I am also one that has many hobbies. I have tried to find a balance between my love of knitting and crocheting, video games and reading. After 2 years of intense schooling (my last semester yielding me 18 units and no free time) I needed a break from reading. I won’t lie, I had spent so much time reading that the last thing I wanted to do was read for pleasure. Period.

Since getting my nook, I find myself reading much more often. Initially there was the “Oh! Shiny!” factor, but it has now become something more significant than just a new gadget for me. The almost instant on to the last thing I was reading makes it so much easier to read a few pages, or a chapter, and set it down again. No need to prop the book open. No need to find a comfortable position to rest my elbow. I hold my nook in my hand or rest it in my lap. While laying in bed it weighs exactly the same if it’s 200 pages or 800 pages. I prop up my book light as I would with a paperback, but no need to shift from side to side, or change the way I lay down to read. The inconvenience of reading an actual book in bed is no longer there.

I must say though, I will not stop buying physical books. There is nothing I love more than walking into the infinite possibility that is a bookstore. Small or large, new or used. I have been known to judge a book by its cover or by its title. I found gems and duds, but rarely do I regret a purchase because I learn something from the experience of reading a new author, an unknown author, or a well-known author I’ve never had the pleasure of reading previously. My purchase of physical books will just slow down, tremendously. Especially with the only new bookstore within 50+ miles of me closing down.

My complaints about my nook are few in number and don’t outweigh the benefits I gain. Aesthetics. I have never liked the design of the Kindle with 1/3 of the smaller (not the DX) covered by unsightly keyboard buttons. Why do I not like this, because this portion of the Kindle is not used often enough to justify the full keyboard being in view all the time. The nook eliminates this by having the capacitive touch screen which turns off and takes up a much smaller space than the Kindle’s keyboard. The Sony reader is simply too boxy for me.

The ereader in comparison to physical books became a cost benefit situation. Ebooks are discounted because of the lack of physical space they take up. There are no trees going toward the publication of the book. My bookshelves are already full. Brimming. I have boxes in storage, full of books as well. I simply cannot tote them all everywhere I go over the next however many years. The boxes weigh a ton and gawd-forbid there’s an earthquake… because my large bookshelf might topple and kill someone. For travel this also becomes an added benefit. It takes up less space than a netbook and even less space than a handful of books might. I always pack 1-3 books with me as a “just in case” measure when traveling. I don’t travel often, but 11 hour flights with 2 hour layovers are not fun with nothing to do (usually plugs in airports are taken by wayward traveler’s leaving the netbook as entertainment almost impossible for more than a couple hours, leaving the flight itself with less opportunities for distraction).

To put it more simply, I need to cut back on the amount of crap I take with me from one apartment to the next, and the need to have an entire room (or rooms) dedicated to bookshelves. I carry with me at any given time a library to pick from when I do want to read something. I can satisfy my impulsive side (by being able to buy immediately and have available for reading immediately) as well as having the added ability to choose a book based on my mood or genre choice.

However, the choices of books available in ebook format aren’t as diverse as I hoped for. I’d love to see a lot more choice available for downloading and purchasing. Tons of new stuff from a lot of authors I’ve never really been interested in… well, ever, so deciding to spend my hard earned money on a book I’ll likely never read is a simple one; I just won’t. As ebooks become more and more available the benefits start to outweigh the initial cost. The need for more publishers and authors to be on board for carrying their works in the ebook form becomes greater.

With the iPad’s arrival onto the scene, the market has taken a turn. I suppose it depends on which side of the table you find yourself as to whether the pricing war will bother you or be just another annoyance. I have never been one to buy hardcover books in the past, so the pricing guideline change won’t affect me nearly as much as it will other avid readers. The pricing of ebooks is roughly as such:

Popular books will now be priced higher, closer to the $12-$15 mark for books that are newly in hardcover. Bestsellers may or may not be sold at a slightly lesser rate in accordance to the discount given to physical books. The price will then come down when the book has been made available in paperback. There is some evidence of this when you browse available books, either through Amazon, Sony or Barnes & Noble.

“The sense of entitlement of the American consumer is absolutely astonishing,” said Douglas Preston, whose novel “Impact” reached as high as No. 4 on The New York Times’s hardcover fiction best-seller list earlier this month. “It’s the Wal-Mart mentality, which in my view is very unhealthy for our country. It’s this notion of not wanting to pay the real price of something.”

It is this exact mentality regarding publishing that causes problems surrounding pricing of ebooks. They require almost no resources to publish. The distributer is the one paying for the cost of traffic (download traffic specifically, since you purchase the book from Amazon, Sony or Barnes and Noble). Authors like Mr. Preston want you to believe that his livelihood is based solely on hardcover sales. However, why not make a book available in ebook format as well, where the revenue generated is almost entirely profit? What is the point of bad-mouthing the very people who support your endeavors? Without the American consumer, or more importantly, ANY consumer, there is no revenue to be had.

My issue is the fact that digital content should be mine regardless of the cost I’ve spent. We’ve danced the DRM dance regarding music and in the end the consumer won out, with the ability to take their purchased content to any device they choose. It costs more, sure, but not significantly more. And when the consumer does the cost/benefit check, it’s worth the extra $0.30 to be able to take their iTunes purchased content and include it on the Zune, or their cellphone.

Kassia Krozser at Booksquare.com brings up many interesting points regarding the pricing of ebooks:

You can trot out your business model and your profit-and-loss statements, but your customers don’t really care. They’ve grown accustomed to this power, and if they can’t get what they want from you, they’ll get it from someone else, Including, yes, non-legal sources if that’s the only alternative you provide. Your competition has changed, and you must change. Yep, it’s a variation on the publish or perish model.

When pirating ebooks becomes are more lucrative market for piraters, it will face the same challenges that DVD’s (as well as Blu-Ray’s) and music has faced in the past. The forums and websites will flood to the market to make available those items that people are looking for. $15 isn’t a lot for a new book, by any means, but it’s a lot of money for not having any rights to the content. Buying a physical book lends me certain privileges. I can let a friend (or 15) borrow the book (keeping the publisher from getting any profits from those people at all, truth be told). I can sell the book to a used bookstore for a store credit towards more books. I can also take my physical book anywhere I want. It seems digital content has yet to catch up to these things, though Barnes and Noble is at least trying with its LendMe feature.

Another option for authors to consider is the ability to self-publish. This might become something we see more and more, leaving publishers (the greedy bastards that they are) out of the picture entirely. One can only hope.

I guess in the end, the consumer will be able to regulate pricing based on whether or not they’re willing to pay the higher price tag. If an ebook doesn’t sell many units at the now ridiculous $15 price, publishers might find themselves discounting books after all. People will find a way to get what they want to read, and the more markets out there, the better it is for the consumer. Only time will tell.

When I was younger, living in Los Angeles, I found it so much easier to fill my life with all of these random outings. I planned events and invited people. I made day trips and weekend trips. I flew up north and drove to Mexico on a whim. I went to strip clubs and dive bars on the weekends. I went to Reggae dance clubs on Thursday nights and hung out on rooftops on the weekends. It is only because of these experiences that I have so many stories to tell. I have so many experiences that seem out of this world, and I would never trade a single moment of it for anything.

During this period of my life I found myself up in arms with drama. It never left me. I felt great anxiety and tension. I started smoking at 22 because of the stresses of my life. It never once occurred to me that I might be programmed differently, that maybe my social calendar was to blame. At least, not until fairly recently. I was reading Laurie’s blog on Valentine’s day, and her entry really touched home with me in many ways.

I don’t venture out for long stretches at a time. I don’t socialize in the same ways that I used to. Even as recently as a year ago I was found outside of my home more than I was home. Something changed though. School truly became one of the most important things for me. I set a goal. I wanted all A’s. The only way to achieve this goal was to make sacrifices and dedicate the time and energy needed to get this. I didn’t get all A+’s, but I did get all A’s. This feat is one that I have not been able to cherish in a very long time (3rd grade).

When I cut out cable, I also found that I had a lot more time available to get my homework done, preemptively get my reading done before the quiz/exam/final/paper was due. And now that I’m no longer in school, having recently graduated, I have all of this free time to do as I please.

The choices I made growing up has given me the perfect, and often selfish, opportunity to do whatever I want with my time. I can spend 6 hours playing Bioshock if I so desire. I can go to the gym. I can knit. I can play WoW. I find that as long as I’m willing to give myself the chance to do the things I like (and trust me, I have a billion and one hobbies to divide my time with) and love, and not feel guilty.

I still go out, occasionally. I still find time to socialize and be a part of the rest of the world (outside of the work environment). My tendency now is to limit this to a small number of people rather than large gatherings. I’d much rather have a good 1 on 1, instead of yelling over bar noise. This doesn’t mean that the bar is a bad place to hang out, it just means it’s not my place to hang out.

And so, I quote Laurie, because really, I couldn’t have said it any better myself. It truly is exactly how I feel.

“Listen: I’m thrilled for those who meet someone that sets their heart on fire and makes their life colorful and full. And I’m relieved to see not everyone has to follow my path to be happy. There are so many roads to personal fulfillment, even ones I never expected. I’m happy for all of us, those who fit the bill and those of us who wandered a bit. We create a new happy each day, each in our own way. The woman who chooses to be a single parent. The woman who chooses to divorce and live with her partner without a contract. The woman who marries another woman. The man who proposes to his boyfriend. The woman who falls in love at 63 and meets THE ONE and he’s only 57. Or the woman in Los Angeles who has three cats and a room of yarn and is astonished to discover she is happy all alone, for once in her life she has the say on everything and it makes her heart sing. She feels generous because she now has just enough.”

Life has decided to dish out the dirties to me this year. New Year’s weekend I got stuck with that cold/flu thing that basically sucks. Anyone notice that all of the cold/flu things going around lately pretty much suck? That it seems there’s no end in sight and your friends and family members decide that sharing is caring? Yeah, well, I’ve about had it with getting that gunk.

In other news, I have found myself in the possession of a nook. I only received it today, but already I’ve plowed through half of a book. Alright, it doesn’t really count as a book since it’s a tiny little thing. I imagine the physical copy is a quick read and that I could have just sat down in a bookstore and read through it, but I’m sure I’ll find the information invaluable as time goes on. I have yet to put any of my own content on there (PDFs or otherwise) so we’ll see how that turns out after I get to that point. I need to find my other microSD card… one is in the camera and the other is… well, I’ll find it eventually.

The nook was quite sluggish at first, which I expected from all of the reviews. I also knew that there was an update that helped with this little problem. It has and it did. I’ve never played with a Kindle, so I have no point of comparison, but I love it already. I’m enjoying how easy it is to read on. I like that I was able to take it to the gym, prop it up on the little shelf in front of me, set the font to the biggest it goes and read while running/walking on the treadmill. This in and of itself satisfies my multi-tasking ADD self. Okay, I don’t really have ADD, but it really does help. Makes me feel like I’m getting to do something WHILE at the gym. And reading books are on the agenda of “Things to do More Often”.

I’m happy with the purchase, even if my car decided to take a digger and cost me $700 to repair. I don’t regret the nook. I do, however, need to set myself a budget so I don’t over spend on books. Like $20/pay period or something. Or only buy a book after I’ve read one. Who knows what I’m going to do. I do have a ton of them on my computer to upload, so we’ll see how that goes.

In other news, I’ve decided to take my ever growing ass to the gym. I keep gaining weight, which makes me more depressed about being overweight, which causes me to stop at Chipotle, In & Out, and McDonald’s far too often. I need to limit this to once a week or less. I need to make hitting the grocery store a bigger deal.

Spring is starting to make it’s way here, and losing my car yesterday and being stranded meant that I walked to the gym and walked back. I also walked the mile or two to pick up my car. It was good for me and I needed it. I didn’t, however, need the honks and catcalls. I mean really people, grow the hell up already.

In other crafty news, I’ve started working on a pair of socks from Wendy’s older book, Socks from the Toe-up. I have been wanting to make socks from this book for a very long time, but I’m such a self-striping/hand-painted yarn whore that I never picked up any skeins of sock yarn that were less… variegated. I have picked up some wool yarn from KnitPicks as well, so that I may start on some new amigurumi projects.

I’ve had bad luck with patterns, and I think I’m going to start working on my own patterns before I invest the time in another ami doll. There’s just too many variables that don’t seem to fit. Numbers that are off, stitch counts that don’t match when having to put pieces together. Ah well. Photos of the new doll are after the cut. They’re kind of fuzzy.

Today I have a little bit of disposable income. So today I will be buying patterns on Ravelry**. Specifically I’ll be buying patterns in which either a portion or all of the proceeds will be going to help with Haiti fund raising organizations.

This ends up being a 3- (or even 4-) fold benefit to all.

First, there’s the obviously selfish one in which I get a pattern out of it. Sure.
Second, I’m supporting indie designers by buying their patterns.
Third, The obvious one is that whatever amount of money I spend, there’s a portion of it going to help with the relief efforts.
Fourth, It gives me more patterns to make for others! (this one is a stretch, I know).

I could easily just donate some money, sure. And I’d feel good about being able to do that, without a doubt. But it’s really the support of the designers that I’m interested in as well. These people are giving up a portion of their livelihood. There’s always a bigger picture, I swear.

As I browse there are 77 pages worth of projects. That’s a lot of stuff and a lot of patterns to choose from. So I encourage the handful of crafty folks who might be reading to go take a look. Even if you get only one pattern, it’ll still be helping.

** When you’re logged into Ravelry, click on Pattern. In the upper right hand corner there’s a link for Haiti donation patterns.

EDIT: For those curious, I’ll link the patterns that I went ahead and purchased today, not in any particular order. These are all Ravelry links (which means it requires an account to be able to access them).
A Little Something by Samantha Roshak
Argus Shawlette by Wendy Johnson
Lasa Set by Jenna H.
Varese Hoodie by Connie Chang Chinchio
Heirloom Treasure Baby Blanket by PurpleSage

Let’s see what 2009 had in store for me.

Good:
I graduated college.
Visited Portland, OR, Seattle, WA, and Vancouver, BC, Canada with my best friend.
I got an Xbox 360 from someone who must really love me.
I got to visit England.
My kitty is healthy and continues to be spoiled.
Continued to be a non-smoker.
The generosity of strangers, friends and family is astounding!

Bads:
My car kept breaking, and my windshield needed to be replaced.
I needed to talk to a counselor to make it through a semester of school.
I had a friend lose her husband.
I spent 8 months looking for a job with no luck.
I got a $0.27 raise for my 4th year of employment.
I spent too much of my time being pissed, angry, and altogether face-stabby.
Spent too much of the year  taking birth control pills that threatened to give me major heart problems before it was detected.
Student loans started to go into repayment when there is no additional money (nor jobs).
California has really poor management skills and pissed all of the tax payer money away. *sigh*

So needless to say, I’m one on board for the Eff Off 2009!! boat.

Everyone has resolutions of some type, even if they don’t call them resolutions. Here is my semi-predictable, and hopefully possible list.

Goals for 2010
Read more books.
Go to the gym regularly.
Eat better, but never deprive myself of my personal food joys (just in moderation).
Eliminate all of my credit card debt (this one I’ve been working on, but I want the only debt I have to be the student loans before the end of the year).
Work on projects that I’ve been thinking about but keep putting them off.
Dye more yarn.

That’s about it. What about you guys? What are your hopes for the new year??