The Next 50

Been doing a little reading. Here are the most recent 50 books I've read. Again, if the formatting looks a little off, zoom in or out.

Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder............................................Richard Louv..........................A+
We Need to Talk About Kevin............Lionel Shriver..........................A+
Eat, Pray, Love.................................Elizabeth Gilbert....................A+
Three Cups of Tea............Greg Mortenson/David Oliver Relin............A+
The Hummingbird's Daughter.............Luis Alberto Urrea...................A+

What is the What................................Dave Eggars.......................A+
The Spinster Book..............................Myrtle Reed.......................A+
Vagabonding......................................Rolf Potts...........................A+
The Shockwave Rider......................... John Brunner..................... A
Oryx and Crake..................................Mary Atwood...................... A

The Blind Assassin.......................... Mary Atwood.......................... A
Most of All they Taught Me Happiness..... Robert Muller............... A
Ten Days in a Mad-house.................. Nellie Bly.............................. A
Interpreter of Maladies...................... Jhumpa Lahiri........................ A
Our Mutual Friend.............................. Charles Dickens................... A

The Satanic Verses.............................. Salman Rushdie................... A
Sexing the Cherry................................ Jeanette Winterson.............. A
Gods Behaving Badly......................... Marie Phillips......................... A-
This is Your Brain on Music................. Daniel Levitin........................ A-
It's Time.................................................... Jana Bluejay....................... A-

Prep........................................................ Curtis Sittenfeld..................... A-
For One More Day................................. Mitch Albom.......................... A-
Holidays on Ice........................................ David Sedaris...................... A-
Immortality............................................... Milan Kundera....................... A-
Geeks...................................................... Jon Katz................................. A-

The Little Prince........................................ Antoine de Saint Exupéry... A-
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.. John Berendt......................A-
A Memory Of Running............................... Ron McLarty....................... A-
The Brooklyn Follies................................ Paul Auster........................... B+
Dewey....................................................... Vicki Myron............................ B+

Dreams From My Father........................... Barack Obama................... B+
From the Bottom Up................................ Chad Pregracke.................... B+
Hound of the Baskervilles......................... Sir Arthur Conana Doyle..... B+
Four Hour Work Week.............................. Tim Ferriss............................ B+
Being Peace............................................. Thich Nhat Hanh.................... B+

I Was Amelia Earhart................................ Jane Mendelsohn.................. B+
Blue Angel................................................... Francine Prose..................... B
Great Expectations..................................... Charles Dickens................... B
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius... Dave Eggers................ B-
A Long Way Down..................................... Nick Hornby............................ B-

The Heart of the World............................... Ian Baker................................. B-
The Audacity of Hope................................ Barack Obrama....................... B-
Coming Up for Air....................................... George Orwell......................... C
The River King............................................ Alice Hoffman........................... C+
Have A Little Faith....................................... Mitch Albom............................ C+

Breath, Eyes, Memory................................... Edwidge Danticat............... C+
Conscious Evolution..................................... Barbara Marx Hubbard........ C
The Letters of Abelard and Helois................................................................ C
Soul Cravings................................................ Erwin Raphael McManus...... C
Desire ............................................................Hugo Claus.............................. F

Bree Is Married!

Bree and Webb got Married!!! Congratulations!!!

I could post a million pics, but I won't b/c then you'd never be able to load the page.



And here is a link to more amazing photos: http://www.kaylabarker.com/?p=3842

The pics were taken by Kayla Barker from Spink Studio. Seriously she does an amazing job and you should hire her if you need a photographer for anything.

Congrats to Bree and Webb. I was so honored to be a part of the wedding party, the Maid of Honor, not to toot my horn or anything. Everything was beautiful and amazing.

PS: Oh, and because it was so amazing, I think I'm just going to count it as my wedding too because I won't be able to do a better job of organizing it than Bree did so why try. I'll just pack up a few friends and go on a 3 week vacation. I'm glad I've got that settled, now where is that pesky little fiance?

Chaco Deforestation

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/oct/05/chaco-paraguay-deforestation


Chaco deforestation by Christian sect puts Paraguayan land under threat

Wildlife and the world's last uncontacted tribe both at risk as Mennonites turn Chaco forest into prairie-style farmlands

Born in the USA!

Yes, folks, I'm back for about 2 weeks in order to go to my bestest friend's, Bree, wedding in Dallas on the 9th.

After taking 3 long flights from Asuncion, Paraguay, to Sao Paulo, Brazil, to Mexico City, Mexico to Dallas, Texas...I have finally arrived. I left Paraguay at 5pm Dallas time on Wednesday and arrived in Dallas at about 12:30 in the afternoon on Thursday. I got to my parents' house, ate the still-warm apply pie that Grammy left me on the table, chatted for a bit, feel asleep, work again for a few hours, feel asleep for the rest of the night. Yes I was a little tired; I don't sleep on planes.

Adjusting to being in the US actually isn't bad. The first time I was out of the US for an extended period of time was when I studied abroad in Santiago, Chile. Santiago is a large city, but for some reason, dealing with the English was much more difficult, and I had a short incident whereupon I froze up after entering a Target.

This time around it wasn't too big of a deal. I went to Target, didn't freeze, though admittedly I did have to leave a little early because my heart was pounding. Have you ever seen those scenes in a movie with a person who can read minds, and they get overwhelmed because they understand everything and can't stop it?....It was kind of like that. In Paraguay I can easily block out people's conversations in Spanish or Guarani. I can easily ignore advertisements, random stuff written on walls, packages of stuff I'm not looking to buy. When when I got into Target I could read everything, understand every snipit of every conversation, without trying. After that Friday I got my zoning out threshold up to its proper English settings, and I was fine.

Another thing I noticed, umm, you all have really heavy accents. No, really. All of you. People in the PC have pretty neutral accents because we've mostly traveled all over. I only know of one guy, from South Carolina, who has an in-you-face accent. I was bowled over by how heavy most peoples' accents were. People who I thought had pretty neutral accents, well either I was wrong, or you have been watching too many repeats of Cops:Dallas ;) JK.

It wasn't a bad thing, it was actually kind of fun to hear it again. But I never noticed it before.

Explore. Dream. Discover

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover - Mark Twain

From the Advice Section on My Bag of Lentils

“Es ideal para deportistas, ancianos, estudiantes, y obreros, para tonificar sus musculos”

Translation: It is ideal for athletes, seniors, students and workers, to tone your muscles.

Exercise? Eat better? Nope, I just eat lentils man and I'm as toned as a tiger.

Kindness

Kindness
by Naomi Shihab Nye

Before you know what kindness really is
you must lose things,

feel the future dissolve in a moment
like salt in a weakened broth.
What you held in your hand,
what you counted and carefully saved,
all this must go so you know
how desolate the landscape can be
between the regions of kindness.
How you ride and ride
thinking the bus will never stop,
the passengers eating maize and chicken
will stare out the window forever.

Before you learn the tender gravity of kindness,
you must travel where the Indian in a white poncho
lies dead by the side of the road.
You must see how this could be you,
how he too was someone
who journeyed through the night with plans
and the simple breath that kept him alive.

Before you know kindness as the deepest thing inside,
you must know sorrow as the other deepest thing.
You must wake up with sorrow.
You must speak to it till your voice
catches the thread of all sorrows
and you see the size of the cloth.

Then it is only kindness that makes sense anymore,
only kindness that ties your shoes
and sends you out into the day to mail letters and
purchase bread,
only kindness that raises its head
from the crowd of the world to say
it is I you have been looking for,
and then goes with you every where
like a shadow or a friend.