My Current Interest

          This book caught my attention on the library shelf for months. I kept picking it up, reading the back, and returning it to the shelf. It interested me, and I wanted to read the book, but I was never quite in the right mood. There was something that made me believe the story would end up sad and dreary. Finally I brought the book home. Not only was it not sad and dreary, but I had a hard time putting the book down.            Lucy is a New York dressmaker. Her father has died and she has taken on the responsibility of making sure her mother and teenage sister are okay. As a former sweatshop worker, Lucy knows the dress shop she works in is a better situation for her and her family. Despite this knowledge, Lucy cannot resist putting forth her unsolicited ideas for the wardrobe of a handicapped young society woman. The shop mistress is not happy with Lucy, but the young woman, Rowena, is thrilled. Working on the wardrobe, Lucy and Rowena become fas

              There is so much of the world I would love to see.   When I think of all the places I want to go, I find there are far too many for me to count.   This is why I envy Josh Gates and his Destination Truth team.   Well, I envy them to a point.                 The premise of Destination Truth is a team of investigators travel the world searching for creatures of local lore.   They look for all sorts of things.   From Bigfoot-like animals to ghosts and everything in between, the team tries to find what has been witnessed for years by those living in the area.   Sometimes it is a journey to get to the location itself, but once they do, witnesses are interviewed and the investigation begins.   This is where my envy stops.   During the dark of night, the team puts themselves in some precarious positions as they search for the creature.   I have seen them walk through jungles, crawl through narrow caves, boat (and swim) in unknown waters, and walk across old, unstable brid

          Nearly every day of the seventeen or so days of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London I watched something. I will admit, most of my dedicated viewing was in the beginning and waned as the second week was reached. This is because many of the events of interest to me were held early on. While I have heard complaints of the tape delay, it did not really bother me. The main reason for this is probably because the sport most important to me, tennis (is anyone surprised by this?), was aired live and even put on its own channel. That was a brilliant decision in my opinion. I had a great time watching tennis in the morning and part of the afternoon, then switching to gymnastics, swimming, and diving at night. Often times I already knew the results of the night events, but that was okay. I still wanted to see how everything happened. One thing I did not like about the tape delay was how little I was able to see of certain things. If an American was not involved, or struggli

               When I see someone who has achieved success in a field I am interested in, I want to know how they did it. I am not talking about the nitty gritty details every second of his or her life is revealed type thing. What I want to know is the path a person took. No two people lead their lives the same way. Even if they get to the same end point, how that point was gotten to will be different.                I knew who Garry Marshall was when I picked up this book. If I had not I would not have chosen to read his memoir. What I did not know until I began reading was the extent of Mr. Marshall’s career. He has been involved with everything in Hollywood: writing, acting, directing, and producing. So many people dream about getting into just one of these industries. Mr. Marshall has been fortunate to be successful in all four. He managed to achieve this without being raised in a show biz family. Growing up in the Bronx, his mother did like entertainment, but

               With so many celebrities and entertainment industry people, one would expect Los Angeles to have large and elaborate homes.   The show Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles shows this is not an unfounded belief.   Three L.A. realtors are followed around as they try to sell houses and battle with their own personal problems.   I could do without all the personal drama (the clients provide enough) but I can ignore that in order to see the houses and what it takes to sell them.                 The three realtors are Madison, Josh A., and Josh F.   Each work in different parts of L.A. and have different styles and ideas when it comes to selling.   Sometimes a house is sold in the traditional way.   There are regular open houses and showings, with nothing really special to make this particular home stand out except for the house itself.   Many times that is all it takes.   Then there are the others that take a bit more creativity.   This is where things can really get int