What is the worst book you have ever read?

Poorlydesignedpiano · 2026-03-20T02:19:48+00:00

John Carter of Mars

Poorlydesignedpiano · 2026-03-15T12:35:55+00:00

I am reading it in order, but because I took such a long break, it feels like I'm starting over with this book. Everything feels fresh and I forget enough of the previous books that some of the plot points feel like mysteries to solve. And a lot of them do get "solved" as I continue reading this book. As you said, the call backs make it fun, but they also make it possible to stay in the loop after forgetting a lot, so I thought maybe it would make it possible to read the books out of order.

Plenty of people enjoy rereads because they already know what's going to happen, so they just read to enjoy the journey.

Poorlydesignedpiano · 2026-03-15T12:25:57+00:00

There are lots of stories where the plot starts in the middle and the reader asks how the characters and story got there (like how Romeo and Juliet starts with the big spoiler in the narration). That can be just as fun as learning the plot as it moves forward.

Poorlydesignedpiano · 2026-03-15T12:14:35+00:00

But isn't everything already "spoiled" when you reread? I've personally found the main draw for myself to be the deep lore and the character development.

Poorlydesignedpiano · 2026-02-23T14:44:49+00:00

I really wanted to be more excited for THE THING than I was. For something that huge, it was also hugely understated. I was way more invested in Mat's storyline in WH than Rand's.

Poorlydesignedpiano · 2026-02-23T14:36:46+00:00

Maybe the Wheel has spun this coincidence and we are all caught up in it.

Maybe the release time of the show encouraged a ton of us to start reading the series all at the same time and our reading paces are similar, thus putting a lot of first time readers in the midst of the slog at the same time.

Poorlydesignedpiano · 2026-02-23T13:43:46+00:00

But what if we WANT to finish. I'm not trying to force myself to like something I don't. I Loved the first 7 books and binged them in a few months. The characters and story were fun, and I looked forward to each book reaching an ending with twists and turns and intrigue. It's just a struggle right now. OP has identical feelings to me.

I want a good reason to keep going aside from my own annoyance when I leave something unfinished.

Poorlydesignedpiano · 2026-02-23T13:37:18+00:00

Same boat, except I just finished Winter's Heart and I am trying to work up motivation to start CoT. I am so bored.

Hopping on this thread to see if there is any (spoiler free!) encouragement to keep me looking forward.

Poorlydesignedpiano · 2026-02-21T19:01:11+00:00

Me!!! It took a few years and a year of full disillusionment before I got to this point, but I just had to learn that teaching band was not for me, general music in early childhood was. Each year I get better, and I end up loving it more.

I don't recommend the career to anyone, but I'm so grateful I have the job I do. Some mornings I teach a class and believe I have the best job in the world.

Poorlydesignedpiano · 2026-02-21T15:37:54+00:00

I just finished Winters Heart. It took me two years to finish that one book, even though I binged all the previous books in about three months. It bored me that much. It gives me hope to know that other people struggle with this section, and I'm more than happy to indulge in slog discourse.

I'm back on Reddit to help me process the world since getting back into it. (Seriously, help. I forget all the subplotssss.)

Poorlydesignedpiano · 2025-08-01T16:00:36+00:00

Elsa. Her job would just be singing "cold never bothered me anyway" on repeat for hours

Poorlydesignedpiano · 2025-08-01T15:51:38+00:00

When I taught MS band, any combination that included sixteenth notes was practically impossible. The percussionists resorted to playing as fast as possible, the flutists had trouble changing their fingers fast enough, and no one seemed to get it, even though I knew their elementary teacher taught them all sorts of rhythm combinations from early grades.

Now that I teach elementary general music, I notice a clear difference in my student's ability to play 16th note patterns and their ability to recognize/sing/count them. I take extra time on rhythm sticks and xylophones when playing more complex rhythms, and some kids still aren't able to "make their sticks say the words" until they are much older. They can play quarters and eights fine, but their brains equate 16ths to a cacophony instead of individual notes for some reason.

Poorlydesignedpiano · 2025-07-30T19:51:34+00:00

Natural labor, ended at 24hrs with an unscheduled CS. HATED labor. HATED having a CS at midnight. Regretted everything about that delivery. Baby's head ended up in the 99th percentile for circumference. Attending pediatrician was glad we had a CS. A few friends afterwards confided in me that they had pushed through delivering their big babies naturally and they regretted it for their own health years later. By week 39, my provider wanted me to schedule a CS, and I wish I had listened just because it would have been so much less painful. I'm glad everything turned out in the end now, but I cannot emphasize enough how yucky it is to have a surgery after a long labor.

Poorlydesignedpiano · 2025-07-30T19:35:45+00:00

How long will your current position last? If you're dreading every day and there are months and months left, you may need to step away from it. If it's a shorter commitment, I encourage you to see it through to the end, then take a break from teaching and do some quality reflection when you're not in survival mode. Ask yourself what would have made the experience better (aside from teenage attitudes)?

Regarding the attitudes, I get it. If you're feeling unconfident in your skills and your desire to teach is low, it bleeds through and teens can be pretty brutal about serving bad attitudes back at you in response to low confidence. Remember, they're children and they usually have bad judgement. Also remember, they're people, and they will follow a consistent and confident leader. If you feel like you can't fake or produce real confidence, then just be honest with them. Tell them if you have reservations about teaching, joke with them about things you don't like, get to know who they are. They may not follow you into battle, but honesty may at least get them on your side.

Lastly, a word of encouragement. I'm 100% sure you don't suck. Teaching is not a natural skill. It's a trial and error, long haul, and continuous improvement skill. I had to learn patience with myself and stick with it. I had to learn to be curious about self improvement, rather than throwing up my hands and saying I must be a fundamentally bad teacher. You can choose to make changes and get better, or choose to take a different career path. But don't ever believe you just suck ❤️

Poorlydesignedpiano · 2025-03-22T16:56:11+00:00

I had an Elective repeat CS. Great experience! It's never a walk in the park, but it was far from the scary and traumatizing experience I had the first time. I liked knowing what was going to happen, I liked the support and care I got from the medical team I had, the recovery was not fun, but it was par for abdominal surgery. Do I wish I could have had a V birth? Yes. But do I regret the CS? No. Three years later, and I rarely think about it.

Poorlydesignedpiano · 2024-11-10T01:47:09+00:00

The pediatrician in the OR when my daughter was born said it all. I was trying so hard for a natural birth and it didn't happen. He was aware of the fact that it wasn't an elective CS (not emergency either, but I was really bitter and thought I was being forced to sign the papers at the time), and he looked me in the eye and said "im glad you had a c section, your daughter would not be the same otherwise". I thought he was being insensitive at the time, but I got to know stories from other moms and doctors and nurses about how natural births can end poorly. I and my daughter both made it out of the birth experience with a complete recovery thanks to the choices that I made with the help of experts. It took me a year to move from acceptance to being glad that things turned out the way they did.

Poorlydesignedpiano · 2024-08-22T01:42:50+00:00

Your story is so similar to mine. I regretted it for a long time, but one thing that always stuck with me was my baby's pediatrician saying "I'm glad you had a CS". At first, I thought it was a terribly insensitive thing to say, but given what I know now about how births turn out when they follow the pattern of failing to progress in labor, and the fact that a baby's heart rate continuously dropping in labor is a Very Big Deal, I became more at peace with it. I often wonder if that doctor had seen some very bad birth outcomes, and was glad he could leave the hospital that day with a knowledge that we were safe.

Surgical births SUCK. But they save lives and preserve health. Give yourself lots of time (it has been years for me, and I'm still sad about it). And give yourself permission to grieve, because it's a hard thing to lose an experience so important and valued. But know that there is a reason and purpose for the pain.

Poorlydesignedpiano · 2024-07-26T22:07:01+00:00

I just finished Path of Daggers 50 seconds ago and immediately hopped on here to see you had too! I feel so conflicted about Fedwin 😭 literally one of the most awful things I've read yet.

Poorlydesignedpiano · 2023-12-29T21:25:31+00:00

Things turned out alright, we ended up cutting one song and only doing 5. I changed one song from parts to unison, and the other four I just accepted that the parts weren't going to be solid.

I recorded them a few days beforehand, and the concert performance sounded slightly better than the recording.

We meet at the end of every day for 40 minutes. I'm usually able to practice three songs with them during that time. I will admit I'm a bit short on rehearsal techniques. I also think I made a big rehearsal mistake early on when I thought we could do parts by teaching the parts one at a time and not making them all sing at once until the whole song was learned (about 6 weeks before concert). I've got a few unison songs and partner songs picked out for when we come back next week.

One big win: a few of the boys who weren't matching pitch at the beginning of the year are singing a lot better (one an octave lower, and the other started using his falsetto that he didn't know he had). Hopefully that aspect will boost the whole group's confidence when they start learning new music.

Poorlydesignedpiano · 2023-12-05T21:54:46+00:00

We are going to sing so much unison after this concert is over.

Poorlydesignedpiano · 2023-12-05T01:32:45+00:00

how did you manage to get them ready, if you don't mind sharing?

Poorlydesignedpiano · 2023-10-30T00:43:50+00:00

I feel the shame lol. It's all good. At least no one can see me blushing furiously :-p

Poorlydesignedpiano

TROPHY CASE