A Few of My Favorite Thinigs From 2006

Albums that Dominated my CD Player:  

1- How We Operate — Gomez  

2- Back in Bedlam — James Blunt 

3- Plans – Death Cab for Cutie

4- On and On – Jack Johnson  

5- Chaos and Creation in the Backyard – Paul McCartney  

Movies I Enjoyed the Most:  

1- The Goodbye Girl  
2- The Dead Poets’ Society
3- The Lion in Winter 
4- Walk the Line 
5- The Doctor   

Favorite Reads:   

1- A Grief Observed by C.S. Lewis  

As the title alone suggests, this is far form a lighthearted, upbeat book, but it’s been the most helpful things I’ve come across in the last year regarding grief and loss.  Unlike other books on grief, it doesn’t provide answers, or formulas to try out; it’s a real look inside the heart of one man as he struggles, questions, and grieves for the loss of wife.   

C.S. Lewis is honest in his writings about how he’s feeling, and even how others relate with him because of his loss.  This book won’t tell you what to do, or where to go from here, but it does provide comfort in knowing you’re not alone as you walk down the long and painful road of grief.  It you’re lost someone, are in the process of losing someone, or know someone who’s grieving and would like to better understand what they’re going through, I highly recommended it.  

2- Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott  

Unlike most writing books, this one is more inspirational, but it still does provide some helpful advice.  It was recommended to me by a writer friend of mine while I was working on a research project that seemed, at the time, to be going nowhere fast.  I found in very inspiring, which is what I needed more than anything right then at that point in time.             

A quick word of caution: Because Anne Lamott is often very candid, crude, and very inappropriate in her writings, this book is not recommend for anyone who might be easily offended.      

3- The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton  

It’s a Victorian novel set in New York among the upper-class.  It shows the darker, less “innocent” side of the Victorian era, that we normally aren’t shown.  It deals with some of the interesting social dynamics of the time, double standards, hypocrisy, and what’s considered “proper” or “fashionable” of decent, wealthy men and women.  Some of the issues, you can still see being played out today, to a degree.    It isn’t a light read by any stretch, but because it’s a Victorian novel, it never goes into too much detail, and it doesn’t get nearly as dark as a modern novel probably would.  I loved this book; the story, the character, and the fact that it didn’t paint things in a rosy, romantic lighting.               

4- Loving God by Charles Colson  

Charles Colson takes on the challenge of practically answering the question, “How do we love God?”

 5- The Four Loves by C.S. Lewis  

This isn’t a “relational book,” but rather, its observations on the four different kinds of loves.  It’s not a devotional book, self-help, or deep theology, but I found it very interesting and insightful, and C.S. Lewis makes it an enjoyable read by just being himself.  

6- Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card  Personally, I’m not a huge fan of Sci-Fi, so the fact that this book actually made it on my list of favorites says something.   Along with just being a fun read, the book illustrates well how the hardest things in our lives — the things we’d like to wish away — are the very things that shape our character, for bad, good, or even both.  Although the main character, Ender Wiggin, is a young boy it isn’t a children’s book.  I found in a very interesting novel with a lot more depth than I would have suspected it to contain.         

Quotes I Like:  

“In order to be irreplaceable, one must always be different.”-Coc (Gabrielle Bonheur) Chanel 

“The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who cannot read them.” -Mark Twain 

“I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.” – Mark Twain 

“I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use.” – Galileo Galilei 

“Bad times have a scientific value. These are occasions a good learner would not miss.” –Ralph Waldo Emerson 

Favorite Moments:  

-Finally getting to see “The Importance of Being Ernest” performed live.  It was wonderfully done.  It’s one of my favorite plays.  

-Riding on a trolley car in Sand Francisco, walking through China Town, Golden Gate Park, and admiring the beautiful, old Victorian homes.  

-Seeing more of California than Disneyland.  

-Balboa Park in San Diego, and the Andy Whorhal exhibit.   

-Seeing my mom, Ian and Shannon all genuinely smiling.  

-Coming to the peaceful realization after moving that I was truly safe, and I could relax and breathe again.

-When friends listened, asked questoins that showed they cared, and then remember what I said later.