Books, Roses and Wine - Oh my!: March 2008

March 31, 2008

Original American Humour

by Will Rogers. Here's a few sayings that I came across in my American Liturature book. Some are funny, others are just so true (even today, however many years after they were first said.) Enjoy!

"You know Lincoln's famous remark about "God must have loved the common people, because he made so many of them?" Well, you are not going to get people's votes nowadays by calling 'em common. Lincoln might have said it, but I bet it was not until after he was elected.

"I am not a member of any organized political party - I'm a Democrat.

"Every time we have an election we get in worse men and the country keeps right on going. Times have only proven one thing, and that is that you can't ruin this country, even with politics.

"In 1612 some wise guy decided that he would like to live of the other Virginians instead of off the forest, so they called him a politician. So politics started on these shores in 1612 and in a short space of over 300 years it has grown in leapes and bounds, where it is now America's leading racket.

"If you want to know when a war might be coming, you just watch the U.S. and see when it starts cutting down on its defenses. It's the surest batometer in the world.

"Everybody is ignorant, only on different subjects.

"A fool that knows he is a fool, is one that knows he don't know all about anything. But the fool that don't know he's a fool, is the one that thinks he knows all about anything.

"Why do they call it traffic? When it ceases to move, it's not traffic.

"The minute you read something and you can't understand it, you can be almost sure that it was drawn up by a lawyer. You see, every time a lawyer writes something, he is not writing for posterity, he is writing so that endless others of his craft can make a living out of trying to figure out what he just said.

"Can you imagine our Savior dying for all of us, yet we have to argue over just whether He didn't die for us personally and not for you. Sometimes you wonder if His lessons of sacrifice and devotion was pretty near lost on a lot of us.

"Baseball is a skilled game. It's America's game - it, and high taxes.

"Politics has got so expensive that it takes lots of money to even get beat with nowadays.

"Our president delivered his message to congress. That is one of the things his contract calls for. It's one of the few stipulated duties of the president - to tell congress the condition of the country.

This message, as I say, is to congress. The rest of the people know the condition of the country, for they live in it, but the congress has no idea what is going on in America, so the president has to tell 'em.

"Distrust of the senate started with Washington, who wanted to have 'em courtmatialed; Jefferson proposed life inprisonment for 'em; Lincoln said: the Lord must have hated 'em for he made so few of 'em; Teddy Roosevelt whittled a big stick and beat on 'em; they drove Wilson to an early grave; and Coolidge never let 'em know what he wanted, so they never knew how to vote against him.

"Lead your life so you wouldn't be ashamed to sell that family parrot to the town gossip."

March 26, 2008

Number 5!

Yes! Do Hard Things, which started out down in the upper 600 - even dropping down on the list - made #5 on Amazon bestseller charts yesterday and #1 under Christianity! Congrat's to everyone! Thanks to all who bought a copy! Now let's celebrate!
Here's the
+ Final Sales Rankings + from The Rebelution:

Bestsellers: #5

Hot New Releases: #2

Movers and Shakers: #5

Religion and Spirituality: #3

Christianity: #1

Christian Living: #1

Youth Ministry: #1

Parents & Families: #1

My Operatic Adventure...

The curtain goes up,

It's a wonderful moment,

When the curtain goes up.

~ Betsy and Tacy go Downtown

Yesterday, I had the wonderful privalage of visiting the Lyric Opera House, to the Barber of Seville, an opera by Gioachino Rossini. (That's the ceiling above, of course. Where else would it be? =) It was great! My debut to opera going was a "birthday presant" from a good friend of mine. (She's the one reading the program, under the ceiling, known to my blog readers as "Miss March")

One note, there are no photo's of the actual opera, because picture taking is illegal. *sigh*. So, I'll just tell you about it. The Barber of Seville, is about ,ahem, the barber of Seville. Actually, it's, mainly about this count who is in love with this beautiful girl, Rosina, the ward of the "1000 year old" Dr. Bartolo. The count is in disguise as a man without money, because he want Rosina to love him for himself, not his money. Dr. Bartolo is also in love with Rosina, and plans to marry her. He knows that Lindoro (AKA the count) loves Rosina, so he keeps her locked in the house. The Count then enilsts the aid of Figaro, the barber and "general factotum", to help him meet Rosina.

There's that ceiling again.

Anyhow, so eventually Rosina and the count get married, wearing, um, rather odd outfits. (The costumes amd designs for them are, I belive, seen only in this version, so you'll never see them anywhere else.) The count and Rosina -now countess - are both wearing outfits made of really bright blue material - this color blue - with big white clouds printed all on the material. Oh yes, and tons of sequins and other glittery stuff. Interesting...

So, in case you can't tell from the picture above, at least one person had a lot of fun. (Yeah, a lot of fun, gauging that expression. That's Miss March's sister.)

Did I mention we got box seats? This is the view of the opera floor and all those people who didn't get box seats. I think they had fun too. (Sounded like it, anyway.) =)

No, this is not the ceiling! It's the wall. (Next best thing.)

So yeah, we had fun.

And for all of you Fairy Tale novel fans who might be curious, I didn't wear outfits like Blanche or Rose's when they went to the opera, only because I don't have outfits like that. I wore this cool bright red skirt with white polka dots all over it instead, and you can't see it in the picture.

Ps. So sorry for all of you, but I sadly was killed yesterday in a Twizzler duel with Miss March's sister. (Remember, the person having fun? Those pictures were taken after she got me.) So, I'm dead right now. I apologize to you all.

March 24, 2008

Buy The Book!

Yes, this is a sales pitch, but for a very good cause. If you haven't noticed already, check out the new Rebelution sidebar thingy. Note what it says. What is it talking about, exactly?

Well, "Do Hard Things: A Teenage Rebellion Against Low Expectations" is a book written by teenage twins Alex and Brett Harris. And I quote from the official book discription:
Written when they were 18 years old, Do Hard Things is the Harris twins' revolutionary message in its purest and most compelling form, giving readers a tangible glimpse of what is possible for teens who actively resist cultural lies that limit their potential.Combating the idea of adolescence as a vacation from responsibility, the authors weave together biblical insights, history, and modern examples to redefine the teen years as the launching pad of life and map a clear trajectory for long-term fulfillment and eternal impact.Written by teens for teens, Do Hard Things is packed with humorous personal anecdotes, practical examples, and stories of real-life rebelutionaries in action. This rallying cry from the heart of revolution already in progress challenges the next generation to lay claim to a brighter future, starting today.

I encourage you all to join me and thousands of other teens in buying this book from Amazon.com tomorrow, March 25th. Let's prove the experts wrong by showing that hard cover non-fiction books for teens really can sell well! What do you all say?

March 23, 2008

Alleluia! Christ is Risen!

March 20, 2008

Happy 16th Birthday, Amanda!

We interrupt this Holy Week Meditation for an important announcement. Today is Amanda's 16th Birthday. We will briefly pause during the beginning of the Triduum to wish her a Happy Birthday and to take a look at how she has grown. Please scroll down if you would like to join us....

Amanda at 1 mo. old, can you find her?...