Trivia and Reading

I am currently reading The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin and I am inspired.  It’s about the author’s year-long quest to be happier.  It’s purposeful and practical and has lot of tips that I can apply or have started doing.

Rubin focused on different areas every month and for May, it was Be Serious About Play.  The author was trying to go back to activities she enjoyed as a child.

This led me to also think about a favorite childhood pastime, which was collecting trivia.  The Philippine Daily Inquirer used to run a trivia section by Bong Barrameda and I would religiously cut and paste them onto scratch papers, which I would then collate and read again and again.  Nerd zone!

Not only that, I also kept a trivia notebook where I researched and wrote down interesting information like areas of study, capital cities, historical figures, scientists and discoveries, everything!  That was fun for me.  I was about to say they were useless info, but not really.  Because of this interest, I had enough ammunition to join (and thankfully win) a few quiz shows.  Ok, truth be told, I kept a trivia notebook even up to college and joined inter-departmental quiz shows at Intel.  Fun times.=)

I've always liked reading and it's largely because I was exposed to a lot of material as a child.  My parents did not buy a lot of toys and in fact I can recall the very few ones we had -- Nang Lani’s large doll, a red plastic tea set for me -- but we had a lot of books.  We had magazines and books from Reader's Digest, encyclopedia, and a giant dictionary which was at least 5 inches thick.  These were not just useful for school research.  I read them for leisure, too.

Unlike me, Neil is growing up with A LOT of toys but we’re balancing it with books as well.  We want to instill in him a love for reading and he seems to be heading that way.  I am glad.

I read a lot more in previous years and my goal this year is simply to read more.  When we’re at the mall, the bookstore is a regular stop where I actively scour books for future reading (Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver, recommendations are welcome).  I have considered buying The Happiness Project for some time but only decided to go for it last weekend based on a recommendation I got in Facebook.  Buti na lang, Richard is very supportive of this hobby.  Simple joys.=)

*While writing this, I recall another activity that I also enjoyed as a child.  That will be another post!