Not once. If there was a particular book I wanted to read, where did I go? Barnes and Noble--to BUY it! What? Why did I do that? Paying for books seems like such a silly thing to do now that I've discovered, sorry, re-discovered the library.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have four books to read.

Cheers!