It's Summer!!!!!

I have been waiting for summer for a while. Since last September, in fact. Although I do appreciate winter, it tends to get a little old, since it seems to snow from October until May here. To make myself more content living in New York, I convince myself that summer really lasts from Memorial Day until my birthday (September 16, in case you're feeling giving this year), just to make it a bit longer. I can't wait to toast marshmallows, get the jetski on the lake, and go hiking! Yay for summer!

Even my WeeMee is ready for a drink and some roadtripping. Not at the same time, of course.

In other news, I feel that I need a new hairstyle, considering my pharmacy is particularly airless in the summer, and I am forced to wear a labcoat over my red and khaki. If that made no sense to you, I'll elaborate. My hair is halfway down my back, and super thick. I like to be able to pull it back without it being ripped from my scalp. So I think I need to downsize. Right now I have Southern Belle, Beauty Queen hair. Funny, considering I'm a total Yankee! So I googled for some celebrity hair images, and found this one:

Reese Witherspoon is my favorite Southern Belle!

I know, it's pretty much my current hairstyle, just a lot shorter. Maybe I was meant to be a Southern Belle all along? Reese is pretty cute, and I could certainly pick worse celebrities to emulate. I just hope I don't panic when I get there. The last time I asked for six inches to be taken off, the stylist got confused and took 14. I cried for about an hour, in front of people I didn't know. It was horrible and ridiculous all at the same time. Let's hope my current stylist undertands terms of measurement. I'm bringing my tape measure, just to be on the safe side. =)

Book Review: Night

Night by Elie Wiesel has been on my reading list for quite a while. There is so much to say about this book, that I don't really know where to start. It was:

• horrifying
• tragic
• thought-provoking
• devastating
• unforgettable

I have read many books about the Holocaust. Some were children's fiction, some were journals, some were novels, and some were based on interviews with survivors. None that I have read were written so simply, or so mesmerizing as Night. Elie Wiesel wrote this book in Yiddish, years after his release from a concentration camp. You would think that it would not be such a smooth read, but the translation is amazing. While reading it, you feel as if you are observing everything he describes, and it is terrifying. For someone to have survived, and then shared such an experience is amazing. I doubt that there is anything further I can say that has not already been said by someone else, and better, but I can believe that if everyone had to read this book and imagine themselves or their family experiencing such horror, perhaps there could be an end to such cruelty and inhumanity. Then again, perhaps not.

(Night available from target.com for $8.45 on June 18, 2010)

**Full disclosure: I work for Target as a pharmacist, so I purchase almost everything there, which is why most products have a link to Target instead of Walgreens or Borders, etc. I always link to the merchandiser where I purchase the item, so please don't think I am advertising for Target. It is just cheaper and more convenient for me to shop there! I do not profit from this blog in any way, other than enjoying writing it.**

Book Review: Fahrenheit 451

I don't know why I call these "book reviews" because really, I don't feel like I'm smart enough to write a review...any ideas about a proper name for it? Anyhow, onto the actual subject, I decided a few weeks ago to really knuckle down in regards to my goals on 43things.com, and realized that one of my goals is still the Rory Gilmore book list. So I printed it out, and on my lunch break wandered around Target's book section in search of anything that sounded interesting on the list. I found Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, which I somehow never had to read in high school or college. Not sure what's up with that, because it was very enjoyable and kind of scary all at the same time.

I'm sure everyone knows the plot: in the future, firemen burn books instead of fighting fires. One fireman begins to question why books are being burned, and decides to try to change things. What I find amazing was that this book was written over 50 years ago, and quite a lot of what the author describes as the future seems to be coming true. He talks about "seashells" that you wear in your ears, "tv walls" where you can interact with actors, and a general dumbing down of society. I can visualize how this book could become true at some point, and that scares me.

I am rereading this book, because it was so engrossing that I think I probably skimmed over parts, and I feel like I need to "know" every bit of it. Yes, I will say that it's a very good book. So maybe this is a review after all? I still don't feel it!