If Only I Could Write

When I was younger I heard a little voice in my head telling me a story. So I listened. The stories came regularly and continued until today. The little voice spoke during my time of solitude, during those rare quiet moments, or times when I find myself alone, like when I'm driving to and from work. Over the years, I have jotted down on paper some of these stories -- not one of them complete. It was up to me to write the rest of the stories.

Gosh, if only I could write, I'd have my own Harry Potter series of books (LOL)!

When You Can't Verbalize Your Feelings, Go With A Song

Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)
by Greenday

Another turning point, a fork stuck in the road
Time grabs you by the wrist, directs you where to go
So make the best of this test, and don't ask why
It's not a question, but a lesson learned in time
It's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right.
I hope you had the time of your life.

So take the photographs, and still frames in your mind
Hang it on a shelf in good health and good time
Tattoos of memories and dead skin on trial
For what it's worth it was worth all the while

It's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right.
I hope you had the time of your life.

It's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right.
I hope you had the time of your life. I

t's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right.
I hope you had the time of your life.

Ahhh, Decision....Decision....

The Road Less Traveled
By Kit McCallum

How often we must bear the challenges of life;
The endless roller coaster between happiness and sorrow;
The constant ups and downs of daily strife.
And always the question remains .... why?

Life is not an easy road for most;
It twists and turns with many forks in the road,
Although always, and inevitably, we are given a choice ...

Do we turn to the right ... or the left?
Do we take the high road ... or the low road?
Do we take the easy path ... or the difficult one?

Decisions are not easy for those struggling for direction ...
And sometimes the many choices and signs become overwhelming.

While standing at a crossroads in life,
The urge is to take the most comfortable path;
The road with least resistance ...
The shortest or most traveled route.

And yet, if we've been down that comfortable road before;
Have gleaned its lessons in life, and learned from our experiences;

Do we yet again follow the known?
Or does our destiny lie in another direction?

The fear of the road less traveled is tangible and all too real;
It manifests itself in many ways,
And tends to cloud the issues that might otherwise be clear.

It is in these times of confusion,
That we must seek peace and solitude;

Time to contemplate on our life,
Our experiences and our choices past;
Time to look back, and reflect on what we have learned
Without fear or confusion.

For only each of us knows our own personal thoughts;
Our unique past and personal history;
The experiences that brought us to the crossroads we now face.

We can always learn a small degree from others experiences,
And yet ... no one person can walk in our shoes,
Others know not, the trials and tribulations faced in private ...

For each is individual ... unique ... and personal.

And that is why ... while standing at a crossroads,
Only "we" can formulate the decision for ourselves;
The true direction that lies within;
The choices we must deliberate on with clarity and wisdom.

For it is only through personal reflection,
That we can now choose our destiny;
... Our next adventure;
... And the future we will embrace.

Neflix #2: The Ugly Truth

The truth about The UGLY TRUTH is that it's truly ugly. The acting was ugly, the dialog was ugly, the story was very ugly, and there is no chemistry between leading man and leading lady. A total waste of sleeping time.

Even though my second rental for this year was a thumbs down, I hope it's not the trend for the year.

The Summons

What would you do if you found boxes and boxes of money amounting to $3 million in cash in your dead father's house?

That is how the story of my first book of 2010 started. The book is called THE SUMMONS, a legal thriller written by John Grisham in December of 2002.

The protagonist is Ray Atlee, a lawyer who opted to teach instead of practice law. His father, Judge Atlee, died before Ray arrived. He has a brother, who is in and out of rehab. Both brothers were summoned to appear before their dying father to discuss matters regarding the old man's last will and testament. Except that when Ray arrived, he found his father dead and boxes of cash - money he cannot explain; money that none of his father's papers could explain. Ray couldn't tell if the money was dirty, if his father was accepting bribes. And the story goes...

MY TAKE: I haven't read a Grisham in a long time. I can't even remember what Grishams I have read before.

The Summons paints a realistic take on life. I thought the way the author wrote the Atlee character's reactions and responses to the money was truthful and very human. The story did take a little slow to unfold, I thought. The conclusion caught me off guard (a good sign, isn't it). However, I still preferred the ending that I had come up while reading this :)

All in all it was an interesting read. I did not finish this in one sitting, more like a few pages every night. You can take that to mean that it's an average read that can be picked up anytime a free moment comes up.

I Am Now A Believer

I never pay attention to the hype. Not even when millions of people all over the globe spend millions of dollars or pesos or euros to support the hype. It's just my attitude to not go with the flow, which explains why I don't own an Ipod nor an Iphone.

Still I was curious, and more importantly my husband was panting in anticipation. So okay I said let's go - go with the flow- and see Avatar on 3-D after it has been announced the winner of the Golden Globe Best Film award.

The verdict? I. completely. totally. love. love. love. it. I really did. It's not just the computer-generated imagery, it's the story as well. It was a well-crafted movie. It's not what I expected from the director who's other movies Terminator (too violent, and too much Arnold) and Titanic (too mushy) were never my favorite at all, so I was really hesitant to see this. But I'm glad I did.

And to think that this movie after weeks of run still gets sold out is the amazing part. In this economy paying $13 for 3-D can be a pain, but I think in this case it was worth it.

A little tidbit about the movie: Is it just me or jakesully in avatar form sounded so much like Matthew McConaughey? No kidding. I thought I was hearing Matthew the entire time. And if given a choice between 3-D and regular screen, I'd opt for the regular screen. 3-D kinda freaks me out a bit :)

My Starbucks Experience

My experience here in the United States taught me that people tend to make small talk, polite conversations, usually about mundane topics such as the weather, when in a public place, while waiting for something, the bus, or your coffee. And I liked that. I thought that was really friendly. I don't usually instigate the casual conversation but that day I did.

We were driving back from a pleasant afternoon in Napa when we spotted a Starbucks store. Needing a caffeine boost, we stopped. This one did not have a drive through window. So we went inside. The store was as expected at about 5 pm empty except for two or three people ahead of me in the line. When it was my turn to give my order, I thought it would be nice to chit-chat with the barista. My husband at this time was using the facilities. So I asked this lanky pimply-faced young lad who looked like he's not old enough to drink coffee what they put in my Americano. Cafe Americano is my signature drink when we go to Starbucks. Not only is it priced modestly, I also enjoy its taste, which is very important. I don't go frap or something, I get shocked thinking about the calories in each of those ventis. Anyway, he must have not expected me to say something else outside of my Americano venti order so he asked if I could repeat what I just said. I did. I asked him what do you put in your Americano? The lad found his composure and confidently answered: "Hot water and coffee beans."

My husband caught the last part of this conversation and could not help but give out an audible chuckle at the response. He chastised me; he said I got what I asked for. He said I asked a stupid question so I got a stupider response. Did you think my question was stupid? Maybe I did not phrase it correctly. I wanted to know what combination of coffee beans they use for their Americano, so I could copy that when I brew my own at home.

Enough for chit-chatting with baristas. I learned to just smile and comment on how glorious our weather has been. It's a much safer topic for everyone.