Wise Words from a Fortune Cookie

Motorcycle Diaries

After crawling out from under the weight of all four Twilight books, I decided to pick something from my bookcase that I really really wanted to read.

I settled on The Motorcycle Diaries, Che Guevara's famous (infamous?) journal recounting a trip he took through South America at the age of 23/24.

Despite the fact that I am Che-obsessed and the fact that this book has been sitting on my shelf for two years, I'd never cracked the spine. I decided it was time.

Besides, it's just a slim little book. Easy reading, I thought.

Not exactly. It took me three weeks to read 175 pages. Not quite as engaging as I had hoped.

This was probably because I had some pretty high hopes. Motorcycle Diaries the movie had been so engaging. Now that I've read the original book, I'm left wondering how in the world they ever made such a fun film from this drab account.

Or maybe I'm remembering the film all wrong. Maybe I let my feelings for Gael Garcia Bernal, the actor who played Che, cloud my judgment there. He is quite a little hottie.

Anyway, back to the book. Sure, it had its moments.

Like this line, which I highlighted and starred:

"All this wandering around 'Our America with a capital A' has changed me more than I thought."

To that I had only one thing to say:

Amen.

Smart Talking Syliva Earle

Last night was another lecture series night. A good friend and I have been season ticket holders for the Smart Talk series for several years now. Events are held once a month at Minneapolis' Orchestra Hall.

Last night's presenter was a woman named Dr. Sylvia Earle. I'd never heard of her before, but after listening to her speak, I was in awe. I was also feeling a little inadequate. She knew so much! About so many cool things!

She is a marine biologist, a ground-breaking one at that, who earned her ph.D. in 1966. She is in her 70s, sharp as a knife and fit.

She has logged over 6,000 hours underwater. She lived in a bio-dome type of set up on the ocean floor for two weeks. She holds the world record for deepest solo dive by a woman -- she went down 3,300 feet by herself.

She had a lot to say about the current health of our oceans and our fish populations.

Yet it was these words from her mouth (I'm paraphrasing) that stuck in my mind all night:

Children, she said, always ask her what it takes to be a explorer.

You can't ever grow up, she said. You have to always be like a little kid, asking questions all the time -- why? why? why? You have to have a deep curiosity and a sense of wonder.

Smart Talking Jane Pauley

Last night I attended an event where Jane Pauley was speaking.

It was the first night in the Smart Talk series, which will bring yet four more high-profile women willing to share their personal stories to Minneapolis by May.

I love this lecture series and have had season tickets to it for a number of years. I started attending it with my mom. Now that she's a snowbird, I've taken to going with one of my friends.

It's always a great excuse to get out of the house, get downtown for dinner and chill for some girl time.

Ms. Pauley was a very engaging speaker. She was funny and light, yet almost everything she said carried a deeper meaning.

In the course of the night, she said several things that really jumped out at me. One was this:

The point is not to get your ducks in a row. The point is to get your ducks in the water.

When she said it, the audience chuckled and clapped. But it is so true. So many of us tend to place such an emphasis on planning and organizing.

Perhaps, what we should be doing instead, is just start making leaps and trusting we'll figure it out once we're wet.