Best Blog Articles I've Read Recently

I love blogs. I've been on a real blog kick the last couple of days, and here are some of the best.

Adults in Cradles from Advanced Riskology
This addresses that worrying trend of adults living with Mom and Dad until they're 30. I've noticed this a lot among my friends, and I do not understand it. I do, however, understand the fear of becoming a real adult with all the responsibilities and risks that entails, and this article covers that subject too, with directness and warmth.

"Shut Up And Call": How I Saved #175 on My Verizon Cell Phone Bill from Man vs. Debt
Great article on the power of just asking. Has lots of tips on negotiation/getting discounts/getting what you're after when you're on a customer service line. Ever-so-slightly manipulative... but if the situation ends up win/win, well, groovy.

Welcome to the Real World from The Art of Nonconformity
On why everything everyone says about "the real world" is crap. I love this blog.

Write Epic Shit from ThinkTraffic
This is one I'm still working on. I think perhaps my thoughts are insufficiently epic...? Whatever. The point is, this is an awesome article. Feel free to replace "Write" with whatever verb suits you best.

Why Your Ideal Career is Hiding From You from Everyday Bright
Confession: I think maybe I just liked this one because I haven't had a dose of solid self-help crack in a while and this felt good. Buuuut in addition to that, it had some great insights into finding a career/life path. Definitely worth a read if that's where you're at in life (or if it's where you want to be).

The Inescapable Truth of About Every Book, Guide, or Blog Post You'll Ever Read (Including This One) from Blog of Impossible Things
The main point of this article: "They don't do the work for you." Worth remembering. With that, back to real life. See ya'll later!

Book Recommendation! Creating Money: Keys to Abundance

I have been in an unusually good mood today. And I attribute it to the fact that I read snippets of this book:







Creating Money: Keys to Abundance







over a couple different 15 minute periods today, while waiting to clock in at my first job, waiting for my brother to get out of work and while walking to my second job.

In short, it's attitude crack, at least for me. I've read a lot of different books on positive thinking, Law of Attraction, magnetizing, conscious creation, etc. etc. This one is my favorite so far. It's positive, upbeat, readable, practical, and there's just something about it that keeps me up and running.

It claims to be channeled; however, if that sort of thing bugs you, just ignore it. The advice is valid either way, and it's a really easy read. Love it. Love it love it love it.

I definitely recommend reading it one short section at a time -- I've found it's valuable to spread it out over my day. Somehow having time to think about the concepts one chunk at a time really maximizes its value.

Just so ya'll know. Check it out on Amazon using the links above or at your local library; I think you'll enjoy it.

Housekeeping/Blog recommendation

Putting the experiments on hold for a bit. They're lots of fun but I have an insane Tuesday/Thursday workload and most of my free time is spent either working on or recovering from it.

However, I'll keep blogging on topics I find interesting.

One of them is asexuality. There's quite a bit online about it but I'm particularly enjoying this blog. It's about asexuality from a teenage perspective, and there's something very fresh and appealing about it. I can't necessarily say I understand where she's coming from --- I'm very sexual and identify strongly with womanhood --- but it's interesting to read about, particularly coming from someone so young and self-aware.

Recommended Reading

Having satisfied most of my personal development/self-improvement cravings with books since I was, like, nine, I thought I'd share a few of my favorites with you. Click through the links to see the book on Amazon. This is by no means an exhaustive list --- it's just a handful of the useful and memorable ones.

The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron. Fantastic book on rediscovering your creative self. It's a bit New Age at times, but if you don't mind that (or, better yet, enjoy it) this is a great read. It's full of great ideas, artistic tools and projects and is equally applicable to the painter, the writer, the blogger, the insert-your-hobby-and/or-profession-here-er.

Also, this book has given me this deep and abiding love of New Mexico, despite the fact that I've never been there and am not big on hot climates. But hey, she says it's good for writers!





 Yes Man by Danny Wallace is probably one of the funniest books I have ever read. It will have you LOLing in real life. And on top of that, it's incredibly life-affirming and inspirational. You can't help but be a more enthusiastic person for having read it.

You may have seen the movie. This is better. By at least 10,000 times. It's... well, it's genius, and it's more genius because it's nonfiction. This guy is for real. He said yes to every opportunity that came his way... then won the lotto, lost the lotto, flew across the continent, had a trippy shroom experience, met another Yes Man, and, of course, fell in love.

Brilliant.



Wishcraft by Barbara Sher is the ultimate self-help book, in that it actually helps. If you, like me, have read a lot of self-help books and started to realize that they are all saying the same not-very-practical things, this is something you'll want to check out. It's about finding what you want and then taking steps to get it. Not psychoanalyzing endlessly, not repeating affirmations for four hours a day, not magically deciding to be joyous. Taking steps. It's a breath of fresh air, and it's a fun read besides.







Happy for No Reason by Marci Shimoff is a fairly straightforward nonfic book on the science behind happiness. It talks about biological causes, what role your decisions play, what causes happiness, what is statistically associated with happiness... basically, it's a fascinating and informative book about what it takes to be happy and why we should bother.

Happy Christmas Eve!

(image by LaserGuided)

Merry Christmas Eve, folks!

Here's your present. I've created a playlist dedicated to just happy-making songs. Feel free to join and add to it! The invite link is here and the playlist link is here (not sure if that one'll work). We're talking not just songs you like, but songs that make you happy, songs that make you want to dance, songs that actually do make you dance... you get the picture. The invite link's also on the side of this page under the links section.

Very Important Stuff

Everyone needs to go read this. Right now.

http://thefunnyandgoodsimplelife.blogspot.com/2009/12/if-you-dont-like-it-you-can-lump-it.html