Saturday, July 21, 2012

Date A Guy Who Reads



Date a guy who reads. Date a guy who spends more money on books than on flirting aimlessly with shallow girls. He feels uncomfortable when he tries to share his thoughts on his current read, and is met with a blank stare. Date a guy who has a ton of unread books cluttering his bedroom, because he buys too many books that he can keep up with his limited precious time for reading.

Find a guy who reads. You'll recognize him by the thick glasses perched on his nose. His fingertips are stained with ink and highlighter fluid. He's the one standing by the bookshelves, rapidly scanning the racks for bargain finds and new releases. You see that guy looking for a quiet spot in the coffeeshop where he won't be bothered? That's your guy.

He's the guy with the big laptop bag or the mangy, grimy backpack. His bag is crammed with pad paper, notebooks, pencils, ballpens and highlighters. He's furiously scribbling notes while glancing at his books, transcribing eloquent lines which have moved his spirits to gentler depths. Sit down next to him. He might stare at you, like a deer caught in headlights, wondering why someone as beautiful as you would bother with a reclusive nerd like him.

Ask him if the coffee in this joint is any good.

Let him know if you think Hemingway is a chauvinistic pig, or a man trapped in his own myth. Ask him if he has ever gotten past any novel by Eco. Understand that if he says he likes Alcott's "Little Women," he's letting down his guard and trusting you with a glimpse of his vulnerability. Ask him if he would like to be trapped on an island, like Robinson Crusoe. Ask him if you could be the Midori to his Toru.

It's not easy to date a guy who reads, but he's worth it. He will regale you with story upon story, learning upon learning, wisdom upon wisdom, and worlds upon worlds. You're more likely to lose him to incompatible rhetoric than to another woman. He will listen to you with a silence enraptured by the rise and fall of your breath, taking note of how beautifully your eyes crinkle when you smile. He lives for that small moment... touching your hand and sharing a cup of coffee, sharing a pointless corny joke.

He will adore you.

You can't lie to him. He understands syntax and context, metaphor and allusion. He will smile whimsically when you attempt to distract him with straw-man arguments. He will just keep quiet, having learned from Shakespeare, never to raise the ire of a woman scorned.

Confound him. He's read from psychology reports of the intricate and superior wiring of the female mind, but he'll never believe it until you throw your first sulky fit, not understanding that you're mad because he didn't notice your new haircut nor say, "Hey, your hair is cute." He's always believed that his understanding of complex plots and the work of Machiavelli has prepared him for a woman's reasoning. Prove him wrong. Tell him, "You know nothing, Jon Snow."

Exasperate him with your unusual outlook in life. He loves unraveling the intricacies of what makes you special, and your complications will never cease to fascinate him. Tell him you read Murakami and he will never let you go. But it's alright if you prefer Sidney Sheldon, Judith Mcnaught or Danielle Steele. He will be happy that you read. Just don't ever admit that you like Twilight.

If you find a guy who reads, give him space. He relishes silence and distance and time apart. He needs for you to be gone, so he can realize how profoundly he misses you. When he loves you, he will give you all he has and shall leave broken pieces of himself behind in the pursuit of your happiness. Give him time to gather those pieces and reassemble them, so that he will care for you again with everything that is in him to give. See that wrinkled, dog-eared and yellowed book that he sets aside on a special place on his bookshelf? He loves you like that book. He will come back to you, over and over, with fresh perspective, having figured you out from the time spent trying to piece together fragmented data.

He will make sure you understand how much you are special, like the only rose growing in the Little Prince's little planet. Train him like the fox in that book, to love you. Grow closer to him, slowly, one minute in one day of a time, and he can never bear to imagine what life would be like when you're not around.

He shall be as Ned Stark to your Catelyn, fiercely devoted and tied to the rock of his duty. He will give your kids formal ordinary names, like Peter, Susan, Edmund or Lucy. But he will give them funny nicknames as they are growing up, like Wednesday, Shadow or Mister Nancy. Hold your ground and tell him you cannot name his eldest son Kal-el.

You will grow old together, with him sharing with you the stories found in the books he's reading, or recite Cummings to you, by the firelight, whispering that the voice of your eyes are deeper than all roses.. that nobody, not even the rain, has such small hands.

Date a guy who reads, because you deserve to be happy. You deserve a guy whom you will only lose, momentarily, to his books. He only asks that you give him his silence and space, to be lost within the worlds in his head. But when he returns, he will share the Universe with you, and give you the rose from the Beast's garden, garb you with the garments from Cinderella's ball, or kiss you with the fervor that dislodged the poisoned apple from Snow White's palate. If you want to live happily ever after, date a guy who reads.

Or better yet, date a guy who shoots photographs.


:)


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Monday, June 25, 2012

Date a Girl Who Reads

DATE A GIRL WHO READS

by Rosemarie Urquico
(In response to Charles Warnke’s You Should Date an Illiterate Girl)


Date a girl who reads. Date a girl who spends her money on books instead of clothes. She has problems with closet space because she has too many books. Date a girl who has a list of books she wants to read, who has had a library card since she was twelve.

Find a girl who reads. You’ll know that she does because she will always have an unread book in her bag. She’s the one lovingly looking over the shelves in the bookstore, the one who quietly cries out when she finds the book she wants. You see the weird chick sniffing the pages of an old book in a second hand book shop? That’s the reader. They can never resist smelling the pages, especially when they are yellow.

She’s the girl reading while waiting in that coffee shop down the street. If you take a peek at her mug, the non-dairy creamer is floating on top because she’s kind of engrossed already. Lost in a world of the author’s making. Sit down. She might give you a glare, as most girls who read do not like to be interrupted. Ask her if she likes the book.

Buy her another cup of coffee.
Let her know what you really think of Murakami. See if she got through the first chapter of Fellowship. Understand that if she says she understood James Joyce’s Ulysses she’s just saying that to sound intelligent. Ask her if she loves Alice or she would like to be Alice.

It’s easy to date a girl who reads. Give her books for her birthday, for Christmas and for anniversaries. Give her the gift of words, in poetry, in song. Give her Neruda, Pound, Sexton, Cummings. Let her know that you understand that words are love. Understand that she knows the difference between books and reality but by god, she’s going to try to make her life a little like her favorite book. It will never be your fault if she does.

She has to give it a shot somehow.

Lie to her. If she understands syntax, she will understand your need to lie. Behind words are other things: motivation, value, nuance, dialogue. It will not be the end of the world.

Fail her. Because a girl who reads knows that failure always leads up to the climax. Because girls who understand that all things will come to end. That you can always write a sequel. That you can begin again and again and still be the hero. That life is meant to have a villain or two.
Why be frightened of everything that you are not? Girls who read understand that people, like characters, develop. Except in the Twilight series.

If you find a girl who reads, keep her close. When you find her up at 2 AM clutching a book to her chest and weeping, make her a cup of tea and hold her. You may lose her for a couple of hours but she will always come back to you. She’ll talk as if the characters in the book are real, because for a while, they always are.

You will propose on a hot air balloon. Or during a rock concert. Or very casually next time she’s sick. Over Skype.

You will smile so hard you will wonder why your heart hasn’t burst and bled out all over your chest yet. You will write the story of your lives, have kids with strange names and even stranger tastes. She will introduce your children to the Cat in the Hat and Aslan, maybe in the same day. You will walk the winters of your old age together and she will recite Keats under her breath while you shake the snow off your boots.

Date a girl who reads because you deserve it. You deserve a girl who can give you the most colorful life imaginable. If you can only give her monotony, and stale hours and half-baked proposals, then you’re better off alone. If you want the world and the worlds beyond it, date a girl who reads.

Or better yet, date a girl who writes.



I found this and just had to share it! :)

Monday, May 7, 2012

Most Magical Moment

Cinderella's Transformation



This is absolutely as magical as it gets.

:)





Thanks For Reading!!!


Optimistically, Bethany Lea <3

Sunday, May 6, 2012

Favorite Lyrics


I Can Go The Distance- Hercules


I have often dreamed
Of a far off place
Where a hero's welcome
Will be waiting for me
Where the crowds will cheer
When they see my face
And a voice keeps saying
This is where I'm meant to be

I will find my way
I can go the distance
I'll be there someday
If I can be strong
I know every mile
Will be worth my while
I will go most anywhere
To feel like I belong
Down an unknown road
To embrace my fate
Though that road may wander
It will lead me to you
And a thousand years
Would be worth the wait
It might take a lifetime
But somehow I'll see it through

And I won't look back
I can go the distance
And I'll stay on track
No I won't accept defeat
It's an uphill slope
But I won't lose hope
Till I go the distance
And my journey is complete
But to look beyond the glory is the hardest part
For a hero's strength is measured by his heart

Like a shooting star
I will go the distance
I will search the world
I will face its harms
I don't care how far
I can go the distance
Till I find my hero's welcome
Waiting in your arms...

I will search the world
I will face its harms
Till I find my hero's welcome
Waiting in your arms




I absolutely love this song, but I wish they played the entire song in the movie :)



Thanks for reading :)

Optimistically, Bethany Lea <3

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Favorite Parent

My favorite Disney parent is Mufasa.

 

He's not human, but he is the best dad ever.


:)





He gives great advice, is always there for Simba, and sacrifices his own life in order to save his son.



 



Thanks For Reading!


Optimistically, Bethany Lea <3

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Favorite Dance

The Kingdom Dance scene from Tangled is absolutely enchanting...

I love the music, emotion, vivaciousness, and everything else!


Thanks For Reading!

Optimistically, Bethany Lea <3