October

I really hate changing the backgrounds on my blog. I'm just not as creative as some people! And I'm not very good at matching up all of the different colors to make something look good. So I figured that I found a background and color layout that I really like, and I had no intention of ever changing it. But I had to change my mind when it came to October. I mean, I have to have a Halloween background! When it comes to decorating, I think that Halloween is probably my favorite holiday. Now hopefully once Halloween is over, I'll be able to get my background back the way that I like it!

On my online book club, someone mentioned the other day that October really should be my favorite month because of the kinds of books I tend to read! I guess that's true. I mean, Vampires, Werewolves, Witches, Ghosts, Fairies, Immortal Hunters....hmmmm sounds like a Halloween costume party! lol! So, in honor of Halloween, throughout the month I'll try to share some of my favorite Halloween books, stories, poems, pictures, etc.

So to start things out, here's just a fun little poem:

Halloween Warning

On Halloween Evening, one night in the year,
When ancient graves open, all the ghosts then appear.
We flit through the shadows, we moan and we groan,
We pounce on the mortal, straying too far from home.
So Humans be wary, stay safely within
Lest a Halloween ghost scares you out of your skin!

FYI - The picture at the top of the post is the cover to a book called Hunting Ground by Patricia Briggs. I love the covers of her books! They are all so great looking!

4 Years

Wow! Today I hit my 4 year anniversary at my job with the Post Office! That is huge for me! I tend to get jobs, have fun while I'm learning all of the new stuff, get bored doing the same thing every single day, and finally quit after about a year or so. In fact, the second longest that I have held a particular job was with Marriott. I quit 2 years to the day that I was hired. So, I've now officially doubled my old record!

I actually really love my job. There are a few things about it that bug me to death, like the fact that even after 4 years I'm still not considered a full time employee with benefits and everything. But other than that, I couldn't ask for a better place to work. I have a great manager. She's always willing to help me out when I need it and she's great at telling you when she a appreciates a job well done. The other managers that I interact with are really nice too. Plus, the best thing about my job, I basically get paid to read!!! I thought that I would get really bored doing data entry. I mean, all that I do all night is type! Nobody to talk to, no real challenge once you've figured it all out. But, I get to listen to headphones. So, I always listen to audio books! It's great! Basically, it's my dream job! Now let's just keep our fingers crossed that one of these days I can finally become a "career" and get benefits!

Proud to be an American

Today is an anniversary that none of us should every forget. It's a day that changed so many lives forever. I know that I will never forget what I was doing at that time or the feelings that I had later on. I was working for Marriott at the time as a reservations agent. I was on the phone with a lady when she said that they had just announced on the TV that there was a fire in one of the Towers. Well, Marriott had a hotel that was right in between the 2 Towers, and connected them each. So, immediately I pulled up the page where we would get updates on anything happening at any of our hotels. There wasn't anything. I thought that it was a bad thing and was worried about everyone being able to evacuate, but that was as far as my feelings went at that point. I had to work, so didn't really have time to wonder about why the tower was on fire. Then, while I was helping someone make a reservation, she started to kinda freak out. She just kept saying "No, No! It can't be!" Finally, she calmed down enough to tell me that she just watched on the TV as a second plane hit the other tower. I just froze! This obviously wasn't some random event! I got off of that call and quickly went to the break room so that I could watch the coverage on the TV in there. I remember how panicked I felt after the Pentagon was hit! What was going to get hit next? Were we a possible target since the Olympics were only about 5 months away? I ran to the phone and called my dad, who was working in the middle of downtown Salt Lake. I begged him to go home. I was just so scared that we might be next.

The next week was one of the most difficult weeks that I've been through. We started to get phone calls from friends and family members of the employees and guests that were at our hotel. It was the hardest thing telling someone that we had no information about if their loved one made it out or not! And there were several phone calls that I received with people canceling trips because of family members being killed. One of the hardest calls I received was canceling a group booking because of a wedding being called off. The groom, his brother, and his best man were all currently missing!

Since that day, I have never been prouder to be an American. I look at the sacrifice that our troops and their families make on a daily basis in order to keep us safe. It would be impossible to truly express the depth of my gratitude for them all. There is no sacrifice more honorable!

I don't want to go into a political speech, because I know that a lot of my friends have differing opinions than I do. But I just feel like so many people in our country have truly forgotten what that day meant. I think that many have truly forgotten exactly what it is that the men and women in our military are fighting for on a daily basis. I think that the lyrics to Darryl Worley's song, "Have You Forgotten" express my feelings completely. Here are just part of those lyrics:

I hear people saying we don't need this war
I say there's some things worth fighting for
What about our freedom and this piece of ground?
We didn't get to keep 'em by backing down
They say we don't realize the mess we're getting in
Before you start your preaching
Let me ask you this my friend.

Have you forgotten how it felt that day
To see your homeland under fire
And her people blown away?
Have you forgotten when those towers fell?
We had neighbors still inside
Going through a living hell
And you say we shouldn't worry 'bout Bin Laden
Have you forgotten?

I've been there with the soldiers
Who've gone away to war
And you can bet that they remember
Just what they're fighting for

Have you forgotten all the people killed?
Some went down like heroes in that Pennsylvania field
Have you forgotten about our Pentagon?
All the loved ones that we lost
And those left to carry on
Don't you tell me not to worry about Bin Laden
Have you forgotten?

My love and prayers go out to everyone that lost someone that they love on 9/11 and to all of the soldiers and their families that have fought to keep us safe and free!

Goals

Anyone have any suggestions on how to keep the goals that I set? Sometimes I just really get frustrated with myself! There are a few things in particular that I am working on in my life right now. And time after time, I set these goals for myself. And they are even pretty realistic goals, nothing crazy! But it's like I just keep sabotaging myself!

There will be a particular thing that I shouldn't do. And I know that in order to stick with my goals I shouldn't do it. I sit there and tell myself that I shouldn't. And yet, for some reason, I do it anyways! I start to rationalize it all in my mind, or just tell myself that this once wont hurt and I'll get back on track tomorrow. But then a few days later I'm telling myself the same thing again!!! I just never get anywhere with it all.

Honestly, I've never really been one of those people that ever sets a particular goal. I have never cared for New Year's Resolutions or anything like that. So, I really don't have any experience in making and keeping goals. But I know that things will really improve in my life if I can just reach these goals, so I know that in the long run it will be worth it! Anyone have any help you can give me?

Happy Birthday!

It's my mom's birthday today! Just wanted to wish her a happy one. I told her that she needs to just relax and take it easy all day! And then Scott and Kelli-Rae are coming by tonight and we are all going out to dinner. So that should be fun. Also, I want to wish my best friend Michelle a belated happy birthday. Her's was last week.

As a side note, it seems like my cousin has decided that she is going to get married today too. So congrats to her.

Dystopia

So I learned something new the other day and wanted to share it. And yes, I'm also going to talk about books! Anyone surprised by that? lol On the website for my online book club, you can track all of the books that you read. Rate the books, write reviews, read other peoples, and other things like that. Also, you can make as many categories, or bookshelves, that you want to sort out your books. In other words, like I have a bookshelf that is audio books. So, if you wanted to know every book that I've listened to on audio, you'd just click on that shelf.

Well, several of the books that I've looked at and read recently, one of my friends has added to a bookshelf that she titled "Dystopia". I had no idea what Dystopia was, so I finally got curious and had to find out! According to wikipidea, "a dystopia is the vision of a society in which conditions of life are miserable and characterized by poverty, oppression, war, violence, disease, pollution, nuclear fallout and/or the abridgement of human rights, resulting in widespread unhappiness, suffering, and other kinds of pain." So basically, the opposite of Utopia, and somewhere that you would never want to live! Why in the world would someone want to read about a world like that? Except, then I started looking through all of the books that I have rated on the website, and was shocked when I realized just how many of them could really fit into that category, especially books that I 've read lately. So why is it that I keep reading these kinds of books? What about them makes it worth it?

I was thinking about all of the different types of worlds that some of these books portray. In "The Hunger Games" and it's sequel "Catching Fire" by Suzanne Collins, the world is a vicious place where the government controls everything. The citizens can't even stop the Capital from taking 24 of there children every year, and basically murdering them for sport. All while the citizens of the country have to watch and pretend to enjoy what they are seeing. (Quick side note, I just finished reading "Catching Fire" and it was better than I'd hoped for! Fantastic!) I also just recently read the first book of the "Ender's Game" series by Orson Scott Card. In that world setup, when children are just toddlers, a device is implanted in the back of their neck so that they can be watched and examined at all times. Then the smartest, most promising children are taken away from their families at around the age of 6! They are thrown into Battle School, where they learn war techniques at a time in their life when they should be just enjoying being kids. They have no contact whatsoever with their families and probably wont even see them until they are 12-16 years old. In the "Shadow Children" series by Margaret Peterson Haddix, the government wont allow people to have any more than 2 children. So any additional children that are born are forced into hiding. Imagine the type of hiding that the Jews experienced in Germany during WWII, but it has to happen for a child's entire life! If anyone learns about them, they and their families will be killed. And the list just keeps going on! Including, "The Host" by Stephenie Meyer, the "Uglies" series by Scott Westerfeld, "Poison Study" by Maria V Snyder, or "Fahrenheit 451" by Ray Bradbury and more.

Why do I read these? Why would I want to read a book about kids having to kill other kids just to try to survive? These worlds and situations are horrific, but there is just something about them that is compelling! I think that it must be the triumph of the human spirit that I love. These are characters that you feel like you can identify with in some way. Then you watch them be put into an impossible situation, and you just have to hope that they can survive and thrive! You get the chance to watch how someone can rise from the worst situation and become great! There is just something about this genre that is so heartbreaking and yet completely wonderful! And after reading some of these books, all that I can say is that I sure am glad that they are just fiction!