This week I signed up to a video promotion. The guy running it promised that we would learn how to use a program to save us valuable time. He offered to teach us how to do that in three videos with an offer at the end to sign up to a free live webinar. Each video was 30 minutes long, so I’d already spent one and half hours on it.

Webinars are often problematic for me with my southern hemisphere location, but I put it in my calendar.

I didn’t make it live at 4 am… and I’m rather glad.

The replay was available and it repeated much of what he had said during the three videos but with a hard sell at the end to do his course for US$299.

The replay ran for 3 hours and 48 minutes.

Just to remind you, the whole premise for this was to save you time. And he’s already used more than 5 hours of a viewer’s time AND he’s asking for money. A lot of money for a how-to course on using a free app.

And even worse, he STILL hasn’t told you much about the program. He emphasised three things that if you’ve used it at all, or read any of the info the app provides for free, you’d already know. And he could have taught you about them in less than 15 minutes total.

I have a theory that if I can learn something from these free webinars, then it isn’t wasted time. But this one definitely was. If I see his name on anything in the future, I’ll be deleting it.

I was talking to a friend about going to a second hand book sale last weekend. She asked me how many I took back each time. I blinked at her. ‘Took back? There’s no taking back.’

I keep ALL my books. It has to be something truly dreadful for me to evict it from my home. And yes, we have a lot of bookshelves, and also not quite enough of them.

And I have thousands of eBooks in my kindle and a few less in Kobo.

I am trying to keep track of the eBooks that I have actually forked out my cold hard cash for. It seems like I ought to read them first rather than the free ones. Does that make sense?

So I tagged the confirmation email in Outlook with red for ‘bought’ and then I go back and change it to green when I’ve read it. Still got a few dozen to go. The boxed sets knock me around.

Up to 329 books so far this year; read and reviewed. I’m shooting for 365. Note to self: work out how to add in the Goodreads app to this website.

Wherever you are, I hope you’re enjoying a good story, too.

My reminder list shouts at me, ‘you need to write a blog post’.

Fine, I grumble… and then I wonder ‘what shall I write?’

Who the heck is interested in whatever happened to me this last week? And then, of course, aging as I am, I struggle to even remember what happened to me in the last week. A friend suggested it might be menopause and I assured her that I have always been a bit scatty where memory is concerned. Unless it’s useless trivia.

I did manage to install overdrive on my phone and PC. It’s an app that allows libraries to lend e-books and audiobooks. And best of all, it’s free. You just log in with your library card and you’re away!

So I have been very busy listening to the kind of books I might not have spent my jealously hoarded Audible credits on. On Audible I find myself trying to get best value for my money, so I choose very long editions or boxed sets for extra value. They count as one purchase. So I’ve been listening to shorter editions and trying authors and genres I haven’t tried before – that kind of thing. And it’s been great fun.

All my reviews are posted at my Goodreads account.

I have read 320 books so far this year, and I am #8 reviewer in Australian. Nice.

I’ve also walked miles (literally) more than I normally do as I listen while I’m walking, so it’s all good.

Links:

My Goodreads account

I went on a 10 kilometre beach walk with a friend last weekend. The 5 lands walk.

The walk had a local indigenous people theme. There was outdoor art made from rubbish, exhibitions of traditional crafts, indoor art exhibitions, and performers at various stops – some of whom were indigenous as well.

There was also a wishing wall. Paper hearts and stars for you to write your wish on.

I read some of them. A few people wanted selfish money-centred things like to win the lottery, but only a few. Most people wished for good health, to be cancer free, to eradicate poverty, or bring the world peace. Some had very specific wishes but one said ‘I wish for my happy ever after’.

Yes. I’d agree with that. I’d like to write a few of them. [dammit AM – switch that attitude. I WILL write them.]

I’ve also been trying to think of a tagline for my blog, and I think I just got it.

The world needs more happy endings.

My brain throws things at me sometimes and it takes me a while to work it out. Maybe a week ago, I looked at my phone after reading in bed for a while and saw it was 11:30pm. The phrase ‘it’s half past eleven’ triggered a memory. I didn’t know what, but I did know it was a song.
Then, in the intervening time, my brain has mulled this over (singing that bit to me constantly) and I finally got the next bit of the song; something about missing a train and a place called Forrest Hills.
What the heck?
But at any rate, that’s enough info for me to Google it and get the song.
Harry Chapin Halfway to Heaven circa 1974.
So I go to YouTube to listen. It’s from the Verities and Balderdash album. My LP copy belonged to my elder brother. He left his records when he left home and I listened to the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Cat Stevens, Ross Ryan, Blood Sweat and Tears and various other bands. My high school friends loved Abba and I’d say ‘Abba? Ugh. Have you heard the Who?’
The song is a middle aged man tale about how he thinks he’s missed out on something in his life. He plans to have an affair with his secretary.
The comments are mostly from guys who agree with this. It’s a good life rule to never read the comments, especially on YouTube.
This man is about to trash his marriage and betray ‘my Mary’ as he refers to her. Because his secretary wears nothing underneath her shirt? It’s the 70’s. That was the fashion. This is a power imbalance. He’s her boss. And he knows it’s not the right thing to do, as the song winds up to a crescendo and he notes that his life runs down even if the clock is electric and he can’t hear it.
This morning I woke up with that’s just the way it is and a moment of piano. I thought it might be Jackson Browne but googled that and it’s Bruce Hornsby and the Range from 1986. Dammit brain.
At least I’ve moved on to civil rights and addressing societal imbalances.