Sometimes you just want to dream forever,

To believe in the fantasies you have created in your mind,

It is perhaps the idea of you I have loved,

The you, whom I have idealized,

The you, who is the perfect bubble,

That I want never to burst. 

Perhaps it is the fear,

That the real you and the real me,

Will never learn to love all our flaws,

That has me pushing you away,

And me running with all my might,

Back to where dreams lurk. 

Up in the Air - Walter Kirn

Didn't really like the book but finished it nonetheless, albeit skipping bits and parts of it. 

I am not even sure where the author was going with this book. The protagonist was a Ryan Bingham, gunning for his million frequent flyer miles with Great West. He had created a world he termed Airworld, spending most of his life in the air, in airports' lounges, and at Homestead- his choice of hotel. Quite a strange and unlikely character, who I guess, couldn't commit to a person, not a place. Bingham worked as a career transition counsellor and he was one of the best. A CTC basically helped companies fire/retrench their employees, to shield employers from being the bad guys and for employees to leave as if they were being offered new careers/opportunities. Bingham had a troubled sister (Julie) who ran away from her soon-to-be held wedding, an extremely responsible sister (Kara) who tried  to hold everything together, a dad who was dead, and a mom who was what, I couldn't remember. 

Bingham was hoping to get a job at a mysterious firm called MythTech and grew paranoid, thinking he was being stalked, either by Great West or MythTech. MythTech at the end of the story, turned out to be pretty much a sham, Great West too seemed to be on the brink of closing down. 

The finale: Bingham got his million miles and that was when he revealed that he might have some neurological dysfunction/ brain tumor, with frequent seizures and memory loss. The story ended just like that. 

Didn't catch the point of book...

1/5 rating 

Paradise

We have forgotten each day is a gift,

Another chance for us to live.

The morning light shines through the window,

And I thank God that I have the eyes to see,

And the hands to feel,

The beauty of His creation. 

I walk through the garden of the fallen paradise,

Smell the blossoms of the apple trees,

And I marvel at the gift that is free. 

I pray we'll never forget

Nor forsake

The path before us,

The path which may seem to have no end,

But the truth is,

That paradise is within our reach,

A hope we can almost touch.

"We were like astronauts dreaming on the moon, telescoping the stars, exploring the skies, and searching for the moments that took our breath away."

- Robert M Drake

Elie Wiesel - night trilogy

Earnestly looking for this book and finally got it from the library. To be honest, I was a tad disappointed since the book had received rave reviews. Although it was a trilogy, I read only the "night" as it was a true account of what Wiesel went through during WWII. The other two parts of the book were novels written by Wiesel and I guess I didn't have much interest in that at the moment. 

After reading several accounts of WWII, I felt Wiesel's story lacked "substance" and it just gave the feeling that it was run of the mill book. Of course I am not discounting the horrors he went through, watching his father die and being separated from his family. The one thing I liked about this book was its raw honesty when Wiesel recounted how he had felt a sense of relief when his father died as this meant that he no longer had to take care of him or share his resources with his father. 

The darkest hour before dawn 

Is the finest hour of a dream beyond.

When the first ray of light 

Touches the horizon

I know it is a dream long gone.

Like the morning mist,

You linger for a while,

And only for a while, 

I can say you were mine.

Death

What is death?

A friend 

A foe? 

Does it incite fear

Or does it bring relief?

Do you welcome it with open arms

Or do you turn around and run?

What is death?

Is it the end 

Or is it a new beginning?

When it comes,

Does it bring an end to the suffering

Or does it take away all that have been good?

What is death? 

A dark secret that we seek

Or one that we hope never to unveil? 

To it, we give our own meaning 

And its face, is as we have painted it to be.