The songs that reflect my life.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7H3NMzg9kwE

Castle In The Sand by Pitbull reminds me of my own story by way the life story is told of someone who has come from nothing.  This person has found his way through all the painful life experiences and is now here to help others find their ways through their tough life journeys.  The story of my life reads similar to this and I want to continue to find a way to help others through my experiences.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYGLrJhhbqM

I Get Knocked Down by Tubthumping is a song that I replay throughout my life anytime that I need encouragement.  Parallel to the lyrics, I feel that there are many times in life that I fail or feel like the world is against me, but I keep going on.  I will never let the failures disappoint me.  I will only use my failures to push myself to learn from them and improve my life.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOV57avtWeE

I love Sin Bandera's song Amor Real because it represents the feelings that I lived my whole life to find.  I felt the same happiness as described when I finally found the true love of my life.

Interesting Authors

Kate Chopin is an author that I find very interesting.  She was born Catherine O’Flaherty as her father was Irish and her mother came from a line of upper class French.  Throughout her childhood she was surrounded by strong females, which I believe gave her the courage to write such strong female characters into her stories.  I feel a connection to her as I have worked almost my entire life in a male dominated field.  I know the risk that a woman takes to try to be something different from what society expects.  Kate Chopin was not afraid to write stories in which her characters went against what were common and comfortable thoughts for people in society at that time.

In her short story, The Story of an Hour, she created a female character that behaves in a manner much unlike the rest of society upon learning of the death of her husband.  Where most women would be petrified by the idea that they were now alone, the character of Louise says, “Free, free, Free!....Free!  Body and soul free!”(Kirszner; Mandell, 107)  In the 1899 story, The Storm, the main plot is the act of the main character, Calixta, committing adultery.  “The generous abundance of her passion, without guile or trickery, was like a white flame which penetrated and found response in depths of his own sensuous nature that had never yet been reached” (Kirszner: Mandell, 167).  It was an outrage at this time period for a story to be printed where a woman displayed such indiscretions.  This further shows just how much Kate Chopin was willing to take a risk with her writing.

Source: http://www.katechopin.org/

                                      Source: http://www.narrativemagazine.com/node/903/

An author that has captivated me with his work is James Alfred Wight who published his work under the name of James Herriot.  His novels reflect his everyday life as a veterinarian in England.  The stories bring to life the strange occurrences that happen when working with animals, and also the people that he met along the way from visit to visit.  Being an animal lover, I treasured each chapter as the writing was so down to earth and real that I could picture one of my own neighbors creating each situation.  Parallel to his stories, I can also relate to experiences with animals that seem just bizarre enough to impossibly not be fiction.  Nothing is hidden from the reader as the reality of always apparent.

In the book, All Creatures Great and Small, James Harriet shows us the unglamorous side of being a veterinarian.  “I had been warned long before I qualified that country practice was a dirty, stinking job.  I had accepted the fact and adjusted myself to it but there were times then this side of my life obtruded itself and became almost insupportable (481).   Another perfect example of the life of a county veterinarian can be found in All Things Bright and Beautiful.  “It had started with the aggressive shrilling of the bedside phone at one a.m.  And it was Sunday morning, a not unusual time for some farmers after a late Saturday night to have a look rounds their stock and decide to send for the vet (1).  I love that each book gives the reader such an honest account of what his life was like.  We get to vividly experience each chapter of his life with him.

                             Source: http://www.drkennekic.org/DrKenNekic/James_Herriot.html

       Source: http://www.yorkpress.co.uk/leisure/books/8400595.A_vets_life_for_father_and_son/

Image Like My Life

This is how I see myself in life.  I want to bound over any obstacle in front of me.  I don't want to merely stumble over it, but to fly over it with great effort.  As I cross the obstacles, I am not consumed by the task, but already finding focus for overtaking the next obstacle that will be in my path.  This sharp focus and effort is what will take me to the finish line of all the goals for my life.

The story of my life...

 I find it hard to describe my career as it is in transition right now.  For ten years I worked for a transportation construction company giving my whole life to them.  During my tenth year the stress and unforgiving hours made me want more for my life.  At the beginning of this year I quit my job and moved to Argentina to work in equine therapy.   I loved every moment there and would probably still be there had I not taken a trip to Bolivia.  I planned on staying for three days in Bolivia and ended up stuck for twenty-one days throughout Bolivia and Chile during a snow storm desperately trying to get back home to Argentina.  During one of those long nights during which I thought that I was going to freeze to death, I decided to move back home to the U.S.  I think I figured out there that I really wanted to do more with my life.  While life in Argentina was fun and stressfree, I knew that I should be pushing myself more towards a new career.  Almost every big decision of my life takes a drastic story that pushes rather than nudges me into the right direction.