Monday, June 15, 2009

Reading.....a good skill to have!


A few years ago, I got an invitation to join a mail-order book club. If I accepted the invite, I was to affix the sticker to my form that said, "Yes, I love to read!" However, if I declined, I was to affix the subtle and kindly phrased sticker, "Reading hurts my brain!" I have laughed about this sticker for years, but sadly, maybe I should have joined the reading club because I have found that I am a lazy reader when it comes to long blog posts.

The lazy blog reading came to an all-time low a couple months ago. A friend, in an update posted the following:
*News about their recent vacation (including pictures)
*The death of their grandpa
AND
*Their near-death experience with an infection that went horribly awry.

The post was incredibly long and being in a hurry, I scanned the first part, enjoyed the pictures and then stupidly left the following comment, "Sounds like you have had a great time! I hope I can do the same some day!"

Later, from another friend, I found that my comment was not so appropriate. Horrified, I made a hasty phone call to remedy the situation. Thankfully, my friend has a great sense of humor.

Has this ever happened to you? How long is too long for a blog post? When do you stop reading? Have you ever left a comment that was completely inappropriate?

Pic of me reading...it was an excellent book too!

6 comments:

Grammy Pilgrim said...

My brain has an automatic switch when a story or explanation in conversation gets too long or too detailed. It goes to more interesting things. Then, when I realize I should have been listening, I try to fake it. I say the wrong thing about 50% of the time. Embarrassing. I blame it on my ADD. :)

William said...

My friend at school decorated our bulletin board with a large pink 3-dimensional elephant. The elephant's trunk lifted out from the board and it had great big eyelashes that reminded me of Snuffy from Sesame Street! However, the way my friend implemented the mouth was a little bit strange - it hung out to the side, detached from the face of the elephant and looked more like a twig or tree branch hanging out from underneath the elephant's trunk.

She, my boss, and I were staring at the design, trying to figure out a better way to make the mouth when I slipped up and made the stupid comment that the mouth looked like a bong. It didn't really look like a bong. I was just trying to be funny, but I quickly realized how inappropriate my comment had been... especially since neither of them laughed! As they continued discussing how to fix the design, my mind raced:

"Great!" I thought, "now they think I'm a pot smoker!"

I obsessed momentarily as my mind told me how stupid I was and finally I decided not to worry about it. I looked at the design again and figured out how it could be fixed quite easily. I waited for my boss to quit speaking and said, "...or you know what you could do is move this over here and then do this..." to which my boss said, "yah, I just said that!"

Of course, I hadn't been listening and now they REALLY think I'm a pot smoker! :P

William said...

I think I'm going to see if I can find a t-shirt that says, "Reading hurts my brain!" :D

Anonymous said...

I'm sure I've left an inappropriate comment. That just sound like something I would do. I try not to post long blogs, because I don't like to read long blogs. I am a skimmer if it is looong!

JulieJ said...

I too don't have much patience if there are too many words and not enough pictures. I guess we have blog ADD.

Lisa said...

I have skimmed the long ones sometimes. I prefer the shorter blog posts, and I try to remember that when I am posting. Our time is very valuable.