484th Friday Blog Roundup

I don’t know what inspired me to do so, but last week at shul, I leaned over during a prayer and started singing to the ChickieNob and Wolvog the naughty words we used to slip in as kids.  They were the usual ones — the standards that all Jewish kids who have been to Jewish sleepaway camp know — such as “I swear I share my bras” for “asher asher bara.” (For that one, we got in a lot of trouble as teens because we’d snap each other’s bra straps when we sang that.)

The ChickieNob was delighted to discover such subversiveness existed within the context of shul.  As we drove home, she made me sing the prayers over and over again so she could memorize where to put in these phrases.  And in doing so, she actually learned the words to the prayers in order to masticate them into a new wad of meaning.  I warned them that they may want to be discreet.  Use them infrequently.  Don’t end up in the principal’s office at Hebrew school as much as I did.

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So I heard about this new app made by Spritz which allows you to speed read.  As of now, the app is only on Samsung devices?  Anyway, I tried it out on the Spritz site.  I felt very comfortable at 500 wpm (220 wpm is average for regular reading).  I could do 600 wpm.  I will definitely be downloading this app when it comes available on iOS devices.

But.

Even though I know I will definitely buy this app and use it, I’m not sure how/when I’ll use it.  Will I consume books this way?  Yes, but which books?  Most likely books I have to read vs. want to read.  I don’t think I’d use it for email, though I could see myself using it for magazine articles.  It will change the way I do research, though I don’t see how I would use a speed reading app if I needed to take notes.  By the time my brain processed that I wanted to remember a fact, I’d be three or four sentences away.

I guess I see it as the difference between eating to sustain myself and eating to enjoy the meal.  There are times when I grab a granola bar just because if I don’t put something in my body, I’ll faint.  And that’s fine sometimes.  But other times, I want to sit down with a nice, home-cooked meal and focus on eating something to enjoying it.

If you can’t wait for this app to be available, there are ones online that seem to work just as well.  Even though they’re really only great for blog posts and not for whole books, such as spreeder.

What do you think of speed reading apps?

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And now the blogs…

But first, second helpings of the posts that appeared in the open comment thread last week.  In order to read the description before clicking over, please return to the open thread:

• “Fertility: A Spectrum” (Genuine Greavu)
• “Thoughts on Empathy” (A Fox in the Hen House)
• “The Club” (A Glimpse Inside)
• “The Golden Ticket” (Serenity Now)
• “The Tension Between Manifestation and Letting Go” (The Unexpected Trip)

Okay, now my choices this week.

Mama Said Knock You Out is back with a post about life after family building.  It’s a little pop-in; a message to anyone who stumbles across the space, letting them know the epilogue.  That whatever you’re feeling today, you will not feel forever.  I love the ending: “For now, I hope to continue that float up. Not too quickly or too soon as I fear once I break the surface, it shall mean I have died. It’s not too bad here. It’s OK.”

Feeding My Inner Child… Hopefully has a post about infertility souvenirs, a different way of looking at lessons learned through the experience.  She writes, “I was originally going to title this ‘The Gift of Infertility,’ but in many ways, infertility was not a present and I was definitely not pleased to receive it. Souvenir sounds so much better. It’s something I’ve chosen to take away from my journey, and something that I will keep forever.”  She points out that her list is personal, but I think the post will resonate with a lot of people.

Lastly, Two Adults, One Child about the lifespan of an infertility/loss blog.  She writes, “So, of course I have lost some readers along the way.  I’m really NOT that interesting anymore — at least, from the standpoint of infertility.  I will always be able to identify with the infertility community, but perhaps there are some in the infertility community who can no longer identify with me.”  Thankfully, she’s not going away.  But it is an interesting observation.

The roundup to the Roundup: Bad influence on the twins.  What do you think of speed reading apps?  And lots of great posts to read.  So what did you find this week?  Please use a permalink to the blog post (written between February 28th and March 7th) and not the blog’s main url. Not understanding why I’m asking you what you found this week?  Read the original open thread post here.