Random Musings.. Showing 801-850 of 1,161

[Kat]

The bit that got me was: "........when are you leaving Earth?" <3

[Rob, Mayor of Ghost Town]

Haha. Yeah. It was amusing.

[Dara]

I'm in one hell of a reading funk. Ever since I finished Seveneves I've picked up and put down about 6 books. I tried Cryptonomicon, Consider Phlebas, Abigail Adams, Aftermath, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, and even tried re-reading Assassin's Apprentice but nothing has really held my interest. I think I'm just going to give up until Assassin's Fate comes out.

[Rob, Mayor of Ghost Town]

Yeah, my reading has been almost non-existent since like February. It's been almost entirely all audio books. I havent felt very motivated to sit and read anything lately. If not for all the audio, I probably wouldnt be reading anything either.

[Andreas]

Kat wrote: "Go look him up!

No wait, here's the link that set me off:

https://youtu.be/dSoXEtFPTfI

It's brilliant!"

This!

[Dara]

Rob wrote: "Yeah, my reading has been almost non-existent since like February. It's been almost entirely all audio books. I havent felt very motivated to sit and read anything lately. If not for all the audio,..."

I wish I could do audio. I don't think I have any choice but to ride it out. Clearly forcing the issue isn't working.

[Bill]

Audio is saving me too. I absolutely love The Lions of Al-Rassan but have been reading it for just over a month on my kindle. Have done about 15 audiobooks in that time. I'm hoping as the weather gets better I will have more motivation to sit and read outside.

[Ctgt]

I've read four or five GGK books and Lions is my favorite.

[Kat]

Dara wrote: "I'm in one hell of a reading funk. Ever since I finished Seveneves I've picked up and put down about 6 books."

Me too!

My "currently reading" count is at 8 right now. Two are short story collections that I only pick up every now and then for a short story, but that still leaves me with 6 that I put down again after a chapter or two.

Although I just started a German one called "Cupboard on the Beach", that might be the one. I look forward to the end of the workday so I can get back to it. Maybe that mood will finally persist and I'll finish some of the pile after all...

[Kat]

I went out today. With a man. On an actual date. This was my first real date since I forced my ex-boyfriend to move out of my Belgian flat in 2011.

Call me picky, but all other candidates always (!) eliminated themselves during the initial email and chat contact before I agreed to meet them.

I had so much fun tonight! And we agreed to meet again soon. I feel great!

[Suzanne]

Wonderful Kat! I'm so glad you had fun!

[Rob, Mayor of Ghost Town]

Nice. E-Dating is so hard. It's too easy to just discount someone based on a picture and a few lines of text. Hopefully things continue to go well for you.

[Ctgt]

Great news Kat!

[Kat]

Rob wrote: "Nice. E-Dating is so hard. It's too easy to just discount someone based on a picture and a few lines of text."

Too true!

I usually give them the benefit of the doubt and chat with them for a while. But too many men start sexting as soon as indroductions are over, and I'm not comfortable with that, given that we're technically still complete strangers.

(Edit: I've just been told women can be just as bad. Not sure how uncomfortable most men would be with that.)

I'll ignore it the first time, blatantly change the topic the second time, and will mention something the third time. Usually I get a reply along the lines of "Well, it's just the way I am, and I'm not changing for any woman." Well, okay then, don't change, but don't meet me either.

This guy talked about how his perfect personal library would look if he won the lottery. Score!

[Rob, Mayor of Ghost Town]

Yeah. I'm sure eDating is way worse for woman due to the creep an danger factors.

For me, the biggest issues I have is being ignored or ghosted. None of the shit you've put up with.

[Kat]

Being ignored is not nice at all. I always reply with at least a nice hello back.

My date's name was also Rob, and since I have a secret little internet-crush on you, he got bonus points for that :-)

But that's a secret, obviously.

[Rob, Mayor of Ghost Town]

lol. Well hopefully this guy represents our name well. Sadly I've met a few Rob's who were jerks, but not as many as I've met that were cool.

Bob's on the other..watch out for most Bob's. :-P

[Dara]

I'm glad it went well, Kat! I have never dated online. I've been with my boyfriend for almost 6 years now. I can't imagine what that's like. I've seen the things men say to women on the first go. It's horrible.

[Suzanne]

I'd say talking about the perfect personal library is a great sign =)

[Kat]

...turns out he owns even more books than I! Admittedly, my last count has been a few years and does not include any books I owned before the year 2000 (when I emigrated and left my library behind in Europe), but it hovered around 800. His last count a few years ago was 1200.

I think I have a serious crush now.

[Rob, Mayor of Ghost Town]

Man if things get serious, you'll need like 2 rooms for all those books :P

[Kat]

Oh, we talked about what kind of place we"d like to live in. Not together, but each, if we could choose.

First it was "if I won the lottery", but then the conversation went to "but in all seriousness..."

I said I if I manage to save enough money I'd like to get an older house outside the city with a big garden. He chimed in and said newly built houses are too "fresh" and that he was planning to get something like an old farmhouse and renovate it with the help of his friends.

So if it does get serious, at least we're on the same page on that!

[Scott]

Sounds like you may have found a kindred spirit :D

I actually met my wife on an online dating site. I'm pretty anti social so meeting and talking to people was always something I shied away from so the online dating thing worked really well. I met a lot of duds, a couple cool people, and then finally someone I really connected with. It was an interesting journey

She did tell me that it was annoying getting all the stupid messages from creepy guys. Think one guy kept wanting to have some kind of sugar daddy relationship with her.

Think in general some people use those sites to just try and find hookups, men and women, but there are plenty of people looking to something real. Might just take a while to find them

[Ctgt]

Good to see you back, Scott.
Kat, really hope things continue as well as they started :)

[Kat]

I finally got the result for the English Exam I took a few weeks ago.

I got 205 out of 210 points!

So I FINALLY have some black-on-white proof that I know some English, other than the F I got on my high school diploma.

[Suzanne]

Congratulations Kat - that is outstanding!

[Rob, Mayor of Ghost Town]

Nice!

[Sumant]

Kat wrote: "I finally got the result for the English Exam I took a few weeks ago.

I got 205 out of 210 points!

So I FINALLY have some black-on-white proof that I know some English, other than the F I got on ..."

Congrats.

[Kat]

I even got full marks on reading and speaking. I'm so chuffed! And other Rob says he's got a surprise for me for the good results. Yippieh!

[Ctgt]

Congrats Kat!

[Simona]

We could have written a certificate for you....since you've been reading and writing posts here for a good while :-)

[Kat]

Oooooooh, a NABCC Certificate!

[Dara]

Is an F in Germany the same as an F in America? Or does F mean Fluent and not Fail? Hahha.

[Kat]

Well, I wrote F so you would know what I mean. It was in fact a 5 - "unsatisfactory", where 1 is "very good" and 6 is "fail".

[Dara]

Oh, okay, haha. I wasn't sure. Well I'm glad to see you do so well now! 205/210 is pretty damn good. Congrats!

[Sumant]

Finally will finish Reality dysfunction tomorrow, it was 41 hours of audio. The book is really good but could have been better with a bit of editing for page count.

[Kat]

Wow, 41 hours!!

[Bill]

Joined another group for classics. Been meaning to mix more in for the last few years and hoping this will give me the push.

[Kat]

That sounds interesting, Bill!

[Ctgt]

Bill wrote: "Joined another group for classics. Been meaning to mix more in for the last few years and hoping this will give me the push."

Sounds like buddy read time :)

[Bill]

I've been terrible at doing buddy reads this year. I always intend to do them and then start super late.

[Sree]

Bill wrote: "I've been terrible at doing buddy reads this year. I always intend to do them and then start super late."

there should be a mid year resolution thing maybe for rahmadan so us slackers can get back in

[Kat]

I may just have agreed to read Tolstoy's War and Peace ... oh dear.

[Ctgt]

Kat wrote: "I may just have agreed to read Tolstoy's War and Peace ... oh dear."

Read that about 20 years ago.....and liked it. Didn't take me as long as I thought it would.

[Kat]

I downloaded the BBC's The Big Read list an thought I could make it into a long-term goal to read everything on it.

But now I see there is Rosamunde Pilcher on it and things like Black Beauty. Probably not something I ever want to read.

[Rob, Mayor of Ghost Town]

Reading lists are often hard like that

[Kat]

Decided to make my own list instead.

Not sure what topic to choose. Maybe do 'Europe' and read a book from or about or taking place in every European country?

A Year in the Merde for France, Last Train to Istanbul for Turkey, and so on?

Then I could at least choose which book I want.

[Rob, Mayor of Ghost Town]

That's an interesting idea. I used to do more lists, but there were always things that came in and upset the applecart so to speak. Mostly now I just look at lists for the occasional book that I may not have heard of to add to the ever growing pile.

[Kat]

Dear God, my pile is huge already...

[Kat]

found this little website to help me with choosing books for locations:

Trip Fiction

Not a huge database (yet?), but the idea is brilliant.