This Blog Is For Women

There has been a lot of hype over today’s release of The Hunger Games, a movie based on the book by Suzanne Collins.    I read The Hunger Games book last year and found it enthralling.  I will be reading the second book, fairly soon.

Here’s the thing I’m wondering about: Who is this movie targeting as it’s audience?

Many of the Hunger Games readers were in their early teens, and I’m certain that many young teens want to see the film.  It’s rated PG-13.  Which means if you’re under 13  an adult must attend the movie with you.

I don’t want to give too much about the book away, but it’s no secret that story is about kids killing kids. There are 24 kids a the start of the competition, and it’s a fight to the death with only one winner.  You do the math, that means that 23 kids are slain in the course of the story.

Is this a concept that we want to become jaded to?  Do we want to use the slaying of children as entertainment.  I know that the characters are actors and no one is killed for real in the making of the movie…but.  People generally are sent to jail for killing people. In this story the characters are put into the situation by the government and then it is televised, reality television style.  And now, we’ve made it into a movie.  Does this glorify killing?

As an adult I know that I can deal with the disconnect between reality and the premise of this story.  How young is too young for a child to watch this movie?  I’m not really sure.  I do know, however, that when we read a book our imagination will only take us so far, but when we see graphic violence on a screen, we are inflicted with the directors imagination brought to life before us.

Once we see something, we can’t “un-see” it.    How much is too much?    Please, let me know what you think.

The Way of the Superior Man is the title of a book written by David Deida.  The subtitle is “A Spiritual Guide to Mastering the Challenges of Women, Work, and Sexual Desire.”

I read this book several years ago.  I’m not really sure how I found it in my hands, but I do know that I read it when I was trying to understand men better.  I’m a woman, and I think that every man should read this book and take something from it.  And I think women can benefit from reading it as well. Have you read it?

There’s a lot going on in today’s “enlightened” world.  Women are more than ever, taking charge of their lives and Men are, more than ever, faced with having equal partners in relationships.  The struggle for many of us then becomes how to find the Yin to each other’s Yang.  This book sheds some light on ways to do this.

As I read the book, I recognized many things that had gone wrong in my marital relationship: little things, ways of thinking, small understandings. I wished that I had found the book a decade or two earlier.  From time to time I re-read it to remind myself of the power of being feminine and the strength of being masculine.  These two states of being can be embodied by the same person, but not at the same time.

It is powerful reading.  I’d love to discuss this book with you.

Here’s a quote from the preface:

Live completely.  Know your deepest purpose.  Give the gift you were born to give.  Enjoy sex as a cosmic portal into love’s wonders.  Serve your friends so they may grow.

These words speak to how we should all live our lives.  But each sentence of this quote is a huge challenge.

•  ”Live completely.”  This one makes me think of all the tedium that gets in the way of my being able to live completely.  Truly living, for me, is not accomplished by vacuuming the house, or paying the bills.  But somehow these must be done to allow a life without chaos.
• “Know your deepest purpose.”  Wow.  Just Wow.  Do you know your deepest purpose?
• “Give the gift you were born to give.”  We were all born with a gift to give, take some time to think about this.
•  ”Enjoy sex as a cosmic portal into love’s wonders.” That is what it is meant to be, right?  Do we surrender to it?  How?
•  ”Serve your friends so they may grow.” Wouldn’t we all be better people if we followed this example.  Serving our friends so that they may grow and they serving us in return.   A world like this one would be a very fulfilling place.

Opening your mind to a book like this is like seeing the world with new vision.  I urge you to grab a copy at your soonest opportunity.  It could change your life.

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I wish I had something inspirational, witty or bold to say today.  Sadly, I’m off to bed with a touch of a headache from lack of sleep.  For the past 4 days  and nights I’ve been nursing 2 sick children who have fever and coughs.  No fun!

Things that help a cough:

1.  Hydration:  This can come in the form of drinking fluids or a vaporizer.  Drinking fluids works best if done slowly over the course of the day, sipping a glass an hour to keep the throat well lubricated.

2.  Honey:  Honey has a natural healing property that causes phlegm to liquify making it easier to cough out.  So, we’ve been going through lots of it this week. We’ve been serving it straight-up on a teaspoon, on English Muffins and in hot lemon and honey.

3.  Rest:  Enough said.

4.  Vicks Vapo-rub:  It worked when I was a kid and it still works today.

5.  Television:  Well, it’s a good distraction if nothing else.

6.  Hugs:  A hug makes everything better.

(I can never seem to stop at 5 can I.  LOL)

Here’s to good health!  And soon!!!

Learning new things is hard on the brain!

I’m in the process of teaching myself to edit HTML while building a website.  I love new challenges, and this seemed like it would be fun.  ha.  Well it’s certainly a huge time sucking activity.  But, I’m learning in leaps and bounds.

I really seem to learn best organically.  What do I mean by that?  Well, I jump in with both feet and see what happens.  When things don’t work I try another way, and if all else fails I read the FAQ.  Taking notes helps.  But sometimes my own notes are hard to decypher.

I could take a course, but that would take too long. Yeah, I’m impatient.  But, I guess I can afford to be since it’s working.

It never ceases to amaze me the things you can learn for free on the internet and especially on YouTube.  People out there who just want to help the rest of us out.

What have you been learning lately?

It’s this time of year that I start to long for summer.  And I mean long for.

Living in Canada has it’s benefits.  One of them being that we get 4 seasons.

The trouble is the seasonal transitions.  Between winter and spring we get lots of “sprinter” – days like today with half rain / half snow, warm sunny days followed by sub zero frozen days.  It’s like Mother Nature has suddenly come down with a case of multiple personality disorder!

I can never decide if I should leave the house with an umbrella, snow boots, gloves, sunglasses, a spring jacket or a warm parka!  You should see the trunk of my car, I’ve got a full spectrum of outer wear stashed in there “just in case.”

I’ve got a week booked off in April.  I think I’m going to book a last minute sell off vacation.  It’ll be my first trip south since 2008.

I’ve got my passport and my bathing suit  so I’m ready!  Any joiners?