Slow Reader

I've always been a 'slow reader' but not in the sense of having a hard time understanding things. As a kid I had a better vocabulary and reading comprehension than most kids in my classes. But my eyes just don't go over the words fast. I was never really able to 'skim' textbooks like other kids talked about. Somehow for me, reading takes my all. It feels like I get locked in with blinders up and dive deeply with my consciousness....or something like that. I'm not really sure how to describe it.

I think part of it for me is my immagination. It wants to fully picture everything. So I think I tend to pause over things a lot more in order to picture them in detail in my head, and it's not just pictureing, it's feeling and smelling and experiencing the emotions as well. Of course that is with Fiction.

I think with non-fiction I do a lot of visualizing as well. But I also have a lot of ideas sparked. I don't just take in what it's saying. My thoughts are constantly bouncing off the concepts in front of me into speculations about whys and hows and effects and all of that, or to other related topics. It's like my mind is busy incorporating what I'm reading into everything else that's floating around in my brain, or perhaps rather that it's incorporating everything else into the thing I'm reading about, as if trying to provide extra context and insight so that I can have full understanding.

What I find particularly interesting about my reading is that although I become completely unaware of the world around me while I am reading, and while I am not a good speller, I am constantly noticing where someone has used the wrong word, or where the phrasing is awkward. These things trip me up and I pull out of my mind for a moment and notice the printed words. I seem to find at least one wrong word in every book, and I find them constantly online on proffessional sites. I'm also rather amazed at how bad many seemingly otherwise intelligent people's writing is. Using completely wrong words, or horribly awkward phrasing, or mispeling the simplest words in ways that are obviously not just typos. It's just so strange to me to see how much difficulty other people have with explaining themselves in writing. It makes me wonder if I'm actually terribly awkward as well and just can't see it in spite of re-reading something over and over before calling it done? I assume other people must skim a lot more, filling in words with their minds rather than taking in each word. I don't know. It's interesting. As much as I wish I could read faster so I could be able to read more overall, I'm not sure I really do want to read faster. Im not sure I'd be able to enjoy it as much. I don't know....

good chocolate

Earlier today I ate part of a good chocolate bar, you know, a fancy expensive one with dark chocolate. It was lovely, and it felt good. Then later I ate part of one of those regular candy bars like you can get anywhere and I felt so gross afterwards. It really makes a difference. While good chocolate may still not be health food, it's certainly not as junky feeling as the common stuff.

This Halloween I was reminded of childhood and how I used to be able to eat so much candy. I've never been able to eat as much all at once as many of my friends were, and I would save and stretch out my candy for months waiting to enjoy it at just the right moment rather than simply filling up on it, however, I've definately felt a switch as I got older where now I tend to feel sugarsick a lot sooner. I remmeber all kinds of candies I used to like and now they sound repulsive! All those sugar-coated jelly ones? Jolly Ranchers? Tootsie Pops? Blech!

Chocolate candies seem to be just about the only thing I can handle these days, the plain sugar hard or chewy candies all seem sickening. Now, Caramel and Toffeee are still good. Nuts are nice in candy as well. As for chocolate, I really love it, but it's really only the dark chocoalte I like, and the more expensive fancy chocolates are almost always much better than the regular kinds like hershey's. Milk chocolate, and white chocolate make me feel sick.

I do like Sees a lot, even though their actual chocolate is only so-so. A lot of their fillings are very nice, and their pieces are good sizes for a bite or two. I don't tend to just eat a whole box at once like some people, and find the small portions a lot better than something like a normal candy bar. A lot of times I feel obligated to finish a whole candy bar just so that it doesn't sit around open being messy and drooling caramel on my desk. Sees is much neater :)