I was in my 10th grade chemistry class when we started hearing about it.

We had been watching music videos with our substitute teacher, and when the news broke out, it felt surreal. What is this? And all I remember doing is excusing myself to the restrooms, crying my eyes out in a stall, wondering if my father in DC was safe. This was before I ever got a cell phone, and just not knowing more information about anything or anything just broke my heart.

After that class, the teachers tried to keep us occupied. I’m not sure where I was when the Twin Towers fell. Did I watch it? It was all a blur. Mrs. Li made us concentrate on algebra II.

Not as if we’d not find out what was going on after school. Not as if we’d be glued to the television screens. Not as if we’d ever forget.

Ten years forward, I still cry my eyes out. If I deal with the pain in this way, I can only imagine how survivors or families of those lost have felt every second since. This could have happened anywhere, to anyone of us. When I was in NYC, the group I was with wanted to visit the WTC memorial site, and it was the hardest thing for me. I cannot eloquently put into words the immense despair, respect, and pride among countless other emotions I am sure everyone has felt at one time or another. But please reflect, and give a moment of silence. Closure may never be an option, but trying to move on and remembrance are.

I remember taking my first flight afterwards. I remember hoping we’d all be okay.

I still hold my breath

That time I had the dream

Of the banks, on the beach

It could have happened there.

We would have been so unprepared.

I still hold my breath

Because I can’t let myself forget

Times in the morning like 9:03

Watching live on air

Holding our breath.

One of my personal goals is to read more. Most everyone I know seems to be reading constantly, and me? I am most likely found reading nail polish blogs. So, I would like to start reading on a more regular basis, and then I can write here what I thought of the book. I’m not a critic, and I don’t try to be.

I finished my first Judy Blume book a few minute ago. No, just kidding: the only Judy Blume book I have ever read before today was Freckle Juice. I do not remember much about that particular title except freckles, something I’ve never had to worry about. But today, as an adult, I read one of those honest-to-god Young Adult classics, and it’s about something almost everyone worries about: first love. Actually, no, it’s just about sex.

To be frank, there’s a time in your life when you worry about that kind of stuff and it’s all that’s on your mind. Usually, this happens when you are a teenager, and you have a lot of time to just sit and freak out in your head. I still freak out in my head, but about others things as well, so I hope that means I’ve grown up. As a former teen, however, and still as a young person, I can see how all this lovey dovey touchy whatever not can still occupy a huge chunk of your time and sanity.

I am not a fan. Well, maybe only slightly.

(Ugh, never mind, I do not like drama in general!)

I’d like to think that I had a great adolescence. Really, I had a good family and good friends, and I was a good girl, so I didn’t have to personally deal with teen pregnancy or peer pressure to have sex or even drugs. Lucky me. Honestly, I waited until marriage, all through high school, all through college. Would I have changed that? Probably. Would it have made a difference? Maybe. But whatever choices I made let me concentrate on other things, like building a relationship with my boyfriend. It was better for us that way since we were apart often to begin with.

Not everyone shares the same experiences, but reading a book like Forever… reminds you that we all feel the same way, though. Love comes at you hard and fast, man. Kath fell for Michael H-A-R-D. Forever… was first published in 1975. In the edition I have, from around 1999, there’s a small note from Judy Blume, and I just loved what she wrote: She is glad some things, like feelings, never change. So true. So, so true. You read this simple little YA book, and you’re, like, That could so be me circa age 18. Perhaps the whole emotional roller coaster is something required of all young people, or perhaps it happens at every age, maybe in every relationship. The cynic in me was, like, Of course they’re going to break up, they can’t be in love FOREVER! But seriously, I kind of felt bad that Katherine and Michael did break up, because they were so into it. Or maybe they were just lying to themselves. (Don’t we all do that sometimes?)

In the book jacket, it says Katherine is in love with love, and Michael is in love with Katherine. I am not sure if I felt that Michael really loved her. I felt as if they both equally liked the idea of being in love. And really, he was only into what Roger liked. Ugh, Roger. Eww. (<— I am immature.) I have to give props to Katherine for being smart and getting the pill, and I really admired how open the women in her family were with her. Support, man! We need more of that today!

Anyways, the book was okay. It wasn’t some masterpiece, but I would consider it timeless. There was a young girl looking for this particular title today, but she wanted the edition with the new updated cover, not the old one that the library had. I suppose that the new cover made her feel it was more hip, and really, all the publishers have to do is keep updating the cover because the story will never change. Girls meet boys, it works out, it doesn’t= story of our lives. For a book that was written in the 70s, I only found that it was mildly dated, and I can see this being something I give to my future daughter along with that awkward birds and bees talk (also a classic). I do have to admit that I felt awkward about telling the girl I had to same book she was looking for on request as well. I am ten years older than her. I felt awkward/I do not need to be reading this/check out some real adult fiction instead or something.

But, yes, I spent my Friday evening reading a Judy Blume book about teens in “love” (and talking on the phone and playing mind games and writing long letters to each other, whatever teenagers do these days…). Let me know if you were doing something more interesting.

One of my  personal goals is to read more. Most everyone I know seems to be reading constantly, and me? I am most likely found reading nail polish blogs. So, I would like to start reading on a more regular basis, and then I can write here what I thought of the book. I’m not a critic, and I don’t try to be.

Recently, someone I knew held up a book called Hoot and said she preferred the author’s children’s book to his adult ones. His other fiction was just too much for her, and really, Carl Hiaasen is a writer of Florida, which on the whole can be much too much for just about anyone. I didn’t grow up here. In Virginia, the skies can be pretty flat and ordinary. When I moved to Florida, the things that stuck out most was the abundance of sunshine and I loved how the sand blew across the hot pavement near the beaches. I still love seeing far off drifts of rain across the sky or a rosy sunset. It’s stereotypical, but true: the Sunshine State is intoxicating and over-the-top.

I chose to read Skinny Dip as my first Carl Hiaasen reading experience. While I’ve not read his work before, his books are often memorable if only for their covers- simple almost cartoon-ish depictions of people or things, and I’ve always been left thinking, “Why is that woman skinny dipping in the first place? Is she at some kitschy apartment complex that likes that stuff?” I wasn’t even remotely close to what the book was about, but as soon as I started reading it, I dove right in, just like a woman being thrown off a cruise liner by her husband, who is the most pathetic villain ever.

I was on vacation away from Florida when I started getting into this book. Good thing, too- Skinny Dip is not a heavy read, and I am ashamed to say this, but I am not really into heavy reads. The more entertaining a book is, the more likely I’ll crave it and want to finish. This was a nice beach read to read while away from the beach. Looking back on it now, I loved the mixture of scum bags and the purity of the Everglades. I’ve never been, but parts reminded me of 11th grade biology, and who doesn’t love that? I almost cried once, unexpectedly, when the giant Tool was speaking with Maureen, and I loved the broad spectrum of people characterized. Skinny Dip, and perhaps any Hiaasen novel, can come across as “too much,” and it’s hard to believe it’s even real, but seriously- if you live in Florida, you can relate! And I’m not sure if I’m happy about that or sad.

When I am at work, I love making small talk with strangers about books they’ve picked up, what they read recently, or what they recommend. Now I have something more to say about Florida authors, and I am currently reading Star Island, as well. If you want a quick, fun read, pick this up. Perhaps I will read some of Hiaasen’s juvenile books in the future, but for now, I can safely say I’m all for whatever adult themes may come up. They are just too fun. I can’t get too much into recommendations, though… someone just said I should read Charles Todd, and I just placed one of the Ian Rutledge’s on hold.