A Note from the Universe

So I'm back from my NYC trip and let me tell you, it was a blast! I always have a great time when I'm there, and then have to pay for my lack of sleep when I get home. So although I've been home since Tuesday, I've been completely exhausted. I'm just taking a quick break to update this blog. I'll have a further recap of NYC events soon.

For now, I am just trying to get back into my routine. I am halfway through Water for Elephants, which is turning out to be a better book than I'd originally imagined. But no more talk on that until its done. 

On a completely random thought on this Thursday, I'd like to share a little bit of advice. A few months ago, I found about this email you can sign up for, where you receive "Notes from the Universe" - I found it on a blog I used to read, thought it was fun, and signed up. So each weekday morning I receive one of these little notes. They're fun and usually put a smile on your face to start your day. Here's one I received a while back, that I've saved b/c I think it makes a lot of sense, and is something we should remind ourselves of daily:

"Whatever it is you want, however you want to have it, no matter why you want to have it, you can have it faster if you can first be happy without it."

"Desire and happiness, need not be mutually exclusive; they actually work best together."

New York State of Mind

I've been slacking on the postings lately. I've been busy getting ready for my upcoming trip to NYC this weekend! I'm so excited I'll be there Fri-Tues and it's always a good time. I hope to go by Pace University, because that's where I've considered applying for a master's in publishing. I've also never been to Brooklyn - so I hope to make a stop there (b/c that's probably the only place I could afford to live in New York if I ever move there!)

I'm rolling right along through Water for Elephants, but I stopped by Barnes and Noble last night which was a big mistake. I picked up a book about visiting NYC on a budget, and couldn't help wondering upstairs. Of course I left with the NYC book and the next Harry Potter (#6). I tried my hardest to resist, but alas could not, and have already read 2 chapters. I'm not one to read two books at once, but even after only 2 chapters of HP I am so hooked! I almost wanted to google what side Snape is really on...but I'll read on.

So I'll be gone for a bit. I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend and a Happy St. Patty's Day!

Let's Talk About Trash

Along with my passion for books, I am also a huge ocean lover. Anyone that knows me know I'm happiest near or in the water. (I also have a small obsession of dolphins.) And when I was younger I used to be a nut about recycling and pollution. I was the little kid who would break apart those plastic things that held the soda bottles together so some poor bird or turtle wouldn't die in it. Well, I've lost some of that younger enthusiasm, but realize conservation is more important now than ever.

I am on a list serve for the Ocean Conservancy, a nonprofit advocacy group that promotes healthy and diverse ocean ecosystems. Today I received their annual report: A Rising Tide of Ocean Debris, and it was very eye opening. According to the United Nations Environment Programme, "Marine litter is one of the most pervasive and solvable pollution problems plaguing the world's ocean and waterways." 

Some interesting facts:

• During the 2008 International Coastal Cleanup, nearly 400,000 volunteers picked up an astounding 6.8 million pounds of trash.
• During the 2008 Cleanup, volunteers collected 11,0777 diapers in the Philippines, 19,504 fishing nets in the United Kingdom, and 1,362,741 cigarette butts in the US (gross!).
• Of the 43 items tracked during the Cleanup, the tops 3 items of trash found in 2008 were cigarette butts, plastics bags, and food wrappers/containers. 
• The majority of the entangles animals found during the Cleanup were bound up by old fishing line.

So what can we do to help stop it? It seems so easy, yet few of us (including myself) take these simple steps:

• Expand public and private partnerships to monitor and reduce marine debris and fund research on the sources/impacts of debris
• Reduce, reuse, recycle. Much of what winds up in the ocean wasn't truly necessary in the first place; recycle and use cloth grocery bags.
• Seek better technological solutions.  The report gave an example of the ITW Hi-Cone company that developed a photodegradable six-pack holder (that thing I used to cut up as a little kid). The rings float in the water and within days sunlight reduces their strength and they eventually crumble, leaving animals unharmed.

Finally, the point of the report was to advertise for International Coastal Cleanup - get to your local beach and pick up some trash! Even if you live miles from the beach, a piece of trash can quickly and easily make its way to the ocean...so just pick it up!

The only one he ever feared

This lovely, warm weekend has come to and end, and I actually got a lot accomplished, even with losing an hour! Unfortunately I was stuck inside Saturday leading an editorial meeting, but was able to get out and celebrate a friend's birthday last night. I was also finally able to finish the 5th Harry Potter book (Order of Phoenix). Ironically it was a "Harry Potter" weekend on ABC family, so I got a glimpse of a few of the movies.

So, my thoughts on the 5th book...Not my favorite, but still enjoyable. I saw this book more of a transition from book 4 to what is going to happen next. I actually enjoyed seeing a different side of Harry, but his anger at the world got a little annoying after a while. Reading about Harry's first attempt at love with Cho made my laugh out loud at moments - - I was glad how Rowling ended that situation. I wonder if Harry's love life will become a central part of the story at any point in the future? This was a loong book, which, for the first time, I felt was dragged out a little unnecessarily, but in the end was satisfying. I already knew about the impending death that was to occur at the end, but it was a character I had rooted for and was sad to see go.

More evident in this book than any other, I think Rowling's genius is in her story-telling ability. No doubt she is an excellent writer, but the depths and twists and turns she takes the plot continues to amaze me. Even through all the twists, the reader never gets off track and is only left wanting more. I mean, not many books can keep entranced after I wake up (accidentally) early, hungover, on a weekend morning after I've lost any hour. I was fighting sleep because I just needed to get to the end, to find out the prophecy....and I cant wait for more!

Book club anyone?

My friend's and I have decided to start a book club. Well, more of a book club/get together and have champagne cocktails on Sunday afternoons. I sat in on my roommate's book club this weekend because she was hosting, and I'd read the book already (The Reader). It was surprisingly more fun than I had imagined. Being an English minor, I had bad memories of "Socratic seminars" where everyone thing you said (or didn't said) determined your grade. I was never quite comfortable knowing my grade was being based on how profound of a statement I made about a book I was forced to read.

So our book club will be a little more lighthearted. Since it was my idea, my friends thought I should chose the book. After much deliberation I decided on Water for Elephants, by Sara Gruen. I heard about this author because a few of her novels started as NaNoWriMo novels (write a 50,000 word novel in a month). I think that's amazing and am interested in reading this book which has been called "an enchanting escapist fairytale."

"Sometimes it is there, and sometimes it is not"

Yesterday, as I continued my Harry Potter marathon, I read about the wonderful Room of Requirement - a magical room which can only be discovered by someone who is in need. " 'It is a room that a person can only enter,' said Dobby seriously, 'when they really have need of it. Sometimes it is there, and sometimes it is not, but when it appears, it is always equipped for the seeker's needs'...". The room only appears if you walk by the wall thinking hard about what you really need. Harry currently needs it to hold his Defense Against the Dark Arts lessons, but the room changes for anyone depending on their need.

I started thinking about my own room of requirement (ROR)...what would be in it? where would it be? The more I thought, I realized that I don't really NEED anything right now. Sure, there are things that I WANT for sure, but luckily, I am happy to say that if I walked by this room, I don't think it would appear. I think, that if I ever do need it, it would be filled with friends and family to help get me through. So, I guess my ROR is not there, for now. It's comforting to know my room would be full, if ever the time comes.

What would your ROR look like?

After a While

I seem to be straying away from book banter a bit, but ever since I went home for a visit this past weekend, I've been "reflecting" on stuff, a lot, I guess you could say. (And words, lyrics, poems fascinate me almost as much as books! :) I had kinda disturbing dream last night (the ones where you wake up and wonder why in the world your brain could possibly dream something like that, and it involved a person I would certainly not consciously chose to dream about). Anyways, as I checked a few of my favorite blogs this morning, I came across this poem that, like yesterday's song lyrics, struck me.

After A While by Veronica A. Shoffstall
After a while you learn The subtle difference between Holding a hand and chaining a soul
And you learn That love doesn't mean leaning
And company doesn't always mean security.

And you begin to learn
That kisses aren't contracts
And presents aren't promises
And you begin to accept your defeats
With your head up and your eyes ahead
With the grace of woman,
Not the grief of a child

And you learn
To build all your roads on today
Because tomorrow's ground is
Too uncertain for plans
And futures have a way
Of falling down in mid-flight.

After a while you learn
That even sunshine burns
If you get too much
So you plant your own garden
And decorate your own soul
Instead of waiting for someone
To bring you flowers.

And you learn that you really can endure
You really are strong
You really do have worth
And you learn
And you learn
With every goodbye, you learn.