Day 23, 738: Addicted Again to Audiobooks 

I’m back to hitting the audio books.  My smart phone has made it too easy. I can now sign in to one of my local libraries, search audio books and it’s downloaded right to my phone. Unlike streaming podcasts, the book is stored on my phone, which can cause my phone to heat up, or my battery to drain down if I listen too long. Still, it’s a fun way to catch up on books that aren’t too heavy and deep.  They might, however, be real.

I started listening to books on tape when I was very stressed out at job in North Jersey.  I came across a Nora Roberts series about love in Ireland. I have never been a Nora Roberts follower, but these books were mindless – meaning they took my mind off of work. More importantly, they were read by actors with fabulous Irish accents.  I came to work very calm and happy and started talking to myself with a brogue for the first hour of each day.

With my new miracle apps from the library, I’m once again downloading audio books. This time, instead of fiction, I seem to be download young women’s stories about their lives in today’s modern world.  The first was the Year of Less by Caitlin Flanders.  It didn’t totally relate to me, but I stuck with it nonetheless, and I am cleaning out more because of the experience.

Related Post: Cleaning Routines

I’m now listening to Amy Schumer’s The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo.  It doesn’t Amy Schumerreally relate to me, but I’m sticking with it as well. It has little to do with me, and absolutely nothing to do with work, so I arrive at my destination in a better frame of mind. A side benefit is I feel a bit more hip.

In between, I tried to listen to Wayne Dyer on the Tao Te Ching. Dyer died a few years ago, so listening to him narrate the book is weird and interesting at the same time. But, that’s not the reason I returned the book early. It’s because it was too serious. It’s something I really want to study, and casual listening wasn’t cutting it.

Related Post: The Dabbler

From now on, I’m only downloading my new genre of literature – casual listening. It’s like the soft rock of books. It’s interesting enough, but not so interesting that I’m tempted to get out the real book to look up certain passages. No, the perfect audio book for me is one and done – listen to it once, and I’m done with it.  The only thing that would make the Amy Schumer book better is if she read it in a brogue.  I know that’s too much to ask. I should just be thankful she doesn’t have a Brooklyn accent! Then again, she’s really from Long Island.

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Daily Focus on Gun Sanity:  Amy Schumer has made gun control one of her key issues because of the movie theatre shooting during her movie Train Wreck. She mentions the names of the two victims frequently, and at her recent wedding asked for donations to Everytown for Gun Safety rather than gifts.  That’s something we can all do. Instead of birthday gifts, Mother’s Day gifts, Father’s Day gifts, or other gifts consider asking people to make a donation in your name to either Every Town or any other Gun Sanity organization .