Of Perfunctory

It's funny how you get stuck in a certain thought pattern sometimes. Just habits, but not habits as you'd think. Personally, a habit to me is something that you do by semi-conscious choice. Like how I'd always take 13 minutes to shower a couple of years ago, or how I drink excessive amounts of Coke Zero in between lectures. 

However, I noticed a while ago that I could never watch a film without going into some odd kind of analytical mode. I'd always read too much from a film, and I could never watch anything without considering various deeper meanings than the shallow front. Sometimes I'd miss the plot entirely because I was pondering a detail from earlier on. Equally so regarding anything, which became an exercise in endurance whenever a cheap Hollywood flick was the only thing on television.

I expect this habit was largely created during those years of my secondary education where the thing required was an analytical capacity in any occasion. Be it civics, science, even maths - when it came down to it, the important thing to truly succeed was the ability to read between the lines.

I further most expect that everyone does it from time to time - and I would be curious to hear of it. 

The latest such occurence came to me while I was reading, again, my Christmas book on literary theory. Suddenly, my eyes started skipping lines, and I found myself, against my will, skimming the text entirely. I'd noticed it earlier, but then I chalked it up to tiredness, seeing as I had always read it while in bed. This time, however, it was in the bright of day, and I was by no means tired.

Now, as I picked up the other book I had at hand - thinking some light rest from the heavier text would help - I still read as quickly, but the message did, at least, get through. I realized that the manner in which I had been reading was not at all suited to the book I was reading. Subsequently, I dropped the other book, and picked up the literary theory once again. This time, I read every word, every sentence, every paragraph over and over again until I got the hang of it.

It proved easier after a while, provided I concentrate on the text. I guess as I'm writing this that I've simply read far too much in a light way - on the metro, or otherwise fleetingly. In addition, much of what I've read so far has mostly been light, popular literature. I realize with some embarrasment that most of what the occasional academic essay had to tell me has probably passed straight through. As such, I've gotten into a habit of skimming books rather than actually reading them - which becomes quite the obstruction when you're trying to learn something out of anything other than the extremely shallow stuff they hand out in lectures.

This is obviously something I'll have to watch a little. I'll probably re-read much of the last chapter, just to make sure I actually understood what was said. All the same, I start worrying of other habits I might have, that would obstruct daily life without me even noticing it.