Unbroken

June 1st is quickly approaching. I've of course voiced multiple times about the all important conditioner purchase... Add to that mascara - which I've chosen not to talk much about for fear of retribution from a friend who is fanatic about expiration dates on those types of products but I also have realized that although I am in need of a few things... It's amazing to think of people who go without ANY of those "luxuries". 

I was recently introduced to a book called "Unbroken" - written by the author of Seabiscuit. Which I did not read. Upon probing about the topic - hoping it wasn't another horse story, I was equally unexcited when I was told it was a war story. A little backstory...

My father was a high school English and History teacher and we spent most of our summer "vacations" traveling to different war monuments (mainly big plaques in front of barren fields) paying our respects to different battlefields and those who lost their lives there. As a kid... I yearned for roller coasters and water parks and going out to eat. Instead... we packed a cooler with carrots, celery, homemade buns, summer sausage, cheese and maybe some cookies (if I made them), and drove our Pink Chevy full size conversion van to about 40 different states to pay our respects and see the country we were from. No AC, no video games, mainly NPR, and a KOA campground pass.

Some kids would have taken all that history to heart and become just as enthralled with it all as their father was. I did not. In fact, as is the case in many situations... I probably went in the exact opposite direction. However... as you grow older, I know it sounds cliche, but you start to "appreciate" all those things, yadda yadda yadda, and so I've started to try and resurrect the knowledge and experiences I already have and take a more mature approach. And so... I accepted the recommendation to read Unbroken. 

I'm pretty sure it has nothing to do with my mental shift to be more open - and more with the fact that Louis Zamperini is just absolutely amazing. 

In addition to being an incredibly talented runner and eventually an incredibly talented survivor - this guy made my nothingnewforayear stuff look like a joke. Granted times are a little different for us both, but as a POW in Japan for 2 years, it wasn't anything "new" he didn't get... it was anything at all. 

It seems every time I mention this book, there is almost always someone within earshot who has read the book and attests to the fact that his optimism and drive to live - is unfathomable given his conditions during WWII. 

It almost makes me want to tear down the page and deny that I ever felt upset that I was running out of conditioner or that I stole hotel soaps. I won't because as I said, times are very different now and we obviously have different issues. The point is that, the book is absolutely worth the read and the ultimate picture of someone who went without anything new and then some.... I could go into more detail about just how excruciating his life as a POW was, but I really can't express how much you need to read it for yourself. It will make you not want to ever complain, about anything, ever again. 

If you want a little more here's a review from the New York Times

Unbroken

P.S. I read it on my Kindle :)

Craving the Hunger Games...

I didn't read Harry Potter. Never saw the movies. Too far out there, too many characters, too much.

I'm not really into vampires or werewolves either, although I did break down and see the first Twilight movie. Didn't do it for me.

About 2 years ago a good friend said I should read the Hunger Games. She said it was like Gladiator but with kids... and only one gets to survive.

I was pretty confused... kids killing each other was a best seller?

Almost a year ago, desperate for a new book, and stuck in an airport, I downloaded it onto my Kindle.
3 chapters in... I quit. 

It sat taunting me in my Kindle while I went on to read, The Help (awesome), The Secret Life of Bees (good) and Water for Elephants (interesting). Then the world of Facebook and the news, and morning shows, magazines, etc took over. 

I'd already paid for the darned thing and I like to have my opinions based on my actual encounter with said topic/product etc. So I figured I'd just read it and then I'd at least be validated that the idea of kids killing other kids was ridiculous. 

Boy was I wrong.

 I think I only got through the first 3 chapters and quit because I didn't want to get to the meat of it, the part where kids kill kids. Well once I got past all that, the next thing I knew I was searching Amazon for the next book to download. And now I'm halfway through the final book, doing everything I can to not read it until I'm on my flight to Dallas... I've already started anticipating the let down I'm going to feel when it's all over. Is that crazy? 

And now here I am a few days before the movie comes out just as hungry as the rest of the world. 

Unfortunately or fortunately I won't be camping out to be the first in line at Midnight. 

(Tickets are sold out in Dallas anyway... according to the news) 

I did manage to only flip through, not purchase, the 5+ magazines at the airport that have entire sections dedicated to the cast and behind the scenes pictures. I've even discussed the casting of the film... This is really something I thought was reserved for those who were a little obsessed. Uh oh.

And despite my perusal through the cafepress.com website of various Hunger Games paraphernalia I've managed to shut the computer and walk away without a Mockingjay pin :) But this whole nothingnewforayear thing may have been the only reason. 

My whole life I've sort of been anti jumping on the bandwagon about big trends but I feel like this story is so much bigger. I hate to sound like one of those teachers I had in school who made every choice by an author seem like some deep underlying message. 

(Do you think the author chose to put the character in a red shirt to symbolize his anger? No, I think the author may have just seen someone walking by in a red shirt that day)

The book is an easy and quick read, which turns some people off who think they're above those kinds of reads, but if you ask me it addresses some pretty big picture stuff. It's a little Gladiator, a lot the Truman Show, some high school popularity/bullying drama, growing up too fast... etc.
And obviously... a love story.
(My mom said even as a little girl I was never embarrassed but more... ecstatic, about the "kissing part" in movies. My name is Ann and I'm a sucker for sad songs and love stories)

Anyway. I'm sitting on the edge of my seat like the rest of the world.
 I found this song yesterday and have had it on repeat ever since...

Taylor Swift - Safe & Sound - Music - More Music Videos

And then I got this... :)

I won't be buying any t-shirts or mugs... but.... I may have packed my (fake) pearl earrings :)

P.S. Movie tickets... an "experience" right?

I'm a loser...

I'm a loser.

 I lose everything. 

Well not everything... but a lot of things. In fact I lose things so frequently that if I can't find something, I assume I lost it.

 I'm terrible about remembering my purse, so I don't usually carry one... My theory is, if I put in that little bag... my phone, my wallet, my ID, my money, etc. then if I lose the ONE bag, I lose EVERYTHING. I'm better off just risking the loss of one thing at a time... right?

But... it then becomes a burden on my friends... If we have to dress up. Not usually my preference I'll have you know. 

I'm not a big lipgloss, extra makeup, brushes, teeth whitener (yes some girls carry whitening strips in their purses...and probably more than you think) etc person, so usually I just need someone to hang on to my ID and a credit card, and my phone. Or, I wear clothes with pockets. Like boys. But as I mentioned there are times when I'm not allowed to wear clothes with pockets. 

For example. One night in college, I was peer pressured into going out on a Saturday night. Don't get me wrong, I had my fair share of nights out in college, usually Fridays, but for the most part, I liked to stay in and clean my friends dorm rooms while they went out. No joke. 

1. their rooms were filthy.

2. I lived in "temporary housing" for the first semester so I didn't have a dorm room. Vicarious living...

3. "going out" tops weren't a staple in my wardrobe.

  (I also liked to get up early and wake them up wearing silly outfits, singing songs very loudly as I jumped on their beds. In my defense they always promised Friday night that we would get up really early for tailgating, and then every Saturday morning when I tried to hold them to their word, they pulled the covers over their heads and yelled obscenities at me :) 

#3 was what really annoyed my friends. 

(wearing those pants in public might have been a close second...)

One of the few times I gave into their taunting and agreed to go out on a Saturday night, it turned into a wardrobe debacle. Apparently jeans and a t-shirt weren't the protocol. Black pants - were required for Saturday nights. This was frustratingly explained to me as one girl rummaged through her Saturday night attire section of her closet for a new outfit I would wear, while the others pulled out my pony tail to give it some curl, and smeared a variety of colors on my eyelids.

I have to admit... I did look the part - Saturday night floozy - but I wasn't happy about it. Needless to say, those fitted black pants did NOT have any pockets, nor did the flouncy, open back handkerchief of a top they made me wear. So... it was their civic duty to carry all my crap, unless they wanted me to put back on my jeans... They carried my crap. And have ever since :) 

But they're not always around, and so it has become one of the pains of "growing up" that I keep track of my own crap. 

I'm not doing a very good job.

 I lost my phone charger soon after I started this whole nothingnewforayear thing... I've been carting my laptop with me everywhere because I do have the cord that can charge my phone through my computer. 

The un-forseen advantage of this is the fact that I'm constantly updating and backing up files... the disadvantage of course is that I have to haul out my computer every time I want to charge my phone.

Along with the cell phone charger, went my kindle charger. They were one in the same. Actually a great product. It had a different hole for both the phone and the Kindle in the SAME charger. Pretty ingenious for a girl like me who doesn't do well with a lot of things to remember. That is, until I lost it. 

But now I'm torn. My Kindle is rendered useless until I get it charged which would require a purchase. My phone I can manage with my computer - but lugging my computer out at the airport just to charge my phone is getting kind of ridiculous. Especially considering I will be spending most of the fall traveling... not the most convenient of places. 

I guess we're back at the great Kindle Debate - which was never really answered... Do they sell used chargers like this down at the Salvation Army? or are used books from AmVets the way to go? 

In lieu of the anticipated response from my mother... I've already tried this one:

St. Anthony, St. Anthony

 I've been looking around, 

I've seem to have lost my chargers and they can't be found

The Great Kindle Debate

Alright another dilemma.

Does buying a book on my Kindle count as a "new" purchase?

Technically "old" books I would buy from a Goodwill or something wouldn't be "new" but then there's the accumulation factor... and the Kindle purchases stay in the "cloud" - if you will...

I guess I have a little time to mull it over. I already have a few books I purchased on my Kindle I haven't read yet, so maybe I'm getting ahead of myself.

On a side note, I did run across a John Steinbeck book recently that I'd never heard of. I purchased it before I had really thought too much about it... it was "used" as you can see.

It's non-fiction and was written in the early 60's by John Steinbeck as he traveled across the US for 3 months observing the changes our country had gone through. He mentions how accents started diminishing even then, the mass production of food had almost wiped out the unique flavors of certain areas...  and he even writes extensively about how much waste the world was creating.

If it was so blatently obvious to him 40 years ago, imagine what he would think if he saw it today...

Great read... might be one of my best .99 thrift store purchases.

My dad's an avid reader and was a high school english teacher for many years, so I got really excited at the opportunity to surprise him with a little gem of a read. I was certain it would be new to him too since I'd never heard him even mention the title before...

Me:    "Dad, I've got a book you're going to love! It's a John Steinbeck book, but his writing style in this one sounds a lot like your writing style"

My Dad: "You must be reading Travels with Charley... It's one of my favorites"

Lesson learned: It's hard to surprise old people :) They really have done it all.