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A Pause

Sometimes I think about my life and am absolutely amazed. Amazed at how lucky I am, how loved I am and how much love I have to give. This year has been a bitch and I thought it would probably be the worst year ever. You know what? It might be one of the best. I have rediscovered passion, rediscovered what matters more than anything and I have rediscovered me.

I almost finished Eat, Pray, Love. But I just couldn't do it. Liz Gilbert tells a good story, but it ended up being too much about her. In an annoying sort of way that is hard to describe. You could relate to her one minute, but the next she would say something to show that she is way out of your league. It felt intentional. I didn't like that.
Rating: 4/10

Up next is Born to Run. I could not be more excited about a book right now. I have been wanting to read this for a while and now I finally am...YAY!

:D

Life is so funny. It has ups and downs and in-betweens that you never see coming. But somehow it all works out. I like where my life is right now. All this crazy stuff that has happened lately has put me here. Guess it wasn't so bad after all :) Try to live in the moment and enjoy everything. It makes things easier.

I feel like something clicked in my brain recently that has allowed me to just laugh at everything crappy. 90% of bummer situations are not real bummers, so just deal and move on... ya know???

Still reading Eat, Pray, Love by the way...

Catch Up

It's been about a month since my last post and man, am I doing better. It's kind of remarkable what time can do. I still have some sad moments, but as a whole I feel mighty fine. I have been working out every day and eating mostly all natural, low sodium, gluten free food. That pairing has made a world of difference. I had been running nearly every day, but I got shin splints... so now I am resting my legs for a month. Two weeks to go! I'm very excited to run again. I very recently bought a new pair of running shoes and a pair of Vikram FiveFingers. I would really like to start running in those if my body will let me.

Sooo, the books I have read! I am still not mentally at the point I had been for reading. I find myself drifting off a lot or getting massively tired when I sit down to read. Hopefully this aspect of my life will also get back to normal soon :) Here are some quick reviews of the novels I have read in the past month:

The Amityville Horror by Jay Anson- Watch the movies. The old one and the new one with Ryan Reynolds. The book is not very good or scary. It's also written in a very odd way. It's worth reading if you have extra time and read tons of books. Otherwise skip it.
Rating: 4/10

Lamb by Christopher Moore- Hilarious! Christopher Moore is fabulous and rarely has written anything other than awesome. I think if I knew the bible better I would have liked this even better. But as it stands, I have no bible knowledge (pretty much) and I still loved it. If you have never read a Moore novel, go do so. Now!
Rating: 8/10

Currently I am reading Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. I'm about halfway through it. Liking it quite a bit. I thought given my recent life situations it would be fitting or at least relatable. Both these assumptions were true.

I hope you all have a lovely summer day :)

Update

Since my last post a lot has happened. My relationship ended. I moved back in with my father. And craziness has ensued. I have had my heart crushed and any hopes for a friendship with my now ex shattered. Deceit, ddishonesty and stupidity have plagued my life. I wish so bad that I could have my old relationship back, with the man I knew and loved. I don't think he exists anymore though...
So what have I learned through this hardship? That we don't know anything. Everything is subject to change and everything changes. Do not be cocky about or take for granted what you think you know. I also learned the importance of real friends and family. I have a teeny family and only a couple close friends. But they have given me the power to change my life. They comforted me, moved me back to my dads quickly and have surrounded me in profound love. I would be nothing without them. The third thing I now know is just how strong I can be. I had to change the way I was looking at my bleak situation. Yes, it makes me sick and it makes me want to curl up in defeat and pain. But I wont. I can handle this. I am alive, I have things to be grateful for and I have so much love to give. Everything will be okay. Fall down seven times, stand up eight...right? :) Right.

I haven't been reading anything, and I know I won't make my 75 books in 2011 goal. But that's just fine. I'm finally getting to the point where I can read again without my mind wandering. I am not setting a new goal for now. Just taking it day by day. I will still update this blog once I begin to read more, but for now it's kind of hard to even think about.

Blue

Sorry for the lack of anything good lately. Going through a very rough patch right now. 

Here is a funny. CLIIIIIIIIICK.

"When tears come, I breathe deeply and rest. I know I am swimming in a hallowed stream where many have gone before. I am not alone, crazy, or having a nervous breakdown . . . My heart is at work. My soul is awake." - Mary Margaret

Slump

I am in a reading slump. Nothing sounds good and everything I have started I haven't been able to get in to. This usually happens to me a couple times a year and it always sucks. I tried reading Raptor Red and Hotel World- both novels I was very excited about. I got about 20 pages through both of them and had to stop. I just cannot get in to them. It's a bummer. Also, the weather is AMAZING right now and I have had the house open all week and have been going for walks and stuff. Guess what? My allergies are back :( My throat hurts so bad! I'm considering allergy shots this year.

So I am really not feeling the best emotionally and physically. At least my pneumonia seems to be all the way better. My parents are divorced and everything. So that's done. I also registered for college today. I feel very stressed out and crabby and tired and a lot of other things. I'm not even really sure why. Just a lot happening.

I finished How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff sometime last week. I liked it a lot, although it wasn't really how I thought it would be. I really don't feel like reviewing it.
Rating: 7/10

I will cut this post short. I feel like it's just one big annoying rant. Oh well. It happens.

Keeping it Short

I finished Milrose Munce and the Den of Professional Help. A very pretentious little book. It seemed really forced... like it was trying to be really unique and off the beaten path. Unfortunately, I think it failed. I know it was supposed to be funny. Some parts of it were, but mostly it was annoying. The best I can say about it really is that, being a young adult novel, kids who read it will learn some big and new words. A lot of adults will too. It was readable, just not great. Too bad...
Rating: 4/10

Tonight (hopefully) I will be starting How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff. Another young adult novel. I wanted to read one of her other novels, I'm forgetting the name of it, but for some reason I picked this one. So, I suppose in hindsight, that was weird of me. Anyways, this one is supposed to be about a teen girl in England between wars. It also has something with incest. Lets be honest here, I really don't know what it's about.

On a totally unrelated note, what the hell is Chris Brown doing on Dancing with the Stars? He is a moron and is despicable person. Yuck. I am pretty grossed out that ABC is having him after his sick little rant on Good Morning America. Way to support a disgrace of a human, ABC. Boo. Also, his lip-syncing is HORRIBLE.

"Character is doing the right thing when nobody's looking.  There are too many people who think that the only thing that's right is to get by, and the only thing that's wrong is to get caught. " -J.C. Watts

"Don't try to be different.  Just be good.  To be good is different enough." -Arthur Freed

"You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him." -James D. Miles

Smokey Robinson & Bed Rest

So here is something that sucks: I am still sick. This pneumonia just will not abate. I had to miss yet another week of work. I feel so bad! I went in for my shift Tuesday and immediately realized that being there was a mistake. Thankfully I work with understanding people who gave me the rest of the week off. I still feel bad though. My checking account will also feel bad. What can you do though? Just get better, I guess.

The good things about being home sick are that I get to be with my dogs and I get to drink a lot of delicious juice that I would never drink otherwise. Other than those things though, nothing is very good about this. I can't really even read more than normal because I am so flipping tired all the time. When I do have energy I basically just stare at the T.V.

I did finished The Pact by Jodi Picoult today. So that was kind of productive. For being sick at least... I really liked it. The last half was basically unputdownable. I'm very surprised. I didn't expect to enjoy a Jodi Picoult book. I'm not sure if I will read more of her stuff, but this was definitely good. My one critique is that the ending was a little sappy for my taste. That's okay. We can all use a little sap once in a while.
Rating: 8/10

Up next I am reading Milrose Munce and the Den of Professional Help by Douglas Anthony Cooper. I got this book a long time ago and totally forgot about it. It is a young adult novel about a boy who talks to dead people and has to see a psychologist. It is supposed to be really funny and awesome. Ideally I picture it being a bit like Neil Gaiman style. That would be nice...

I also wanted to say that I loved The Silent Land by Graham Joyce. I finished it earlier this week and rated it, but didn't review it. It was so different and creepy. I could not put it down and immediately bought a couple more novels by Joyce. It was a super refreshing take on creepiness. The story was really neat too. I believe it is considered a horror/fantasy novel. I don't think that is accurate though. You can't really place it in a category. Kind of hard to explain, but it's true.


Have a good evening everyone!

"A good laugh and a long sleep are the best cures in the doctor's book."  -Irish Proverb

Pneumonia

For the past week I haven't had the internet and I have had a horrible case of pneumonia. We now have internet, but unfortunately, I still have pretty bad pneumonia. I took all last week off work in hopes that it would make me better. It didn't. I have to return to work tomorrow and I am not looking forward to it. Firstly because I feel like shit. Secondly because I doubt customers are going to want their lattes made by someone coughing up a lung. I just want to sleeeeeeep :(

If I attempt to write a long blog tonight all that is going to happen it a ton of complaining. I don't want to be sick and that is basically the only thing I have to say. Here are the books I have read while being sick and what I rate them:

• Help! A Bear is Eating Me! by Mykle Hansen 5/10
• UR by Stephen King 5/10
• Riding the Bullet by Stephen King 6/10
• The Silent Land by Graham Joyce 9/10 

Now I am reading The Pact by Jodi Picoult. I have never read anything by her. So far it's fine.