Information overload

Gina: Okay, I should stop chatting and do something like figure out how to increase my child's early literacy skills.
Don't you feel information overloaded?

me: you have no idea

Gina: I just feel like i have way too much to read.

me: I think I read 10 different books yesterday and that doesn't include news sources...
I read the Times, MSN stuff
I read some of a guide to greece, some of a guide to Turkey
then I read a chapter of a book about the anthropology of sugar
then a chapter of Jim Cramer's Real Money
then a chapter of Seven Habits of Highly Effective People
then a few pages of I am America and So Can You
I was disappointed that I didn't get to the Corrections, which I had sitting on the coffee table
so to answer your question, yes, I feel information overloaded
oh I also read a short chapter of Don't Sweat the Small Stuff at Work

Gina: Hey, I think I read that 7 Habits book once...
I should probably re-read it as I haven't felt very effective lately.

me: I'm skimming
I find it hard to follow those convoluted diagrams

Gina did not receive your chat.
Sent at 10:09 PM on Monday

me: anyway, you seem to have disconnected

Gina: I think gmail froze.
Gina: Oops.
I hit something that restarted gmail again.
Gina: I think it's this bandaid on my finger.
me: if we were talking on the phone, we'd be laughing
Gina: LOL
Yeah.
I actually am laughing now.
me: laughing because we'd be laughing on the phone?
Gina: Laughing re-reading what we wrote.
Restarting gmail, the bandaid...
me: doyouwantwhatmightbeastalecookie?
Gina: lol. Yeah...


Gina and I have been friends for ages and we have a tendency to be very silly when we're together, without trying. Usually I'll laugh because she says something and then over-qualifies it (I am completely making this up, but it's not far off: "I dropped my car off and went to a movie... it was sappy... I mean, the movie. Not my car.") Or I'll say something and it will take up to six repetitions before she understands me. When we in Geneva, I would find myself "translating" for Kate so that Gina would understand. Kate is English.

We were returning to Geneva from Spain, I believe, when the following, now legendary, conversation, ensued:

Gina: I'm hungry.
A: Doyouwantwhatmightbeastalecookie?
Gina: What??
A: Doyou wantwhat mightbe astalecookie?
Gina: What?
A: Do you want what might be astalecookie?
Gina: What??
A: Do you want what might be a stale cookie?
Gina: What???
A: Do you want what might be a stale cookie?
Gina: I CAN'T UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU'RE SAYING!
A: Do... you... want... what... might... be... a... stale... COOKIE?
Gina: DoIwantwhatmightbeastalecookie?... No. No, I don't want what might be a stale cookie.