Time Well Spent

I've been reading the book "Yes Man" for no other reason than I've had it recommended to me and I wanted to read it before I went to see the movie. The other day I mentioned this fact to someone and they told that the problem they had with that was that then they didn't like the movie as much. I took that in stride, but after thinking about it for a while it dawned on me that they were saying that the movie was a better form of entertainment. They made it so that they had a choice between a book and a movie and decided to go with the more expensive option. I've always known that our country has a surprisingly low amount of reading done in it, but I never imagined why. I know I watch more TV than some and yet I still have plenty of time to read. I saw one statistic that said the average American reads one book a year. One. Imagine that, you can only choose one book to read during the year. Would you spread it out and read a chapter a month, or would you speed through it to quench your thirst from the last book you read. I doubt these one-book readers thinks in such terms of books. The other interesting thing about such a statistic is that it points to the fact that since I read more than one book a year that means for every book I read there is someone who reads no books a year. Incredible. No books - just, I don't know what you do with your time when you are choosing not to read. Perhaps it is just a lot of video games and TV. Now people might mention to me that I am simply amazed by this because my circle of friends read, but really I am the odd ball out in my group of friends. And while they do read a little, most do not do so nearly as much as I do. It seems that reading is on the down turn. Perhaps when I am an old man people will simply listen to books - or perhaps just watch video lessons, whatever it is I do hope that novels do not disappear from our planet-wide psyche.

Also this poem ended up very strange. I think my break from poetry has been a little too long, so I am going to need to get back to it so I don't get too rusty.

Time Well Spent

How do you put a value on time?

Time spent doing,

Time spent not doing.

I sit down in a dark room

colors lighting up the wall

telling me a story that wraps up

in just two short hours.

I already know the story

I've been reading it for weeks.

I've just spent two hours at a

fancy restaurant having a meal

half as good as one

I get going through a drive-though.

Well,

that's not true.

Copyright 2008 William Curb

Chinese

Tonight I went to Panda Express for dinner for the second time this week. This is highly unusual as I am a person who would be described as not liking Chinese. This is probably still partially true, but apparently I like Chinese food now. The other interesting thing that I noticed at the restuarant was the fact that our server's name was America. While I knew that this was a name a real name, I had just never heard of it before. I suppose it is just like the name England or Paris or... I don't know there are plenty in that place genre.

The other interesting thing I learned this week is that apparently fake fur from China has a lot of cat and dog hair in it. Cat and dog hair that has been skinned off of live animals. But this is what I read. It is not something I have researched, mainly because I don't want to know if it is true, so I can't say this definatively, regarless. I also got this information from someone who claimed Obama is not an American citizen and that his birth certificate is clearly faked. Anyways.

What they told me

I don't listen to what they tell me,

I don't know why,

but I don't.

They tell me the horrible things of the world,

the things that no one wants to hear.

Hear them, but I don't listen

They are stuck in my head,

but I don't do anything.

What would I do?

Do I even care enough?

Copyright 2008 William Curb

Commas and Phones

Commas and Phones

Bad Neighbors

What a way to start posting again. So this morning my neighbors were being loud, loud enough that I considered calling in a domestic dispute, but the noise died down and so I figured their fight was over. Well the police showed up anyways. This morning, outside my apartment, there were 3 police cars, a firetruck and an ambulance. The entrance to my apartment area was taped off by police, meaning that there had been some sort of crime committed. Perhaps I should have called the police earlier - but whose to say that would have made any difference, hindsight is 20/20 as they say. The police knocked on my door and asked if I heard gun shots this morning (which I had not) and a few other questions. I basically told them that I heard arguing this morning, but that wasn't unusual for these neighbors. Amanda and I were concerned that the ambulance left with its lights off, as that tends to mean that who ever they picked up is not in a rush anymore. I wasn't really too worried about things until I left the house later in the afternoon. There was still one police car outside (which I had to narrowly avoid as it was parked very close to my garage) and a truck. The truck was a forensic vehicle. They were gathering evidence on something and I don't know what since I never took the opportunity to ask any of the officers what was going on. I can imagine, but I don't like to assume. Something went down next door and I'll admit, it kind of freaks me out.