I have not been working regularly since November and I was curious as to how I would feel without a job. I have heard of other people feeling a vacuum in life, or that they wanted to go back to work. I really like doing research, and I suppose now I am doing actual book research instead of empirical data collection, but I have not felt that I have any more or less time than before. I suppose that just means my last job suited me, because it matched my natural level of interest in work.
I started taking classes at the university – informally, just as I did before I got admitted. School was probably the most stress I have ever endured, and it is nice to be able to go to class now and not worry about doing the assignments. I know I am not getting as much out of the lectures as the students who exert effort, but it sure is fun to go listen and get pumped with information.
I just read this book – nothing too special about it, except that it is well written and especially enjoyable. The book is called Essence of Style and is about the cultural institutions propagated by Louis XIV. It is popular history written in unrelated chapters for various innovations, so one may skip around easily if one chooses. I like the book, and I want to remember some of the stories in it. I like the way that it is a series of short stories about change that can be learned and retold to offer an explanation or cause of specific things as they are today. Maybe the stories are accurate or not; I just think the format is clever, and I am feeling reflective lately. It is the same with many books, but going to these classes and thinking about all the good lectures I have heard and forgotten just makes me think about all the data that I consume for pleasure then forget.
I wish I had an easy way to record and access and relive everything I ever saw, read, did, or heard. I suppose this problem will approach a solution with technological innovations in the future.