Baklava And Crispy Crabby Goodness

Thanks to all my special dietary needs, I’m the one who gets to put in the order for my office’s weekly lunch, except for when I’m out sick. Recently, one of my co-workers took on said duty when I was out, and she ordered Greek! OMG, I love Greek food. Mmm. And this place is not only right across the street from our office, but it is GOOD.

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Banned!

Yesterday started the American Library Association’s Banned Books week. That’s right: librarians across the U.S. are celebrating banned books! Or rather, they’re celebrating the Freedom to Read.

People have all sorts of reasons they want books banned from libraries: everything from religious differences (or veiled accusations, which circle back to religious differences) to appropriateness for small children to downright pet peeves. The beautiful thing about libraries, though, is if you don’t want to read something, don’t check it out. There! Done.

I wrote out a whole diatribe on how if banning books were really a logical thing to do, the first one I’d ban would be the Bible: graphic, violent, sexist: need I go on? And then I deleted my rant. Aside from preaching to the choir (of bibliophiles, not to mention a couple of people who derive inspiration and comfort from the Bible), I believe in teaching through action. So instead, I wrote a review of a banned book and posted it to my favorite review site, loveandbooks.com. You can find my review there. And I encourage you to read a banned book (might I recommend Fahrenheit 451? Captain Underpants? Twilight? Or any of the Harry Potter series?) and write your own review.

Power to the people! Through books.
All the books.

 

Special thanks to the ALA for providing the image.

Dammit, I heard you! Stop shouting!

First, I have to apologize for the lateness of this post. By the end, I think you’ll get it.

I’m taking a bunch of courses, reading a bunch of books, and steeping myself in learning right now. I’m working my way through Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich (again. One day I’ll make it to the end.), a book on learning how to be more charismatic, a teleclass on Natural Selling (without fear of rejection), an online interactive class on making your stories BIGGER, and, of course, learning my product and how to sell it. Wow. Now that I look at this all written down, that’s a lot all at once. I think I’m glad I didn’t sign up for those other two classes.

Back to the point: the classes about sales, charisma, getting rich AND bigger stories all have one concept in common, although they all phrase it differently: presence. Every single one presents the idea that to do better, to be bigger, to have that aura, you have to stop and actually listen– to your customers, to your characters, to your acquaintances. But it’s not about listening while coming up with your own response. It’s about just listening. Continue reading Dammit, I heard you! Stop shouting!

More Energy, More Time

When I was in college I met a guy who had so much energy, he had to have been on drugs. I mean, the only other people I’ve ever seen with that much energy are under the age of five. When I first met him, with a bit of shell shock, I asked him, “No, seriously, dude. What are you on?” His response, “I’M HIGH ON LIFE.” (Pretty much everything he said was in all caps.)

Over the years, I’ve thought back to that guy and his energy, and envied. How? How do people get like that? There aren’t many, but the number is more than zero. Or those moms. You know who I mean: they work overtime at a full time job, make dinner every night for three kids and a husband and still have enough in their day to write the Great American Romance Novel. HOW??? (And no, skipping sleep is not the answer. As someone who has had insomnia, this I know.) Continue reading More Energy, More Time

He ate what???

Food. OMG! I love food. I love the sweet, the savory, the sour (sometimes), and even the spicy (in small doses). Mostly, I love the sweet.

The sweets have been one of my challenges for most of my life. Everybody knows how bad they are for the human body, but I just couldn’t stop. Oh, I’d go on a diet for a while, and I’d lose some weight– never enough– but then it would be somebody’s birthday, or a holiday (I didn’t care which one), and I’d start devouring again.

Continue reading He ate what???