I'm Not The Only One Who Does This

Friendies,

Some of you have admitted this to me behind cupped hands, as though it were something to be embarrassed about. I prefer to think of it as "multi-source information gathering" (MIG, for short, which also happens to play perfectly into my military jet fettish). I'm talking about those of you who read 3 and 4 books simultaneously and sometimes, don't finish any of them. Of course, the perilous disadvantage to this method is that you are bound to credit a quote to the wrong author and really exasperate the people who run out to get the book, only to find that the wit and wisdom they're thirsting for is nowhere to be found in the weighty Mayo Clinic's Digestive Health tome you so enthusiastically recommended. They won't come back to you for another book suggestion very soon. At least that's been my experience.

However, this week, even though I'm MIGing at full throttle (oh, I crack myself up), I have the book I'm going to quote from, right HERE, next to me, so I don't get the author, the title or even the page number and paragraph location messed up.

In the early era of our wedded bliss, watching M*A*S*H was an integral component of our Cheap Evenings At Home. We feasted on the quick-witted humor and longed to be in a life-setting that fostered the kind of camaraderie sported on the show. I knew Alan Alda helped direct the later episodes and had directed movies as well, but I had no idea that he'd taken up his pen to deliver his wry humor into books, until I spied one at Costco yesterday; "Things I Overheard While Talking To Myself". Is that not one of the BEST titles ever? Oh come ON. ALL of you talk to yourselves. I've heard you. He's just had the wherewithal to write his mutterings DOWN. They didn't have his other book, "Never Have Your Dog Stuffed", which, I admit, conjures up some disturbing images, but sounds intriguing nonetheless. So I settled for this one in addition to one on Autsim, which rounded up my current MIG book total to 4; Stepping Heavenward and The Shack, also a Costco purchase, are the others splayed out on my nightstand in various stages of dog-earedness. (I'm not sure The Shack is going to make it onto the "finished it!" list; it gets corny and corny makes my eyes roll involuntarily. Sorry if some of you found it to be life-changing. I can be hyper-critical about my reading material.)

Anyhooo, I'm actually underlining some of Mr. Alda's overheard snippets of himself. It's more of a humorously inspirational book than what I expected, but I am so touched by a few of these that I feel compelled to share them with you, because they are beautifully put. Here goes:

"I had always been moved by Alan Jay Lerner's lyric from Camelot's "How to Handle a Woman." The way to handle a woman, he said was to love her, simply love her. Love her. Love her." p. 14

(That's my favorite. Probably because I very much relish being loved. It's nice.)

"Love your work. If you always put your heart into everything you do, you can't lose. Whether or not you wind up making a lot of money, you will have had a wonderful time, and no one will ever be able to take that away from you." p. 17

(Welllll, that sounds really pleasant, anyway. I'm not sure everyone has the opportunity to implement that one. A certain Cisco employee-wanna-be-chef comes to mind.....)

"Knowing what you care about and then devoting yourself to it is just about the only way you're going to be able to have a sense of purpose in your life." p. 36

"It can be surprising when you try to rank your values. Ask yourself what's the most important thing in the world to you. When you come up with an answer to that ... ask yourself how much time you actually spend on your number one value and how much time you spend on what you thought was number five . . or number ten. What in fact, is the thing you value most?" p. 38

Ooooh, simple truths to *ruminate* on.

I promise, I won't quote from The Shack tomorrow. I'll have no eye-rolling on my watch. But if I manage to get my mitts on a copy of Never Have Your Dog Stuffed, watch out.

In the meantime, to all of you who MIG, be proud of it. Your membership acronym is totally awesome, the condition of your nightstand indicates impressive mental gymnastics and you have a lot more food for thought than the average one-at-a-time bookworm. You might not absorb as much or keep your authors straight, but my money is on the fact that you are having more FUN. I am.