Book Report

What would you do if you had it all and then lost it all in a matter of days? How disperate would you become?  Mule by Tony D'Souza is a fast-paced novel about a family trying to make it after losing everything to the economy. Watch as desperation turns into greed and turns back into desperation. You will be all types of excited by the time you reach the end.

Get Your Mind Right

Sometimes we get burned out…tired of everything bombarding are poor little brains. Lose weight, feel great, eat right, don’t eat at night, I’m hungry, I’m tired, get this done, conquer the world in 8 short days…all these messages can make us wacky, or, unfortunately turn our brains off before it burns out from overload. Silence is key.

Recently, I have been suffering from a burned out brain. When a brain is burned out, it stops working properly and sometimes starts working against itself by giving you negative messages, conflicting or even frightening thoughts or make you sound like a blubbering idiot. You can get frustrated or hurt more easily and you feel tired, irritable and unfilled a lot. When I begin feeling this way, I know it’s important for me to sit down and doe the following:

1. Write down how you feel. And when I say write, I mean, write…write the unabridged version of every thought you have, every pain you feel. It’s going to be depressing or even angering but you need to write it out. You may go from laughing to crying to screaming but you need to let it out…everything that comes out is what has been bottled up inside and it’s definitely healthier to get it out then to continue to give it valuable mind space

2. Reach for the book. I have already recommended Dr David Burn’s book The Feel Good Handbook but I will recommend it again. The first time, I checked it out from the library, but I will be going to half price books (or online) to purchase a copy for myself because I think it’s just that valuable to have around at all times, and I will want to share it with my children when they get older and start dealing with teenage years. The Feel Good Handbook teaches you how to deal with your thoughts and emotions in a practical and safe way and you will fill TONS better just by following the steps he suggests in his book.

3. Meditate. Be silent. This is a hard one. It used to be hard for me to sit and not think about anything but, after much practice, I have reached a deeper level of meditation than I ever thought I could. All you have to do is sit in the dark silently for a time period. I sit Indian-Style on the floor and focus on my breathing with my eyes closed. Soon, I begin to see a white circle between my eyes and I focus on that. It sounds weird, but focusing on this circle does wonders. At first, there was no circle, so I would say “peace” or “help me” each time I inhaled and exhaled. Doing these things keeps your other roaming thoughts at bay otherwise you will find yourself thinking of things you need to do, situations that transpired through the day or other things that will make you even more stressed and worn out than you were when you began. Slowly, as you practice, you will find background noise will suddenly mute itself. And, you will find time will start going by faster. When I first started, I could only sit for 3-4 minutes, now, I find I can sit anywhere from 10-15 and it feels like only seconds! I hope to one day get up to at least an hour. Just try it. Meditation is a truly personal thing and maybe it’s not for you but you will never know if you don’t try. You don’t need any special equipment or outfit. You just need yourself, your thoughts and your breath. You will feel more relaxed than you ever have (that’s why I do this right before bed).

The truth is, if you get overrun by outside influences and stresses, you will go crazy. You will not live a fulfilling life and you will become frustrated with your very existence. That’s not to say all your problems will go away and you will never be sad again. Lord knows I still have my days BUT I am equipped to handle those days in a more positive and less destructive way. Life is all about hills and valleys, you need to have tools for both. Are you ready for the journey?

Book Swap

As you guys know, I read a lot and it bothers me that some of you aren't close to a library (I am right across the street from a large one) and therefore don't read as much. If proximity is keeping you from reading and expanding your mind, I may just have the solution for that: Paperbackswap.com.

Paperbackswap.com is an easy and cheap way to trade your paperbacks with others without restrictions or time limits. No need to recheck your book every 6 weeks, just re list when you are done and get ready to trade again. Think of it as a type of Netflix for books!

I am not getting paid to post this, and I am not 1000% familiar with the program, but, after reading about it and hearing recommendations, I feel comfortable passing on the information.

Try it and see how it goes...you have nothing to lose but ignorance!

I Know, Let's Demand Less and Expect More!

I hate award shows, but it hasn’t always been that way. When my sisters and I were younger, we would make frantic preparations the evening before an award show, especially the Grammys. Food was scarfed, showers were taken and seats picked out way before the show started so as not to miss a second. Why the excitement? Because, we grew up in the MJ era and knew we could potentially catch a full musical “movie” during an award show. Even if it wasn’t MJ himself, it was another great trying to compete with him so the show was going to be wonderful no matter what. We also grew up pre-speech time limits (or at least strict time limits) and would die with laughter when music would start to play while someone was talking….classic.

Unfortunately, now, it’s all about glamour and glitz. Who came with who, who wore what, with very little resting on quality of performances. That isn’t to say all performances are crap. Every now and again, I find myself searching for one on youtube, choosing to bypass all the bs and get straight to the performances…because really? That’s what it’s all about. Still, it seems performances are haphazard, many “artists” not even choosing to sing. Why even wear (or hold) a mic if you are just going to attempt to sing every other word? Either sing it all the way or not at all because we, the audience, can tell the difference thank you very much.

It appears that, somewhere along the way, we as fans have allowed performers to get lackluster and half step. We are unfortunately okay with whatever we put out and therefore the artist, getting paid way more than what they did “back in the day” feels okay with delivering less. Why overwork when you can do less and get more? I agree. Is society afraid to demand more? Are we really okay with 5 million rappers on stage…99% of them having nothing to do with anything…just standing there throwing around towels? What is this, a family reunion for the world to see? As long as there is a little smoke and a live band, are we okay with someone just running back and forth on stage and then maybe into the audience and then back and then onto the little island thing and then back and then a little gyration then over? Really? That’s more like a scavenger hunt. The winners are predictable, the speeches are predictable, the attire is predictable…the jokes are predictable. If award shows were the lottery, I’d win every time…Even those being honored as living legends are kind of whack. It’s like, who nominated these people for this mess? Really?

All I am saying is, at some point we as a people should demand more…in ALL aspects of life including entertainment. Instead of the bar going down, the bar should be way higher or is it that MJ and others during that era placed the bar so high no one even tries to compete. There are a few out there that do but they are few and far between. Is It just me or is society as a whole getting lazier and dumber in direct correlation to technology getting better and more advanced? What the hell. The further back in history we go, the more substantial things were done with less than now…now we are inventing dumb things so we can get even more lazier. Where are the free and deep thinkers? Where are the true inventors (no, a No-No and a Snuggie are NOT true inventions)…where are the people that come up with things that, if we didn’t have them today, we wouldn’t know how to go on (like zippers, shoe laces or even paper clips for goodness sake). We should be more advanced than this. Instead we are ok with reality tv that depicts no type of reality whatsoever (except maybe Supernanny, DIY and cooking shows) and we watch people do stupid stuff and involve themselves in staged drama just to make our days go better. We are okay with that somehow instead of using our own brains to figure out how to make us happy and get us out of drama and to do things that actually make a difference. We would rather watch the Real Housewives of Crapville while than helping real working mothers of everywhere to take care of their children. But, then again, it’s every man for himself right? It’s just a dog eat dog world huh. Right. So how then did the people way, way, way back in the day make it? Did they not help each other to succeed? All racism and sexism aside, people were helping people. Not so much anymore. Today a man opened the door for himself, looked me in the eye and let the door close on me. W.T.H. so I may have said “just going to let the door close on me eh? Thanks” This is bullshit and you all know it but there are too many people too lazy or self absorbed or dare I say afraid to do anything about it.

Whatever. Society is a bunch of idiots and I am not afraid to say it. (and yes, I am part of society but at least I am working on my stupidity… are you?)

Book Report

Some marry for love, others for reasons unknown. It's How You Play the Game by Jimmy Gleacher follows one young man's marriage situation through quite a few dynamic twists and turns. This book is a great and easy read. I really enjoyed it and highly recommend it!

Book Report

What happens when a dinner guest randomly locks himself in the host's spare room and never leaves? Follow this artsy tale as it follows 3 people who have been impacted by the mystery guest and be ready to end this book with a question mark over your head.

This book is VERY abstract and artsy. If you understand that and take it as that, it's a good read, but if you are reading for fun and don't want to think, analyze or wonder, this will not be the book for you. There were several times I wanted to just say "never mind" and close this book forever but, for whatever reason, I kept reading and finished it (go me!).

Ah. So NOW it Makes Sense

For the longest time I didn't understand why P Diddy's group "Dirty Money" was called Dirty Money. I mean, who wants to be dirty money? It stinks and has illegal undertones (then again, that may be why he chose it) anyway, after hearing this song I maybe can understand the name selection, but I think the Adventures of Stevie V (the name later would become a children's book...just kidding) should be paid for the idea...