Get in the Game

So, it's November 6, 2010 and I have only read 14 books. I'm not confident that I am going to be able to reach 75 books before midnight on January 1, 2011. But I'm still going to try. In fact, I recently finished two books.

The first book I read I have read before - last year I believe. It is called "Get in the Game: 8 Elements of Perseverance That Make the Difference" by Cal Ripken, Jr. This book is an incredibly inspiring book about the things that Ripken has learned throughout his life and have been applied to his life since childhood. He discusses his baseball career and his personal life, where he has come from, and what he has learned along the way. There are so many lessons that can be applied to anyone's life - no matter who you are, where you are from or what you do for a living. This book has inspired me to keep fighting when I feel that I have nothing left. This books gets an A+ from me and I highly recommend that everyone read this book.

The second book that I just finished is called "I'm With Fatty: Losing Fifty Pounds in Fifty Miserable Weeks" by Edward Ugel. You may have noticed that this is the same man who wrote the lottery book that I finished a little while ago. This book seemed to hit a little more at home for me though. If you have followed my blog, you know that I have sleep apnea and have been trying to lose weight to see if I can get rid of not only that, but my migraines as well. Since the end of February, I have lost 13 pounds, which doesn't sound like much at all. But I'm proud that I have done that so far. Anyway, this book (which I had heard nothing about and was published this year) was like reading about myself to a degree. When Edward found out that he had sleep apnea and had to wear a CPAP mask, he absolutely hated it. I dread the idea of having to wear one. That fact inspired him to lose weight in order to not have to wear one anymore. He enlisted the help of a nutritionist and a trainer (neither of which I would be able to afford), and really started to change his life. He loved fried foods and Asian cuisine. He considered himself a "foodie", which I love. He was considered the cook in his household and he had to completely change the way that he lived his life. It was inspiring to read his story, which was not only informative, but humorous as well. He told of his experience with his first colonic and going on a cleanse, his meltdown where he binged on bad food for a week while his family was out of town, and how he realized that this was something that wasn't a short term project, but the way he would have to live the rest of his life. This book deserves an A+ and will inspire those who read it.

Money for Nothing

I just finished a book - it's been a little while since I've read one since I've been catching up on my magazines, but I finished it. It's called "Money For Nothing: One Man's Journey Through the Dark Side of Lottery Millions" by Edward Ugel and I must say, it was an incredibly interesting read. Based on the title, you would probably think that it is about a guy who won the lottery and in a way, he did - but not in the traditional sense that you would think. This book is about a man who worked in the lump-sum industry. When a lottery winner decided to get annual payments (since not all states offer lump-sum choices when they win) and spends all the money and is strapped for cash, they can sell some of their payments to a lump-sum company. Edward was one of the salesman in the industry who would negotiate for those payments. While in theory it sounds like they are doing the winner a favor (by being able to help them out when they are strapped), the winner is getting screwed out of some of their money. These salesman are earning hundreds of thousands of dollars - which in the case of some of them, was comparable to winning the lottery.

This book completely opened my eyes to a side of the lottery industry that I never knew existed. I had always thought that if I was ever lucky enough to win money (which is only possible if you play, which I don't), I would be able to take care of my boyfriend and pay our bills, as well as paying off my school loans and maybe being able to go back to school. Coming from someone who worked on the other side of the equation, I began to understand why some people who had won the lottery wished they hadn't.

I love reading autobiographies and non-fiction books. There is something about reading about real people and situations that opens my eyes to so much more that is outside my own little world. I think this book is definitely worth reading and I would definitely give it an A+, five stars, whatever you want to rate it as. It is a book that I may not have initially been attracted to, but coming from me (someone who will read just about anything), I'm glad I took a chance and read this book.

Peace and Love!

Take me back...

I've been gone for far too long. I don't know if I have ever mentioned it before, but I am a horrible blogger. I either seem to totally forget about it or think that anything I could possibly write about seems stupid or redundant. But in this case, I don't care if what I am saying is either of those things.

So being bored out of my mind and wanting to listen to some music tonight, I decided to go back in time (I guess) and listen to some music that I haven't listened to for a very long time: the Backstreet Boys. That's right - I said the Backstreet Boys. When I was in middle school and high school, they seemed to be all the rage - and I listened to both them and N*SYNC, which (if you know me) means that my musical taste is spread out all over the place. Sometimes, I think listening to something as old school (and somewhat comforting) as music from my past makes things better, even though it doesn't really change anything that is going on. Music just seems to have a way of making people feel better or bringing out emotions in us that have been suppressed for a while. In my case, I think it is more about remembering what my life was like before medical issues and bad decisions. It takes me back to a place where I didn't have a lot of responsibility, thus not leading to disappointing a lot of people. Here I go ranting again. Oh how things change...

Peace and Love

Ted, White, and Blue

So I have been horribly slacking on keeping up with my blog. It has been almost a month since I last wrote. Things have been keeping me occupied. I just saw my neurologist about my migraines (I have to try yet another medication) and have been getting my fantasy team ready for the NFL season, along with watching my beloved Twins and Nascar racing as well.

I have also been trying to keep up on reading, and while most of what I have recently read has been my usual magazines (it always seems like I am behind on those), I have recently (as in 5 minutes ago) finished a book. I just finished "Ted, White, and Blue: The Nugent Manifesto" by Ted Nugent. This book was incredibly different from "God, Guns, & Rock N'Roll". In this book, Ted gets incredibly political - in fact, the whole book is about his beliefs and they all seem to tie into his political beliefs. He is a conservative man with a lot of opinions that I don't agree with, and a few that I do. The book was written/published in 2008, before Barack Obama became President, but he clearly states that he doesn't like Obama, would not vote for him, and basically doesn't agree with any of his opinions. He does make a few good points throughout his book, but at times, I got bored with it. I have never really read a political book before, and this one kind of verified why. While I am open to listening or reading other people's opinions, this book almost seems to be a "shove my opinions in your face" kind of book. If you enjoy reading political books, you should enjoy this one. If you enjoy reading Ted Nugent, you may want to check this out. He has a lot to say and at least he is honest about his opinions and not afraid to share them with anybody.

I would give this book a C, simply because it wasn't the greatest reading experience for me. I want to be engaged in a book or learn something new. I have to admit that I did learn something, which is why I am not grading it lower. Of course, these are simply my opinions and I still encourage anyone to read these books because you may end up liking something that I don't simply because we all form our own opinions based on our own experiences.

Needless to say, it is September 13 and I have only read 11 books so far this year. It is going to be incredibly difficult to achieve my new years resolution (from the beginning of 2010) to read 75 books, which may either have to be lowered or stay the same for next year. As always, if you have any recommendations, comments, questions, etc, let me know!

Peace and Love

Reading List

I have finally done it. I have finally compiled a list of the books I want to read - well, I had actually done that before, but I am more excited now because I have now alphabetized it by the author's last name. I know... I sound like a total nerd to be so excited about this, but it means that I finally have a list that I can go off of. The thing is, this list is going to take me forever to get through. As of right now, August 17, 2010 @ 8:53 PM, I have 876 books on my list. 876...that's an incredible number of books - and to think that I want to read all of those and I will continue to add books to that list. Just a few of the books that I have listed and where they are on the list:

Selling Hope by Kristin O'Donnell Tubb (No. 834)

Changing My Mind by Zadie Smith (No. 798)

Naked Came the Manatee by Elmore Leonard (No. 548)

The Scarpetta Factor by Patricia Cornwell (No. 159)

Magnificent Desolation by Buzz Aldrin (No.12)

Those are just five of the 876 books that are on my list. If you have any books that you think I should check out or read or if you have anything else you would like to share, feel free to let me know!

Peace and Love

Smithsonian's 40 Things

So I just got done reading an issue of Smithsonian (July/August 2010) that had a cover story stating "40 Things You Need to Know About the Next 40 Years." Smithsonian Magazine is now 40 years old and offered the 40 things that we should know about what is going to or could happen in the next 40 years, which would culminate in the year 2050. There are some very interesting items that we should note and the one that struck a chord with me was item number 40: "Reading will be more athletic. It will seem weird to read without moving your body."

This article talked about such things are how reading will become something we do less often with actual books and more often virtually on a screen. This thought, while it could be true, saddens me because I love to read actual books. There is something about turning a page as opposed to touching a screen or scrolling down. Plus, reading from actual materials doesn't affect our eyes as much as staring at a screen does. The thought that books as we known them could be gone makes me not want to use the new technology of the Amazon Kindle or the Barnes and Noble Nook. The Internet is always going to offer things to read online, but I'm not a huge fan of using other things in order to read books as well. I may just be a purist when it comes to reading, but I'd rather buy hardcover and paperback books any day.

Peace and Love

PostSecret

So I just finished reading the last of the PostSecret books - there are now 5 of them. In chronological order they are:

1. Extraordinary Confessions from Ordinary Lives: A PostSecret Book by Frank Warren
2. My Secret: A PostSecret Book by Frank Warren
3. The Secret Lives of Men and Women: A PostSecret Book by Frank Warren
4. A Lifetime of Secrets: A PostSecret Book by Frank Warren
5. Confessions of Life, Death, and God: A PostSecret Book by Frank Warren

I have skimmed through a couple of these books before and I get a set of some postcards in my inbox on Sundays to look at, but reading these books really makes you think about the fact that everyone has some sort of secret. Everyone goes through something that they keep a secret that someone else has in common with them. Everyone has doubts, fears, and troubles that bring us down. But these books show just how resilient we are. These books could probably be considered an easy read, since it's easy to get through them quickly, but I wouldn't consider them an easy read - while the reading part is easy, the thinking about the secrets hits a little deeper than that. Instead of just skimming over words on a page, these words have a deeper meaning. These words have a story behind them.

These books get an five star rating and an A+ for how incredibly impactful they are. I have not sent in a postcard, but I have seen my secrets on the pages of those books and I have felt relief.