May 25, 2009

• Wonderful
  

  Some time ago I mentioned I'd been haunting the library to borrow books to read. I'm still doing that but I've found that our library and I don't agree on what books are valuable. Either that or the recent and current financial embarrassment of the state of California is affecting the library system's ability to buy more than one copy of certain books that someone else in San Diego County wishes to read at about the same time and in the same order as those that have fired my imagination. Being a rather dull person, or so I thought, I've had trouble finding books in the library that I wished to read. Because one thing leads to another I got an email from Amazon.com telling me their new Kindle II was now available. The concept of having a library of your own choosing in your hand that you could peruse at your leisure was vague to me having never experienced such a thing. After a little research I found that there were thousands upon thousands of books that were formatted for the Kindle that could be downloaded without cost from various organizations, such as Gutenberg, Feedbooks and ManyBooks. Even Amazon has a modest selection of books that may be downloaded to the Kindle II without a fee. To my great delight I also discovered that I could take any text file and load it into the Kindle II. It's also possible to download public domain books directly to the device over the internet because the Kindle II also comes with a built in connection to a 3G network. Being a picky reader I've only about fifty or sixty books loaded into the Kindle now and I'm happily reading here and there as the mood or desire strikes me.

  Spring is my time of year! My friends got together to kick in the money to buy me the Kindle II as a birthday gift. It's got to be one of the all time greatest gifts I've ever received in my life. In the event I don't live long enough to celebrate my upcoming birthday I got the gift a month in advance. I'm sitting here listening to the now deceased Israel "IZ" Kamakawiwo'ole sweetly croon Over The Rainbow/What A Wonderful World with the moist eyes of a tenderized heart full of gratitude for the richness and beauty of my life. It's not all peachy keen all the time but overall I'm satisfied with the path I've chosen to stumble along. The malaise of last month turned into something else, as all things must do eventually. Rather than the expected flash of something wonderful it was more like the rising of a tide that lifted everything in my life to a new level that has been much more easily sustained. I'll take this over that every time if I've any choice about it henceforth. A tenderized heart may sound sweet but it really is a painful predicament in a world such as the one of which we are a part. Not everyone is full of peace and love for sentient life. If the truth were to be told we'd have to say only a very few approach such a state of consciousness. Though it couldn't possibly be any other way it's still rather sad to see so many squander so much for so little.

  Please remember to be kind. Thanks to whoever it was that gifted me with premium a few years ago. I appreciate your generosity.
  

  • 11:43 am
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