Books!

It shouldn't come as a surprise to anybody who knows me that I love books.

I simply adore them. I prefer the company of books to people. If you're ever stuck on what to get me for a present you can never go wrong with a book or a notebook. Even if its something I've already read, or doesn't seem like its my taste, I'll always give any book a chance.

So it is no wonder that I'm particularly fond of Neil Gaiman's (one of my favorite authors) All Hallows Read. It is an amazing idea that will become tradition in ten years time, and I'm excited to be part of its beginnings.

The gist of it? Give somebody a scary book for halloween. Something spooky and bone chilling that they can read on a scary night. Give it to lots of somebodys, give it do a stranger, doesn't matter.

Although candy and fake blood are important there with the overwhelming amount of slutty costumes I feel like the scary is getting pushed out of halloween. So I've committed myself to making this a tradition.

Would love to know some book recommendations for all ages on the matter.

M.

Stories that need to be told.

While its no secret that I love to whine about my job, this isn't one of the times where I talk about how about what other people are doing things much cooler than what I do. Ok, maybe it is.

   One of my best friends is getting her master's in social work and working at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility, I'll admit, my first reaction was less than stellar, along the lines of "oh... so you're working in jail? that's... interesting...or something?" but on further thought I realised that being the sucker for stories the way I am, I was missing out on this endless pool of tales that have just been waiting to be told.

   So I'm really happy that she started a blog about the inmates stories, as well as some of her own, and knowing her like I do I know her passion will fizzle out quickly, so I just want to do a bit of promotion here, and wherever possible to positively reinforce her into keep writing these stories, sharing what needs to be shared and showing the world that these women are in fact survivors, and not the monsters we all assume.

Give it a go.

M.

Quitting my Bitching.

   A while a go I made a promise to myself that I would complain less about things. To anyone who knows me, this is virtually impossible as I spend 97% of my awake moments complaining about one thing or another.

  

  Since I love money I decided that would be my motivator, and for every day that I complained I'd have to donate a dollar to a charity, or any cause that could use the help. Mainly when I complain I need to remind myself that I'm lucky to be healthy, loved and with enough money to not just afford my basic needs but a few luxuries as well. So when I'm bitching about something I make a little note on my planner and I have to donate a certain amount.

  I just donated $25 for the month of August for Teenage Cancer Trust, and you can do so here. Weird thing is, it feels pretty good to do something, as small as this, for somebody else. Maybe I'll continue to complain just to add that little bit to world.

Best,

M.

Experiment!

   I will be moving house (again!) next weekend, and I'll be renting a room at the house of an older woman who doesn't have wi-fi (!). She said she doesn't want use it and has no need for it, but if I pay for it she has no problems with installing a router in the house.
 
   Which is when I came up with the idea, of testing out my will power.

   I will go on for three months without internet at my house. And if at the end of it I am dying, I'll just call for help and have somebody install it, after all it doesn't take that long.

   It's not as daring as I'd like it to be, since I do have wi-fi at work, where I spend most of my time, and free range to navigate every page I want to. So this will just curb my weekend and night-time cruising. I don't think I'm debilitatingly addicted to tumblr or this blog (specially if you judge by how often I post) but I do like to be connected to twitter and youtube.

  I'm excited about it, mainly because I don't think it'll be that big of a challenge. I like to read for fun and I'm pretty content with going for walks or just being outside, so hopefully that'll spark a little bit more of that. Maybe I'll even begin going to the gym. (gasp).

  I guess this post is a little pointless, but then again, aren't them all? It just one of those days when I had the itches to write and had nothing to write about so I'm just blurting words out. So sorry about that.


M.