The one that got away

So I've been told about ten times in the last two days that I'm slacking in the blog department these days. I got it. I can take a hint. Problem is, we're now going on what, two weeks? where the "next" blog might fall into the category of "the one that got away"...

A few woulda been, coulda been blogs that have run through (and out) of my head over the last couple of weeks ...

• the total decimation of my prized, grown-from-seed basil plants by some very hungry, very naughty natural predator
• the joys of unexpectedly receiving a $500 check in the mail for energy you inadvertently saved through the winter months (joys made all that much sweeter when such a check arrives the same day you realise you quite literally have $9 - that's right N-I-N-E measly buckaroos to your name until payday ... still 12 days away)
  
• effective and little known strategies for dealing with surprisingly persistent peeping tom voyeurs
  
• philosophical ponderings of a book review on the deeply depressing, clearly highly symbolic and entirely over my head Ensayo sobre la ceguera. If anyone can give me a Cliff's Notes explaination of this one I'm ready and waiting.
• continued strange but true tales of "All in a day's walk". Today's winner? (As I walk by) highly intelligent gawker guy: "Hey woman. You looking for a husband? Oh, wait, you walk with too much confidence to be a real woman, you must be looking for a girlfriend". Um, right. Heaven forbid we ladies should ever "walk with confidence" - we just might deprive our inner feminity.
  
• ten reasons why I am now blogging away in complete and utter darkness-save for the glow of my screen-and having conniption fits about the bugs in my bed

But alas, with the recent job change and many a long day now spent designing websites, integrating blogging, Twitter, FB and all the other social networking sites, and writing everything under the sun from official statements and speeches, to press releases, funding appeals, project proposals ..... I think it's safe to say that my creative (and especially writing) needs are now quite satisfied for the moment in ways never before seen. Totally and utterly zapped to be quite honest. But what with vacation just around the corner ... perhaps the next blog will actually stay on the line.

Confessions of a hermit

By now you must be thinking ... hmmm, she went about two weeks without hardly showing signs of life, and now she's writing about every day. Must be going through a boring streak.

Actually no, it's just that I was thoroughly indulging in my hermit-ness thanks to this dang book series that has me turning down all things humanely social. Thanks to the fantastic digital librarian/bookstore "if you liked X book, you might like Y book" recommendations, I recently stumbled upon the Outlander series, by Diana Gabaldon ... and have been so totally, entirely, embarrassingly sucked into them I hesitate to even mention it publicly.

Impressive considering that, even at 1000+ pages a pop the story is not repetitive in the least, these suckers are the kind of books where you stay up until 3AM reading because you can't put it down and, in my pathetic case, forgo walking to and from work just so you can get that extra 40 minutes of reading time on the bus. Pathetic, I know.

To my credit, though, I have been pacing myself ... self-imposing a minimum two-week wait between books so as to regain some sense of social propriety and get in at least a couple of half-way nutritional meals before delving into the next one in the series. Only problem now is my book "supplier" / co-worker / co-Outlander addict and I have gotten up to book four ... and now have to wait until the next visitor of North American origin comes to import the last three of the seven-book series. (Any volunteers?)

Ok, enough of the nerdiness already. But really, if you liked The time traveller's wife and haven't read these, you're missing out ...

Left to tell

“We all ask ourselves what we would do if faced with the kind of terror and loss that Immaculée Ilibagiza faced during the genocide in her country. Would we allow fear and desperation to fill us with hatred or despair? And should we survive, would our spirit be poisoned, or would we be able to rise from the ashes still encouraged to fulfill our purpose in life, still able to give and receive love? In the tradition of Viktor Frankl and Anne Frank, Immaculée is living proof that human beings can not only withstand evil, but can also find courage in crisis, and faith in the most hopeless of situations. She gives us the strength to find wisdom and grace during our own challenging times.”

-Elizabeth Lesser, co-founder of the Omega Institute, and author of Broken Open: How Difficult Times Can Help Us Grow

I have to admit, it's been a long time since I've picked up a book that I couldn't put down ... one of those books that you read from cover to cover in one sitting ... one of those books where everyone asks you if you are all right the next day because you look so exhausted from a night of reading rather than sleep.

And quite frankly, I feel a bit guilty when I say that the can't-put-it down book that has most recently "done it to me" is one of cold blooded killings, mass murder and suffering so intense even the tremendous passion with which the author has described it leaves the notion of such pain beyond my fathoming. It's a survivor's account of the Rwandan Holocaust - a survivor who others looked upon with disbelief not only because she managed to survive hidden away in a minuscule bathroom for three months - teaching herself English while she was at it, but because she learned to forgive the unforgivable.

But with a title like Left to tell: Discovering God amidst the Rwandan Holocaust, it's also a story of tremendous courage ... and faith. I wish I could find now the point where she talked about positive thinking and prayer, how, in a sense, she sees the two as being nearly in the same. As one reviewer has written, "this is a book that defies adequate description" ... one that "reminds us that with faith, miracles will always appear: and that forgiveness is the key to freedom". In short, it's well worth the read!