Saturday, May 11, 2013

Black Kindle Is So Happy - Keeping the Faith!!!!


NUMBER 150
You have heard the expression, “This is the day the Lord has made!”  Well, this is Saturday, May 11 and it is the most beautiful day in the world to me.  The sun is shinning, the sky is blue, the air is sweet, the weather is calm and soothingly cool.  Why am I so happy, not scheduled to work today at either jobs.  It may not seem such a big deal to you, but after working 7 days a week for two years and only have had a few days here and there off, it is a true blessing to me to be off today.  To top it off, I’m off work from both jobs Friday thru Monday.  My Time!!! Me Time!!! The only thing I’m doing is volunteering at the SC Book Festival in Columbia next Saturday and I don’t consider that work.  I consider it my time and my time only.  
Today, me and my dog Tommy are sleeping, eating, drinking, walking, watching old and new DVDs, reading, reading, and hanging out at the local library.  Just the two of us and it is GREAT!!! Awesome!!! Spectacular!!! What a blessing GOD has given me and I’m so grateful.
Sorry to say, I’m enjoying my life because I choose to enjoy my life, that of course means “murphy's law” has stepped in, “the old Bastard.”  Kat, the manager at “The Sanctuary” was fired last week.  I did not know about it until that Friday when she called me at my full time job and told me.  Was I surprised, not one bit.  I have been at this part time job for two and half years and I have seen more people come and go and come back to get fired over and over again, that nothing surprises me.  Kat had told everyone a few weeks ago that she was leaving for another store in another state, “yeah, right.”  So maybe she had a inkling that she was going to be fired.  Some of the staff was a bit worried, especially with the new management team that arrived a month ago, some did not care.  When she talked to me on the phone that day, she felt she was fired without caused, but I guess she forgot this is South Carolina, companies can fire at will.  She claims she is going to sue, that I don’t believe because I don’t think she has it in her.  Her reputation at the store was weak and she did not have the balls to fired staff who sat on their buts all of the time.  So, give me a break.  The new manager showed up the next day.  A young white guy who has already started clocking and writing up staff, rightly so.  Customers do not want to enter a store and see lazy, loud talking, dirty floors, rude staff and loud ghetto music.  You don’t want lousy service and neither do I.  I’m waiting to see how long this will last.  One thing about this part time job, every week is a new soap opera drama.  They can’t help themselves.
Also sorry to say that my friend from another book club I’m in, just got laid off.  Sometime last year she was the one laying people off, now it’s her turn to go.  It also means our group may not go to Atlanta for the National Book Club Conference in August, but we will see.  Hopefully I or others can help her get another job.  This sequester is rough and I’m hearing more and more of my friends losing jobs.  
As Dave Ramsey say’s, “Don’t depend on anyone but yourself.”  Get that 3 to 6 months of emergency fund done, you never, ever, even a Federal Government employee know when you are going to get laid off.  You never know!!!! 
I will pray for both of them and ever one else I know.  It’s rough out there, but you have got to stay happy and keep your faith.  On to books and Movies:
I went to the local library to pay for overdue books and of course I could not help myself and took out some DVDs and books:  


LAST OF THE SUMMER WINE: VINTAGE 1991 - A British comedy about a group of older people, harmless simpletons trying to live a better life, but just can't get it together and always falling on their face.  I was actually visiting London when I first saw this show and it was hilarious.  






COURAGEOUS - Always looking for good Christian movies and this one is from the creators of Fireproof (try that one, it's good).  Four men, one calling: To serve and protect. As law enforcement officers, they are confident and focused, standing up to the worst the streets can offer. Yet at the end of the day, they face a challenge they’re ill prepared to tackle: fatherhood. When tragedy strikes home, these men are left wrestling with their hopes, their fears, their faith, and they're fathering. Protecting the streets is second nature to these law enforcement officers. Raising their children in a God-honoring way? That takes courage.  One of the fireman, Nathan Hayes, a retired African American US Marine, also played in Fireproof.   

Then I needed a good kick ass movie - SHERLOCK HOLMES: A GAME OF SHADOWS - Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows


Then, something I'm sure only my daughter would like, but I always give a movie a first try - FROM PRADA TO NADA - From Prada To Nada






WILL SCHWALBE - THE END OF YOUR LIFE BOOK CLUB - $12.99 - - - I read a review about this book and knew I would get it.  I know how it feels to watch someone die, but to watch and enjoy what real time you have left, especially talking about books, I hope to have that time with my kid.  Who knows?

“What are you reading?”  That’s the question Will Schwalbe asks his mother, Mary Anne, as they sit in the waiting room of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. In 2007, Mary Anne returned from a humanitarian trip to Pakistan and Afghanistan suffering from what her doctors believed was a rare type of hepatitis. Months later she was diagnosed with a form of advanced pancreatic cancer, which is almost always fatal, often in six months or less.

This is the inspiring true story of a son and his mother, who start a “book club” that brings them together as her life comes to a close. Over the next two years, Will and Mary Anne carry on conversations that are both wide-ranging and deeply personal, prompted by an eclectic array of books and a shared passion for reading. Their list jumps from classic to popular, from poetry to mysteries, from fantastic to spiritual. The issues they discuss include questions of faith and courage as well as everyday topics such as expressing gratitude and learning to listen. Throughout, they are constantly reminded of the power of books to comfort us, astonish us, teach us, and tell us what we need to do with our lives and in the world. Reading isn’t the opposite of doing; it’s the opposite of dying.

Will and Mary Anne share their hopes and concerns with each other—and rediscover their lives—through their favorite books. When they read, they aren’t a sick person and a well person, but a mother and a son taking a journey together. The result is a profoundly moving tale of loss that is also a joyful, and often humorous, celebration of life: Will’s love letter to his mother, and theirs to the printed page. 


EDWARD KELSEY MOORE - THE SUPREMES AT EARL'S ALL-YOU-CAN-EAT - $12.99 - - - My book club has scheduled to read this in July.  Why not, it seems funny.

Meet Odette, Clarice, and Barbara Jean.  In Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat is home away from home for this inseparable Plainview, Indiana, trio.  Dubbed “the Supremes” by high school pals in the tumultuous 1960s, they weather life’s storms together for the next four decades. Now, during their most challenging year yet, dutiful, proud, and talented Clarice must struggle to keep up appearances as she deals with her husband’s humiliating infidelities. Beautiful, fragile Barbara Jean is rocked by the tragic reverberations of a youthful love affair. And fearless Odette engages in the most terrifying battle of her life while contending with the idea that she has inherited more than her broad frame from her notorious pot-smoking mother, Dora.

Through marriage, children, happiness, and the blues, these strong, funny women gather each Sunday at the same table at Earl’s diner for delicious food, juicy gossip, occasional tears, and uproarious banter.

With wit and love, style and sublime talent, Edward Kelsey Moore brings together four intertwined love stories, three devoted allies, and two sprightly earthbound spirits in a big-hearted debut novel that embraces the lives of people you will never forget. 


Still reading:

WENDY WELCH - THE LITTLE BOOKSTORE OF BIG STONE GAP: A Memoir of friendship, community and the uncommon pleasure of a good book - $10.67 - - I knew it was and is hard to fathom thinking about opening a book store.  Wendy and her husband have run into some hard core book lovers, people who live in the community who think, "God Bless You for trying, Losers."  Low inventory, donated books with lice, mice, cockroaches.  Learning how to advertise and sell to people who don't read or even want to.  They keep trying and, half way through the book, I see that it's hard and lonely, but they got spirit.  One of them even lost their job because they did not want to continue to play the "political game" or in this case, live in the "snake pit."  That resonates with me one of the reasons I want also open a book store.  Yeah, I'm crazy, but who wants to give up their dreams.
The Little Bookstore of Big Stone Gap: A Memoir of Friendship, Community, and the Uncommon Pleasure of a Good …

CARL WEBER - THE MAN IN 3B - $10.67 - Hey the price went down a bit.  So far, so Carl's, "Murder Most Foul" with some crazy characters filled with horny women and one man.  


Got to get one in for Black History Year

ISABEL WILKERSON - THE WARMTH OF OTHER SUNS: THE EPIC STORY OF AMERICA'S GREAT MIGRATION - $12.99 - I keep putting this book down after a few pages to just digest so much information and to research on my own.  I'm doing that with her book and Teams of Rivals on Abraham Lincoln.  It's tough and long, but it's awesome to learn so much history.










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