Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

Photo from Elizabeth Gilbert's website.

“Happiness is the consequence of personal effort. You fight for it, strive for it, insist upon it, and sometimes even travel around the world looking for it. You have to participate relentlessly in the manifestations of your own blessings. And once you have achieved a state of happiness, you must never become lax about maintaining it. You must make a mighty effort to keep swimming upward into that happiness forever, to stay afloat on top of it.”

 The above quote from Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert, resonated with me so much that I pressed the skip-back button of my car's CD player simply to hear it again.

For anyone who doesn't yet know, Eat, Pray, Love is the true story of Elizabeth Gilbert's search for everything across Italy, India, and Indonesia, and that being the case, the book is quite properly subtitled.  Elizabeth Gilbert, an American author and journalist, having found herself unbearably unhappy in both her marriage and her life, fought her way through a devastating divorce (with a side order of an affair) and then traveled the world in search of...well...everything.  I want to sound well-versed and thoughtful here but honestly, there is no need to try to reword what Gilbert has already written so beautifully and succinctly.

The book is divided, conveniently into 108 chapters, reflecting the 180 beads of the Japa Mala used in a few different forms of meditation.  I was thrilled by this.  Not only in the everyday-Lauren-OCD way but also as I have been using my very own mala from Tibet in meditation for around a year now.  Anyway, it was just cool to read (hear) about Gilbert's personal experiences with various forms of meditation, both Indian and Balinese.  So, the 108 chapters were organized into 36 chapters for each country.

Gilbert uses her incredible skill as a writer to illuminate the characters that she met during her travels without overpowering them.  She successfully acts as a vessel for their individual personalities to come through.  It should be noted that the audiobook (the way that I have experienced this book) is read by the author.  I found that this gave the reading a nice touch.  No need to search for the correct interpretation when the words are one's own, right?

However...the chapter where Gilbert essentially tells Ketut Liyer's story (Liyer is the Balinese Medicine Man whose palm reading practically convinces Gilbert to go to Bali in the first place) is a little much.  I only say this because the author voices all of the individual characters in her book...and it was just kind of annoying when I was listening to her speak for this man for what seemed like forever.  It unfortunately got to the point where I stopped listening to the stories that Liyer was telling because of my personal aversion to the way that Gilbert was voicing them.  That's not to say that I literally stopped listening to the CD...I just kind of zoned out.

All in all this book is an absolutely fantastic read (or listen, as was my case).  I bought the book a couple of years ago for one of my parents for Christmas (I maintain that I bought it for my dad but he thinks that I got it for my mom).  Anyway, neither of them have read it yet.  I've told them both that they should do so.  It's simply a fascinating look at religion, spirituality, and life from the eyes of a woman who became confused, frustrated, and saddened by the whole rigamarole and then took it upon herself to search for the answers and meet God halfway.

If you have the time, check out the video below.  It's 20 minutes long but totally worth it.  It is Elizabeth Gilbert speaking about the creative process, the creative mind, and the cognitive rejection of that undying question that plagues artists once they have brought something really great to life..."What if everything else that I create never lives up to this?"

Alright guys, that's all for now.

Stay classy!

LT

Josefa gives Butler Theatre's "Eurydice" 5 stars | Special Events | NUVO Newsweekly | Indianapolis, IN

We just got a pretty great review! Come see the show if you're in town!

Josefa gives Butler Theatre's "Eurydice" 5 stars | Special Events | NUVO Newsweekly | Indianapolis, IN

Romeo and Juliet (Pop Culture)

A while back I was given the task of staging a 5 shot tableau of Romeo and Juliet using only objects.  I immediately knew what I wanted to do, and ended up doing just that.  This may have been the quickest decision I have ever made in my life.  It was more complicated originally.  The good Friar Lawrence was to be played by Dr. Pepper because, while Brittany from Glee assumed that Dr. Pepper was a dentist, I was going with the possibility that he was a doctor of theology.  However, I could not find anywhere to purchase just a single can of Dr. Pepper, and as Sister will tell you, I do not drink Dr. Pepper because it does not taste like Diet Dr. Pepper.  Also missing from the tableau is the Prince who could have been masterfully played by RC (Royal Crown) Cola, as pointed out by my pal Jacob back home, because I simply didn't have the time to find a can of RC Cola, and because I didn't really have a primo place to put him within the tableau.  Friar Lawrence was to be in Scene iii, marrying the lovers.

Anyway, there it is.  Have a great weekend, everybody.  Stay classy!

"Taquitos Tonight" or "The Most Meaningful Blog Ever"

Today was a rather good day.

I fell asleep on the couch last night watching Food Network.  I am officially obsessed with both Iron Chef America and Chopped.  I first became obsessed with the former, not knowing about the latter, but now I don't even know which one I like more.  Someday when I have spare time (haha) I will go into some in depth analysis and compare the two.  Anyway, love them both.



So, this morning, Genevieve woke me up, wanting to go outside.  I didn't need breakfast, seeing as I woke up to a cake-crumb-covered plate, and discovered that in my sleep I ate the end of Melissa's "Congratulations on Quitting Your Job Cake."  That's not a joke.  None of it is.  I ate it in my sleep.  And I really did make her that cake.  Or I tried.  Anyway, I didn't need breakfast, clearly I had taken care of that already.  So I took my meds, yadda yadda yadda, then Genevieve and I went for our walk.  It was lovely and she was so well behaved today...it was a pleasant and super-welcome surprise with the way that she's been acting this past week or so.

Anyway.  Good morning.  Good classes.  Good time at work (got some work done teaching myself how to use our new three dimensional animation software...and then watched The Office).  Got some groceries.  Came home.  Played with the dog.  This is way more in depth than I initially planned.  The point of the post is taquitos.

Okay, so I'm watching Iron Chef America and normally that makes me want what they are cooking (well sometimes anyway, when it's not fish and stuff) but today, I just want to chill.  Plus, the secret ingredient is barracuda.  Gross.  And I know what you're saying.  Don't judge a book by it's cover.  I'm not.  I'm judging a terrifying fish on the grounds that it is terrifying and that it is a fish.  Two strikes for the barracuda.  There's one more strike as well.  Strike three: it is a barracuda.

Anyway, instead of being inspired to make something fantastic, I was inspired to take some frozen taquitos out of a box and put them in the oven.



Anyway, that's what I did.  And they were good.

Both the pup and myself were much more interested in the
taquitos than the barracuda fondue.  Yes, you heard me right.  Anyway, only
I got to eat them because taquitos are not for dogs.
Chalk a point up on the board for me.

The end.

P.S.  To those of you who took me at my word when I entitled this (at least partially) "The Most Meaningful Blog Ever," I was lying.  I was lying, and doing so ever-so-intentionally.  I believe that's another point for me.