Eat, Pray, Love up to page 203

Liz and her friends at the Ashram talk about marriage and her friends decide to find a way to help Liz have closure with her ex husband since their divorce ended so badly. They get her to go to a roof top, the highest point in the Ashram and tell her in a note there is nothing between her and God, so all she has to do is let go. She meditates and gets to a place where her and her ex are together and talking. She feels she has achieved closure and can now move on with her life. Her friend Richard from Texas is leaving he Ashram, and tells Liz she must move on, and that the best way to get over someone is to get under someone else...lol. Liz is chosen to host a series of retreats at the Ashram, which she is kinda excited about because she feels like she needs to be in silence more, which is what these retreats are all about. Liz also makes the realization that we need God because he provides us with grace. And God needs us because he loves to feel things through our hands. I feel like this is a really good point, and explains why God would do so much for us and sacrifice so much. Liz ends up enjoying her first retreat, finding that she learned more than she taught the visitors. This experience is helping her become even better at meditating and finding a connection with God which ultimately leads to her happiness.

Eat, Pray, Love up to page 182

Liz has indeed found what she was looking for in India. She begins this next section explaining how she felt like she was praying/meditating wrong because her mind would always wander. Apparently, a wandering mind is an untrained mind that cannot be controlled by the owner of the mind. This prevents the person from meditating properly and listening to what God is saying to you. Praying is talking to God, meditating is listening to what he has to say. If your mind is filled with other thoughts, God will not talk to you and give you guidance. The goal of people who follow Gurus is to have a successful meditation where the mind does not wander and one can interact with God and become enlightened. Liz tries to do this, and only fails. She gets very frustrated, changes the mantra she recites to an easier one, and asks other wise followers of the Guru how the meditate, hoping to get good advice. Then one day in the Ashram while meditating, Liz falls into a deep sleep/ state of meditation and experiences a blue shock, which is described in some beliefs as a visit from God. Liz is thrilled she has finally been enlightened but works to strengthen this connection she has just built with God. Also while at the Ashram, she befriends a man named Richard who is visiting from Texas. He's a lot older than her, but the two become friends quickly, and soon Liz explains her problems, mostly the love life ones, to him. She realizes how much she still misses David, even after sending him the email that he agreed with about how they should never really be in a relationship, except she doesnt know if she can live without him in her life, but really its best for them to never speak again. It was quite a confusing email, but Liz had good intentions. Except, she's struggling to follow through with this email, as she still has strong feelings for David. Her prayers continue though, asking God to help her out every time. Liz also considers the concept of destiny, and how it is a cross between divine grace and willful self- effort. Half of our destiny we can control and the other half is pure luck. This brings her to the topic of how she can control her own thoughts. This concept applies to her meditation and helps her learn how to meditate more successfully. Liz also meets a young teenage girl and tells her all about her life, especially about marriage. In this girl, Tulsi's, culture, she is regarded as a legitimate marriage prospect at the age of eighteen, which she is soon approaching. Tulsi will have an arranged marriage, which she is not too happy about. She claims she would never get married if it were up to her, and says it is commendable of Liz that she was the one to end her marriage and become free to roam the world. This kinda confused me at first, but really when you think about it, it is kinda commendable and courageous of Liz to get herself out of a bad situation and take charge of her own life.

Eat, Pray, Love up to page 130

I reallly liked Liz's trip to Italy. I was sad to see it come to an end, but i also think this new adventure to India will be just as great! Upon leaving Rome, Liz realizes she's put on a lotttt of weight while she's been travelling the country enjoying all different kinds of cuisine. but she's kinda ok with this because she is going to India...where she will probably not eat as well and she'll be doing a lot of meditation and yoga, which will help her get into shape. I guess it would also help for me to better explain why Liz has chosen to come to India. She is following a religious Guru. In the book, she explains that you come to a Guru with the "hope that the merits of your master will reveal to you your own hidden greatness." Only super special people can become Gurus, so this chick shes visiting is kinda super important. except, the Guru isn't actually there, so she's just visiting her Ashram, which is apparently almost just as good and help you get even closer to becoming a greater person. To be able to stay at the Ashram, you have to be serious about keeping up your studies. this place is like in the middle of nowhere and its in a pretty run down town. Most people at the Ashram are just students visiting. Liz's trip is at the same time as New Year's so she gets to celebrate with her new friends! she talks about the beautifully dressed women who are dancing to drum beats and how shes having a lot of fun with people she doesn't even know, just celebrating another year of life to come. unlike her previous struggles with loneliness, Liz is now surrounded by people, possible new friends, and claims she is not lonely at all. This is a nice change of pace for her, and I hope she finds India as satisfying as she hoped it would be!

Bloggies "Tales of Bibliophile"

So i chose the blog Tales of a Bibliophile for my Bloggie award. I really enjoyed their mix of reading and personal posts. Here's some of my favorite recent posts of theirs:

http://123tidbit.blogspot.com/2011/04/optical-illusions.html

this post was about some abstract optical illusions. I thought it was especially cool because they were illusions made out of real pictures, as opposed to illusions from shapes and colors together.

http://123tidbit.blogspot.com/2011/04/poisonwood-bible-1-45.html

I really like that they combine pictures with their reading logs, it gives me insight into what they're thinking while they're reading, which kinda combines personal posts with reading posts.

White Noise topic #5

Jack Gladney's stereotypical comments made during the suggested evacuation of his town expose a common grand narrative in American culture. Jack believes him and his family are safe from the black billowing cloud because the wind never blows in their direction. He judgmentally claims that since he is the head of a department at a college, he can't see himself "fleeing an airborne toxic effect." In his opinion, fleeing from these disasters are "for people who live in mobile homes out in the scrubby parts of the county." Gladney is conveying a claim that really isn't true or proven, but are accepted as a truth by the public because of how often it is true. His claim is part of a postmodernism theme of exposing these socially accepted truths that are realistically false.

White Noise Part One Questions

In Chapter 15, what is the significance of the back and forth discussion over Hitler and Elvis Presley presented by Jack and Murray?

Why is Babette so forgetful and how does she not know if she is taking any medications?

Why won't Wilder stop crying? Why is his nonstop crying and his parents' reactions to his crying significant?

Explain the family's conversation in Chapter 17. Why doesn't Jack make any remarks?

If people of this time are so afraid of dying why does Jack dwell on the idea of death at the beginning of Chapter 20? What points does he bring up?

Eat, Pray, Love up to page 102

recently, Liz has been enjoying her stay in Italy. she and a friend have found two Italian male twins, Giovanni and Dario, who are extremely gorgeous. they exchange lessons in each other's languages. Liz somewhat wishes Giovanni would kiss her, but knows it would only end badly, and he's like ten years younger than her lol. i think she's just jealous because her friend is hitting it off with Dario and she just wishes she had someone to love while she's in Rome. who wouldn't though? anyways, she travels around the rest of Italy...so lucky...and is surrounded by beautiful scenery. when she arrives in Venice, she realizes she isn't depressed in the city. probably because the city is more depressed than she is. i find this a weird way to look at it, but i guess she's probably right.

i find it funny that she is struggling with such conflicting feelings dealing with her love life. she leaves New York to find peace and tranquility and a balance between love and religion. however, she starts with finding love...which is probably the most difficult thing to understand in the world. our minds and our hearts tell us totally different things, and quite honestly i think Liz is right. she would complicate things so much by kissing Giovanni. she doesn't really love him, she lusts after him. again, Italy is like the place to be for love and she really isn't doing herself any favors by exposing herself to potential new boyfriends/lovers so shortly after she ended a marriage and a short lust relationship with that David guy. i hope india is more promising for her with her spiritual balance...