Full of Life Lessons

I've devoured another book.

This one is called The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch, and was pretty close to making me cry. Either I am getting increasingly sappy or I am just pmsing.

Anyways, this book is about Randy, who after being diagnosed with terminal cancer, decides to give a "last lecture" at the University where he taught. The book is a combination of his actual last lecture (which was all slides containing pictures chronicling his life) and other stories and life lessons he has collected.


What really drew me to this book was the fact that it is a true story, and that his main motivation for giving the lecture was so that his kids could have a way of remembering him. At the time of his lecture he had three children: 6, 3, and 1 1/2. Two boys, and a girl. Every story sounded like a lesson/lecture he would give to his children throughout their lives.

He also greatly inspired me to take a hold of my life and enjoy every minute of it regardless of how down and out I might be feeling. This was a man who had 10 tumours on his liver, who made every effort to ensure he spent quality time with his wife and kids. Yes, there were stories of when him and his wife would cry in each other's arms as they fell asleep, but the majority of the stories were about all the things he did to take advantage of every opportunity he could.

One other critical theme, and the basis of his lecture, was all about following your childhood dreams. To him, these dreams are what keep us grounded, and often what keep us the most happy.


So what are your childhood dreams? Have you actively been pursuing them?

To share a few of mine:

• Write a novel


• Own a florist shop


• Travel to Spain

To read more about Randy, and to view his Last Lecture, visit: The Last Lecture

Tear Jerker

So those who know me well know I am sentimental (read:emotional/cries at sad scenes in movies - Marley and Me anyone?). Anywho, usually this only applies to movies and real life events. Wrong.

Fastforward to me in Chapters, innocently looking for books to add to my Christmas list because according to my Mom I hadn't given her enough ideas. So there I am just browsing when I come across The Time Traveller's Wife it looks interesting and is pretty long so I hand it off to my Mom to buy.

Along comes Christmas Day and I start reading - immediately I am hooked. Its a love story with a unique twist. The main male character (Henry) meets the female character (Claire) when he time travels to her family's property. Only thing is, she's 6 and he's in his early 20s. Also, whenever he time travels, he ends up arriving naked which obviously provides for some pretty interesting and awkward situations. And sometimes he visits himself at a younger age, and when Claire meets him in her 20s he doesn't know her because he hasn't time traveled yet, but she has already met him - confusing right? Its really hard to explain the whole concept of this book - especially in writing, but its definitely an interesting concept.

Not that I want to give anything more away, but when I was reading the end - and all the mysterious and confusing elements came together I was more or less crying my eyes out. Me, Christmas Day (night), laying in my basement crying over a book of all things. This was the first (and only) book to ever get that much of a reaction out of me and I'm not ashamed to admit it.

Maybe its because it was a love story, maybe it was the writing style, or maybe I am just a sap - but nonetheless the tears were there and ever since I have been telling everyone I know to read this book. And I've proceeded to re-read it myself. (And yes, I did cry the second time too).

Now I just have to wait (impatiently I may add) for the movie to come out. As far as I know it is starring Eric Bana and Rachel McAdams and is in post-production. They keep pushing back the release date and I keep getting more and more frustrated.

I just hope this movie doesn't follow the trend of most other book-to-movie adaptations and ruin it. But I'm pretty sure no matter what I will be guaranteed to cry :P.

Amazon Link

IMDB Link

Decision Made

So the last post definitely hints at what this blog is going to be about...

I have decided to write about books I'm reading, have read or want to read.

Books are a huge passion in my life, so I figured this would be a topic that would perfectly suit me.

Ever since I learned how to read, I have not been able to put books down. I recently went to Aruba and blasted through about 5 books in the seven days I was there. Considering how much I slept and did other non-reading type activities, I'm pretty impressed I managed to finish all the books I brought. If I were to guess, I think I probably read close to 2,000 pages.

Although sometimes reading fast can be a great advantage (finishing boring textbook readings as quick as possible), it is also a big disadvantage. I feel like I don't have time to fully digest the books, especially when I finish them within an afternoon. Plus, it also ends up becoming an expensive hobby. The faster I finish a book, the sooner I have to buy another one, and since my reading habit is insatiable...this starts to add up.

Thankfully, being at school means I have less time to read, meaning I get to save more money :).

Guilty Pleasure Confession

After months of hearing about it in class, and being convinced to go see the movie, and my friend happening to have it in her purse one day...I have caved.

I read Twilght.

Now usually this is not my type of book, for a number of reasons.
1. It isn't necessarily targeted at me
2. I'm not a huge sci-fi/whatever this genre is
3. I like reading more obscure, random books that catch my attention rather than being brought to it

But all this aside, I read the book in less that two days. It is over 500 pages.....and I've already read the second one in the series.

I am still trying to figure out what exactly is that has drawn me to this series. Maybe it could be that I can talk about this book with friends who have read it too. Usually what I read no one else has, so this is definitely an advantage. And maybe because it is long and therefore takes me more than a day to read.

Long story short...loved the book and definitely going to buy the third and fourth.

Official Stephanie Meyer Site

First Post

This blog is for my Online Communications class which is part of the Corporate Communication program at Sheridan.

So far I am not really sure what to write yet, or what my theme will be, but hopefully I will think of something soon.