Life is good - my update

I just got back from physical therapy and eye doctor appointments, and I feel really great about the results! As far as I can tell, I'm in fairly good shape, and I'm hopeful to make a full recovery of all numbness in my fingers. My eyes checked out perfectly - there's been no issues due to the disease, and every piece of information that I uncover makes me feel that much better! I think I've been worrying a lot needlessly, and I apologize to those of you that have been worrying along with me, but who can know without actual physical results? Everything that I have read about this disease has put the fear or god in me, and I'm finally now getting over it.

Now that things are better, I'm even considering driving again for short distances - let's see if my doctor approves it next week.

In terms of activities, I've just been reading, wii fitting, and watching Lost! now that the new episodes are on tv. The new episodes are very exciting, for you Lost! fans out there. Watch it again - it's gotten more adventurous, but they are preserving some of the debt. Things seem to also be getting a bit more scientific.

In terms of books, I finished a great book - 'The Diplomat's Daughter'. It was fabulous, very interesting for those of you that follow current events and are interested in world politics. I read the whole book in a day, and it's huge!

We need to get a few more books from the library. I will keep you posted if I find any other good ones!

TTFN,
A

Some interesting articles on recovering from setbacks

I just read a very interesting article on tough experiences and what we can gain from them. If you're interested in that kind of thing, defintely check it out!

http://www.facebook.com/ext/share.php?sid=45978089203&h=2dASr&u=AP8HP&ref=nf

Here's another article that I found interesting on a site that I check every day. It's great for career advice, and they have fantastic blogs every day by 20 and 30 something professionals.
Read this if you think you are having a bad year:

http://www.brazencareerist.com/2009/01/24/what-i-learned-about-life-through-disasters

Enjoy!

Amy

Reviews of my latest reads

My latest book read is "First Darling of the Morning" by Thrity Umrigar. I seem to have a knack lately for picking up dark books that strangely have similarities to my life. Not that my life is or has been dark, per se, but you know where you read something about a character andd think "Wow, that's me!" That - it's happening to me. A Lot. Very eerie, strange, and a bit perturbing, when you're trying to think about positive things and cheery little butterflies, but then, what fun is that anyway? The dark side is where the good stuff is, according to all the books.

So I just finished the Umrigar book, which is dark but good, and am almost done with 'The Palace Of Illusions' by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni. Now this is one Fantastic book, but it is Very Dark. It is basically a retelling of essential stories from the Mahabharata, the great Indian epic, from the vantage point of the main female character, Draupadi. I had to actually put the book down at times, as those of you that are familiar with the Mahabharata are aware of how dark the story gets at points. Multiply that by 100 - the author really puts you in Draupadi's skin and makes you feel an approximation of what she might have felt at each of the major instances in her life. This book is really amazing - Divakaruni should win a literary prize for it.

The last book, which I ended up returning to the library without finishing, was a book about Elizabeth. The author is Allison Weitland (sp?), and the book is really amazing, but it got too dark for me, with all the talk of the Tower and death, so I just let it go. I believe that this is the book that the last Elizabeth movie was based on, and I highly recommend it for any history enthusiasts that enjoy the stories of Elizabeth and Henry VIIIth. I've read a lot of historical fiction about these two subjects, and this one did the best job of making sense of various events in history. The lives of both of these historical figures make so much more sense to me now! If the subject interests you, definitely grab this book!

Tonight - dinner at CPK with the parents, sister, and her father-in-law. The finale for SaReGaMaPa was very long, but decent, and Rush Hour 3 is a good movie! The next books on the list are: 'A Golden Age' by Tahmima Anam, 'The Diplomat's Daughter' by Tom Kinsolving, 'The Harafish' by Nagub Mahfouz, and 'Secrets and Mysteries of the World' by Sylvia Browne.

Later,
A

Keeping busy and other thoughts

My biggest past time right now, while I am am home, has been finding positive ways to keep myself busy.

For those of you that currently work, this is not as easy as it would seem. I'm magically hitting that 3 month mark at which unemployment turns from fun and freedom into boredom.

I have been planning, depending on the day, to start writing a book, start preparation for the remaining Navision certification exams, update my blog on a more regular basis, study a new language, watch more movies, catch up with more friends, etc. None of the above is quite sticking. I'm thinking back to what others have done during prolonged bouts of bedrest - the only person that I have heard stories of is JFK. I believe that he was hospitalized and on bedrest for a few months after back surgery, and that he read a lot and ended up writing a book. Huh.

I found a new blog on writing that is endlessly entertaining to me. For those of you that have problems with bad language, please be warned, there is some.

http://www.writinghannah.blogspot.com/

It did inspire me to finally start my book, but Hannah was not kidding. I barely wrote a page, and I think I'm tapped out now, writing is really tough business!

I hope you enjoy the above, more later!
A

Nav 2009 is very impressive!

I just saw a preview of Dynamics Nav 2009, and I was not planning to be impressed, but I absolutely was! The options for viewing of documents based on certain breakdowns of statistics (this will only make sense for those of you that are very familiar with MS Dynamics Nav, if you are not please do yourself a favor and skip this post).

I can't wait to get more familiar with it and the process of implementing it. Actually, the implementation does seem like it will be more of a bear, but the extra time spent on start seems like it will save a lot of time later. I'm very impressed with the Danish folk that have spent the time and come up with this improved design.

There are possibly two people still reading at this point. Do either of you have anything to add regarding the software, including your impressions and/ or experiences with it. How does it feel on the development side? I can imagine that there have been significant structural changes that almost make 2009 a different language from CSIDE? If you have any feedback, please elaborate, I'm curious!

Amy

Dealing with bad friends

A while back a posted about a dilemna involving an ex-friend and asked for feedback on how to deal with her regarding a silly rumor her family seems to have started about me. I received some really good feedback, particularly from people that know both myself and the party in question, yes - including my mom. I have come to the decision that this friend is basically not in my 'lifetime' category.

At the risk of sounding childish, I will mention that email that everyone has seen, regarding people that come into your life for a reason, season, or lifetime. Not everyone that we meet falls into the lifetime category, and this has been a particularly painful experience for me up until now, for some reason. I had always prided myself on my ability to make and sustain friendships for the long term, until recently. I now realize that a relationship can not be sustained by one person alone, no matter the person and no matter the circumstances. Some, indeed most, people are meant to be there for the short term, either for a reason or a season.

Back to the ex-friend - and I want to make sure that I don't sound petty or over-reactive here. Obviously there have been other events that have precipitated the falling out and led to whatever bad feelings there might be between us, and this bit was just the last straw for me. I had tried reasoning with her a few times, and just seemed to keep meeting a brick wall of resistance. She is a fun friend, and we come from similar communities - I'm not sure if that contributes to my stupidity in holding on to that ridiculous one-way relationship for so long, but I can only guess what my reasoning was at that time. When you're young you do stupid things, and we were young when we met, so that's my excuse and I'm sticking with it!

At this point I've decided to just cut her off. I pray for forgiveness, but I really want forgetness first, to make a reference to "The Hills" and the great Lauren/Heidi argument. Just make her go away, please! No references to her, no "how is she doing", I think I just want to forget the fact of her existness - my life will be better for it.

I decided to write about this subject as it has been a long standing issue for me, and so maybe someone else can get some clarity from my experiences. I seem to have had several of these issues with friends and former friends, especially lately with this illness and the move. If I can keep one of you from experiencing some of the pain, it's worth it!

Do any of you have similar experiences? If so, I'd love to hear about them. Please let me know if you have any thoughts on the decision I made. Is it the healthy choice, escapism, or maybe just what works best for me? I would love to hear your comments and feedback!

Anyway, enjoy the rest of your day!
Amy

Where I review Louise Hay's book

I had promised earlier to talk more about my favorite New Age Healing book of the minute, "Heal Your Body, Heal Your Life", and I have to start off by saying, I had no idea how popular this book is! I have mentioned it to just a few people in passing, and a some of the people that I mentioned it to got really excited when I told them the title or author. This book truly has been a godsend to many, so I feel that it is fitting to write about it here in the hope that more people can be helped by its contents.

Louise Hay was touted by Oprah Winfrey as the founder of the New Age Movement, and I would have to agree with her regarding that title. I've been pursuing natural altenatives to medicine for the last 8 or so years, and Louise Hay's name and book titles have constantly come to me during that time, whether it was a reference in other books, online, or by word of mouth. I wish I had listened before, but maybe I was not yet ready to hear her message.

The basic premise of "Heal Your Body, Heal Your Life" is that all diseases and infections in the body can be linked to negative emotional states and traumas that a person has experiences. Once these negative states are resolved, the body is able to heal itself as it needs to. Hay discusses the need to totally love oneself in the book, and many of the exercises in the book are directed toward this goal. Toward the end of the book, Hay has a list of hundreds of different ailments, along with each prescribed affirmation that the sufferer should say to counteract the negative emotional state that might be causing the illness.

I first read through the book a bit, and tried some of the exercises half-heartedly to see if I got any immediate effect. These exercises can be a bit taxing and draining, if you've never done them, and I did not want to risk making myself worse, even temporarily. The process of clearing out old crap can be tough, as we all know. I noticed that I felt a bit better after reading theough some of the sections and exercises.

Over the past few months, as I mentioned, I've been experiencing some crazy mood swings. I'm honestly not myself right now - screaming at the people around me (even my parents' friends, lol) at the drop of a hat, this is so unlike me. I generally don't scream unless thoroughly provoked, and I usually have a lot of patience with people.

I decided to write down several of the affirmations from Louise's book that applied to me currently (and was shocked that there were a lot of them, lol!). I figured I would try reading them to myself at night a few times before bed, and see if they made a difference.

I got a really good night's sleep, and the affirmations continue to help me a few days later! I say one or two of them to myself as a calming factor any time I find my mood dropping. I havem't been able to catch myself before my temper flares, but that is my next goal. In short, they worked for me!

I also really recommend the aesthetics of the book - the drawings inside are so beautiful and warmly colored, that you can't help but be drawn if you dare to open a copy of the book. I plan to pick up a copy for myself and for a family friend that was recently diagnosed with cancer. Hay mentions cancer as a disease that is the result of pent-up resentment. I had already mentioned the affirmations to this family friend, and she is currently expecting a list of the ones that apply to her condition from me, but I would rather just give her a copy of the book. That way she can read through the stories in her own time, and hopefully get the full effect.

In case it wasn't clear from the review, I loved this book! I've already recommended it to a couple of friends that I know would benefit from it. I'm planning on getting my own copy before this one gets back to the library!

Comments, suggestions, alternative viewpoints of the book? Please forward them on to me!
Amy