I have a long and tender memory.

Iris Murdoch, from Under the Net

Bookmark Discussion

Do you use a bookmark when reading? Because, I don't, and apparently that is weird!

So, context. My friends @funkysora and @mechafeline and I do a lot of reading and they seem to think I'm some sort of monster because I don’t use a bookmark to keep track of where I have read. DONT PANIC! I don’t bend or dog-ear the pages or anything like that; those people are the monsters here! (only joking no matter how you keep track of your progress, as long as you are reading good for you!) I mean, honestly, my method is not that weird.

I just remember the page number. Because that is how my dad did it all throughout my childhood, so it was just normal that I copied him. To clarify, my dad is not dead, even though that last sentence made it seem like it, he just sticks to audiobooks now rather than physical copies. Anyway! I need some validation here that I am not a monster for just remembering where I last read. Am I? some people think its because I have a pretty good memory for useless nonsense, but no, its just how I have always done it, and also i would lose the bookmark so many times How do you keep track of your reading? Leave a reply below.

Fremantle Tourist Wheel, Fremantle, April 30 2022

not really a specific moment, but between the ages of like, 5 and 7, i somehow got the idea in my head that my granddad had a watermelon growing in his belly. and he went along with it! "yep," he'd say, "i ate a cup of dirt, and then a watermelon seed, and some more dirt to bury the seed. i drink water to water the seed, and i shine a flashlight down my throat to give it sunlight."

"wow!" i'd reply, staring in amazement at his stomach (wherein, i believed a watermelon lived), "why," i continued, "why would you do that?"

Did you know that mudskippers are fish that can survive both in and out of water? When moving around on land they're still able to breathe using water trapped inside their gill chambers for a period of time :]

I did know this!! I knew this because of the Pokémon Mudkip! My older brother would explain every Pokémon card to me and all the facts he knew. He’s eight years older than me and I… didn’t have much of a choice lmao.

Yup. It was a game we’d play. I’d show him a little bit then a bit more then throw my arms out wide & yell, “I love you thiiis much!!” He loved it.

worried that thing you put in your art or writing or game or music is too self-indulgent, too self-referential, too niche for anyone but yourself? fear not! you can do whatever you want forever. and you should.

Something something the way that Crowley introduced himself to Aziraphale the first time they met in the garden and reacted as if they had never met before. Something about him later behaving as if he did actually have those memories of their time in Heaven together and trying to pass it off as being someone different now. Something about Heaven's way of punishing angels that go against the plan by erasing their memories. Something about Crowley seeing Gabriel without his memory and saying "ask him properly." Something about "remember it now" "it hurts, to remember. my head isn't built for that" "I know. Do it anyway"

Something about "I know. Looking at where the furniture isn't"

Something about I know

Within the darkness one finds a light, even if that light might be a strange one.

I remember the only thing keeping me going was the twilight time and how beautiful the sunrise was.

I remember the nighttime that was just eerie quiet and enchanted voices of nature.

I remember the genuine happiness my friend held when she was explaining to me about her and her siblings story world.

I remember the stars and the cloud formations.

And I will continue to remember them when I need a reminder to keep going.

For a memory is the dearest and nearest thing I will have to the original phenomenon.

Doesn't matter if it happens everyday or once in a hundred years.

another cereal based memory of mine. my late aunt would visit us on rare occasions, and she always brought along these huge boxes of name-brand cereals that my mom never bought, so it was always such an exciting thing for me whenever she visited. well, the cereal and her little black dog named cricket.

i vividly remember sneaking away into me and my mom's shared bedroom with a huge box of fruity pebbles, and i'd also managed to sneak in a whole gallon of milk without being noticed too.

the association's just stuck in my brain ever since then, and now when i smell fruity pebbles, i get reminded of my aunt.

. . . Jefferson had the sharpest memory I've encountered. He never forgot a word I said.

Siri Hustvedt, from The Blindfold