Old People Writing for Teens, IV

I'm giving Thanks on Friday. Working a full day tomorrow. Oh, which reminds me. I'm trying to decide whether to watch ALL the shows at work the next three days or to buy a new audiobook. I'm rebelling against the "no audiobook or headphones" rule because it's ridiculous and I'm working alone.

I've cried like three times today (but one was over a Glee ep I was listening to, and I knew that would happen). I think I really wanted to go home for Thanksgiving this year and just didn't realize it until today

I actually adhered to the letter of the rule. I didn't listen to audiobooks. I listened to West Wing episodes, and I didn't listen to them with headphones (which I think is the most ridiculous part of the rule), I just listened to my iPhone with the sound turned all the way up while the iPhone sat in my lab coat pocket

Whether I can pay attention to something with a narrative while I work depends on what I'm doing. If I'm trying to write or read, my brain can't process the two narratives at once, but if I'm weighing salts (which is half the time me sitting there waiting on the scale anyway) or searching through debris for bugs or counting fish or pouring water into beakers or taking chemistry measurements or cleaning the lab or filtering water, etc., I can absolutely do the two things at once.

If someone's talking to me--highly encouraged for the same task where they said "no headphones, no audiobooks" so that we stay alert(!)--I have to focus on what they are saying and simultaneously think of a response, give that response, and don't get me started on how I tend to talk with my hands. It's way more distracting than an audiobook or tv episode. If I listen to something with a storyline, I'll just listen to that and work, and those are the only two things I concentrate on. If I don't, I'll work, listen to the radio (straining to hear over other noises in the room because I work in a loud lab and people play the radio quietly, but my brain is drawn to music), listen to what other people are talking about, and have an argument in my head with someone (or plot or replay in my mind the same things I would have been listening to anyway). Audiobooks or TV eps are way less distracting to me, particularly with...headphones.

I started with cheaper audiobooks, and I consider each one hard before I buy it, including previewing it on iTunes or audible. Right now I'm stuck on buying my usual ones (Dresden Files) because the next book in the series happens to be one I own in book form, so I won't pay the money for the audiobook, no matter how good they are. But I started listening to them because I was staring into a microscope, picking through debris for bugs, and could not stop thinking about the novel I was querying and the status of my e-mail (which I couldn't get at the time). It took my mind off of it, and served as a smaller distraction in the end than the query obsession.