Quote Wednesday - Shakespeare

"The course of true love never did run smooth."William Shakespeare A Midsummer's Night Dream

In honor of Valentine's Day week, I thought I would share one of my favorite quotes about love.  While I want to believe in the fairy tale versions of love, I must remind myself that we humans make mistakes.  No white knight on a horse is going to come save you and marry you and live happily ever after.  We must remind ourselves that we must work at love.  We must face those obstacles and fight.   Conquering those obstacles will yield great love.  But it is not a given; it must be earned. 

Quote Wednesday - Chocolat

"Happiness. Simple as a glass of chocolate or tortuous as the heart. Bitter. Sweet. Alive."  Joanne Harris Chocolat

I loved the movie, but always wanted to read the book.  Thankfully I now own it and it's sitting in a box for later this year.  I ran across this quote the other day and thought it was just so appropriate for life lately...  Happiness is so many different things.  All with different feelings and inspirations.  Plus, I love chocolate.

Quote Wednesday - Practical Magic

"My darling girl, when are you going to realize that being normal is not necessarily a virtue? It rather denotes a lack of courage." Alice Hoffman Practical Magic

I love this quote.  To me, weirdness is something to be treasured.  Why would anyone want to be the same?  Boring!  You should find your weirdness and expand upon it.  Cultivate it.  Plant it in the ground and water it.  Share it with others.  Be odd, weird, unique.  And don't let anyone put you down for it.  The weirdness is what makes you, you.

Quote Wednesday -- Einstein

"I have no special talents.  I am only passionately curious." -- Albert Einstein

I'm not particaluarly smart, but I have a lot of knowledge, facts, and stories stored in my brain.  I see things, read things, watch things, and I have questions.  I want to know.  So I go find out.  That's become a lot easier since I got an iPhone.  Now finding out is only a few clicks away.  I've always been the curious one.  And most days it boogles my mind that others are not the same way.  How can you go through life without knowing? Without asking?  Without searching?  It is completely incomprehensible to me. 

I will continue to be passionately curious.  It's the only way to live.

Quote Wednesday - Piaget

"If you want to be creative, stay in part a child, with the creativity and invention that characterizes chldren before they are deformed by adult society." -- Jean Piaget

I want to play pretend for a day.  I want to run around my backyard pretending to be dodging the lava.  I want to hid from the ninjas.  I want to play school (without all the annoying backtalking students).  I want to have a tea party with my stuffed animals.  I want to be the Queen of France for a day.

Do you ever have those days when you wish we were a child again?  Carefree with a wild imagination.  Somedays I want that.  But then I wake up and realize that I'm almost 30.  I like being close to 30.  I like being an adult.  Maybe I should just talk Piaget's advice and hold on the imagination and creativity that I once had.  Excuse while I go color in my coloring book.  I think I'll make the princess have purple hair...

Quote Wednesday - Aesop

"No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted." -- Aesop

I wish people would remember this.  I was raised to be mindful of others.  Show a bit of courtesy and kindness.  Somehow I just don't feel like I get that in return most days.  People are selfish.  We live in our own little worlds with little regard to things not circling us.  In fact, we live like 3-year-old who are just learning to comprehend a world outside of their immediate time and place.  At least once a day I  am courteous and polite and I get shit back.  Maybe it comes with being a receptionist.  But I just wish people would show others small acts of kindness.

Quote Wednesday -- Hillary

"It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves." -- Edmund Hillary

So I know.  He actually conquered the mountain (Everest to be exact), but the idea holds true.  Often times we get so bogged down in the little imaginary obstacles (the mountain) that we miss the real obstacles (ourselves).  Something I need to remind myself of on a weekly basis at work or dealing with certain people.  Keep the summit in the forefront.  Nothing else matters.

Quote Wednesday -- Burke

"Society is indeed a contract...it becomes a partnership not only between those who are living, but between those who are living, those who are dead, and those who are to be born." -- Edmund Burke

I've been watching the news lately... a very dangerous thing for me to do.  I have also been watching a lot of Daily Show and Colbert Report... and it just disgusts me.  The state of the political divide in this country is absolutely disgusting.  We've lost the ability to actual talk to each other about politics.  Now it's all about how loud you can yell.  We have lost the idea that we are one country.  We have lost the past, present, and future.  And it makes me oh so sad.  We need to be always mindful of the next generation.  It is our legacy.

Quote Wednesday - Pasteur

"Science knows no country, because knowledge belongs to humanity, and is the torch which illuminates the world." -- Louis Pasteur

Thinking about the concept of intellectual property today...  The next big law area to be radically rewritten.  Maybe I'll go into intellectual property law.  I certainly have opinions.  And J would love it.  Then we could have really geeky conversations...

Quote Wednesday -- Hayakawa

"It is not true that we have only one life to live; if we can read, we can live as many more lives and as many kinds of lives as we wish." -- S.I. Hayakawa

I love this quote!  I think I have followed this philosophy ever since I was little.  I love reading, losing myself in fantastical stories.  I love connecting to a character or a world.  I love getting sucked in.  Books are escapes.  Books show us other ways of life and thinking.  Books can be therapy.  Books are the among the best things in this world.

Now if you will excuse me, I need to get back to my book.  It's too good to leave alone for too long.

Quote Wednesday -- Lindbergh

"Real freedom lies in the wilderness, not in civilization." -- Charles Lindbergh (American aviator)

This quote makes me think of the explorers of the 1500s, journeying into the unknown without any guarantees.  They were truly free.  They had no constraints.  They seized life and went forth.  I want to be like those explorers.  I want to walk into the wilderness and discover myself.  I want to find out who I am beyond all the trappings of civilization.  When stripped away of home, shops, government, etc, who am I?  I am nothing more than my material trappings.

But I can't.  I can't just leave everything else behind.  I have to live in this modern world.  I have people depending on me.  I have obligations.  And so I am facing a crossroads.  I can't take Lindbergh's quote literally.  So, I am trying to ind myself and my freedom in other ways.  This blog is my creative outlet.  It's my place to write down all those things that I may or may not have the courage to say out loud.  It's also where I hold myself accountable to my resolutions (reading challenges, writing, cooking, etc.)  My newest ventures: a movie watching and reviewing challenge, a Fables series challenge, and a NPR scifi and fantasy challenge.  I am also looking into open courses online.  I want to explore something new.  And since formal classroom schooling is off the table right now, I thought I would check out MIT's or Berkley's choices online.

Always a journey.  Always Wading Through the Ocean of Life...

Quote Wednesday - Bradbury

You must lurk in libraries and climb the stacks like ladders to sniff books like perfumes and wear books like hats upon your crazy heads.Ray Bradbury

This quote just brightened my day!  Hope it brightens yours!

Quote Wednesday - Doyle

"Mediocrity knows nothing higher than itself, but talent instantly recognizes genius." -- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

I've been thinking a lot about talents lately.  It's probably all the job interviews I've been going on.  The interviewer always ask: What are your strengths and weaknesses?  What can you bring to our company?  And what do I say?  These are such hard questions if you are going to answer truthfully.

I could say... I have a bubbly personality.  I'm open to challenges.  I love dealing with people.  I like creative projects.

I could say all that, but I would be slightly fibbing.  I'm not always bubbly.  Some days I don't want to be perky.  But I can fake it if I like the position/job I have. Sometimes I like easy work.  I admit it.  I don't want to be challenged every second of every day.  People sometimes annoy me, but it takes a lot to throw me off track.  My creativity ebbs and flows.  Some days I don't have any ideas.  I tend to go in spurts. (Case in point: my original fiction pieces on this blog.  I committed myself to creative writing, but haven't been inspired this month.)

So what are my talents?  I think I am good at adapting.  If I love a job, I put in 110%.  I can deal with difficult people without letting them get to me.  I am a good secretary.  I document well.  I can fix problems.

So where does all that lead career wise?  I was a teacher, but state licensing might be my stumbling block.  I was thinking law school, but can I network and schmooze enough to get through it?  I just don't know.

I need to think more about this talent thing.  I need to figure out what talent is my strongest and pursue something that uses that talent.  Such a long complicated process.

Quote Wednesday -- FDR

"Books can not be killed by fire. People die, but books never die. No man and no force can abolish memory...in this war, we know, books are weapons. And it is a part of your dedication always to make them weapons for man's freedom." -- FDR

Thank you Mr. President!  Books are immortal.  We shall use them to fight the injustice and the obstacles. We can do it.  And you know how????

By supporting and patronizing our local libraries!  I do it, and you should too!

Can you guess who just got a library card?  Me!!!!!  I finally got an addressed and postmarked piece of mail so I could activate my Omaha Public Library cards.  The boys and I went in last night, activated them, received a prize for already completing the first summer reading program level, and checked out more books.  I am a little disappointed in the selection.  But that's because my old library was one of the best in the nation (and that's not just me talking, they were given an honor).  Even with some slight shortcomings, I am still in love with the local library.

I already checked out three books.  Unfortunately, two of them are part of a series (and it's not the first book).  That's okay, I'll find the others in the series tomorrow when I visit another branch!  I love the library!!!!!

Quote Wednesday - Aldington

"Patriotism is a lively sense of collective responsibility. Nationalism is a silly cock crowing on his own dunghill." -- Richard Aldington

I felt this was an appropriate quote for this week.  Whenever the Fourth of July comes around, I always get very confused.  What are we celebrating?  What does fireworks and beer have to do with the birth of our country? Don't get me wrong, I love fireworks and beer.  I like having a cookout.  I like see the pretty explosions.  In fact, we had people over for a cookout.  Good times.  But my problem comes when I start to think about the real meaning of the Fourth.  What exactly are we celebrating?  And then how should we celebrate it?  Let's take a look at those two questions.

What are we celebrating?

Short answer: the birth of our country.  The long answer: a bit more complicated.  Being the U.S. history teacher, I tend to over explain when people ask me about the Fourth.  The Declaration of Independence was approved July 2nd.  It was signed throughout that summer.  The myth was that it was signed completely on July 4th.  That's not true.  I understand that we need a cohesive date.  We can't celebrate all summer long.  Well, we could, but that would be extremely disruptive.  So we celebrate on the Fourth.  But again, what are we celebrating?  The Declaration of Independence stated our break from Great Britain, but that didn't mean we were a sovereign nation.  Until we fought the American Revolution and GB recognized us as an independent country, we were children throwing a tantrum.  So would it be better to celebrate the birth of our country on the date the Treaty of Paris was signed?  Or how about the date the modern Constitution was signed?  Those dates make much more sense to me.

How should we celebrate?

On the Fourth, I see people drinking, eating, and making things explode.  To me, that doesn't scream "we love and respect our country."  It says "we like to party."  Maybe we should be more reverent.  Maybe we should attend more patriotic events.  Maybe we should take a good look at the state of our country.  Maybe we should have town hall meetings to make suggestions for the betterment of the community.  Maybe we should teach our children the real history of our country, not the fluffy feel good nonsense.  Or maybe we should just have a another beer and blow something up...

Quote Wednesday - Quindlen

Dr. Seuss is remembered for the murder of Dick and Jane, which was a mercy killing of the highest order. -- Anna Quindlen

It seems like my Quote Wednesday posts have been really serious as of late.  I thought I needed a lighter subject, so I turn to this quote from Anna Quindlen.  Even though I put Dick and Jane on my favorite children's book Top 10, it was mostly because those books were so memorable at a young age.  It definitely doesn't mean that I think they are amazing books.  Dr. Seuss is far superior.

And now on to the exciting news....

I finished another reading challenge!!!  As of today, I finished my Young Adult Challenge!!!!   I read 12 books from the young adult character that I didn't count in the other genre specific challenges.  12 doesn't seem like a lot, but I haven't read a lot of YA in past years.  When I was a YA, it seemed like the only options where Sounder and Goosbumps and Sweet Valley High. Crap in my opinion.  Thankfully the genre has really expanded and improved in the past few years.  I read some great YA fiction and plan to keep the genre on the radar for future reads.  So yeah!! One more challenge done, how many to go?  Oh yeah A lot.  But I'll get through it.  I'm past the halfway point (at least I'm telling myself that).

And the super duper amazing exciting news....

I have been cleared to move.  I am picking up the truck next Tuesday, packing it on Wednesday, and driving out to Nebraska on Thursday!!  The boys will be flying out on Saturday, giving us a few days to get things settled.  I'm so excitd that this is finally happening.  It's been almost a year in the maling.  There were times that I thought it would never happen, but now I'm letting my hopes get up.

Pretty soon I'll be blogging from another state, but I don't think anything will be changing on here.  I'll still be doing my weekly posts (sorry about Monday, things were way too hectic to focus on a Music Monday post) and my book reviews and my random writing and my little posts about life.

Quote Wednesday - Disney Mania

In honor of our Disney World vacation, today I am offering some of my favorite Disney quotes.  Enjoy!

 Do not be fooled by its commonplace appearance. Like so many things, it is not what outside, but what is inside that counts. -Aladdin

Look, you're really cute, but I can't understand what you're saying. -Finding Nemo

You know, you worry too much. In fact, everybody worries too much.  -Fun and Fancy Free

Teenagers. They think they know everything. You give them an inch, they swim all over you.  -The Little Mermaid

What do you want me to do, dress in drag and do the hula?  -The Lion King

Let me get this straight. You know her. She knows you. But she wants to eat him. And everybody's okay with this? DID I MISS SOMETHING?  -The Lion King

Oh, it's not the first time I was tossed out of a window, and it won't be the last. What can I say? I'm a rebel.  -The Emperor's New Groove

Oh, stuff and fluff! - Winnie the Pooh

Did you ever stop to think, and forget to start again? - Winnie the Pooh

When you go after honey with a balloon, the great thing is not to let the bees know you're coming. - Winnie the Pooh

If you live to be a hundred, I want to live to be a hundred minus one day, so I never have to live without you. --Winnie the Pooh

Most everyone’s mad here. You may have noticed that I’m not all there myself. --Cheshire Cat, Alice in Wonderland

And some from the man himself:

I only hope that we don't lose sight of one thing - that it was all started by a mouse.

Laughter is America's most important export.

There is more treasure in books than in all the pirate's loot on Treasure Island.

When people laugh at Mickey Mouse, it's because he's so human; and that is the secret of his popularity.

You're dead if you aim only for kids. Adults are only kids grown up, anyway.

And my all time favorite:

It's kind of fun to do the impossible.

Quote Wednesday -- Kostova

"When you handle books all day long, every new one is a friend and a temptation."Elizabeth Kostova- The Historian

Last week, I had a question about the definition of a friend.  Patrick gave me some really great things to think about, but overall I am still struggling with this idea.

This week, I turned back to my books for comfort.  Things are progressing, but I have so much on my plate right now.  I am overwhelmed.  I need a good friend to turn to.  Unfortunately, many of the people I know are also crazy busy.  SO I turn back to books.  I've always found a friend in books.  They come into my world, give me comfort, share their struggles, sometimes have happy endings, and generally fill my life.  I was an only child, often found somewhere curled up with a book.  I filled my days, especially during winter, with reading.  I read and read and read some more.  Every week my dad would take me to the bookstore and we'd pick out something new.  We went the library constantly.  I loved skimming the covers and grabbing something that caught my eye.  Sure, I had human friends.  But there's just something so wonderful in a book.  They talk back, but don't put you down.  They cry with you instead of at you.  They laugh along with your funnies.  They are the perfect friends in many ways.

Resolution of the week: Until my life calms down a bit.  Until I can figure out who my real friends are.  Until I meet new people.  Until I can feel comfortable in my own skin.  I am going to rely on books.  Sounds like a great plan.  And I've got some new ones just waiting to make my acquaintance.

Quote Wednesday -- Emerson

"A Friend may well be reckoned the masterpiece of Nature." -- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Just a little question for today: How do you define a friend? Cause I am struggling with this concept right now and need some help.

Quote Wednesday - Twain

Writing is easy. All you have to do is cross out the wrong words. -- Mark Twain

I have tried to write more lately.  I actually woke up in the middle of the night a few days ago plagued by a story.  I couldn't get the story out of my mind.  So, I pulled out my laptop and started typing.  The result will be posted here on Friday.  It may not be great, it may not be good, but I felt like I needed to get it out my mind and on paper (so to speak).  I feel like I have a ton of stories floating around in my head.  But I stubble when it comes to creating what I think is a polished story.  If I go back over a story, I started agonizing over every word.  And I give up.  The editing gets to me.  It always throws me off my commitment to writing.  With this new endeavor, I am trying to not pay attention to the words once they're out of me.  I just start writing.  I don't think about how it all goes together.  I just go where the story takes me.  Hopefully this will allow me to get the stories out.   They may not be perfect but they're my stories.

So yes Mr. Twain writing is easy.  It's just all those pesky wrong words that get in the way.