Imagine that everything is going just swimmingly. The sun is shining, the birds are singing, and all’s right with the world. You’re practically bouncing from health and have money in your pocket. The kids are playing and laughing, the puppy is chewing in the cutest possible manner on an officially-sanctioned chew toy, and in between moments of laughter for pure joy, you pick up a book to read . . .
What is it?
I have no idea. I'd still not be rereading, but I would be game for almost anything. I might even be feeling magnanimous enough to finish some not-so-good lit fic that I've put off before in exasperation.
Onesome: "Details--are everything!", or so it is said. Are [you] a details person? ...or a big picture person?
Sometimes details are cool. Sometimes they're necessary. But the meaning of life and happiness in general? I could do without the details. In certain things, I'm more of an advocate for the conceptual rather than the detailed. There's a balance one must strike between details and big picture--and I sort of get irritated when people embrace the extremes.
Twosome: Details-- (in the military definition) can be a royal pain: what routine detail at your job/school/home would you cheerfully off-load to someone else?
I'm not up on my military jargon, so I'm guessing you mean chores. If I could off-load all of them to someone else, I'd be very happy.
Threesome: Details-- and devils: what are you willing to work on nearly endlessly until you "get it right"?
Endlessly? That sounds ominously Sisyphean. Sure, there's a certain amount of work that goes into school and lab, but if things continually go wrong, you have to decide at some point to abandon that particular approach. For one thing, you're just repeating your mistakes. Two, you're wasting your time. And three, your boss will just be pissed that you're wasting resources with no progress to show for it.
The same thing goes for creative endeavors. In writing, for instance, there's revision involved of course, but there's a point when you have to say, okay it's done, and send it off. Unlike works that require years of research or slow writing for one reason or another, chronic revising is bad. Sure, that story is your baby, but babies grow up. And you just have to let go.
Although I was tempted to just say "anything!" for the BTT meme, I ended up going with cookbooks. Lots of energy and happiness means wanting to cook something yummy!
Yeah....that BTT question was a hard one today!! I'm with you though. I could probably read just about anything! Nick Hornby is always a good choice. I still don't know where High Fidelity or About a Boy is my favorite though!
