Politely Refuse

As hot as it has been, today, I decided to just drive out to the park for a little quiet time.  After all, we do need our privacy every now and then.  I usually like to take a book, including a notebook, when I go out during the day.  You never know, you may end up in a situation that involves having to pass the time for any reason.

While I was at the park, catching up on some reading, a random guy asked me what I was reading.  He said he asked because he rarely sees anyone with a book in hand, nowadays, because of technology addicts.  So it was good to know that someone else felt the same way I did.

After he moved on, I continued to read.  Not long after that, another random guy approaches me and says, “Can I ask you something?”

“Yes?” I replied, looking up at him.  This guy looked a little younger than I.

After a brief hesitation, he said, “I was wondering if, maybe, you want to come and smoke weed.”

I looked at him and replied, “Thanks, but I don’t smoke.”

He said, “Okay, I was just wondering,” and walked away to meet his friend.

As I went back to reading, in my head, I was laughing.  I don’t know if that was some kind of pick-up line, but it was still funny.  In a way, the question seemed a little insulting.  It’s one thing if he were to ask if I smoked, but he just assumed that I did.  I could have just glared at him and said, “Do I look like I do that stuff?”  But I didn’t.  It wasn’t necessary.  Why, you’re probably wondering?  Because not everyone intentionally tries to come off as a mean person.  You don’t want to be a mean person, either, so just politely refuse the offer.

This is just my opinion.

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Review of Arjuna Ardagh’s “The Last Laugh”

“I stood on the bridge just before midnight, the wind from the ocean arriving in violent blasts, as if saying under its breath, ‘Jump, motherf***er, jump.’  This was the last of a string of attempted departures, most orchestrated in my tired mind.  Always a bitter reminder of all that had been lost and destroyed by my foolishness.”

This is a story of Matt Thomson, who is going through an emotional struggle after a bad mistake costs him his marriage, his kids, his job, his money, and his home.  As I read through the beginning of the book, my heart broke for Matt because he felt so alone and didn’t know what else he could do.

Of course, I don’t want to give away too much.  However, I will say that Matt’s wife is furious with him and his father-in-law is, pretty much, trying to turn the kids against Matt.

Matt’s life changes, though, when he meets a man, named Joey Murphy, who becomes his teacher and mentor.  Joey leads Matt on a ten-day quest to help him discover his own pros and cons and to help him get back on his feet again.

This is a recommended read for all.  The story had many emotional moments and, of course, there was some humor and quirkiness to it.  The book can be found here.

[I received this book for free from Hay House Publishing for this review.  The opinion in this review is unbiased and reflects my honest judgment of the product.]

My Similarity to Bella Swan

Good evening, bloggers.  It’s great to be back.  As I’ve mentioned in my first post, I’ve been reading a few books at a time.  Yes, it can be overwhelming.  I’d get caught up in one book, yet I’d want to read the other, and the next one, and so forth.  Who hasn’t been there, right?  I recalled all the Young Adult books I used to read when I was younger.  Eventually, I’d moved on from them.  It’s common for the mind to mature, after all, so it has nothing to do with losing interest in that particular genre.  Sometimes, we just need to explore a different area.

As writers, we all need to read books from every genre as much as we can, so I recently decided that I was going to read the first book from the “Twilight” saga.  After watching the movie–which honestly put me to sleep–I told myself that the book has to be better than that.  But that’s just my opinion.  There are others that prefer the movie over the book and vice versa, so that’s okay.

My sisters have read the book before I did and I recall their being annoyed with Bella’s character.  As I got to know her character, I realized that she and I are alike in some ways, especially when I was reading the ending of the book.  For those of you who have read the book, you already know about Bella’s child-like irritation when she discovers that Edward was taking her to the prom.  She complained about having to dress up and having her hair and make-up done, not to mention the one stiletto heel that she called “a death trap.”  Yes, I have to admit that I found it humorous because I was the same way when I was a teenager.  I remember my first Valentine’s Day dance with my first boyfriend and my complaining about having to wear a dress and heels.  “I don’t want to wear these shoes,” I complained while getting ready for the dance.  High heels, low heels, I didn’t care.  I didn’t want to wear them.  I didn’t want to wear make-up or put my long, stringy hair up.  Just like Bella, I couldn’t dance, either.  To make a long story short, I actually had a great time during the dance.  I still didn’t like the shoes, but it was worth it.  I left my hair down, by the way.  As for my prom night, I went through the same, dramatic process of getting ready.  However, it was worth it.

I have to admit, the novel wasn’t so bad.  Again, I found it humorous that I have a similarity to Bella Swan.  We both were such dramatic teenagers and I’m glad that that’s over with.  It was no wonder my sisters didn’t like her character.  She reminded them of someone, but who?  I still don’t like to dress up, but at least I’m not so bad when I need to change my appearance on occasions.