Showing posts with label Anthony Bourdain. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Anthony Bourdain. Show all posts

Sunday, November 30, 2008

book Sunday reading



so few times lately i feel proud of myself
i do work every day
and i do what a 'regular' sort of responsible
citizen is expected to do
but since i don't exercise anymore,
those little feelings of accomplishments
and self-fulfillment that come with running an extra-block
or swimming an extra lap, haven't been around
i don't really go out of my way to do much these days

but today
but i was able to finish Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential
'right on time!'

as i posted before
i was being lazy even with books!
so i pushed a little and today
last day of November i was able to finish on time the book

it took some effort to concentrate to confess
and with this tendency i have to sabotage myself
i had to be extra careful, i left the house so i didn't have
many distractions, i buried myself in a Starbucks
and ordered a black coffee, sat & read & read & read



of course, i got distracted many many many times
by the colorful walls and the squarish semi-art



my mind tricked me into counting the birds on top of
this coffee drinker seated outside



later it made me focus on the lady-in-black
crossing the street



even the backs of chairs were
appealing... and every time, i'd be too distracted
i'd take a photo and go back to read... it worked!
lots of bad rushed photos, lots of pages read
a cheap way of entertaining yourself



and even thought, by the time i left Starbucks
i wasn't done with the book, i made a huge advance there

i came home, made an extra mug of cherry green tea
and devoured the Afterword
i have the 'updated edition'
so like in a trance, i read all the extra materials
'A Conversation with Anthony Bourdain',
an article by Bourdain on New York dinning recommendations
and others

i read the whole thing!!
and just to make sure, i wasn't being a flake, as i usually am
i read the colophon, the printing credits
the back cover and even the back of the book a couple of times

it was so cool update it at Goodreads.com
from the currently-reading to read shelf...

ah!! nothing like the sense of accomplishment
after doing something just for the pleasure of doing it
and for yourself, no work to complete, no social engagement
just following your own rules
nice when it works!

now to keep in one-per- month book state
until i am back on good-reading-shape
and comes to me automatically, spontaneously
as it once did

even with the fun things in life
sometimes one has to shake laziness
and discipline yourself to have fun out there

yeah yeah yeah
read a little book you too, today
or listen to a whole album, start to finish
or a cool article...
ah anyway another week comes ahead...

Monday, November 17, 2008

on books

i must read more!
once i used to read more
when lucky,
a book per week
when OK,
two books a month
and of course there's always fluctuation
and variation, since each author
and each piece is different to read
but sadly
those avid-reading days are far gone!
i started slowing down
when enrolled the infamous
Deutschstunde
and no regrets there
'cause i learn a lot of German culture
auch einfach weil
Deutsch macht Spaß! ;)

then Summer
then heat
then Grand Canyon!!
(even less regrets!
i loved that trip)
and then just bare laziness lately
and some TV (yikes! hurts typing it)
all this been keeping me away from reading

and so on my lap
for soo many days i've been reading
these Anthony Bourdain's
Adventures on the Culinary Underbelly
Kitchen Confidential

and as much as i am loving
señor Bourdain's anecdotes in the kitchens
and his teachings in restaurant business
and rushed way of living... is not a book that should've
been taking me this long to get done with!
as much as i enjoy almost every page

therefore
i am disciplining myself
i will try to go back slowly
but sturdy into a book-per-month schedule
and in order to be able to start a new book in December
i must finish Kitchen Confidential in 13 days

two days ago i made this calculations
the total pages of the book is 312
i've read 178 already
which left me with 138 pages left to be read
divided among the amount of days left in November
15, then i must read 8.93 pages per day
i guess rounding, 9 pages per day



so far i am behind right now!!
instead of typing i should be reading...
procrastination?, ja!