--WELL, EXCUSE ME, WHILE I BREAK MY OWN HEART TONIGHT

…I used to work in the corporate world.  For quite a few years I did. 

Because of that, I do some motivational speaking from time to time, and for the last few years I've been mentoring college students.
I like it.  It's fun to teach. 
 The kids are bright and eager and as naïve about things as I was.  Mostly they overcomplicate it or undervalue how simple it is to be success, if even on a limited scale.
 

…I read Robb Todd's collection, "Steal Me For Your Stories."

I read with Robb in NYC for The Sunday Salon Series and I've heard him read at two other venues.  He's a good guy and is something between an acquaintence and a friend, although we've never spoken on the phone and he doesn't do Facebook, which is hard to believe, especially since he's a writer and Fbk is important for getting one's work out there.
He's a great writer and his pieces are funny, gritty, and often nasty, twisted sometimes.  Often I couldn't figure out what a story meant, yet the prose was sharp and interesting throughout.
You can tell he lives in NY because he writes a lot about subways and trains and bars and sex with moody women.  Plus his phone is always prominent in his pieces, either buzzing in his pocket or sending him strange texts.
The physical book is small, as maybe it should be coming from Tiny Hardcore Press.  It's not quite the size of our hand if you've unclenched your fist.

 …I started John Green's "The Fault of Our Stars."

John is a Young Adult author, and quite a famous one, too.
His book, "An Abundance of Katherines" about a guy who dates 27 different girls named Katherine is one of my favorites, although his other, "Looking For Alaska" is the most famous.
So far the new one is immensely readable, though a lot more juvenile than the others.
It features a cast of 12 to 17 year olds who all suffer from some form of cancer and attend the same support group, which is a clever idea.
I'm hoping it gets better, but like "The Hunger Games," it sucks you in with a simple story that moves like a current.

…I thought this was interesting:

Countries with the largest percentage of consumers downloading e-books:
1. --24% India
2. --21% Australia
3. --21% United Kingdom
4. --20% USA
5. --18% Brazil

…And this:

A recent Ohio State U. study found that "on average, men tink about sex 34 times a day, or rougly once or twice and hour, compared to 19 times a day for women.  Also, men's minds were occupied by food almost as much as by sex."

…I like these:

"To be alive--is Power--

Existence--in itself--
Without a further function--
Omnipotence--Enough--"
-Emily Dickinson

"An accident isn't necessarily ever over." Diane Williams

"Everybody can master a grief but those who have it." Shakespeare

"Happiness is the greatest hiding place for despair." Kierkegaard

"We all hope, modesty enough, to get through life with being murdered." Martin Amis