Adventures in reading

I’ve been thinking about writing a new post but can’t find a topic or subject to focus on.

I’ve been reading Brief Encounters, by Dick Cavett, a collection of articles written for The New York Times.

He is so bright and interesting! I wish to have the opportunity to sit and talk to him for a while.

Dick Cavett is just another person I have to thank Jimmy Fallon for. I mean, thanks to Jimmy, I’ve seen different aspects of many people and got curious to learn more about them. This is why I love his show so much, because rather than focus on the commercial aspect of it, and ask the same questions again and again, Jimmy works to show the viewers the person behind the celebrity.

Anyway, speaking of reading, I’ve been reading a lot lately – more than I did in the previous year – but more importantly, I’m enjoying a different style of writing nowadays. Until two years ago, I had only read fiction, unless it was something related to a field of study I was interested in or related to my personal faith.

Now I’m reading and being profoundly touched and transformed by nonfiction books, be them biographies (mostly of comedians, because they have this way of looking at the world I relate and understand), or everyday subjects. I also had an encounter with philosophy, thanks again to Jimmy Fallon and his recommendation of Man’s Search For Meaning, by Viktor E. Frankl.

I guess I reached a point in my life, a maturity that taught me that I can read almost anything and be reasonable enough to learn without being blindly influenced by it, that I don’t need to agree with everything someone presents in order to enjoy it. I can discern what works for me and what not, what I agree with and what I don’t.

What I can apply to make my existence better and what I can honestly consider bullshit.

Oh, and just because I consider something bullshit, doesn’t mean everything will do the same. Different things work for different people (unless it’s any kind of prejudice – that I call 100% bullshit, plain and simple).

If you’re also in that point in your life where you can do these things without fear, I recommend both book mentioned. I may talk more about them in the future, I don’t know.

Once upon a time

Once upon a time there was this girl who never really fit in.

She had a large range of interests, but none of them shared by her peers.

She didn’t like the weather, she didn’t like the music from where she’s from. She was the odd human out.

Those were the days before the internet. Yeah, the dark days of civilization.

I think I wrote my first online blog in my twenties. I remember setting my first email – Hotmail! – when barely anyone knew or understood the internet.

I’d spend every free time I had using the computers of my college library – the only place I knew had internet connection. Then came the places you’d pay to use the internet – those were expensive but so worth it!.

Nobody understood my fascination with it, but it was my first real chance to reaching out to the world, and find out that I was not really alone, just misplaced. Like this guy here: