Douglas Adams was absolutely right...

“I've come up with a set of rules that describe our reactions to technologies:

1. Anything that is in the world when you’re born is normal and ordinary and is just a natural part of the way the world works.

2. Anything that's invented between when you’re fifteen and thirty-five is new and exciting and revolutionary and you can probably get a career in it.

3. Anything invented after you're thirty-five is against the natural order of things.”

― Douglas Adams, The Salmon of Doubt

 

Words of Wisdom from Max Ehrmann

Sometimes I am faced with hard situations in life in which I find myself questioning how my life is unfolding, and am I really following the right path. 

In these times I take into consideration the inspirational words of some wonderful people who have come before me. For example I really enjoy "Wear Sunscreen" by Mary Schmich, or "If" by Rudyard Kipling. Charles Swindoll helped me through trying times in the past with his motivational prose, "Attitude" which reminds me that it doesn't matter what someone does to me... the only power I truly have is how I react to what they've done.

By contrast, Desiderata is for me more of a list of attributes I aspire to.
I would be interested to know what others look to in turbulent times. Please feel free to add to the comments section those writings which you use for reflection.

Desiderata

-- written by Max Ehrmann in the 1920s --

Go placidly amid the noise and the haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.

As far as possible, without surrender,
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even to the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story. 

Avoid loud and aggressive persons;
they are vexatious to the spirit.

If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain or bitter,
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself. 

Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs,
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals,
and everywhere life is full of heroism. 

Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love,
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment,
it is as perennial as the grass. 

Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness. 

Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here. 

And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be.
And whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life,
keep peace in your soul. 

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful.

Strive to be happy.

And for those who are more ... visual

The End of an Era

In the past few days I had the chance to see the final Harry Potter movie... in 3D, no less.

The word bittersweet comes to mind when I think of the end in a series which I really enjoyed watching.

I hated Snape, wished I'd had a leader like Dumbledore, wanted Ron to be good at Quidditch, understood Hermione, and knew that no matter what, Harry would do the right thing for the right reasons.

Being a wizard (or witch in my case) would have been sooo convenient. There have been times in my life where I wish I could use the "Reparo" spell. Of course "Accio TV Remote" would have been cool, or there are so many times I could have used the "Point Spell" which would make a wand into a compass. These spells even worked their way into my everyday conversation. I remember once telling a friend to stop being mean or I would "... get all Avada Kedavra on their ass".

Not bad for a franchise that in the beginning I had poo poo'd.

When I first heard about Harry Potter it was the as "The Philosopher's Stone" came out. I worked in morning radio at an "adult contemporary" station (read women/moms 25-45). It was our job to know the pulse of our listener, and these ladies were talking about a movie their kids had been begging to see. A British flick about some teenager who goes to a school to learn magic.

OK, so how do we "own this" as the jock used to say? Well, we could have a look-alike contest on the opening night. Sure. Who's going to judge it? Um... none of us, we had NO idea what it was even about, let alone what the kid looked like. So we coupled with a local movie theater to give us a party room before the film, found a mom who seemed to know what she was talking about to judge the thing, got the theater to provide a prize package which we sweetened with some other stuff we had lying around. Alright, that's settled... now who should go? Crickets.

Let's send Snooker! Yes ladies and gentlemen, our high-priced talent would not be caught dead darkening such a scene... so they sent the producer who had actually put all the other stuff together, so surely she would be the best choice, right? Yeah, my job was pretty glamorous, haha.

The night of the movie premiere the place was swarming with kids. Out of all of them, there were about 20 who had been creative enough to enter the contest. Some had recycled Halloween vampire costumes and wore a scarf in what I later learned to be Gryffindor-colored stripes. Others had gone all out and found round glasses.

One kid - the winner it turned out - had actually used makeup to make a lightning-shaped scar on this forehead. It didn't matter that he was blond, the judge-mom said that was the best idea, so he was the winner. (I really wish that I still had the pictures I took at these events) The rest of the kids ended up getting tickets and a free popcorn from the theater, they all received radio station bumper stickers... 'cause EVERY kid NEEDS a bumper sticker, you know.

No, sadly I didn't watch the movie that night. I headed home after a super long day of work (morning radio starts before people wake up... ahem... dark thirty, so to speak). I came to regret that decision.

When the second movie came out, I allowed my curiosity to get the best of me and did a Dollar Theater visit. This was the Chamber of Secrets, and not a bad movie at all. OK, I said, I will catch up on the first one, and watch the others as they come out, which I did faithfully.

Once I made it to Germany in 2005 I found myself with lots of time on my hands which lead me to perusing my new wife's book shelf. She had purchased the first Harry Potter and gotten partway through it before coming to the conclusion that she doesn't really enjoy fantasy, and it had been gathering dust on the shelf ever since. I poured through it and hungered for more (like so many others before me). Not having much extra money, and seeing the waiting list after doing some research at the only English library in town, I realized that my options were limited.

I downloaded the 2nd book, yes illegally... no, I don't think JK Rowling will be hurt by it. Pre-Kindle days, books could be read on an Palm device, and I had a nice one. I had been reading Gutenberg-downloaded classics for a while, so it made sense to try. Google search brought me to a few places where I could download all HP books to date as .pdf and view them on my Palm, so that is what I did. One after the other, I read them. Carrying around my Palm and pulling it out whenever I had an extra three minutes... waiting for a train, standing in line, waiting for a movie to start, anywhere, anytime. I even read in bed, the backlight feature allowing me to read all night long if I wanted to, if my nose was cold I read under the covers... just like Harry. Well, I didn't have the cool wand and the "Lumos" spell, but it was a close second.

Of course these .pdf's were usually simply re-typed by some person with more time on their hands than typing talent, so there were errors, but that didn't matter to me. Then there was the time I started reading "The Order of the Phoenix" and quickly realized that the writing quality was nothing like the magic of J.K. Rowling. It turned out to be a work of fan fiction, written by someone with a love of Harry coupled with a creative mind. I eventually read it all because it was rather interesting. Harry developed a love of jogging, really got back at Dudley Dursley in an evil way, and eventually got into Hermine's pants. Whew... that was a wild ride, let me tell you!

Waiting for the last book was the hardest. A friend and I queued at the bookstore for the midnight release. I read the entire book in one weekend, laughed, cried, yelled in frustration, and generally had a lovely time. Poor Sweet No just kind of drifted in and out of my life that weekend, making fun of me as she passed the vacuum cleaner under my feet.

Not to introduce any spoilers, let's just say that the movies were great but the books were still better. Character development was fantastic and the stories felt so believable. J.K. Rowling is rolling in money, and I am happy for her.


I really WANT to find out that there REALLY IS a Hogwart's or something like it, even if I wasn't invited. Am I alone? What about visiting the Harry Potter Theme Park in Orlando? Would you spend your hard-earned money to visit the studio where much of the film series was made?

And what of JK Rowling? There is a 19 year gap to fill, as well as the possibility to write about what happens to the kids of the magical trio. Would she, could she, SHOULD she write more about the adventures of Harry Potter?

Bittersweet indeed. But our ride on the Hogwart's Express has been enjoyable.

For the Book Freaks

I'm stealing this idea from Michele of Jeweled Concrete who in turn stole from G.
It is a list of books obviously loved by the British.
In bold you will find the ones I've read.
It seems I have a way to go on the British list.

The BBC list of the most beloved books:
1. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien
2. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
3. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman
4. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling
6. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
7. Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne
8. Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell
9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis
10. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë
11. Catch-22, Joseph Heller
12. Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë
13. Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks
14. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier
15. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger
16. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame
17. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
18. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
19. Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres - Hated the movie... do I really NEED to read the book?
20. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy - OMG -This really was a good read
21. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
22. Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone, JK Rowling
23. Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, JK Rowling
24. Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, JK Rowling
25. The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien
26. Tess Of The D'Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy
27. Middlemarch, George Eliot
28. A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving
29. The Grapes Of Wrath, John Steinbeck - How similar to today's world is all of this?
30. Alice's Adventures In Wonderland, Lewis Carroll - How similar to today's world is all of THIS?
31. The Story Of Tracy Beaker, Jacqueline Wilson
32. One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez
33. The Pillars Of The Earth, Ken Follett
34. David Copperfield, Charles Dickens
35. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl
36. Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson
37. A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute
38. Persuasion, Jane Austen
39. Dune, Frank Herbert
40. Emma, Jane Austen
41. Anne Of Green Gables, LM Montgomery
42. Watership Down, Richard Adams - Need to read this one again.
43. The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald
44. The Count Of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas
45. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh
46. Animal Farm, George Orwell
47. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
48. Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy
49. Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magorian
50. The Shell Seekers, Rosamunde Pilcher
51. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett
52. Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck
53. The Stand, Stephen King - I re-read this about every decade.
54. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
55. A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth
56. The BFG, Roald Dahl
57. Swallows And Amazons, Arthur Ransome
58. Black Beauty, Anna Sewell
59. Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer
60. Crime And Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
61. Noughts And Crosses, Malorie Blackman
62. Memoirs Of A Geisha, Arthur Golden
63. A Tale Of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
64. The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCollough - I just wanted to slap Father Ralph and tell him to wake up!
65. Mort, Terry Pratchett
66. The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton
67. The Magus, John Fowles
68. Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman - Read on suggestion of a friend... now I have MANY more books to read... such as number 69
69. Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett
70. Lord Of The Flies, William Golding - Heard lots of wonderful things about it, had it in my hands once... just need to get it all together for this one.
71. Perfume, Patrick Süskind
72. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell
73. Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
74. Matilda, Roald Dahl
75. Bridget Jones's Diary, Helen Fielding
76. The Secret History, Donna Tartt
77. The Woman In White, Wilkie Collins
78. Ulysses, James Joyce
79. Bleak House, Charles Dickens
80. Double Act, Jacqueline Wilson
81. The Twits, Roald Dahl
82. I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith
83. Holes, Louis Sachar
84. Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake
85. The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
86. Vicky Angel, Jacqueline Wilson
87. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
88. Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons
89. Magician, Raymond E Feist
90. On The Road, Jack Kerouac - How wonderful!
91. The Godfather, Mario Puzo - Didn't read, but I did love the movies.
92. The Clan Of The Cave Bear, Jean M Auel
93. The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett
94. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
95. Katherine, Anya Seton
96. Kane And Abel, Jeffrey Archer
97. Love In The Time Of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez
98. Girls In Love, Jacqueline Wilson
99. The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot
100. Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie

How about it? Am I missing out on some awesome books here? What is your favorite from this list? What should BE on this list.

Random Tuesday - Slightly Chauvinistic version

Yes lads and ladies, it's time for another round on the random wheel. It seems as though my life is all random these days, it's been a busy few weeks. But let's give this a go and see if the stuff rattling 'round in my head can make it out through my fingers without sounding toooooo crazy.

This year's holiday spot for the Snooker and No will be both Tahiti and New Zealand. We will meet a friend on Tahiti and spend a good bit of our time there underwater taking in the incredible sea life. This morning I had a COOL video link in my mail to give me an idea of what awaits us in the ultra-blue waters around the atoll Rangiroa... ahem, sharks... lots of sharks... and LARGE WAVES (yes, I know it is a bit silly of me to be a diver and yet get seasick in big waves, but that's JUST the way it is - stop laughing), and bottle nose dolphins, did I mention the sharks?

Oh, and other things that made my heart skip in the past week. I dragged took Sweet No to Beelitz-Heilstätten Sanatorium (official German website) which in the early 1900's was the largest hospital complex in Europe. The fun part... it has been abandoned for 19 years! You guessed it, creepy! Photos from a Flickr group.

How do you get into a boarded up and abandoned building? Well, you hope that some enterprising punks have been there before you and have "paved" the way. Usually a window or a door has been broken or pried away from the building allowing access. In the case of this building we managed to get into a cellar window.

May I just tell you that falling into who knows what in the dark, with little or no ambient light, and having forgotten an important urban exploration tool (flashlight), we were treated with quite a heart pounder. Sweet No and I were walking blindly around the huge basement of a rotting corpse of a building trying to find a safe set of stairs leading upward with nothing but our cameras as a light source. (note, if you are ever in a similar dark situation, press your camera's "take picture" button down halfway - this throws out a quite bright light which is supposed to check for focus. COOL and in this case, a life saver)

The rotating gif is me not so gracefully climbing out of one such window. And no, my jeans were not green... by this time of the day however they were quite dusty and still very blue. Gifs just suck that way.

We spent over two hours investigating just ONE BUILDING out of 60! Yes, it was illegal, yes it was like something out of a horror movie, yes we got dirty and dusty, (and the Monk side of No came out BIG TIME!) yes I filled up a 2GB memory card with photos which by and large remain unedited, yes I will post more of them Flickr, yes I will blog more about the entire experience, and YES it was FUN! I'm digging this urban exploration thing and will do it again.

I'm reading a book by R.J. Ellory named "A Simple Act of Violence" which is a crime-thriller wrapped around a secret program of the C.I.A. where trained killers are sent out to eradicate enemies, heads of state, up & coming people of power, and whoever else they deem necessary. The story itself goes back to Nicaragua and the Manuel Norriega scandal - Contras, drugs and Oliver North. How fracking interesting to see this crap popping into the news cycle all revolving around Puppetmaster Dick Cheney and his secret group of trained C.I.A. killers and how it was all kept on the lowdown by Tricky Dick II.

Sidenote... This book is excellent. I think I'm in love with this R.J. Ellory guy. The first book I read was "A Quiet Belief in Angels" which I think I sailed through in about 3 days - all of that while working and having a life.... I'm not sure I slept during that time.

Speaking of books that I inhaled... Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is coming out at the theaters this week!!! Whoo Hooo! Yes, I'm a total spaz. (see how easily I revert back to the 80's?) Yes, I already have my tickets. And YES I plan to see it more than once. Duh!

Prepare... I'm going to mention the King of Pop. For those wanting out, just skip to the next paragraph. OK, for those two still reading... We all know that Michael Jackson spent the last part of his life trying to keep the faces and lives of his children out of the media. Has anybody given it a second thought that over his dead body the kids were trotted out onto the stage at his memorial service... by his loving family? Isn't it interesting to find out that Prince (who names their kid that, come ON) and Paris are not biologically his?

On to other things which are happening this week which excite me yet probably don't do anything for anyone else... Berlin is getting its first HOOTERS! Yes, I know it is basically a shitty American restaurant known for its mega-breasted waitresses in orange spandex and required to wear hose no matter how hot it is. Yes, I know that it is a step backward on the evolutionary scale for womankind as a whole. But do you know that they have the best wings in this world?

OK, now it is official... I can stay in Berlin the rest of my life. No longer do I have to fill the refrigerators of my family with delectable hot wings every time I go back to visit the States... No longer do I have to explain my strange love of ranch dressing (not available in Germany) to my family. Now I can have my (10 hot and 10 three mile island, thank you) wings in the privacy of my own home! Whoo hooo! Don't hate me because of my love of GOOD WINGS!

In slightly related news: brothels (totally legal) in Germany are being hard hit by the crappy world-wide economy. As a promotion stunt, a Berlin brothel owner is offering a discount to anyone arriving by bicycle. What a riot!

Is anyone else worried that the U.S. Budget gap has now topped $1 trillion?

Speaking of lots of money going into the air... The Pyromusikale kept the skies close to my home quite bright and LOUD this past weekend. I live very close to the Airport Tempelhof which was the staging point for the HUGE fireworks competition.

Really it kind of snuck up on us. We had forgotten that it was even going to happen... that is until around 10.00 pm on Thursday night when two of the largest explosions I've ever heard rattled our windows and caused things to move about in our living room prompting the following stimulating conversation: Snooker to No, "Whoa, what was that?" No to Snooker, "I have no idea but it was LOUD!". These booms were followed shortly by the telltale signs of further fireworks, thus bringing us to the conclusion that there were no buildings being bombed (Berliners are a little skittish that way) and we were going to be treated to some lovely noises for a few minutes. HA! That night it went on 40 minutes. Not bad if you are outside enjoying them, (can't see them from our balcony or windows on the other side, too many trees and our building is facing the wrong way) but if you are trying to sleep on a work night, um... not so nice.

The next night was even longer, I think it lasted over an hour, but this competitor wasn't using the BIG boomers, just the normal ones. Finally on Saturday night I managed to be at home and have some time, so my FIL and I walked to the nearest vantage point (of course I got pictures, just no really nice ones) and enjoyed an hour of world-class fireworks. Next year, I will pay the 25 Euro entrance fee and be on the field for this festival of fireworks and music!

OK, so there ya have it. Head on over to the UnMom for her take on the Random Tuesday Madness and see how she manages time travel... No Doubt.

Life's lessons

Not long after my mother kicked me out of the house, she went all soppy on me and sent me a book, "Life's Little Instruction Book". Strange thing from a woman who had only months before told me that she didn't want to see me again.

I guess Ma was trying to reach out and teach me things she figured she wouldn't be around for. How funny to expect a book to do that... a book which must be opened and ingested.

The time was not right for me and this book. Understandably it was a rough period in an already pretty shitty existence. I thumbed through the pages quickly, but none of the entries hit home in my stupid teenager mind so the cute little paperback went into a box and did not come out until years later.

When I was in my early 20's I stumbled upon this book again. Even though it carried with it so many bad memories I read through each of the pages and considered each short sentence offering wisdom for life.

Some of them were quite down to Earth:
"Check for toilet paper before sitting down." (uh huh, I've rarely been burned on that one)
"Marry a woman you love to talk to. As you get older her conversational skills will be as important as any other" (I think that I've managed this quite well, thank you)
"Accept a breath mint if someone offers you one." (usually this is a thinly veiled suggestion, one which I often use myself when faced with someone who suffers from temporary halitosis)
"Never cut things which can be untied" (yeah, this is true on so many levels)

While others were more abstract, and gave me pause:
"Don't confuse comfort for happiness." (ooo... this took a while to understand)
"Life will sometimes hand you a magical moment, savor it." (very much like the roses thing, but more succinct - I use this often)
"Let some things remain mysterious." (I have a harder time with this one)

Even with what I often feel is a swiss cheese brain, these short and simple sentences have remained front and center in my thoughts for years. People have told me that I should have studied philosophy or something, they say it because I have a different way of looking at life. What I secretly think is that I've taken to heart many of the things found in this book. Even if it weren't for the book, I think I would have a different outlook on life simply because of the way I've lived it.

But the one simple saying from the book which I remember the best, the one that prods me the hardest:
"Live your life as an exclamation, not an explanation."
Oh Honey! This is it. It says so much, but without pointing fingers.
It goes right along with the train of thought that says you should take responsibility for your own actions, and I love it. The world would be a better place if people were to automatically take responsibility for their own actions.

Another "life lesson" which was not in the book in so many words, but certainly keeps hitting me in the head is "You're right about that".

In my 30's I was a HUGE PBS (public television) viewer/supporter. One of the specials I would clamor to watch was Dr. Wayne Dyer. Here's a guy I could really wrap my brain around. His concept that just allowing someone to be right is a powerful idea. He said things like, "If you have the choice to be right or to be kind... always choose to be kind."

One of his monolougues was heavy with the thought that arguing over the little things makes no sense and could possibly be counterproductive when the bigger things come along. If you have no idea how to bend and be flexible with the minutiae of life, the serious crap is going to make you snap. I've found this to be true in so many divisions of my life, not just with my partner, but with family members, coworkers, everyone. "You're right about that"... try it, it doesn't hurt too badly.

This brings me to the thing that got me started on all of this. I don't even know who's blog it was that I saw this... only that they said the writer was 90 when in actuality she's just turned 50. Whoops.

As I read this it occurs to me that there are some sections of my life in which I could really use some work. Namely #'s 4, 9, 28, 29, and 42.
How about it, what do you think you could do better in your life?

Written By Regina Brett, of The Plain Dealer, Cleveland, Ohio . "To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught me. It is the most-requested column I've ever written. My odometer rolled over to 50 in August, so here is the column once more:"

1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.

2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.

3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.

4. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.

5. Pay off your credit cards every month.

6. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

7. Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone.

8. It's OK to get angry with God. He can take it.

9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.

10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.

11. Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.

12. It's OK to let your children see you cry.

13. Don't compare your life to others'. You have no idea what their journey is all about.

14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it.

15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don't worry; God never blinks.

16. Life is too short for long pity parties. Get busy living, or get busy dying.

17. You can get through anything if you stay put in today.

18. A writer writes. If you want to be a writer, write.

19. It's never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.

20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer.

21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don't save it for a special occasion. Today is special.

22. Over prepare, then go with the flow.

23. Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear purple.

24. The most important sex organ is the brain.

25. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.

26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words: "In five years, will this matter?"

27. Always choose life.

28. Forgive everyone everything.

29. What other people think of you is none of your business.

30. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.

31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.

32. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch.

33. Believe in miracles.

34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn't do.

35. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.

36. Growing old beats the alternative - dying young.

37. Your children get only one childhood. Make it memorable.

38. Read the Psalms. They cover every human emotion.

39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.

40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab ours back.

41. Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.

42. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.

43. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.

44. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.

45. The best is yet to come.

46. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.

47. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.

48. If you don't ask, you don't get.

49. Yield.

50. Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift.

Amy Goodman in Berlin

Award-winning journalist Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! was in Berlin to mark DN's 12th anniversary and to promote her newest book, "Standing Up To the Madness - Ordinary Heroes in Extraordinary Times".

The theme of her speech was the importance of a free and independent media and it really resounded with me. Being back in the States just a few weeks ago reminded me how much the American people are fed only what the government wants them to hear. This was not news. I saw Brittney Spears on NBC Nightly News... this is just shameful.

You may remember Ms. Goodman. She along with many others was arrested while reporting on the Republican National Convention in St. Paul earlier this year. So much for the American free press. The video doesn't tell the whole story, for that you will have to go here.

The speech was great, and I picked up her "Standing Up to the Madness" book (which I got signed of course) for later reading. She'll be in Munich Saturday night. If you are in the area, I highly suggest checking it out.

Been reading:

• Worried About Thanksgiving (holiday) Fights with Right-Wing Family Members? - Oh MY! Why oh WHY didn't I have this lovely list with me over Thanksgiving? That's OK, I'm taking to memorizing it by Christmas.
  
  
• Fought Over Any Good Books Lately? - Interesting, considering that a book club to which I belong is having difficulties lately.
  
  
• Critics split over Cruise's Nazi role The Germans I know are really split on this. This guy is a hero to them, one of a few which even tried to stand up to Hitler. Having Cruise play him should bring out the fact that there was an active resistance. This is better than the idea that every time you see a German in a movie that he is a bad guy.
  
  
• Report pins detainee abuse on Rumsfeld - Finally. Now, let's put the bastard in Guantanamo.

I'm ashamed to admit it, but it is true

This morning like most mornings recently, I took the bus to work. I've been trying to get some extra reading done and the trip to the office in the bus takes ten minutes longer than the subway. It also gives me some fresh air and probably the day's only daylight on these short, gray winter days.

On this bus trip I found myself getting more and more involved in the book. When it came time to change buses, I barely looked left or right as I haltingly walked to the second bus with my nose still embedded in the book.

The second bus only takes me about seven stops, so it is the shortest of my trip and I normally stay on the bottom level. My subconscious mind listens and tics off the names of the stops as they come and go.

As a particularly gripping point in the book had passed, my mind must have come to the surface for a moment as a strange bus stop name was called. At first I thought that I had misheard the call, but it didn't take long to realize that what the "BUS VOICE WOMAN" had called out was two stops BEYOND my stop. DUH.

What was this literary masterpiece which had held my interest so deeply? What on earth could I have been reading which could hold my subconscious hostage in such a way? Was it Dumas, Shakespeare, Dickens? Could it have been Verne, Wells, or Twain? No, Meyer. Meyer you ask? Stephanie Meyer the author of the Twilight series. Yeah, the teenage vampire thing that has young ladies all over the world enthralled, eventually being made into a movie. Yup, I was so deeply engrossed in the third book of the Twilight series that I missed my bus stop. I'm betting that I don't sleep through the movie.

All of this for a book written by a Mormon who seems to be giving a message to young women that holding off for sex* is alright but lying to your father and your friends while doing things like riding a motorcycle illegally and letting your boyfriend sleep over every night without parental consent is really cool. Besides that it teaches these same girls that having a creepy boyfriend who your father doesn't like that manages to stalk you every waking moment is not only cool, but totally dreamy.

In my defense this morning's pages were about the history of a tribe of Indians and how they became the nemesis of the vampires... It was well told and rather interesting.

* My theory is that the lesson to be learned in this is that the mortal girl wants to "go all the way" (thinly veiled sexual thing) with the vampire, (she wants him to make her a vampire too) but he is practicing abstinence, never letting her even get to the heavy petting stage lest he not be able to control himself and really bite her. Yeah, yeah... we know Edward.

Book Review - And Thoughts on the Book Club

What a lovely book. "The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency", written by Alexander McCall Smith. In the tradition of the home-spun detective using common sense and a keen sense of observance here comes Mma Ramotswe, Botswana's one and only lady private detective.

Her character is someone I would like to have as a friend. She's sort of an wizened person who uses her brains to get through life. We go on a series of cases and get to know her style of solving minor crimes and disappearances.

Meanwhile the reader is taken to Botswana in the southern Africa right along the edge of the Kalahari Desert. We get a little peek into life in this distant land as we learn just a bit about their cultures and traditions.

The writing is light and airy, being written by Alexander McCall Smith, a white man who was born and grew up in what is now Zimbabwe. Actually I was a bit put out when I realized this. Once again, I kind of hoped/expected the author to be more like the main character through which he speaks.

But that slight disappointment didn't remove the pleasure of the book and I am in anticipation of reading the next in the series, "Tears of the Giraffe".

I'm afraid that book is going to wait as I will be tearing into "The Book Thief" in expectation of the next book club meeting. Tee hee hee.

Thinking about book club reminds me of something I keep meaning to put into words, and I'm not certain how... but let's stumble through, eh?
I'm really enjoying book club. We are mostly expatriates which immediately brings us a bit closer than the average simple book club... we have something else in common. We are also exercising something else some of us don't have a chance to enjoy much here... that is just being with people who "get" you. They understand your jokes and silly references to obscure movies and pop culture whereas the Germans have their own pop culture references which leave us completely dumbfounded. This simpatico-type feeling really warms my heart about my expat friends.

On top of that warm and fuzzy thing, I find that when I stray into a book store I almost always end up in the same area, reaching for the same old authors because they've churned out a new book. What is interesting about this club is that these people are reading things that I NEVER would have just picked up. While sometimes the book simply isn't my cup of tea, I still am exposed to subject matter which I would never have explored without the book club list. This is a new kind of mind-opening experience for me.

An example. The above book and the second in the series were placed in a "bring some, take some" book exchange at the last book club meeting. I happened to hear the "donor" of the book saying that he really enjoyed the story and gave it a high recommendation. Another person seconded it and soon a third was saying that she too enjoyed the book. Through this club I get to know a bit about each of these people. I get an idea if I will like the book based on what I know about the books that THEY like and that I've read with them. All of this is quite fascinating to a person who's never been a part of a book club before.

Now, here is what I would like to do...
I would like a "movie club". It would be a group of people who agree to all see the same movie before the next meeting. Then we could discuss the movie. THIS too sounds wonderful to me!

Whats On My Shelf... AND What's On Yours?

G in Berlin tagged me for an interesting meme.
Basically you take a picture of a shelf to share with the blogging world.
It being a meme, you then tag others to see what is on their shelf.
I like the idea a lot, so I've provided two pictures.

The first is our "travel book" area. It usually gets stuffed with books right after we come back. You'll see that often we have two books for the same area, this is because we get one in German and one in English. It's really quite funny how each one of these books treats the same subject in a different way.

On top of this shelf is the MAUSI CAT TOY!!! It has to be here because the cat won't jump there to get to it. Oh and... "23 Minutes in Hell". This is a book my sister gave me last November and instructed me to read it. Knowing who it came from, and looking at the title I decided it had a religious base, and it never made it past the "travel book" area after I came back from that trip... Sorry Vic.

The second is mostly N.'s area. Here you can find the diving books. N. is a PADI Open Water Diver Instructor, and this is just a part of her entire collection. Peeking out you can see a miniature New Beetle which is an exact replica down to the color of the cute little car I had to leave behind in the States. Being much more obvious is a Vespa replica which was a Christmas gift from my FIL. It is pretty close to the one we have now. Behind that is a Vespa sign from my sweet N. Below that is the CD player and a selection of recently-played music. Here you will also see a chewed-up ExBerliner which I highly recommend to all English-speaking, Berlin-living expats.
OH OH. Can someone explain to me why the end of the book is printed "upside down" in Germany? Of course I know that it is a regional thing... books in the States are of course "upside down" for Germans as well. When I put a book on a shelf it naturally goes a certain way to me... SO THAT THE TITLE ON THE END CAN BE EASILY READ! But NOOO... German printers have to be different!! Can't we all just agree on a direction and stick to it? My CD's, DVD's and books tend to be a horrible jumble because of this lack of uniformity.

I usually don't tag folks for these things, but Claire over at Cheeseburgers and Sauerkraut was saying that she would like to have something to blog about besides baby poop. So here is your chance Claire, show us your collection of baby books! And heck, Adam - Germany's Queer Expatriate will be visiting me in Berlin soon, but when he gets back home, maybe he'd like something to do... so you're tagged too Adam!

Is It Good... Bad... Should We Care?

I'm still thinking about this one...
Is it good, is it bad... should it really make any difference?
AND why the heck didn't Rita Skeeter know about it!!!??!!

Cool Harry Potter DH Parody!

OMG!
Ya gotta read this funky parody of the Potter book!

It's all LOLCATS and lots of pop culture...
"Aberforth: (...) Where is Dobby anyway?
Ron: You shouldn't've sent him out with a red shirt on."

I had a lot of trouble reading it at work without breaking out laughing... um, yeah... I'm workin' boss...

Harry Potter - The Deathly Hallows ... Warnin' dar B Spoilers!

Well I did it. I read the book in one weekend. Although I had feared that I wouldn't be able to do it, and my friends would all get there before I did… BUT!

I really already had the book coming to me; two months earlier I was excited enough to pre-order the adult version of the book. I was thrilled to be getting it, but not clever enough to do any real thinking about getting it.

On the Friday before I got an e-mail that said they were shipping out my book and that I should get it on Saturday… YEA! I'll get it on SATURDAY!! SATURDAY! My elation started to deflate when I continued reading and realized that as I have done for all other books, I had given my work address as a delivery address. SHIT, I won't be there; no one will be there… I'm not even sure the post office delivers to the building on that day… I won't get my book until Monday… Monday… and everyone I know will have already read it!

Forget that! I'm going to go stand in line and get it like the gazillion other PotterFreaks!

I bought the Harry Potter book in the middle of the night on Friday. A colleague and I had decided to get together at a book store which was going to sell the book from 1am to 2am on Saturday morning.

So N and I straggled out to the car at 12:15. She had decided that she was tired, and was being super nice to me about this whole deal, so I would get to drive. For those that know me, it will seem strange to read that I don't drive very often, but I really don't. I'm only behind the wheel about once every quarter year. Needless to say, as we embarked on our experience, not only was I excited about Harry… but I was also a bit nervous about driving.

Both my books are the British version; the prices printed inside are in pounds. The adult book has different images. On the front is the locket which tempted Ron before destruction and the back is a pic of J.K. Rowling herself. The binding itself is of medium quality, but most certainly better than the plastic backing on the children's version. The animation on the children's version is enough to stir the imagination. It took me a few hours before I realized that Ron was not holding the sword of Gryffindor, but a house elf or goblin was holding it over Harry's head.

Spoilers Below!





Be careful, here we have some spoilers…

I tore through the book at top speed… trying to get done before the weekend would end… so I would like to go back and clarify some points… but here are some thoughts on the thing.

Finally, except for that whole "wandering through the countryside for a year in a tent" thing… and the whole whiny Ron arc... the pacing is superb… back to the fast-paced drama that kept me enthralled in book four.

I was surprised to see so many of the "good guys" using Unforgivable Curses. I thought that was WRONG!?!

"You know, sometimes I think we Sort too soon..."
It's the best line in the book… and really means something. In this last book we see it so glaringly. A Slytherin with lots of bravery, a Gryffindor who was the most cunning… it shows that we all grow and become more than we were as we were young.

How sad about Hedwig. I think I was more broken up about Hedwig than I was about MadEye.

I felt deep down that there HAD to be some reason that Dumbledore trusted Snape so deeply… and really I had a suspicion about the Lily thing because it had been discussed in an earlier book… he always said she was so good at potions, yadda yadda… but I never knew the depth… and would NEVER have suspected that deep down Snape ended up loving Harry.

Now we know why Aunt Petunia was sooooo pissy, she was jealous of her sister.

And hey, Ginny has been a good fighter for the Order… why keep her out of the fun on the last, big fight?

Way to go Neville! He had character; we all knew it early on when he stood up to Harry, Hermione, and Ron when they were going out after hours against the rules… aw man, what book was that…? Had to be an early one. He ended up getting house points for doing it… and they won the house cup because of it… and getting turned to stone to boot.

Overall I think that JKR did an admirable job of tying up lots and lots of loose ends, and in such a way that the entire book didn't come off as a bunch of strings tied together for a convenient ending. BUT, I do think the whole thing comes off as a screen play… AND I think that J.K. realizes that the guy playing Ron isn't multi-faceted, and we are seeing her change the stories accordingly, not giving him so much to have to work with.

Capote vs. Infamous

I've recently had the privilege of watching both Capote and Infamous back to back. Both movies were lovely in their own right, with each having outstanding points. I found that what Capote lacked, Infamous made up for… and vice versa.

Hopefully I can assume that the reader has seen either or both movies, or at least has an idea about the Clutter family killings in rural Kansas in the late 50's.

In Capote, Phillip Seymour Hoffman was channeling Capote or something, he had the mannerisms, the feeling and most importantly the voice down pat. After seeing this performance I was left wanting when I saw Toby Jones in the same role… it seemed like he just wanted to act like a stereotypical gay man… but Capote was much more. Jones had a funny, squeaky voice, but it fell short for me.

Perhaps I should say in advance that I really like Sandra Bullock before the next part… Sandra's portrayal of Nelle Harper Lee in Infamous was lovely and believable. I love hearing her slip into a southern accent… mmph.

Daniel Craig… yes, the new James Bond, played a deliciously dark Perry Smith in Infamous. To me this character was probably closer to reality than the one portrayed in Capote. Infamous was not afraid to discuss the fact that Capote and Perry had a very intense relationship, even extending into love. It also brought out a part I can vaguely remember from the book about Perry's explanation of why he killed the first person… it was in a homophobic moment in which he was trying to divert his accomplice Dick Hickock's attention away from raping the daughter and Dick suggested that Perry liked boys better and would prefer to rape the son. After this Perry slit the throat of the father in a rage.

Infamous also went a step further with some assumptions about why Truman was never able to write anything else… mainly that he was quite distraught for many reasons as the men were eventually hanged for the crime. Truman slipped into an alcoholic phase which he never came out of, and was never able to accomplish another work of any significance.

Infamous made another assertion which I've heard somewhere in the past, that the reason Nelle Harper Lee was never able to really publish anything after "To Kill a Mockingbird" is because Truman was a ghost writer for her. When he wasn't able to write, then she was similarly stricken. In Infamous, Harper's character hints at the intense pressure of the expectations an author feels after production of a book of such huge proportions. In the movie it was her answer to Truman's subsequent problems, but you could tell that the meaning was double.

Personally I wish that Philip Seymour Hoffman could have been in Infamous instead of Capote. The vehicle was better, and it would have made the whole thing more believable for me. When he won the Oscar for best actor I felt that Heath Ledger was robbed for Brokeback… but now that I've seen Hoffman's performance… I can completely understand the nomination and the award. Truthfully I've never enjoyed him in any other movie in which I've seen him. He was in "The Talented Mr. Ripley", and "Magnolia", "Patch Adams", and I think I remember him in "Cold Mountain" as well. He seems to always play the officious little prick… and I guess in a way he did the same with Capote… but in this case, it worked fantastically. I wonder if the man himself is as arrogant as he ends up playing in these movies.

Kurt Vonnegut - Dead at 84

One of my favorite writers has died...
It's rather sad because I'm reading one of his works right now.
Vonnegut once said that, of all the ways to die, he would prefer to go out in an airplane crash on the peak of Mount Kilimanjaro.
He often joked about the difficulties of old age, saying in an interview with the Associated Press in 2005 that "when Hemingway killed himself he put a period at the end of his life; old age is more like a semicolon."

... and anyone that read Vonnegut KNOWS that he hates semicolons.
Good bye kind Kurt.

Visit a previous blog to watch a video that breaks down his latest book, "Man Without A Country".

The Resident on Vonnegut

This is a video made by a woman that calls herself "The Resident". She's actually really cool, and I suggest you view all of her videos, but this one spoke to me.

It's about her take on Vonnegut's newest book, "A Man Without a Country". I haven't managed to read the book yet, but after seeing this video, I ordered it immediately.

In the book he shows that in his late years he could care less what people think of him and no longer thinly veils his disdain for mankind's treatment of Mother Earth. He goes right after Bush's administration who he says are a group of "upper-crust C students who know no history or geography". At the same time he tackles some tough subjects in his own Vonnegut way:
Global warming
How power has corrupted the U.S.
Honor among humans
Addiction to fossil fuel and how that addiction inspires violence
People Pox – and the planet's immune system
The Biggest Truth


I highly suggest the video to start... then consider the book.