I really do know how to read. I've been reading for most of my life, and I'm pretty sure that by now, I have hit the magical 10000 hours of expertness. Yet, I still seem to have this problem, where I somehow overlook important things that I should definitely read, and read thoroughly. Maybe it's impatience, maybe it's laziness, or just being in a hurry (I mean, come on. Sometimes you just have to get to the end of a book to find out what happens, and there's no time for all those little details like adjectives and adverbs and punctuation and descriptive detail, right?). But I think it may be time for me to slow down and pay attention to what I'm reading. Or should be reading.
Case in point: The other day, I went to the archive where I work to do some research for a user who lives in another country. Per standard practice, I left my ID at the front desk. Then two hours later, I packed up my stuff and headed out. I walked all the way down the street (really not that far, but I'm going to be whiny and say I was sleep deprived and starving, and everything is worse under those circumstances), and when I got to the bus stop, I realized I hadn't picked up my ID. Which was kind of a bad thing, because my ID gets me free bus rides. And one should just generally have one's ID, just in case. So, I walked back to the archive and retrieved my ID, and on my way out, I noticed a sign on the door. It said: "Remember to pick up your ID."
Yep. Sometimes it is definitely worth it to pay attention to all that printed material around you. I think I'm going to work on that.
