Slowing Down

 

Ughhh. I can read it, but

would rather not…

I’m told that I write like a woman. Or… I used to. The older I get the worse my handwriting becomes. But at its worst… mine is a damnsight better than that. To me that looks like a scrawl from a kid in elementary school but whadda I know? I write slowly and deliberately. In better times I might have flirted with fountain pens but my background and lifestyle forbids it. I can’t even abide ball points. Mechanical pencils don’t overheat and explode in your pocket in the summer. They don’t freeze in the winter. I’ve been chided for that too but make no apologies. If a document is so important to you that you need an ink signature - YOU can supply the pen. 

Problem is I read slowly too. It’s becoming a problem because I am now deaf. Too many years of guns, motorcycles, power tools, industrial environments have caught up with me. I need to use captions on the TV and on OyTube. When people talk fast the captions flash across the screen too fast for me to pick up.

I’m toying with the idea of speed reading. Apparently my road block is called subvocalization. My lips don’t move when I read (that got beaten out of me in grade two) - but I read at a conversational pace. 

I wonder if I am to old for it?

I’m going to try a few apps and see if I can’t clock a little faster. Problem is I’ve read this way all my life. I expect it to be challenging at the very least.