Sonic is Four

Today is Sonic's (one of my wiener dogs) fourth birthday. These things always make me sad when it comes to pets. It's a reminder that it is one year closer to them not being around and I don't like that. It's always a more blue time for me. And I try to not have favorites between my three dogs, but Sonic pretty much is my best little guy. He is awesome. So I am not having the worlds best day. Certainly not the worst either, though.

Sonic with his birthday presents

I finished The Five People You Meet In Heaven and I liked it. I was expecting it to be as good as Have a Little Faith, which it wasn't. I enjoyed it though and would recommend it for a bit of light reading. I don't have too much to say about it. It's a unique story, but the writing is a little run-of-the-mill.
Rating: 6/10

I also read What I Talk About When I Talk About Running: A Memoir by Haruki Murakami. It was spectacular. First of all, Murakami is an amazing writer, so the writing alone is nice to read. Secondly, the story is highly inspirational and motivational. And third on the list is that you get to know Murakami as a person a little more. The third item may only be interesting to his fans, which I am. It is a memoir that is mainly about his running and how that specifically has changed and shaped his life. It's pretty incredible. I think anyone could take something memorable from this little book. I know that I did. Eventually I may even consider this as a favorite.
Rating: 10/10

Currently I am reading I Am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced by Nujood Ali. I will be finishing it sometime today. It is really interesting. Here is a link about her story.
Basically, she is a 10 year old girl from Yemen who is sold to be some guys wife and she fights to get a divorce. It is a true story that took place not long ago. It is a sad insight into the culture of that area. I'm sure my review of it will be short, seeing as I am about 75% done with it already. I am just blown away by the way women are treated in parts of the Middle East. From a western standpoint, it seems insane. I wish I could better understand how this happens and continues to happen. It's wild. In the worst possible way.

I am proud of myself, because so far this year I have read more nonfiction than I read in the past 5 years combined. And I have been really enjoying it too. I am trying to expand my world in a lot of different ways, mostly in little ways, but already I feel like I am growing :)

This is a link about food.

Kiiiind of interesting. And gross.

I hope everyone has a nice Valentines Day tomorrow. 

"If you live to be a hundred, I want to live to be a hundred minus one day so I never have to live without you."
-A. A. Milne

Caution: Everyone's Sick

Hey everyone. Guess what? I'm still sick. Hence not blogging for a week. I have been going through roughly one box of Kleenex per day and had to miss another day of work last week. I finally feel like I am getting better, but man has this lasted a long time!!! Turns out a ton of people are dealing with pretty much the same thing. A horrible cold that is lasting 2+ weeks. It is the worst. Feel better everyone. And for gods sake, take a couple days off of work so it stops being spread around. If I get sick again I'm going to throw a fit!

I finished Deadeye Dick by Kurt Vonnegut. It was fine. I had a good time reading it, but I had much higher expectations for it. When I read Vonnegut I never know exactly what to expect, but this one was sort of flat. Maybe it wasn't as funny as I wanted it to be. It certainly had less of a story than his other novels I have read.

Rating: 5/10

Last night I read The Painted Darkness by Brian James Freeman. It is around 200 pages and it is super captivating. It is about a man who had something traumatize him as a child that he suppressed. Now as an adult he 'paints the darkness away'. Basically, he is a man with serious issues and this is a horror/creepy book. I was very into it the whole time and couldn't wait to find out what was going to happen...and then it ended... WHAT? Yeah. It just ended. With no ending or anything. My thought on this was the author planned on it being a much longer novel and then he didn't know how to wrap it up so he just stopped writing. It was that abrupt. So I have really mixed feelings about it as a whole. Go ahead and read it, but expect the 'ending' to be super disappointing.

Rating: 7/10

Now I am reading The Five People You Meet In Heaven by Mitch Albom. My mom says it is really good and the past few books she has recommended have been really good. I'm just a few pages into it. Hopefully I will read a bunch tonight. I thought I would be reading this afternoon, but sick-brain is just making me watch T.V. and sit. Like a zombie.

Here are some good links about dreams/sleep:

Amazing Dream Facts

Sleep Facts

(I literally sat and read about sleep and dreams for two hours the other evening. Totally dazing out while on cold medicine. These were two of the most interesting articles. I also read about serial killers for a couple hours, but this stuff is more happy :))

To everyone who is sick: Take time to rest and feel better.

To everyone who is not sick: Be nice to the sick people!

Have a good day people :)