Water for Elephants movie.

I went home for the Easter holiday weekend (Beckley, W.Va.). I miss home from time to time. I've lived in Huntington (W.Va.) since going to Marshall University in 2001. I never really left there. I wonder how my life would be had I made different choices. What if I didn't go away and stayed at the local Beckley College? What would have happened if I moved back to Beckley and had taken a different type of job?

Why am I asking these questions? It has to do with a bigger question: Do you have free choice or is life pre-determined? I like to think I have control.

Today, I watched the movie, "Water for Elephants." I enjoyed it a lot. The main character in the story is a guy named Jacob who joins the circus at the age of 21. I won't tell anything else about this story so I won't give-away any of the good parts in case you decide to read the book or watch the movie.

Here is the big question I got from this movie: Do we make choices or are they already made for us. The movie had a question that said something along the lines of: "You don't choose the cirus, the circus chooses you."

My sister Carrie told me that she didn't like the movie. I asked why and she said because of the way they treated animals. I pointed out that several characters in the movie had "good traits" and they cared for animals and I reminded her that I doubt if Hollywood would allow any animal to be harmed when they filmed the movie, (or at least I hope so). Most movies have a disclaimer that makes that clear. So, I decided to do a little google search. The info. was positive. I'd assume that the animal right groups would have had many posts asking people to avoid the movie had there been any harm. The "WeAreMovieGeeks" site and many others said that no animals were harmed in the movie, but I must say they are hard to watch.



I think I'd like to read the book, if I had more time.


You can get the book at Amazon.com at this link here:

What if you could do it all over again?

What book are you reading this week?

I’m reading an awesome book, Before I fall, by Lauren Oliver. I discovered it at Wal-Mart one night. The summary on the back was attention-getting for me.

I didn’t buy it right away, but did purchase it on Amazon a few days later because I wanted to know what happens in the story.

I love this book so far (after reading 60%)

Click on this Amazon link to read more about it. The book is ranked in the top 5,000 best-selling books on amazon as of today. That is a fairly good rank for a book. My children's book, Building Character" is ranked about 800,000.



It’s about this high school girl named Sam who dies in a car crash. She has what I like to call “Groundhog Day Syndrome.” It is like the movie groundhog day because she repeats the same day over and over again. Except it is Feb 12th a.k.a. Cupid Day at school in this book.

But this book is so much better than groundhog day!

I’m not certain if she is fully living her life with a second chance each day or living a shadow of it in an afterlife until she passes on.

Here is a youtube trailer for the book. I regret to say this trailer doesn’t do justice for the book. The book is so much more fascinating.

She gets to live her life over each day. She has the opportunity to do it different. What would you do if you could do it all over again?




I don't know the ending of this book yet because I still have about 40% more to read. This may be a good thing so I won't give any book-spoilers in this blog. I fully recommend this book. I'm going to give my copy to my mother after I read it.

Here is the link again:



Here is short book review I found on youtube:



Here is the link again:

Who Else Wants to Be a Hero?

E.S. Brenwalt holding a copy of his sci-fi novel, Path of a Hero at the 2010 W.Va. Book Fair in Charleston, West Virginia.

What does it take to become a hero?

E. S. Brenwalt shares the secret in his science fiction novel, The Path of a Hero.

Cyankazu is the main character in this novel who is awarded the very prestigious and honorary title, “Hero of Trino.”

Cyankazu lives on a magical island called Trino. It is filled with mythical creatures including monsters, dragons, demons, orcs, and talking rats.

How does a person rise above the others in a world like this to become a hero?

It is a journey. It doesn’t happen in a second.

Confucius said “a journey of 1,000 miles starts with a single step.”

Another old Chinese proverb
reads: “It’s not the destination that is important. It’s the journey.”

I suggest enjoying the present moment during your own journey towards becoming successful in life.

Here are some lessons on becoming a hero based on the hero in this novel:

Patience and Persistence: It took Cyankazu five years.

Training: Cyankazu takes martial arts.

Do Good: Cyan frees a slave who later helps him in a time of need.

Continuing training and persistence: Cyan gains new skills during his journey and he does more good to help a village under attack from monsters.

Here are some of my questions for you:

Have you made a written goal that you’re going to go for your own personal goal in life? Are you going to be the hero in your own life? Do what you dream of doing. I consider people like E. S. Brenwalt a hero because he has followed his dream in life. Brenwalt has written a book. What do you want to do? You might not want to write a book, but there is something you’d like to have, do, or be?

Do you have a written plan? Have you taken the time to actually write out the steps from where you are right now in your life to where you want to be? Here is an example. Jenny wants to be a nurse. She is a cook at a local hospital’s cafeteria today. She calls a school that offers nursing course. She finds out what classes she needs to take. She completes her courses one at a time. In four or five years she earns a Bachelor of Science degree in nursing. She applies for jobs and becomes a nurse.

What are your monsters? Cyan fights mystical monsters in his journey to become a hero. You’ll have real life monsters that may be stopping you. Have you identified these monsters? How do you plan to overcome them? One monster: people say you can’t do it. How to overcome this? Find people who believe in you and encourage you to do it. Another monster in real life says, “it’s easy to be lazy. Give up.” Don’t do it. You’re strong and you keep persistent until you reach your goal.

Want to read the E. S. Brenwalt’s science fiction “Path of a Hero?”
Go here:

Want to discover more secrets on success and becoming your best? Then read my book. The subtitle is: How to become great at anything.
Go here:

Time Travel Possibilities?

Some scientists at the University of California believe time travel is possible.

Wow. That is all I can say.

An article by John Brandon with Fox News was posted about these scientists on April 5, 2010.

I can’t explain how time travel is possible, but these scientists believe it is. And I have faith in their work.

I don’t need to know how electricity works in order to use it. As long as there is somebody alive who knows how to generate and produce it and make certain that our lights work and computers work. That is all I need.

My mind and time is limited. My mind can’t know everything there is to know in the world. My time on Earth is limited, too. I don’t have time to learn everything either.

I must make wise choices in how I use my time and what I learn.

The Quantum physicist Fred Alan Wolf is cited in the article. Enjoy hearing him talk. Wolf is featured in the hit underground documentaries The Secret and What the Bleep Do We Know and Further Down the Rabbit’s Hole.

Doc Brown from the movie, “Back to the Future” exists and his name is Fred Alan Wolf.

A cartoonish picture of Fred Wolf is featured on the cover of this book:



However, here is the book on time travel that you’ll want to read:




Source:
Brandon, J. (2010, April 5). Freaky physics proves parallel universes. Fox News. Article retrieved April 6, 2010 from: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/04/05/freaky-physics-proves-parallel-universes/?test=faces


Here are some more books and DVDs that you may be interested in knowing about:

Have you read Scott Blum's "Summer Path?"

Believe great wisdom can be found in books.

As you’ll recall from my best-selling book, Discover Hidden Secret Wisdom: A Recreational Therapist’s System on How You Can Become Great, I said: “read a book a week."

My recommendation for the week is...

Scott Blum’s Summer’s Path.

This book was originally a best-selling electronic book.
It is NOW available in an expanded-edition hardcover.

I’ve already got my copy of the book as shown in the picture below. I put it on the book shelf in my home-office for this picture.

[regret to say the picture won't upload tonight]


Here is a brief preview of the book:

Summer’s Path presents the remarkable story of Don Newport, an engineer who comes face-to-face with his personal destiny under extraordinary circumstances. After losing his job and his health insurance, Don learns that he has a terminal disease, with only a few months left to live. On his deathbed, he meets Robert, a brazen angel of death who promises to help him with a graceful exit.

As Don prepares to say his last goodbyes to his loving wife, Robert attempts to change Don’s perspective about his mortality and proposes an exceptionally unique option.

Robert leads Don through an astounding meditation of life and death and reveals various healing and spiritual concepts, including walk-ins, embodiment, and soul destiny. On this magical journey of self-realization, Don discovers that it’s never too late to learn profound life lessons about ourselves and our loved ones.

Summer’s Path is the prequel to the best-selling book Waiting for Autumn. I've not read Waiting for Autumn yet. Glad to know that Summer's Path was the prequel so I can read Waiting for Autumn next! It had been on my list of books to read for a while.

I, Danny Pettry, consider myself to be a “Teacher-Healer.” There are many concepts from Blum’s new book that I find fascinating as a teacher-healer. These include:

Healing and spiritual concepts
Animal communications
Soul destiny
Magical journey
Self-relaxation
Lessons for life

This book is chockfull of wisdom. Think you’d be wise to read this book.

You can get it on Amazon here:



Here is a link for his first book, Waiting for Autumn: