New Blog New Perspective

Hello Geek-Rockers,

        It’s the Poetic Gigolo ‘back in the saddle again’ as one rock band puts it. I want to start off this new means of communication by explaining the title. I first got into blogging through a potential g/f, turned friend, turned acquaintance, turned out to not be what I expected. I enjoyed it at first but soon I realized that I was just doing it for her. If I would have been smart and reviewed my personal history with the opposite sex, I should have known that this venture wouldn’t work no matter how much effort I put into it (*or didn’t put into it from her perspective*). All I will say on that front is the fact that I should have listened to Ace of Base and taken their advice. I will give the devil his due. Sometimes opposites attract and the relationship that is formed can work for the better. But sometimes (most of the time for me), that is not the case. In any event, I have learned the hard way that both sides need to commit to at least communicating with each other for it to work. (A one sided relationship is NOT a relationship.) +It might be a crush, an infatuation, it might be a potential stalking situation, but it is not a relationship.+ This communication should become a rule that both parties practice. And that rule is “…assumption of feelings is never practiced…” That is to say that both parties should never assume that the other person knows how they feel. Additionally, regardless of how much heat there is on one end, the venting of emotions should NEVER EVER EEEEVER be posted on a public blog for the world to read. The following Book of Weezer verses are a product of that experience:

“By the same token, Facebook and blogs are NO PLACE to air grievance you have with any person. You may find it emotionally satisfying to vent, but instead of taking to cyberspace, use a word processor or pen and pencil or a chalkboard to deal with your disagreements or angers. By posting your complaints about people on social media, the business between two people becomes the business of your other family, your friends, your acquaintances, your co-workers, people you see at church, people you met on the street, friends of friends, friends of friend’s friends and ultimately strangers. If arguments are initially between you and another person, your other family, your friends, your acquaintances, your co-workers, people you see at church, people you met on the street, friends of friends, friends of friend’s friends and ultimately strangers have no business knowing (and forming their own opinion) about what went down. Stop making it their business!”-The Book of Weezer 11:6-8

Now to the meat of this blog…new perspective. For as long as I could remember I have been fond of certain books. If you were to venture into my bedroom you would see a book shelf full of wrestling autobiographies, stories, religious literature, and even text books from my days in “The Land of Milk & Honeys” (The nickname is meant to be a spoof of Old Testament land of Canaan). I have many books in my library and have read most of them. But here recently something has changed my mind
about reading conventional book. That something is the 4^th Generation IPod Touch. I was given my IPod Tough by my brother who as upgrading to the IPhone 5. After converting everything he had from his IPod to his new phone, he no longer needed his IPod.
      

After receiving his IPod the only thing I knew I wanted to do with it is download the WWE app. This is MUST HAVE for any wrestling fan watching Monday Night Raw because through the app you can watch matches while the show is in a commercial break. **very very cool**. After a while I realized that I could have Facebook, Twitter, and other aps at my fingertips (given the proper internet connection). One thing that I was unaware of was the fact that if you have an IPod that you can actually save and read books with it. This was particularly exciting because a new professional wrestling autobiography had been released a few months before and the IPod gave me a *cheaper* reason to test out my reading experience. (*This may not be the case for every single title but that is the general consensus*) (You may have to download an app to read books, like the Kindle app or the Barnes and Noble app depending on where you buy your e-book from. I have the Kindle app on my IPod.)

 

        I downloaded the Kindle version of Booker T. Huffman’s book “From Prison to Promise-Life Before The Squared Circle”. In short, this book has given me a new perspective on Booker T not only as a wrestler but also as a human being. I never would have known that he grew up in the slums of Houston Texan and had to basically not live but learn how to survive at a very young age. It’s also shed some light on his early Harlem Heat tag team persona. I thought that I was just watching a so called “brother tag team”, but as it turns out, the two men that were the Harlem Heat are actually full blood brothers. Interesting! I highly recommend the book to anyone but especially to all my ‘rasslin fans out there.

        What made reading this book especially enjoyable for me was reading it on the IPod. Years ago when I was compiling my library, I thought and even stated to friends that I preferred having the actual book over an electronic version. Looking back I think it was because I had never read anything on a portable electronic device. There are a few very distinct advantages to reading books on an electronic device:

Reading a book on a device like the IPod or IPhone limits your visual attention.- What I mean by this is that when reading with the IPod you can only see the words that are displayed on that particular page. I have often found that while reading normal books, I would get distracted by the number of pages I had left to read in a chapter. Subsequently, I’d see how much I had left to finish a chapter and put it down because I had “so much more to read” in order to get to a new idea or thought in the next chapter.  With the IPod, I am not distracted by the upcoming pages because they aren’t in my field of view. Also with one simple touch of the screen I can see how many pages are left in the remaining chapter until the next chapter begins.

Electronic Dog-Earing and other features-Unless you are the reader that uses old school bookmarks, dog earring has been you main way of keeping up with the progress of your book. While this is a common practice, it doesn’t allow you to know exactly where you are on the page you dog eared. With the IPod you can not only dog ear pages you can also highlight and underline phrases that are important to you as the reader. The device also keeps track of all of your highlights, dog ears, underlines etc. Electronically dog earring pages can also be undone and not cause harm to your book. This is not the case with conventional books. Another cool feature of IPod readers is that readers can snap to the most recent place in the book with a simple push of a button. You can also see what parts of the book have been popular with other readers through a dotted line on a phrase, or paragraph. When highlighting passages of the book you have different color options to highlight with. You also have the option of turning on and off a cool little page turning animation that makes you feel as though you are actually turning a page  

Size By size I mean the size of the page. With conventional books size of the page is dictated by the size of the entire book. With e-books you have features that allow you to manipulate the size of the font so that print is either bigger or smaller depending on preference. The number of pages (or page turns you do to get to another pages) depends on the size of font you desire.

Progress-With the book being digital, the app that you are using to read the book gives you a percentage as to how much you have read and by simple subtraction you can know how much of the book you have left to read. This is precise allowing you to know exactly where you are and how much you have until you finish the book.

Balance & Turning pages-Balancing a book in your hands while trying to keep your place and turn the page when necessary is not a big deal for 99% of people. However, for someone like me who has mild cerebral palsy, balancing a book while staying in the proper place has proven to be difficult. This is especially true with hard cover books that have a thicker spine than others. With the IPod the shape of traditional books is eliminated because the IPod becomes your book. The size of your book is no bigger than the IPod itself. There is no balancing involved and page turning consists of swiping your finger from the right side of the screen to the left. (*simple…and EASY*…geek tested & palsy approved)

Saving Space- This is simple. I can take my entire library with me and can fit it in any place my IPod fits. After reading using my IPod I wish I would have had this type of technology when I was starting to build the library pictured below:

In total I have read 2 book from cover to cover after receiving an Ipod. (Booker T: From Prison to Promise &  The 5 Love Languages by Gary Chapman. Both books come highly recommended for different reasons. I am also in the process of reading Kyle Idleman’s Not A Fan: Becoming a Completely Committed Follower of Jesus. (I have linked the Kindle version from Amazon.com.) This is an extraordinary and eye opening read for American Christians and I would be lying to you if I said that it’s just another Christian book about “how to be a good Christian” a.k.a.-Joel Osteen. This book serves as the one that will definitely make you rethink your walk with Christ. It draws a very distinct ‘line in the sand’ and as redefined what it means for me to say that ‘I follow Jesus.’ I recommend it highly to all my fellow believers with one warning. The warning is this: DO NOT read this book if you aren’t ready to change. If you take this book seriously it will change your view of Christianity and make you reexamine all that you believe about Christ himself.

~Until Next Time Geek-Rockers~
~~~read read read~~~

THE POETIC GIGOLO