The Princess Bride

You may not know this because I don't think I've mentioned it before, but I love to read. I also love writing reviews for Goodreads.com. I just started reading The Princess Bride and I'm LOVING it! I'm kind of proud of the review I wrote today, so I'm gonna share it here, too. I hope you like it.  

We hear, "The book was better," so often that it doesn't mean much anymore. We all know the book is better just like we know that procrastination creates undue stress and that late nights full of bad food and vices make us old, fat, and weak before our time. We do those things anyway, and we don't always floss, and we don't read the book. If the movie is good and we're happy with it maybe that can be enough, especially when there are so many other stories out there that we don't know by heart yet. 

When I say that I grew up watching The Princess Bride movie I mean it was played so frequently at my house that I can not count the number of times I've seen it. It's not just that I have every line memorized, but every pause, every breath, every eye muscle contraction, each ripple of fabric and tousle of windy hair. I can see the cliffs of insanity as easily as I can see my grandmother's kitchen and with almost as much fondness. The movie was a part of my growing up, maybe not in a big way, but in a very constant way. I love it like I love southeast Texas grass, finding a litter of semi-wild kittens, climbing trees, swinging, and playing in the hose. I know this story. I know these characters. I know what happens next. 

But somehow the book is still surprising. The story is new again, witty and delightful. It just has so much more everything. I'm not even half way through it yet and I can definitively say that the book is far better than the movie and it's absolutely worth the time.

Not The Same Thing

Here is a list of words and phrases which we should remember to think of as SIMILAR,  but not necessarily SYNONYMOUS.

Simple does not mean easy. A simple way to improve your health is to stop smoking. No one would call that an easy task.

Natural / normal does not mean acceptable. It's perfectly natural to be self-centered. That doesn't make it ok.

Feeling better does not mean doing better. I'm sure an addict feels much better after pushing the plunger down on a syringe.

I forgive you does not mean it's ok, and vice versa. Remember the pity party auto shop scene from Sixteen Candles?

I feel like these common connotations contribute to miscommunication. They create unrealistic expectations and make realistic expectations seem unreasonable. They're responsible for global warming and illiteracy. They're why you can only breathe out of one nostril when you're sick. They cause finger prints on comic books, photographs, and other artwork. They chew with their mouths open, cut Styrofoam with a knife, make scratching noises on the guitar strings when you're playing, and constantly drip against the sink while you're trying to sleep. Let's be cautious of them.