I'm going home with YOU!

If there ever was a book that leaped off the shelf and straight into my willing arms, it is Rainy Brain, Sunny Brain by Elaine Fox. I am the queen of  positive thinking. Or so I thought.

Imagine my surprise when I opened this book and discovered that I have much room for improvement.

Stunning research in neuroscience suggests that we can influence our personalities to the extent that our lives are only as “sunny” or as “rainy” as we allow them to be.  Call me a control freak, but I like the premise of being in control of, instead of being controlled by my mind.

Actor Michael J. Fox claims that the book, “provides a mental map to the sunny side of the street.”  With sections devoted to “elusive optimism” and “reshaping our brains from fear to flourishing” I couldn’t put it down, not even to run grab another chocolate chip cookie.

A vote for me is a vote for??????????

I played French horn in the high school band back in the 70s.

I was terrible at it, but I surely loved band.

When we’d get ready to head for our competition events,the director would look at me, point a finger and say, “You with the French horn--  just pretend to play.  We want to win this competition!” 

Ok, I will confess that I was not musically gifted.

The secret I will confess to you, but never  to my  band director is that part of the reason I was so terrible is because I never practiced.

Face it.

You get better at what you practice.

That little axiom has no age limit.

If you want to improve yourself, it is going to take some doing.

The start-up of you by Reid Hoffman, purportedly teaches us how to “adapt to the future, invest in yourself, and transform your career.”

I totally buy into this.

The people around us change, industries change, we better be ready to “jump onto our lifeboat and regroup,” as the book suggests.

One of my favorite chapters of the book was “Do the Hustle.”

I’m pretty sure this book was not supposed to add comedic relief,but hey, laughter is the best medicine.  As the book theorizes, “No matter where you are in your career, there will be moments when you feel like your back is against the wall.  When you may be short on funds or allies or both.  When no one is knocking at your door inviting you to stuff.  These situations call for :  hustle.  (hustler is bad, but hustle is good.)

The book packs a really terrific pep talk.

Question for you?  why is it  so difficult for us to invest in ourselves? 

Doing so is not being selfish. Actually we are better equipped to help others when we have first taken the best care of ourselves.

Can I see the value of something even if it goes against my personal beliefs?

Welcome to the 2012 political season………………..

You do the Hokey Pokey

 “And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.”

  --Nietzsche

It is time to face the truth:  I am a book snob.

Or maybe I’m a rebel book snob, which would be even more exciting to my robin-hood-ish mindset.

And to what am I referring?

I’m just saying if a book is on the bestseller list, I avoid it.

Not that I have no intention of ever reading it, it’s just that there are plenty of books at my fingertips, and I don’t want to feel pressured into reading the “flavor of the month.”

So, I held off awhile before reading Ann Patchett’s Bel Canto.

  No, I don’t normally wait a decade to read a book, but I knew I’d get around to it eventually.’

  Or not.

“Bel Canto,” which is  Italian for “beautiful singing,” is the story of the crisis that erupts when members of a terrorist organization  take hostages in a mansion.  After realizing they have too many hostages, the group decides to keep only the hostages they deem important, including a wealthy businessman, his translator, and a beautiful opera singer.  Neither the terrorists nor the hostages can foresee the months ahead, the friendships forged, the sorrowful deaths that await.

Reminiscent of The Great Gatsby, there is beauty, politics, elegance, danger, romance, and yes, yes, the music.

Patchett says, “How much does a house know?  There could not have been gossip and yet there was a slight tension in the air, the vaguest electricity that made men lift their heads and look and find nothing.”  As a reader, I could hear the house whispering but I sure missed the message.  I could have read the ending to this book first and STILL wouldn’t have seen it coming when it arrived.

Too much work makes Ender a dull boy

I am not a science fiction fan.
It’s not that I am anti-science
fiction, it’s just that there are so many other genres I enjoy, I just rarely wander into that area.

A close friend of mine told me I should read the book
Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card.
Not you MUST READ this book, or your life will be without
meaning , just a simple “you should read
this” and there was something about that cryptic statement that lured me to the
sci fi collection.

The story centers around the battle for mankind to survive
when attacked by an
alien species. Sorry, no real surprises there.

Did you know that approximately 8 million adults suffer from
Attention Deficit Disorder? I say that to emphasize the difficulty that
any writer faces in gaining and keeping my attention. That being said, I found myself sucked into this
story quicker than a
chocoholic (me) gets sucked into the local cookie factory when roaming around
the mall. Wait a minute, maybe this
science fiction stuff has some merit after all!

The story was entertaining, if a little too
obvious. Choosing Valentine as the name
for the sweetest sister in the world? Please don’t make it that easy for
me!
Ender, our pre-teen main character and
tactical military genius, has the daunting job of practicing warfare to learn how to save the earth. It was not the ant-like aliens that were
unbelievable, not the intergalactic space travel, not the way parents could
easily give away their offspring to save mankind that I found unbelievable.

It was Ender’s wisdom that did not ring
true. Brilliant? Yes. But we know
intelligence and wisdom are vastly different creatures, and the deep thinking
Ender displayed was just too big a leap for me to believe. Enjoyable?
Yes, and I’m glad I ventured down that aisle………..

No Peeking in the Neighbor's Windows!!

When I was in high school, our social science instructor
informed us that “someday, a mental health check up will be as common as a
physical health check up.”
Sadly, that has not come to pass. I’m saying sadly because all my friends and most of my family
could benefit from some therapy, and you can include me in that list,
too. Then again, who wants to be “normal”?????
In Shrink Rap by Robert Parker, our
Detective Sunny finds herself working for stunning romance novelist Melanie Joan Hall.
Sunny is doing her darndest to
protect Melanie, who is being stalked by her ex-husband, who is, coincidentally also Melanie’s ex psychiatrist.
Hmmmmmm………….
Sunny being the go-getter that she is decides to go undercover—as it were—and seek
therapy from the ex husband/psychiatrist—while also best-friending her own
ex-husband.
You can bet that our Sunny girl is going to discover some
things about herself that perhaps she didn’t want to know.
Our author is such a tease. Will
Sunny wind up dead? Will the psychiatrist wind up on the couch with
Sunny? Is Melanie really an innocent victim or a fiend in disguise?
The short chapters pack plenty of intrigue to
keep you reading till you discover all the answers in this clever little story.

When I grow up, I want to ride the Garbage Truck!!

There have been times when—rebelling against all those
literary assignments of yore—that I have read nothing but what could best be
described as trash.
After devouring 1000 Ideas for Creative Reuse by Garth Johnson, at least now I know what to do with all
that trash.

This volume showcases a collection of the most inventive work being
made with recycled materials. The book shows examples of how to turn your trash into works of art, fashion, jewelry, housewares, interiors, etc.

“Remake, restyle, recycle, renew” seems to be Garth’s mantra, and it’s not a case of “ do
what I say, not what I do”. Some unbelievably gifted artists have shared their creations in the pages of this book. If you have been searching for something that would help to unleash the creative genius that has been trappeddeep inside your DNA, this is a good place to begin.

My favorites? Chic formal wear designed from aluminum foil—haute
couture for which to DIE! And the SHOES!
I am salivating as only a tender-footed,
formerly stiletto wearing 50-something-year-old
can salivate. Sigh.

I suppose artists and
crafters have always been recyclers—in years past because it was a thrifty
choice, but now because it has become a
moral imperative.

This is a book to which I keep returning.
No, I’ve decided, I don’t want to see this particular book
on the shelves of my Public Library.
It is a book I must OWN! It’s the kind of book I could crawl into and
you’d never see me again.

YOU should go look at it.

I’ve stared until my eyes hurt—and as with all addictions—the
more I get of this book, the more I desire it.

Please don't return your scrolls to the Book Drop

When I was a small child, our local library was in the dark
basement of the County Courthouse. Cold,
bleak, uninviting, yet its volumes still held magic that I have never
forgotten.
The years have passed and today’s library has morphed into
an organization scarcely recognizable—yet the magic continues.
I’ve thought a lot about this--change, and how things do not
stay the same.
Will books in their present form cease to exist?
Will this technologically advanced world of e books, tablets
and other technology eat us alive?

I will admit that I love the feel of a book in my hands.
Yet, I own a “smart” device and have downloaded books and
other media to it.
“All great changes are preceded by chaos.” ~ Deepak Chopra
We don’t have to be afraid.
Your Public Library is a great place to stay in touch with
your ever changing world.

In the distant past, people wrote on scrolls.
I don’t see any scrolls lying around today, and we have made
it just fine.