Category: Book

Okay…. Done Reading!

Darren LongLeave a comment

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl
by Jesse Andrews

Very good. That book was easy to read. VERY EASY. Had to be a teenage type book. I’m not a Master or anything at judging books, but this was an odd one by the way it was laid out on my Kindle screen. Didn’t care for that fact. Now, I’m getting into tech-stuff.

Two guys and one girl. All teenage. She’s VERY SICK. Well, that pretty much sums it up. The two guys are good friends. The girl is REAL sick with…. leukemia.

So, it’s a funny beginning and in parts…

but the ending…

well…

I’ll type ya later.

Why am I passing this liquid from my eyes?

Darren LongLeave a comment

I just finished watching a documentary on Netflix called Alive Inside: A Story of Music and Memory.

Very interesting. This is EXACTLY all about the way music helps a brain that isn’t “working correctly” to “work better”. That’s one way to say it. Showing how some older people in a hospital/nursing home are “unresponsive”, but then given music the person would know (via iPad) and played through headphones. Ohhhh… This makes the unresponsive person do anything, very responsive as long as it is music they enjoy.

This is EXACTLY like what the movie Awakenings (Robin Williams) does with the patients there at that hospital.

What I was seeing was a person’s mother, who had been entirely unresponsive to everything for years, start singing and “awakening” when there was music being played to them using the headphones and iPad. It was incredible. It shown a lady who was understood to be unable to stand and walk on her own, but when she heard the music she recognized and enjoyed, she stood and danced. It was incredible.

ok ok ok….. Enough of those tears. I’m getting back to reading that book that I was reading yesterday.

D-E-N-I-A-L Again! (well, done differently)

Darren Long1 Comment

Today is Monday morning and I actually arose up out of bed at an UNBELIEVABLY early time of 7:00!! This might be based upon the fact that I had purchased a book to read last night (I’ll discuss that later).

Anyway, I get up, get dressed with music playing REALLY LOUD and start eating cereal when the cell phone makes the “answer-me” noise. Oh great. Now I have to run back to the room behind myself to turn down the music. Then….

“Hello?”

“Yeah, I had told you that you could have come in today, but, uh, you can’t. I just have other things to do.”

“Oh. I kinda guessed that maybe you didn’t mean to arrange the original meeting on a special holiday like today. I am guessing that now I will have to find something else to do. Will it be better or worse than seeing you? That is a good question.”

“Uh, yeah. Well, I’ll see you next week at 11:00.”

“Eh, okay. 11 o’clock it is.”

So, as you may see, we have very important and worthwhile conversations while speaking on the phone. Saddening & weakening conversations. But yet, important. So….

NEXT thing I am going to type about is this book I started to read last night. I have seen the preview of a movie that is supposed to come out soon (maybe in a month or two or something like that). That movie looks saddening because of a “difference” the person has. YES, it looks similar to other movies/stories that I’ve typed about before. Not the happiest thing in the world the entire movie, but worthy of my wanting to watch. Oh wait. You want the title?

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl

Anyway, I saw this preview and knew it wasn’t out yet. So I told myself…

“Self, lets see if there is a BOOK and read that first!”

Yep. There is. That’s what I’m doing before the movie is released. The story is teenagers and the book itself is written at that level. Easy read.

Ahh. I was just looking to see when this movie was coming out…. June 12th.

Okay… Books….

Darren Long1 Comment

Now we’re back to this again, boys & girls. Let’s see, what was I going to type in that subject today….?

Decisions! Yes, I’ve made a decision on that the book of…

Brilliant Blunders: From Darwin to Einstein

I had made the choice to take a break from the previous types of books I’ve been listening to. BUT when I tried to “JUST LISTEN” to this dang thing, I wasn’t following it too much. I just decided and told myself…

“Self… this isn’t a type of audiobook you wanted to read in the first place…. Must. Stop. Eyes. Closing. While. Reading. Book. Into. Ears…”

Uh… Yeah… That’s a good excuse to skip this one right now.

Ghost Boy: The Miraculous Escape of a Misdiagnosed Boy Trapped Inside His Own Body

Quite incredible what this guy has to go through. I’m not finished yet, but I’ll be done soon. Easy read for me, which is good. (And, no, it’s not about scary spirits and things like that…) PLUS, I’m actually READING using the two eyes with this one and not doing the “only listen” thing…

I think I’ll come right out and say it again today… I’m feeling incredible. Able to think great with this brain. It’s changing from the way it has felt in the past. I can tell from time to time that it’s different for me “almost” everyday. Is it because of changes I make in what I do? Mmmm, maybe. Everyday is just a better one for me. 🙂

Next book….

Darren Long1 Comment

Finished that previous book pretty fast. It doesn’t seem like it sends out emails to let people know there has been such an entry update. Or, at least, I didn’t receive an email about the blog entry update. Eh, that’s okay. You can read the update of the previous entry itself now….

OK! Since I finished that other book pretty fast, I am reading (listening to) another book.

Brilliant Blunders: From Darwin to Einstein

I just needed something “away” from my own and other peoples: surgical and hospital life/stories. This will “challenge” my brain. HA!

(and no loss of tears)

Eh, I can still read just fine. Just this book is pretty complicated at times and I wanted to “pay attention” as to what was happening.

Now, how am I feeling these days? Mmmmm… very good. Slept good and I had taken my son to the newest playground several blocks away. Quite the most interesting walk for both of us, but we made it in a significant amount of time. Impressive for the both of us.

Riding my bike to get my taxes done was quite interesting. It’s a “little” ways away. Especially for a person who has gotten used to sitting at home all day (no, really, I’m HEALING. It’s still an excuse.) Anyway, in one day, I had to ride the bike of mine back and forth from here to there (about a dozen times) just to bring and take papers that they needed at H&R Block. This was just a good day earlier this week. It gave me something to accomplish successfully.  🙂

ONE MORE THING… I already have my book after this one picked and bought. This person needed “strength”. I think I’ll need it when I read it….  But that’s the next book.