a book : don’t leave home with out one, or two.
bag lady, i have also read bottles in bathrooms. now i just keep the bathroom reader books in there just in case.
I’m with the “gotta read” group, but if I find myself stuck and staring into space then be assured that I have constructed a world within myself. I will be composing memos and long forgotten letters, going over the last siminar I attended and thinking about the next one. I will be building that play-set for my grandchildren, piece-by piece.
Sorry, but I think you picked the wrong bunch of people to ask this question, I can’t picture any of the dopers just sitting there in a coma. Most of us would at least be plotting to take over the world or something.
I don’t carry books around as a rule because my purse is the repository of so much else <“Here, Mom/honey, can you put this in your purse?”> and it’s rare that I’m idle enough to become properly absorbed in reading. I’ll grab the omnipresent People or Entertainment Weekly mag in a waiting room to pass time, or I’ll people watch, or I’ll indulge in a little daydream fantasy… <“No, please, thank the Nobel Committee, but I just can’t get away for the ceremony. Have them pick someone else for this year’s Peace Prize.” *** “Harrison, Sean, Tom, you’re all very handsome and talented, but, really, I’m happily married!” *** “The doctor will see you now, and he apologizes for keeping you waiting these last 2 minutes.”> Frankly, between my job and my family, I’m always grateful for the moments that make no demands on my brain…
If I’m caught without something to read and if I’m realy bored I spend my time people watching. Yes I’m one of those people you almost catch giving you a furtive glance when I think you’re not looking. Then I sit there secretly writing a list of all the things I know about you that you didn’t think anyone knew. Let’s see… . that girl over there–she’s really in love with Mr. Really Bad Hair over there, oh yes, she wants him bad. That guy… he’s wearing red lace panties under his suit. And you, you ain’t foolin anybody. I know, I know all about you…
Reader here.
I can’t remember the last time I went anywhere without a book, just in case I had a few minutes of down time.
Mrs Chance puts the baby on the bed (asleep) and goes to shower in the morning? I’m reading while watching the baby.
Letting the dogs out in the middle of the night because they’re barking like canine fools? Take a book downstairs.
Lunch at work? Reading.
Heck, I’m at work now and I have a paperback in my pocket.
Read read read read read
obfusciatrist said,
LOL, you do this too? If my BF is home I yell for him to bring me something, otherwise i grab anything, lotion, soap, kleenex box, etc.
I always carry a leather bag with me, which almost always contains a book. I also keep a Walkman in my car.
If I’m caught in a long line without either, I’m the guy who looks like he’s about to have an aneurysm.
I read compulsively, but I also often don’t take books with me to waiting rooms - I end up too distracted and get annoyed at myself/life/the book/people in general. So yes, I am often reduced to reading ancient magazines and stuff on the walls. Or I people watch, or think (about classes, the rest of the day, the question to life the universe, and everything), or count stuff. That’s actually a big one. I count windows, slats in blinds, all sorts of things. But I suppose that’s another thread . . .
And I, too, have been known to read bottles. I’ll even read them in the shower (there’s a shelf in our tub that puts them reasonably near eye level).
Put me on the list of text addicts, too. I also must read at night before going to sleep, even if only a few paragraphs. I have a book in the van right now, for when I’m waiting for Missus Coder or Ralf, Jr. to run in to a store or whatever. It’s a collection of columns written by Judd Arnett, a columnist for a Detroit newspaper. Not that he’s that riveting a writer, but it is interesting, and it’s broken up into chunks about 3-6 paragraphs long. You can read for 2 minutes, put it down for a week, and pick it up again w/o having to go back 3 pages to figure out where you were.
Of course, counting things 
Yes, I do that too, but not that often. That’s probably a common way to pass the time. By the way, I read also, and often will have books with me, I just often don’t like having to carry lots of stuff around. I also write, and for trips and such try to at least have my pocket journal. Although I am surprised that sometimes with a walkman on and furiously writing in a normal-sized journal (say while waiting for a bus/plane) people will decide to interrupt me just to chat. I try to be friendly, but do I really look like I want to be interrupted? Oh sorry… dunno where that rant came from. I’ll go hide away and watch you all now, and maybe read some more Dope.
I’m usually a sitter and starer. Well, that’s not quite true; I play my walkman constantly, and it fills in the little gaps that you have every day, like waiting for the metro and whatnot. However, if I anticipate an unusually long wait (for me, that is, not for the activity in question) I grab two or three of those philosophy books that I know I ought to read and that I want to read but I have to force myself to read (being lazy).
For example, I had to go to the hospital yesterday night, after the pharmacist looked horrified at my grease burn. Since it was on my way, I stopped at home to feed the cat (for fear I would be gone a long time) and also grabbed a couple of books.
Fortunately, I only had to wait for about two hours or so (they had said, and I had anticipated, five to six). So I only got about halfway through Bernard Werber’s Le livre secret des fourmis. But I had Jane Jacobs’ The Nature of Economies on standby in my backpack.
I always think I’m going to have time to read so I bring a book in my pack everywhere I go. However, I find my mind wanders. I read a few chapters and come across a particularly thought prvoking part and I sit and think about it … book open, pages not turning. I’m the one who looks hypnotized.
Or I’m a passenger in a car, I’m reading (no car sickness probs with me) … I’ll glance out the window and see, for instance, a long, lonely stretch of train track. (In the ‘country’ these go on for miles and only the curve of earths surface makes it disappear.) I think of where it goes, the people who are, at that moment, at some place along it. How are touched by it?. What are they doing? Are they happy? What are their stories and histories … that kind of thing. I imagine hopping a train and traveling … what would that be like? Who would I meet? How would I be treated … from there my mind takes all sorts of paths of thought … before I know it hours have passed.
I also people watch … a lot. I usually end up being a blatant starer. It unnerves people, but I’m not really staring at their stomach or foot, it’s just the direction my eye happened to be looking when thought struck me. I construct histories for these people, families … futures. It’s weird, I know, but I consider it part of character research for future or current stories. I prefer to have something real in my mind, so the man on the tube who has the tie/socks color combo styleish thing going for him makes for very interesting fodder!
Not that I don’t read … I’ve books everywhere. I’ve run out of space to put shelves and cases, so they’ve ended up on top of the organ, strewn across my desk (and under it) and they’ve even started collecting in laundry baskets (easy to tote them from here to there when toting is necessary. Who has time for laundry when there are books to be read!
I almost always have something to read with me - at least a magazine. If nothing else, I pull out the maps in my Filofax or old receipts and read those. If I’m absolutely stuck with nothing, I have lots of mental games I play: thinking up features I must have in any house I might buy; rearranging my furniture; translating signs into another language; rewriting scenes from books to make them more interesting. Eavesdropping is sometimes fun too.
Slight hijack: does anyone read the telephone book and the dictionary? Why is it that every time I tell people I do this they think I’m insane? I don’t mean that I read the listings in the telephone book like Rainman or something – just all the other stuff. There’s lots of good info in there. And the dictionary has tons of interesting info besides the definitions. Anyone?
I’m a constant reader. I have to read!! Having said that, though, sometimes I forget to bring a book with me (usually when I’m not expecting a wait somewhere and forgot to replace the book I’m done with). Then, I daydream, do math problems in my head, plan my future, mentally do my budget. Whatever it takes to get through the wait.
Yep … read the dictionary. So you’re not alone! I find words I don’t know and try and use them (can be quite funny at times, especially if I pronounce it wrong.) Different dictionaries too … like a common slang one. Great reading!
I almost never bring books with me to places, even if I know I’m going to be waiting a long time. Where I work currently is a major place to get bored. I’m a cashier at Kmart, and often I will start conversations with people as I ring up their crap, especially if they have something interesting that’s a defining mark. My mind tends to fill the mundane moments with odd thoughts and memories, jokes, etc. If you see some girl trying to stifle giggles while waiting in line, it just might be me.
I always, always, always have a book…paperback, hardcover, mystery, novel…anything…it helps so much to block out the rest of the world, engrossed in some amazing story…even if it’s just for the commute home. Books are grrrrreat! sorry…cheesy…i know…i get excited.
Hmmmm…Ever stop to think about what YOU look like when you’re doing math problems in your head?
It seems to me that someone busy working on that 100th digit of Pi in their head would be the one that would appear to be the most brain dead. Kinda makes you think twice, doesn’t it?
Hmmmm indeed!
I know most people look like that, werther theyre thinking or not… myself included… im just wondering if there is infact people out there who are able to do nothing what so ever… like have no train of thoughts or anything really… must be quite relaxing… however stupid you might look
I had a roommate once who would just sit on the couch for hours and do nothing. No tv, no books, no music, just sitting. One day he went crazy and beat up a cardboard Power Ranger we had nabbed from Blockbuster. Make of this story what you will.