Happy Friday! And also, happy holidays!
Whatever you celebrate towards the end of the year, I hope you are celebrating it with the people you love. Every year, my family asks me what I want, and I give them a spread sheet of the things I need. Not to support consumerism or anything, I just think this tradition is cute. I don’t know if you know this about me, but I love Excel. I feel so blessed and also so spoiled typing this, because I am thankful for always being able to get what I ask for every year. I am thankful for my family who loves me so much Let me show you some of the things I put on the holiday spreadsheet:
This Shirt
For years, I’ve had this shirt just sitting in my Amazon wish list. I finally asked for it this year. I think my dad is getting one too. Maybe we can match. There’s an entire market on Amazon for these stupid shirts. There are so many different variations of this one shirt though. Let me know which one you guys like the best. Maybe someday I’ll share a picture of me wearing it.
The next thing I asked for was Subway gift cards. Let me share with you my Subway sandwich order from middle school. (Keep in mind that in 8th grade, I went vegetarian for 5 years and then vegan for 2 years. Now I can eat this sandwich again).
- 6-inch Wheat bread
- Spicy Italian
- Confetti cheese (the shredded cheddar)
- Spinach, cucumber, and green pepper
- Spicy/ hot sauce
Then, I asked for a filing cabinet. This is a really adult holiday, if I do say so myself. Anyway, enough of that. Let me share with you the books I’ve been reading.
Different Seasons
By Stephen King
Different Seasons is a collection of novellas which change throughout the “seasons”. An example of this:
Hope Spring Eternal
(The Shawshank Redemption)
Summer of Corruption
(Apt Pupil)
Fall from Innocence
(The Body)
A Winter’s Tale
(The Breathing Method)
So far, I have only read the hits out of this collection of stories. I can share with you my favorite quotes from the Shawshank Redemption and the Body, both of which had been adapted into films.
The Shawshank Redemption
“Andy smiled his small, composed smile and asked Stammas what would happen to a block of concrete if a drop of water fell on it once every year for a million years.”
“I’ll hand you a pretty cynical axiom: the amount of expert financial help an individual or company needs rises in direct proportion to how many people that person or business is screwing.”
“Writing about yourself seems to be a lot like sticking a branch into clear river-water and roiling up the muddy bottom.”
What I love about Stephen King, is it’s almost like you’re reading an American history book through the lenses of someone who really sees the totality of the world. One can beg to differ, maybe King is subject only to personal experience, but the old American headlines which pave the way for his stories, and how his stories play a part in the real world, it’s almost like you are looking into someone’s life and all their loopholes.
The Body
“The most important things are the hardest to say. They are the things you get ashamed of because words diminish them — words shrink things that seemed limitless when they were in your head to no more than living size when they’re brought out. But it’s more than that, isn’t it? The most important things lie too close to wherever your secret heart is buried, like landmarks to a treasure your enemies would love to steal away. And you may make revelations that cost you dearly only to have people look at you in a funny way, not understanding what you’ve said at all, or why you thought it was so important that you almost cried while you were saying it. That’s the worst, I think. When the secret stays locked within not for want of a teller but for want of an understanding ear.”
There’s a reason as to why I’ve clung to this passage throughout my life. If there’s anything I can relate to the most from a book, it would be this. I’m no Saint though, I’m sure there have been times when someone’s shared a detail to me which they’ve never told anyone before, and I did not even think to bat an eye. I guess the motive behind this passage is that if you are someone who values certain sentimental thoughts, you can choose to share them on certain conditions. It’s warranted to hold these thoughts close to you and guard them and their value. As soon as that thought is open to the world, it is no longer yours alone.
It’s early on a Friday morning as I write this. The Midwest is being hit by what they call a “Siberian cold front”. Winter is defiantly my favorite season. I love when the sun sets at 3:30Pm. I love taking the train out into the country and watching the city lights fade into snow. I love the journey the elements go through during this season. Did you know, in the Icelandic language there are 46 words for snow? Let me share with you these:
snjór or snær = snow
hjarn = crust of snow, or snow that does not melt in summer
lausamjöll = powder snow
mjöll and ný snævi = new-fallen snow
krap = slush
fönn = drifted heap of snow, snow-wreath, or snow that does not melt in summer
