Wild: She Got Lost on the Pacific Coast Trail and Found Herself Again

This book couldn't have entered my life at a more appropriate time.  No, I did not go backpacking across the Pacific Coast Trail, but have been feeling out of my element and a lot of life changes have transpired (ie. moving to a different city and leaving a city I have known as home my entire 29 years).  So here I was on my one and only week off this summer, laying in the sun along the beautiful west Michigan coastline and I was enthralled.

Cheryl had quite the extraordinary childhood.  Her father was a deadbeat alcoholic who was abusive to her mother and her siblings. Luckily he did them all a favor and abandoned  them, which did leave some internal wounds she would need to sort out in her adulthood.  This left her loving mother to raise Cheryl, her brother, and sister.  The 4 of them lived in the country and grew their food, sewed their clothes, and enjoyed the simple life indeed.  Later her mother met Eddie and he became the father to take them fishing and other things fathers typically do.  It was a charmed life.

Cheryl got older and went to college which encouraged her mother to do the same.  The two ended up going to the same college which sadly got cut short.  Cheryl's mother was diagnosed with Cancer and when she died, this took a part of Cheryl away that she couldn't get back no matter how hard she tried, and believe me she tried everything.

Following the death of her mother, her little family fell apart and she couldn't keep them together.  Add to that the fact that she no longer felt the same about her husband, and Cheryl slowly fell into a horribly dark path.  She threw herself into bed after bed with different men and went as far as heroin to get herself to feel anything.  She hit rock bottom and then got inspired to hike the PCT (Pacific Coast Trail) by herself to find who she was again.  This caused quite a bit of backlash from friends and her ex husband as going backpacking was one thing, but backpacking thousands of miles as a female is quite another situation altogether.

Cheryl did it anyway though and learned so much about life and who she was capable of being. After all, there were so many obstacles to go through such as wild animals, extreme weather from all sides of the spectrum, sketchy individuals, and being so very alone surrounded by mountains and sky.

This book captured her journey in a way that had you walking alongside her as she evolved.  It would be a wonderful read for anyone needing to be inspired to expand your horizons and really live your life.  We all get lost sometimes, but it is up to us on how we find ourselves again.

Theater Review: Harbor Cinemas 8 Carmike Theaters

When you are in vacation and looking for a theater, it can be tricky.  Most up north towns don't have them which cause tourists to travel to the nearest theater location.  For me this week it was a road trip to Ludington whose only theater is the Harbor Cinema 8 owned by Carmike Cinemas.  I have been here before and was reminded today of why having competition is much better for the consumer.   I basically spent the same amount of money if I was going out to dinner and purchasing my boyfriend's ticket.

As you know,  I enjoy my fair share of popcorn.  So when ordering I was disappointed to see that the only free refills were for the Medium Couple's Special (19 dollars) which contained one large medium popcorn with free refills and 2 medium drinks, with no refills.   The other option was 21 dollars and involved 1 large popcorn (Ginormous!!!) with free refills and 2 large drinks which also includes free refills.  I know what you are thinking, maybe just get the smaller sizes and pay for refills? Nope......you are not allowed refills unless you pay for the entire thing.  So we settled for the large, because there is no way I am not getting refills on drinks after consuming that much popcorn.  

Now had this been Studio C, NCG,  or any number of any other theaters,  I could have gotten any size popcorn, pop, refills to my liking and either gotten them for free or paid a small fee.  My usual cost for movie attendance is 17 dollars which includes all the popcorn and pop I can consume and my ticket. I am wiling to budge this to 20, maybe 22.  My cost was 30 bucks!  Which makes sense, it is the only theater within 40 miles of Pentwater (to my knowledge).  Don't even get me started on the 25 minute trailor session! So, my advice is this, bring lots of cash or someone should open another theater so that friendly competition can help us movie goers out.

Tammy: It was either this or Transformers........

Part of being a movie buff for me means that even while on vacation, I still need to find a theater and see a flick.  It was a rainy day in Pentwater, MI,  so the boy and I made a trip to Ludington to see Tammy.  It is 4th of July weekend which usually implies some major releases.   For us it was Tammy or Transformers.  Now I know Transformers was the bigger hit, but I just can't sit through over 2 hours of it.  Not my cup of tea, and for those of you who I enjoy it, that is awesome.  But in all honesty,  I am kind of wishing I had gone with option b.

Tammy (played by the wonderfully hilarious Melissa McCarthy) is extremely down on her luck.  She hits a deer, destroys her car, gets fired from her job, and finds out her hubby is cheating on her with the neighbor..........all in one morning!   She needs out of this life and it appears the only one with the money and transportation is her alcoholic grandmother (Love Susan Sarandon!).  The two make a road trip to Niagara Falls and make some discoveries along the way.  Grandma learns to stop drinking and Tammy finds true love after all.  The end.

Not my usual blog?  Yeah, well.......I honestly don't know what to say.   First of all, Melissa and Susan, you are better than this!  Each of you should have run after reading the story line.   Tammy was pretty much Melissa doing some outlandish things over and over again.  It had a few funny parts but that was literally it.  The character development was lacking and had very generic plot development.  I'd say this and All About Steve (Sandra Bullock and Bradley Cooper) are both in the same category.   So my friends,  save your money!

Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand

Louis Zamperini was a trouble maker growing up,  luckily for him,  he had another skill.  Running.  Louis was fast and soon learned that he could outrun pretty much everyone he encountered.  This later lead him to his destiny of running in the Olympics.   Unfortunately,  his destiny had other things in mind as well.  You see this was during World War 2 which meant a draft was inevitable and Louis would join others in our battle with Japan.  What he didn't know and couldn't possibly imagine was just how much he would endure and what costs it would have on the rest of his life.

Louis' horrific tale begins when his B 24 takes off heading for Japan over the Pacific Ocean.  Not too soon after is it knocked down by a fighter plane leaving Louis and his team fighting for their lives in shark infested waters.  I mean literally shark, infested waters.  These guys are hungry and pretty much stalk these men for weeks.  Time continues to pass and it seems as if there is no way for anyone flying over to see them on their flimsy raft.  The only thing keeping them going is their imagination and heart.   Finally rescue is insight, but unfortunately it isn't the rescue they are hoping for.   They do escape the isolation of being stranded in fierce, oceanic waters, but are now POW for the Japanese.

There are a litany of events that occur at which I will not disclose as I want you to read and get a firsthand experience of what Louis went through.   He was beaten,  starved, and downgraded to nothing and just when he thought he might get some relief at a different POW camp, he meets his match.   They called him The Bird.  The Bird was a self absorbed lunatic who gained pleasure in the destruction of others and for whatever reason, he chose Louis as his prime target.  Maybe it was the fact that Louis refused to let him take him down.  Don't get me wrong, he did beat him to a bloody pulp,  help him back to his feet and do it all over again,  but Louis did get up every time.  Which would cause him to experience defeat in ways no human being should ever have to go through.

Louis did eventually get out.  WW 2 ended and the United States was able to retrieve Louis and others in similar situations.  Louis found love and married later, but had no idea the mental issues he was about to endure.  You see The Bird may have been out of sight, but he was still very real to Louis.  Louis saw him in his dreams as well as his drunken stupor during the day.   Louis was loosing control and falling fast.  Lucky for him, he made a promise to God back on the raft so many years before that he would serve God if he helped him survive.   It was this promise that came back to him when he was at the lowest point of his life and it did indeed save him.

There is so much to this book that I left out because I didn't want to takea away the realness of it all.  At first the language and vocabulary gave me a hard time really getting into it, but once I understood it, nothing could stop me from reading it.  Louis Zamperini experienced such awfulness and yet he still came out on top.  I also must say the author did a fantastic job of including details from this time that give the reader a real image of what such events must have been like.  One example is the details included when the U.S. dropped the atomic bombs, no history book can create for me the picture in my mind as I read word for word,  Louis' account.  For more details and  a truly deep, true story regarding survival of the mind, body, and sprit,  I encourage you to read this book.