100 Book Project: Book #86 "Showoff" and Skittles

Showoff, by Gordon Korman

When I went to my 5th grade son's beginning-of-the-year conference over  a month ago, I asked this and that and other things and among my questions was whether Zack could return a library book he hated and wasn't finishing.

The answer was NO. He's already halfway done, he NEEDS to finish it.

That was 5 weeks ago.

Since then he's read 3 books, spent over 100 hour learning computer coding, trained a dog and grown three inches.

He doesn't want to finish this book but he can't return it (ughhh) and he has an AR test on to earn points and without those AR points he is a shunned loser. Sad face.

Zack freaks out about school, let me put that on the table. His concern is equal parts anxiety over tests that may or may not happen, anxiety over anticipated boredom and anxiety over anticipated frustration. It takes every bit of my soul to get him to go to school every day despite his asking WHYYY he can't be homeschooled and whyyyy he can't skip to college.

Anyway.

He missed school on Friday and his homework was to read.

I tried to get him to read this book but he found 15 other interesting things to do --- All of them were important, all of them were engaging and mentally stimulating, nothing he expected from this book (at least he knows there are BETTER books, right???/)

On Saturday I dared him to finish the book before I could.

He shook his head. Mom, it's 230 pages. I'm at 170. You literally can't beat me.

I take that as a challenge and start the book this morning after finishing book #85. All the sudden I think all parents should read everything their kids read because if I'd started this book with him I'd have told the library to GIVE HIM A BETTER BOOK.

Nothing against this book, but it's crazy. Silly, unrealistically unethically crazy.

 There are dog attacks but no arrests and kids roaming New York City unchaperoned and kids getting attack dogs out of the pound but no paperwork and ID (???) and kids finding lost Russian dog trainers in dangerous neighborhoods full of condemned apartments. Yuck.

The line of fiction is so strangely blurred that I wish this book had been set in the 1950s or 2020s because setting it 2010 made it crazy. And silly.

And that's why my son put it down. He like hard problems, he likes intriguing mysteries. He stayed on the computer to take 140 math quizzes so he could "get all the top scores" -- so he isn't lazy. He just got bored by a book that was written by an author completely out of touch.

So now that I've read the book I can tell you that it is NOT worth the investment of his time.

No great truth is learned. Kids break rules, sneak a dog, fix a robot, and almost win a prize but find the real prize is friendship. Whatever.

I told Zack I'll give him skittles when he finishes the book, but only if he promises to NEVER check out a book by this author again.

 Not finishing a book makes a kid look bad, but I deeply believe that knowing you have a bad book and putting that book down is a sign of great maturity.

Sigh. Oh Well. He still has to finish it, and its costing me skittles.
=
If you have a smart son who is also in 5th grade, please steer him away from this silly book about dog shows, robots and nothing. Thank me later.

100 Book Project: Book #85 No Excuses: The Power of Self-Discipline by Brian Tracy

This book was assigned to me this semester by Shazaam (not his REAL name) a high achieving, front row guy who you will soon understand played a big role in giving Marvin's Book (my first book) a happier ending, even if that ending is in THIS book.

No Excuses is a great book for someone who needs a pep talk, guidance and direction. It's about responsibility, accountability and intention -- know what you're doing, know WHY you're doing and DO IT.

I love the way the author keeps bringing up the 20/80 rule. Have you ever heard of it?

• 20% of the people make 80% of the money
• you wear 20% of your clothes 80% of the time

While reading the first part of this book I decided to take notes, but I quickly realized my notes could be from this book or a Tony Robbins book or any great motivation book. 

Here's what I wrote. 

• If it has to be, it's up to me. 
• SELF-DISCIPLINE - "ability to do what you should do, regardless if you feel like it or not" (p7)
• Successful people have habits that make them more successful than people who don't have the drive to establish difficult and rewarding habits.

The author talks about the laws of attraction, of perverse consequences, and of the POWER of habits. 

I will not say this is a bad book -- this is an important book if its the RIGHT book for you, NOW. It wasn't the right book for me. I've heard almost everything in this book in other books, and the advice and motivation contributed to where I am today. 

I wanted to like this book - but at the point where it goes from work advice to parenting advice to relationship advice to health advice to food advice I wanted to throw the book and ask the hard question, WHO ARE YOU TO TELL ME ALLLLL THIS???

The best motivational, inspirational books come from real people whose story we already sorta know.

 I don't know who Brian Tracy is, besides a guy whose talked to over a million people. 

I don't know who he was and why I should listen to him, but besides THAT, this book is quite a book. 

If you are looking for one book that distills all the advice from 1990-2010 into one book, this is a book you might want. If you've read other great advice books by people like Dr. Wayne Dyer and Tony Robbins, this book might be a bit redundant. 

My only concern (omg am I saying this?) is that this book has no spiritual roots, so it seems self-discipline is the core of life. I don't agree. I think the work self-discipline is being used as a poor substitute for "mature" and included in "mature" is "spiritual maturity" -- but then again, I might just be saying that because reading 85 books has made me a little cranky.

100 Book Project: Book #84 - The Screwtape Letters by CS Lewis

I had this book with me on Tuesday when a student in my office  -- I call him Shazaam --  asked how long it takes me to read a book.

 I lift this book up (before I started it) and tell him this is a one night book. Less that 200 pages. No problem. 

He shakes his head and says he doesn't know how I do it.

I tell him what I tell everyone.  The reading isn't hard, it's the writing. I'm not just reading 100 books, I'm writing a book about it, and that's harder than running a marathon. In shorts. Then I add that I'm reading for fun and reading can't be fun when you're worried about what grade you'll earn on game day when fast balls and curve balls of multiple choice questions are thrown at your head. Reading can't be fun when you have to answer tedious questions that start with "Which of the following best reflects.." and "List three ways that the author..."

Ugh. Hell. Reading for fun is heaven, especially for those of us who don't like to do what we are told, even if it's a very good and well-intentioned idea. 

The Screwtape Letters by CS Lewis is horrible, wonderful, brilliant and I'm not quite sure but I might have been forced to read it in middle school or high school and completely didn't "get" it because I was more concerned about the deadline, the report, the points, the whatever.

Reading it as an adult is like walking slowly through Halloween Horror Nights.

This book is a series of letters from a demon to a spirit on earth telling him how and why to seduce and distract humans from the Enemy.

Because this is CS Lewis, because we all know the Lion in the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe was Christ, of course this Enemy is a very very Christian God.

 I chafe against this narrow view but I am transfixed by his acuity  and carry the  it everywhere with me, scribbling notes in the corners of the pages responding, reflecting analyzing, savoring.

This book is real philosophy, and rewarded my careful attention with fruitful insights.

Maybe I could have finished it on Tuesday (I couldn't have, but shhh) but definitely I could have finished it Wednesday or Thursday or Friday but I didn't because this book was too smart and I wanted to hang out with it as long as I possibly could.

This book talks about sin, morality, temptation and redemption.

 The very fact that "mere birth" qualifies animal humans for God's love causes the demons to simmer with envy and conspire on ways to capture human souls from God and eat them roasted in sauces like envy, greed and graft.

For awhile I thought CS Lewis hated women, but then I realized the man was writing in a black-is-white voice satire and just the fact I believed him so sincerely is evidence of the rottenness he provoked especially with the description of the  two kinds of women -- virgins and Venus: The pure women lead men  to the devil by boring them to death.   The tempting women lead women to the devil by becoming a private obsession. 

 I question everything about CS Lewis then remember this is a demon talking. Ooops. Sorry. 

This book is THAT good, that smart, that much of a masterpiece, deserving your full attention. 

My very most favorite part of the book is actually the ending that is added for this edition which starts with  a letter from CS Lewis in 1961 talking about how hard this book was to write because "every trace of beauty freshness and geniality had to be eliminated" and writing a longer book would have smothered him AND the readers.

Agreed.

After that there is a  final essay from Screwtape giving a Toast before feasting on a soul with other demons.

 In the satiric toast,  Screwtape celebrates the wonder of the modern "democratic" education system, where grades are inflated and students are tied together in age groups, slowing the fast ones and hampering their futures while and lying to the slower students about how capable and valuable they are.

Ouch.

Score team CS Lewis.

100 Book Project: Book #83 - The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith

The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith

Part of World Book Night 2013 http://www.us.worldbooknight.org/books/alumni/2013

The universe sent this book to me through a delightful student who happens to be related to another student who gave me a book by Vaclav Havel that I have yet to read. 

 I know where they are from, but I forget and or twist around to Moldoamenia, Slovakosavo, Sloveniagovinia, Ukranistan  to make them laugh.

It works and a few other students get it too. 

The rest shake their heads and fight the itch to check their phones.

Before I start Book #83 I asked my student if she'd REALLY read this book.  It looked so plain and white and maybe even weird I couldn't tell if she just picked it up and gave it to me for no good reason.

 It's great, really, she says and I don't want to believe her. 

I ask which is better, this book or one by Vaclav Havel. She doesn't even hesitate to pick this book. I'm swayed a little. Maybe. Ish.

I bring the book home and grade stacks of exams (140 exams with 10 essays each = a lot of math) with the book next to me. 

It doesn't call to me, and I don't feel like reading. 

I put it next to my bed, lay my phone on it and sleep. 

The next day I carry the book to campus and bring it to Charlotte. 

Charlotte knows Things.  

People who are lost and confused and befuddled come to her and she helps. She has the best blend of worldliness and common sense a person could hope for and on top of that she is  Never Wrong.

 I offer two books and ask her to pick one. 

Without hesitation she picks Book #83 and then asks if she can borrow it when I finish. 

Whoa. Wow.  That good?

She nods and turns back to solving other things. 

That night I open the book and exactly by page three I knew I was reading treasure, the kind of book that circulates between sisters and family and friends and that someone is always begging to borrow.

The setting was jarring and beautiful, the characters meaty and real, the writing pristine and witty.  

That's when I flipped to the back cover of the book and saw this book was part of a series for World Book Night US 2013.  Every book and author I recognize on the list is amazing.  These are the Big Leagues  -- Tina Fay, Paulo Coelho, Willa Cather, Mark Twain. No joking around. 

Here is a link to all the books -- bookmark it for the day you find yourself hunting for SOMETHING to read. http://www.us.worldbooknight.org/books/alumni/2013

Book #83  book belongs there.  The main character, Mma Ramotswe, loses her father and inherits enough money to open a business. She chooses to become a private detective, and her adventures take the reader through pieces of post-colonial Africa rarely imagined or discussed in popular culture. 

The chapters are stories of mysteries solved, love rebuked and trickery exposed. I loved every bit of it, and I'm not going to give you the plot because you are GOING to read this book.

On wealth: "What point is it to be rich if you can't sit around and watch your cattle graze?" Yes. I get it. I don't have cattle, but I get it. 

On shoes: “Perhaps her shoes would say something; Mma Makutsi had told her once, jokingly— and she must have been joking— told her that her shoes occasionally gave her advice. Well, perhaps they could tell her not to be so bossy. They must have witnessed it after all— shoes see everything; there are no secrets we can keep from our shoes.”

Pumkinlicious: “Talking about pumpkins doesn't make them grow.”  I am so going to use that. You can too.

And also this meditation on being fully present during grief and pain:  “It was time to take the pumpkin out of the pot and eat it. In the final analysis, that was what solved these big problems of life. You could think and think and get nowhere, but you still had to eat your pumpkin. That brought you down to earth. That gave you a reason for going on. Pumpkin.” 

On enduring heartache:  “We don't forget.... Our heads may be small, but they are as full of memories as the sky may sometimes be full of swarming bees, thousands and thousands of memories, of smells, of places, of little things that happened to us and which came back, unexpectedly, to remind us who we are.” 

On war:  “If more women were in power, they wouldn't let wars break out," she said. "Women can't be bothered with all this fighting. We see war for what it is- a matter of broken bodies and crying mothers.” 

On government: “That is the problem with governments these days. They want to do things all the time; they are always very busy thinking of what things they can do next. That is not what people want. People want to be left alone to look after their cattle.” 

On friendship: “You can go through life and make new friends every year – every month practically – but there was never any substitute for those friendships of childhood that survive into adult years. Those are the ones in which we are bound to one another with hoops of steel.” 

Look up Alexander McCall Smith.

 He's my new favorite author and I totally intend to binge read the rest of this series.

 I can't even imagine what book could follow this one.

 I'll ask Charlotte tomorrow.

Primary Document Project Part 1

Identify and describe at least 4 but no more than 7 primary sources (print and/or digital) on one of the following three topics:

1.    A single important event in your family history before 2002
2.  How your family has changed over time
3.   A single day in US history from 1866-2002

Good, fun historical research starts with quality, interesting documents that are full of details.

Once you have identified and collected your sources, write up a description of them for me as though they were being catalogued in some archive for people to find 100 years from now.

Not a good description:

DOCUMENT 1: My grandmother Stella is listed on the 1940 census.

Much better description:

DOCUMENT 1: The 1940 census shows my father’s mother Stella Star Liscous  lived at 1122 Baboso Drive, three houses down from where my grandfather Mack Daddy Whoa would move in 1941.

From the entry I can tell that Stella’s father Johhny Rae Liscious was a barber and his wife Pearl Liscious  “kept house.” It shows Stella Star had three sisters (Lou, Bette, Johnny Mae) that were all older than her and a brother that was younger (Johnny Yay). I think Johhny Yay died because I’ve never heard of him or seen him in any family pictures.

Not a good description:                                        DOCUMENT 5: This black and white picture from 1912 shows my grandmother as a baby.

Much better description:                                       DOCUMENT 5: This black and white picture from 1912 shows my grandmother Mary Frances Nolan  on the day she was baptized at St. Mary of Heaven church in Nookynaka, WY. She is wearing the same Irish lace baptismal gown my family has worn since 1837. This photo is 3 inches high and 2 inches across.

Not a good description: 

DOCUMENT 3: This is my father’s college yearbook.

Much better description.                                       DOCUMENT 3:This is my father’s college yearbook from 196x; he attended College of Lakes the year that Forrest Gump ran through, and there’s a picture on page 45 of my dad running next to Forrest. Since Forrest’s beard isn’t too long, I guess this was the beginning of his run.  Dad brought his yearbook to the Concert of Love and collected signatures that include Jimi Hendrix, John Lennon, Gloria Steinem, Robin Williams and Elvis. I’m not sure if some of these signatures are fake, but the yearbook is real.

Prayer of the Laughing Yoga Frog is FREE 10/8-12

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BFM0OJY

Prayer of the Laughing Yoga Frog --- a quick, happy book about Cracker Barrel, college history, courage and a magical frog statue who solves a mystery.

Click on the link above to download the book for free 10/8-10/12. 

That's How

Sometimes you wonder how you will find out horrible sad news.
Will it be a call? A text? There is no good way.

I found out with one look.

I only needed to look at his red eyes and I knew exactly what had happened and I knew I needed to tell the kids.

There was no time to waste - if today went like it should've (right, ok, I see the arrogance in imagining THAT) I would've been loading Zack into the car to get Zoe to then go get icees at this very second or maybe two minutes ago.

I open the door to Zack's room and he jumps up from his bed and looks at my face.

 I don't say a word I raise my eyebrows and exhale.

 One second passes.

Two. I say nothing.

Grief attacks my son him like a flash fire from an invisible lightning strike and he falls wordlessly into the "after" that comes "after" losing someone you love.

Ten minutes later I'm at Zoe's school.

She jumps into the car all smiles. Today was a big day.

 Before she can ask if we can this or that or go or get I exhale and look at her, wordless, still.

She mirrors my face and reads my mind and breaks down in tears.

So that's how I told them.

Steamy Hot Monday

For the second night I sleep with a window open, breathing this crazy fresh cool air that hides from Florida most of the time.

My alarm goes off but I buy myself ten more minutes, then fifteen, then finally hit the shower and shiver my way through that ordeal. 

I wake Zack up for the first time (there will be ten more times, he will ask me WHY he has to go to school and I will fumble for answers, this is predictable), take the dog out then turn on my computer. I go back to wake up Zack again (he howls at me. Howls. I can't make this up) then go off to make a cup of coffee.

 While making coffee I stepped on something that crunched and MOVED. Ewwwwww.

I don't have eyes on my feet but I just KNOW it was a huge crunchy scampering dinosaur sized roach that must have come in from the 60 degree freeze in Florida. 

I'm not afraid of roaches but I can't help myself and I SCREAM and toss my coffee into the air.

Not the coffee cup. Just the coffee.  

A burning sensation covers my wrist and hand and just as I look down I see the horrible horrible culprit lying on the ground, taunting me. A straw. Awesome. 

Happy Monday.

100 Days of Flats

100 days ago I fell and broke my foot, landed in a cast and was sentenced to several months of hardship in that I have been unable to wear cute shoes.

OK, fine. Some sandals are cute. And the sketchers my Mom sent me are super comfy and bouncy but not of them have the impact a good pair of heels has.

Three inches of heels changes everything.

Marvin Sent Him..... (to be continued)

If there is any regular normal day, I would think today would qualify. Car drop off. Office hours. Students. Exams.

But in the middle of it a conversation with a student turned to where are you from and this and that and then he said it.

He didn't know but then he said it.

He said he was here on a scholarship from Marvin Scott.

Marvin Scott? That's MY Marvin, I told him almost angry I didn't know this before, like it would have changed something, like knowing MARVIN sent him would have meant red carpet treatment (it would have, for the record).


Then the beauty of it all hit.

No, he didn't know that Marvin Scott was the Marvin in Marvin's Book, my student from 14 years ago.

Yes, he was from the same highschool as Marvin and, yes,  he knew the family.

Marvin is smiling down on us, I told him, and we cried a little because the universe is so magically devastatingly painfully awesome.


(TO BE CONTINUED)

100 Book Project: Book #82 - Pass.

2012: The War for Souls by Whitley Streiber (2007)

I think if I had read this book before 2010 or 2012 I might have liked it, but because it was written in 2007, it missed a lot of the social and cultural changes that  swept the world between 2007 and 2012 (and now) which made this book incredibly hard for me to read.

 Also, I'm allergic to horrifyingly unpredictable aliens, violence and apocalypse (in general) so this book was appetizing to me as a steak is to a vegetarian.  

I feel like a met a nice person, an interesting person, but at the wrong time and in the wrong place.  Whitley Streiber is a creative writer who can whip readers into a page turning frenzy that steals hours at a time. I would read other books by him, but I wouldn't pass this book on. 

100 Book Project: Book #81 - So Squeaky Clean that Bubbles Float Out of the Book When You Turn the Pages

The Life You Imagine: Life Lessons for Achieving Your Dreams 

by Derek Jeter with Jack Curry.

I didn't mean to read this book JUST as Derek Jeter was playing his last series, it just worked out this way, and I'm so thankful that it did!

Derek Jeter didn't actually write this book, Jack Curry wrote it with him, and together they did a great job using talents to write a book that lays out a plan for success.

Thankfully, my son has the natural wisdom to be a "born" Yankees fan (growing up Cuban in South Florida, I knew there was Spring training, but I also knew only the what the YANKEES did actually mattered) and I will definitely pass this book on to him.

What's great about this book? Well, first, it isn't the BEST book for a 40something tenured author who is living the life she imagined(ish) (#no-one-has-it-ALL) but it was good enough that even though I've read stacks of leadership, inspiration and self help books (PLEASE READ HECTOR"S SEARCH FOR HAPPINESS, you're welcome), this book stands out for it's clarity and character.

Character, because that's what Derek Jeter has. He was raised by two mature, intentional and supportive parents who kept themselves very present and engaged and their work and love show through in Derek's life and career.

Clarity. This book talks about a lot and could have lost me in a blur of skimming but it didn't because it was well written and  tightly edited/ Despite being a mini-biography, this book stuck to a tight outline.

 Here are his 10 "Life Lessons" in case you don't read this book --

1. Set your goals high. Let yourself imagine what you REALLY want, not what people tell you that you should have. Low goals lead to nowhere.
2. Deal with growing pains. The world is changing, you are changing, let things change and keep growing every change you have. Don't give up/
3. Find role models. Find ones that inspire and encourage you. Expect them to demand a lot from you so that you can learn to demand a lot from yourself.
4. The world is not always fair. Deal with it.
5. Don't be afraid to fail. I loved this chapter.
6. Have a strong supporting cast. Surround yourself with people who also hold themselves to high standards. Challenge each other.
7. Be serious, but have fun. People see your smile, they feel your frown. Do your job with all your heart and focus, but don't forget to love it.
8. Be a leader, follow the leader. Learn from others, then take your chances.  
9. Think before you act. Some things can't be taken back.
10. Life is a daily challenge. Don't expect rainbows and sunshine everyday just because you met your "goal." 

I was genuinely surprised a student would give me a book by a baseball player, and now I'm more surprised how much I liked this book. I would definitely give it to you or your kid for graduation or a birthday, and I bet they'd read every word and treasure it.

Chapter 25 Quiz Q#3: Darwin's Enemy (not)

This is Einstein. You knew that. Right?

• One of the smartest men known as Assten.
• Darwin's Enemy
• Thomas Edison
• A genius and host for NBC news.

Chapter 25 Quiz Q#2: Two women sitting down, a man and a boy.

Charlie Chaplin in the movie THE KID.
 This is NOT Hitler.
 There is NO Hitler in Chapter 25 of the textbook.

• Two women sitting down, a man and a boy.
• Movies were popular back then.
• Represents alcohol becoming a problem.
• The motion picture.
• The Jews were being mistreated.
• Freud, who introduced ideas of sex into young minds.
• Families lived on the streets. They were poor and German and had to pay corporations.
• Represents the trail of the happy during the railroad era. 
• Two sad boys. One is more likely than not Hitler.
• Hitler wannabe.
• Symbolizes Hitler and other countries. 

Chapter 25 Quiz Q #1: Mr Gravy, Ambassador of Hat

Chapter 25 Quiz 

Here are some bloopers.... 

• Roosevelt
• Prince who was assassinated, starting WW1
• I believe his name was Zar.
• A lucky guy. He lived.
• Believed in whites and blacks
• Prince of a country in Africa. Visiting America in a peaceful way.
• Low ranking soldier.
• Buffalo soldier.
• General from Spanish-American War. Strict.
• A powerful orientation leader.
• Reputation for being first.
• Ambassador of Hat
• Leader over nation.

AMH 1041 Exam #1 Study Guide

Oh My for Dummies

The South is a particularly polite place, especially the part where I live.

There is a double-speak here that could baffle an outsider.

 I once (once.) had an almost fight (the closest I've ever been) which involved me throwing a peace sign over my shoulder as I walked away. 

Peace. Right. Everyone knew what my hand was trying to convey.

I can't tell you why everyone is so friendly, so warm and yet icy and reserved in exactly the right balance, but it is true. It is tangible. Sharp-tongued politeness is a ninja skill that takes years to master, but I will give you this quick crash course (Oh My for Dummies).

Imagine you are in polite company and your cat (or any cat, or dog, or house pig or small child) drops a dead bird at your feet (or a dead lizard, or a live hamster, or a dirty diaper etc)  you cannot freak out.

We don't say "OH MY GAWWWD WHAT THE F**CKITY F***!!!"


Instead, we say, "Oh my." 
Much horror condensed into two words that gleam like a sharp shiny sword.

Ever wonder what to do with someone who drones on and on about themselves or their grandchildren or their ideas or themselves in general and you want to bang your head because every cue you are giving them seems to give them the green light to keep talking and they are already KILLING you?

At the next pause in their ramble, say, "Good for you." (Then grab your keys, purse, dog leash or whatever and run for freedom). I bet you it works.

Those three words together do NOT mean good for you.

 They mean, "I could care less, now let me go."



A polite person who hears something juicy would not dream of giving advice.

For example,  a naive soul confides to a neighbor that that they are pregnant with triplets but their husband has been gone for 11 months. 

The polite (warmly icy) neighbor would say "Bless your heart."

 It sounds nice, right?

 It's also quite dismissive and implies "ohhhh you are soooo f****d, and you're going to need divine intervention. See ya....." 

Poetic, really.  

100 Book Project: Book #80 - Way Worse than Being a Dentist....

Way Worse than Being a Dentist: The Lawyer's Quest for Meaning
by Will Meyerhofer. J.D., M.S.W.

I picked this book up to fill the restless empty feeling from having finished Kitchen Confidential, not expecting much. Seriously.  A book about lawyers? Whatever.

This book had me hooked from the beginning, and I read it for three hours until I fell asleep holding it, then woke up two hours early to finish it.

 No other non-fiction book has held me so captivated.

 I knew the point of the book in the first twenty pages, and never tired of the author repeating his thesis over and over and over and over using different points, different analogies but with the same conclusion.

Ready?

Law school isn't for everyone.

It isn't for most people.

There are too  many lawyers, many of them are unhappy, and it's very hard to get a job doing anything after you've been lawyering around, so don't go to law school unless you love law and you can pay for the school without loans.

 This man knows, because he was an excellent student who went to a top tier law school and got a great job with a top firm.

 He soon quit and became a practicing therapist who specializes in helping attorneys and blogging (The People's Therapist. Look him up). The universe gifted this man with great insight,  buckets of compassion, tremendous honesty and a advanced storytelling skills.

The author points out that in the past two decades a situation has emerged where  there are so many law schools (some second and third tier, whose graduates shouldn't even imagine quickly getting a job making what they'd need to make to pay off their loans)  and so much financing that law students are recruited to programs that barely prepare them for the trivia test (The Bar).

 Perfectly smart, wonderful people (who probably don't know what else to do with themselves and have no idea how they will pay off these loans but they magically expect to) go to law school and graduate with $170,000 and more in loans and have to take (and keep) soul destroying jobs to pay the loans that got them the education that landed them these jobs in hell.

One of my favorite parts is the discussion of this career on partnerships where one person works 12-15 hour days at a job they hate (but which is prestigious!!) so they can be the provider to a partner they never see.

 In one passage that is scarier than all the Stephen King books put together Meyerhofer explains:

"At some point, your dreams bifurcated. She still wants all the stuff you used to want together. But now she wants more of it... A bigger house. Private schools. A vacation with the family in the Bahamas. A Mercedes. Summer camp for the kids. You want to sleep -- and to quit this god-awful job. But you know you can't. Ever." (115)

I want you to read this book, and I hope you'll pass it on to everyone you know who is unclear about where they are going and what they want in life.

The author does a great job of distilling great wisdom into advice.

"Creating happiness on your own terms is not like signing up for law school.  That was easy. Taking charge of your life doesn't require just hard work - it takes imagination. This s not a path for the risk-averse.  The good news is you have no choice.  This is not a dress-rehearsal. This is your actual life - the only chance you're going to get to be happy.  If you aren't happy now, you'd better get on the problem, pronto."(179)

Will Meyerhofer's words and insight are worth your attention.

 I'm binge reading his blog now, and savoring every bit of what he has to tell me. 

100 Book Project: Book #79 Don't Tell Gordon Ramsay

Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly by Anthony Bourdain

This book came to me this semester (Fall 2014) from the new wave of students, the ones who I warned I'd already read amazing books so do  NOT give me a book unless it could rival The Fault in Our Stars and anything by Tina Fey or Stephen King.

I can remember the second the student handed this book to me.

I winced.  What?

She nodded. It's really good. It REALLY is.

I hugged it.

I can't tell you for sure if I blurted this out or not (my students can attest to the fact that I absolutely can't repeat what I just said because I wasn't listening...) but I didn't want it because it felt like I was cheating on Gordon Ramsey.

Yes, I know Gordon Ramsay doesn't know me, doesn't love me.

 Whatever. I don't care.

It is a universal truth - like gravity - that we are all connected and we all love each other, just some of us haven't figured that out yet.  He has made me laugh. One day I will make him laugh. It all works out like that.

But for now, it's more one sided.

 I love how he sees through things and isn't afraid to bring light where it needs to shine, and I want to be like him. But curvier and Cuban.

And a writer. Not a cook. OMFG not a cook.

 Anyway, I digress.

This book HAD me from the beginning.

 To be honest (#tbh on instagram, if you need a translator for what your teen is writing on Instagram) I didn't want to like it.

 I don't watch Anthony Bourdain guy on TV because he goes weird places and eats crazy things and well I just don't get him because the idea of "Moldova" or whatever is so vague to me I can't follow him there.

  I understand when Gordon Ramsay is yelling at someone about bad food.

 I don't understand (yet) why anyone would eat the things Anthony Bourdain eats.

But then I read this book.

Every word.

And I loved it, unabashedly.

When the universe imagined Anthony Bourdain, she gave him many talents.

He is a gifted storyteller, a wisdom gatherer, an entrepreneur and teacher. I would not have known these things about him -- or cared -- if they hadn't have shined through this book like rainbows through a prism.

If I never eat a single thing Anthony Bourdain cooks (or describes eating) I will be ok because his stories are so vividly satisfying. Each one makes sense, and chained together they tell a wisdom tale about how he sobered up, learned to behave, followed his talents and found his character.

Anyone who eats at restaurants, anyone who likes good stories, anyone who just want a new invisible friend named Tony would love this book.

This book is so good I haven't even watched this week's Hell's Kitchen. Don't tell Gordon.

The Puppy Whisperer

I step outside into the predawn Fall coolness on my first morning out of a cast.

 I have a lot of big and small things on my mind but this morning is so delightful that all my cares fly away into this perfect precious non-Florida-ish weather.

Which is why I forgot to put the leash on my dog.

Mia took one step out out the door, realized she was unleashed  then looked at me over her shoulder as she ran away  screaming FREEEEEEDOM (silently).

Great. I can't run after her.  I'm half tempted to go home, close the door, go back to bed and deny deny deny but I don't.

Mia stands on the street just on the other side of the mailbox, maybe hoping I will chase her.

 Its a beautiful morning to run, and I'd run to her and with her if I could, but no, the doctor said no jumping twisting or running yet. I'm 1/3 healed and on probation.

I need to stand still and bring the puppy back.

She takes three more steps towards freedom and turns to look at me again.

I sit down on the porch and call out quietly (in case my neighbors are regarding the show) "Help me Mia! Mommy has no puppy on her leash! Helppppppp"

She stands frozen in the street, takes another sniff of freedom and picks me instead, galloping towards me and knocking me backwards while I attach her leash and start the morning again.