Tag Archives: Books

I’ve got my Ferrari!

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Gawd, this is scary…in a nice way. You see, I’ve been debating about purchasing Robin Sharma’s The Monk who sold his Ferrari. I’ve heard good things about this book but never took the trouble to look for it until recently (this is where the scary part begins). Two days ago I was at the bookstore and thumbing through it. I was so close to buying when a tiny voice inside me said “Hold on. Don’t buy it yet.” OK, so I didn’t. Then yesterday I was at the bookstore again, looking for another book when I stumbled across this same book. The tiny voice reappeared and repeated the same message. So again I held off making a purchase.

Today my student Sabrina came for her piano lesson and she asked me, “Have you got your Ferrari?” I was a little shocked and said “Umm, no. Why?” She pulled this book out of her bag and said, “Well you can borrow mine then.” I was like…!!! Not that I resented paying for my own copy (it’s only about $10 USD after all) but now I’ve saved some money. Not too bad, savvy?

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Quiet: The Power of Introverts

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Just spotted this book, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a world that can’t stop talking by Susan Cain in Amazon. It looks very intriguing and interesting (watch the video below) so I daresay this could be my next book order.

You can even take a simple online 12-question quiz at Susan’s website here. I took it and I wasn’t surprised to find that I’m a complete introvert (and I love it!)

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And check out Ward Sutton’s excellent graphic review of Susan’s book. Click here or the picture below.

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A helping of Chicken Soup

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One of my Christmas presents was an MPH book voucher from a student, so today I decided to head for the bookstore at Gurney Plaza. I remember that the last time I bought a Chicken Soup for the Soul book was way back in 1997. And gosh, the range has expanded tremendously…there were so many titles to choose from. However, two caught my eye, as you can see from the picture—Find Your Happiness and Think Positive. And look at those cute critters on the covers—I’m beginning to miss a certain rabbit now.

What can I say, I’m a self-help junkie.

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God never blinks

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God never blinks

I haven’t been the bookworm I used to be. However, about two months ago, I happened to spot Regina Brett’s book on a website (I forgot which) and the cover said it all—God Never Blinks: 50 lessons for Life’s little detours. As luck would have it, Regina’s book was available here at a bookstore, so I bought a copy. It was the best money I’d spent in a long time. And for those of us who lament or complain about how crappy life is, here’s an excerpt from Regina’s website and I quote:

“It took me 40 years to find and hold onto happiness. I always felt that at the moment I was born, God must have blinked. He missed the occasion and never knew I had arrived. My parents had 11 children. While I love them and my five brothers and five sisters deeply, some days I felt lost in the litter. As Kathy pointed out, I seemed to be the runt of that litter. I ended up confused by the nuns at 6, a lost soul who drank too much at 16, an unwed mother at 21, a college graduate at 30, a single mother for 18 years, and finally, a wife at 40, married to a man who treated me like a queen.

Then I got cancer at 41. It took a year to fight it, then a year to recover from the fight.

When I turned 45, I lay in bed reflecting on all life had taught me. My soul sprang a leak and ideas flowed out. My pen simply caught them and set the words on paper. I typed them up and turned them into a newspaper column of the 45 lessons life taught me.

When I hit 50, I added five more lessons and the paper ran the column again. Then something amazing happened. People across the country began to forward the column. Ministers, nurses and social workers requested reprints to run in newsletters, church bulletins and small town newspapers. People of all religions and those of none at all could relate. While some of the lessons speak of God, people found in them universal truths. I’ve heard from agnostics and atheists who carry the list of lessons in their wallets and keep it tacked to their work cubicles and stuck under refrigerator magnets. The lessons are posted on blogs and websites by people all over the world. Every week since the column ran, people have emailed from Australia to Zanesville, Ohio, asking for copies. That column is the most popular one I’ve written in my 24 years as a journalist.

Some of these essays originally appeared in The Plain Dealer or the Beacon Journal. Some of them are originals. These lessons are life’s gifts to me, and mine to you.”

The one thing I liked about this book was the fact that each life lesson was essentially a story on its own, never spanning more than 4 or 5 pages, so it was easy to read, digest, and ponder. You can find them in her website but I’m listing them here for the benefit of my readers (the ones in italics are my favorites):

1. Life isn’t fair, but it’s still good.
2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.
3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.
4. Don’t take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
5. Pay off your credit cards every month.
6. You don’t have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.
7. Cry with someone. It’s more healing than crying alone.
8. It’s OK to get angry with God. He can take it.
9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.
10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.
11. Make peace with your past so it won’t screw up the present.
12. It’s OK to let your children see you cry.
13. Don’t compare your life to others’. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn’t be in it.
15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don’t worry; God never blinks.
16. Life is too short for long pity parties. Get busy living, or get busy dying.
17. You can get through anything if you stay put in today.
18. A writer writes. If you want to be a writer, write.
19. It’s never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.
20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don’t take no for an answer.
21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don’t save it for a special occasion. Today is special.
22. Overprepare, then go with the flow.
23. Be eccentric now. Don’t wait for old age to wear purple.
24. The most important sex organ is the brain.
25. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.
26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words: "In five years, will this matter?"
27. Always choose life.
28. Forgive everyone everything.
29. What other people think of you is none of your business.
30. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.
31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
32. Your job won’t take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch.
33. Believe in miracles.
34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn’t do.
35. Whatever doesn’t kill you really does make you stronger.
36. Growing old beats the alternative – dying young.
37. Your children get only one childhood. Make it memorable.
38. Read the Psalms. They cover every human emotion.
39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.
40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else’s, we’d grab ours back.
41. Don’t audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.
42. Get rid of anything that isn’t useful, beautiful or joyful.
43. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.
44. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
45. The best is yet to come.
46. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
47. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.
48. If you don’t ask, you don’t get.
49. Yield.
50. Life isn’t tied with a bow, but it’s still a gift..

I’ve read through the entire book twice and I still want to read it again and again! The writing is extremely candid and lucid. Some chapters will make you smile, some will make you cry. But all the lessons will tell you this—our life on this earth is very, very short. What you want to do with it is your choice…but God is watching over each and every one of us, without batting an eyelid.

Enjoy life.

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The ABC’s of Me (A-C)

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A: Arizona, America

I had originally intended to continue my music studies in the UK but as life would have it, circumstances changed and I found myself in this new continent (see this post) I remember those years fondly, 1981-1984. A new country, a new environment, new friends…if I could relive it I’d do it all over again (perhaps with a few changes here and there, *wink!*) Notwithstanding the countless nights I spent studying away at the library till 2 a.m. in the morning just to maintain my GPA, days of toil in the practice rooms with crappy pianos…and working at one of the staff restaurants in the Student Union—these experiences remain as priceless treasures in my memories.

Arizona is probably one of the sunniest places on Earth. Couple that with blue and smog-free skies, good native folks, and good food (burp!) it’s probably one of the nicest places to be in. Well perhaps not in the summertime though, lol.

B: Books, Birthdays, Blessings

Think I'm going to get this book!I’ve loved books since I was young. Thanks to my parents, I had a steady stream of books flowing my way. There were comics, fairy tales, educational books, story books, encyclopedias, etc. I devoured them all. Later on it was Reader’s Digest, TIME, Newsweek, novels, etc. And when I became a computer geek with the launch of Windows 95 the flow of books became a torrent—especially with the For Dummies range of books—I loved those, they were so engrossing to read. I must have at least two dozen of them sitting in my bookshelves and cupboards.

The books I’ve read lately include:

  • The Rules of Love by Richard Templar. 100 rules, each only two pages long, but what a wealth of information on this elusive and fickle subject!
  • Got What It Takes? by Bill Boggs. “Successful people reveal how they made it to the top.” A very, very inspiring book to read—now let me find Donald Trump or Sir Richard Branson’s email address and telephone numbers.
  • Reader’s Digest Select Editions 4 best selling books combined into one, at an unbeatable price.
  • You: The Owner’s Manual by Michael Roizen and Mehmet Oz. I must thank Joi Sigers for pointing me to this fascinating book in her wonderful blog. I was at a bookstore last night, and what do you know, this book was on sale—I couldn’t believe it, it was going for only $10! You: The Owner’s Manual and I quote: “challenges  your preconceived notions about how the human body works and ages, then takes you on a tour through all of the highways, back roads, and landmarks inside of you.”
  • Oops, confession time. I haven’t read this one in a while, so I really have to get back to it. Yes, I’m talking about the Bible, the greatest book ever written—period.

I love birthdays, especially my own Smile This year’s was great—read all about it in my earlier posts:

I don’t bat an eyelid about the growing old routine. In fact I just completed a comprehensive quiz at realage and found that I am actually 5 years younger than my calendar age—woot! So let me have another slice of my birthday cake, preferably blueberry cheese.

I have a funny ritual that I do every every morning I wake up: I flex all my ten fingers and toes, and I thank God for another day ahead, and that I have all my five senses fired up and ready to go. When I hit the sack at night, I thank the Lord again for another blessed day, and drift off to sleep. Want happiness in your life? Always count your blessings. 

C: Coffee, Chocolate, Computers

My three vices and they both happen to begin with the letter C. Yes I am a coffee addict, but a very well-controlled one (or a very predictable one, take your pick) I need a mug of caffeine in the morning (very important, or else I’d end up with a splitting headache) and then another in the afternoon. I used to drink coffee with sugar way back in the 80’s (I know it’s disgusting, Miss Miller, do bear with me) but these days I take just a pinch of sugar in my java. Honestly if I didn’t have at least a cup of coffee a day, I’d go weak in the knees and dissolve into a pile of filthy-stained denims. What’s more—unlike some people that I envy, I can’t consume any java after 7 pm or so. Unless I want to remain awake the whole night.

Chocolate makes me happy. I like it in any form, whether it’s the usual dark chocolate bar (my favorite), chocolate ice cream, chocolate cake (the E & O Hotel always has nice black forest cake, yummy), etc. And baloney about chocolate giving you acne and all that rubbish—I just make sure I drink plenty of water after I finish this heavenly snack. Moreover, dark chocolate contains flavonoids (an antioxidant), which…

…can help maintain a healthy heart and good circulation, and reduce blood clotting that could lead to heart attack and stroke. Flavonoids help the body by neutralizing potentially cell-damaging substances known as oxygen-free radicals, which are a normal by-product of metabolism (taken from this heart disease website)

The same website also states that every 100g of dark chocolate contains approximately 500 calories. There’s a possibility of gaining weight here if one goes overboard on the chocolate ship, but since I never seem to gain much weight, I can  brush that one aside—muahaha!

The first computer I ever bought was an Apple IIe clone way back in 1986. Then there was this humongous desktop beast, a 486DX with 4MB of RAM running Windows 3.1. I went through a succession of computers after that, “graduating” with each introduction of a new OS. I used to have a friend who would bail me out whenever my computers went on the fritz…I’d be calling him practically every week (the operating systems at that time were unstable, you know) That is, until one fateful day when he blurted out to me very plainly, “You can’t expect me to come straightaway every time you’ve got computer troubles…” or something to that effect. I was taken aback at first, maybe a little hurt. Then something inside me figured that it might be high time to learn the ins and outs of the PC, which is what I did. I bought books and computer magazines, and learned the ropes…and the rest is history (such a modest guy am I)

I’ve been servicing, repairing, and building Intel-based computers for years now and needless to say I’m pretty good at it (Miss Modesty has gone off again). I’m waiting eagerly for the release of Windows 7 just round the corner…this may prove to be another excuse to upgrade that small 80GB hard disk of mine. We shall see!

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