Surprised by Joy by C.S. Lewis

This book is basically about Lewis' lifelong search for what he termed "joy" and how he finally found it where he least expected.

He had a somewhat sad childhood although an amazing education despite his poor boarding school experiences which were downright awful. Anyway, his parents were readers and his mother started teaching him Latin at a very young age, but his childhood sorrow began with the death of his mother. He was very close to his brother and they read a lot and made up ongoing play stories together which seemed similar to what Lewis wrote in his chronicles of Narnia. His brother was sent off to boarding school, and soon after, Lewis followed. it really was a terrible place, they didn't get enough to eat, the school master really probably had sever mental problems by the way he ran the school and treated everybody and the school was soon after closed down. It was a waste of time academically for Lewis, and he never felt comfortable with mathmatics and my guess is that he never had a chance to learn it well. Anyway, his next boarding school was quite good and he had some good teachers who introduced some good subjects for him and he was able to learn some things, but he was only there about a year and then was off to Wyvern which was horrid. The upper class men were allowed and even encouraged to haze the lower classmen. There was a ton of emphasis placed on some type of games like rugby and others which Lewis hated because he was no good at them and he'd rather be in the library. He actually thought he was the strange one for enjoying literature. Anyway, he was finally able to talk his father into finding him another mode of educational training and started his true formal training under the one on one mentorship of "The Great Knock", and finally on to Oxford.

It was very interesting to read about all the books Lewis felt were important to his development. Honestly it made me realize again how lacking my own education has been. I also enjoyed reading how he and "The Great Knock" read Homer in the original Greek and other texts in their original languages. Over the course of Lewis' young life, he became an atheist although he continually sought after "joy" which he seemed to find mostly in Norse mythology. A lot of his reasoning and the way he thought about life and he world were foreign to me, because I think that deep down I have always known there is a God. I had to take some time to let some of his ideas make sense to me, because they weere so different from anything I had thought before.

It was really nice to get to the final 2 chapters, because the rest of the book especially the chapter called "The Bloods" was downright sad and depressing. In the final 2 chapters he talks about how although he didn't want to believe in God, he was finally forced in a sense to acknowledge the logic and light of the truth. One of the first ideas he let go of was that just because a time such as the dark ages has past and we are so much "more advanced" now doesn't necessarily mean that we can't learn from past ages and that maybe they had some wisdom we could learn from now. That seems to be a common belief of atheists and "progressives", that modernity is better and the past is archaic and unuseful to the present. This combined with Lewis' thirst for knowledge understanding and "joy" led him to continue to learn and read. He found less and less "joy" and satisfaction in his mythology, and much to his unexpected expectations, the Christian writers seemed to be the ones that made the most sense.

This caused him to reevaluate over time and at last accept Jesus as the Christ and Savior of the world. He had at last found "Joy", and that is where the book ends. This is probably my least favorite of all the Lewis books I've read. He said that knowing about a person doesn't necessarily give one more insight into the things they write about and I would have to agree. I had a hard time relating with his atheistic ideas of youth, but I suppose it does give me a greater understanding and appreciation of those who think that way. I have enjoyed his other works much more although this book does let me see why and how Lewis can express himself so well in his other works. Overall, I do recommend this book. Enjoy!!!

Stay AWAY from Vegas!!!!

I have relatives and I know people who take their kids and spend a few days in Vegas for fun. I remember stopping there as a kid and seeing the cool hotels although I always hated the smoky casinos, the pools were always nice. It was never my idea of a great vacation, but it seemed harmless enough, and some people seem to really like it.

Weeeeeeellllll, not me!!! We had the unfortunate experience this weekend of getting stuck there on our way to a family event in San Diego. I was recovering from a severe migraine and still had a headache in no condition to drive safely for 6 more hours and my husband had a pinched nerve in his shoulder that got so bad he could no longer move his entire arm also in no condition to drive safely. Then my mom worried us that if it was his left shoulder we'd better get it checked out to make sure it wasn't a heart attack. The pain culminated right outside Vegas while we were looking for a Subway. Anyway, we decided to call it quits, find a hotel and an after hours clinic and at least let the kids swim even though they were so looking forward to the beach. It was sad.

Anyway, we were stuck in Vegas and if I had to do it over again, I would turn around and go to the first non-casino hotel I could find on my way back to Utah. We called my uncle to get some recomendations for places to stay in Vegas and he thought Excaliber had rooms for $33/night, so we drove down the strip in pain trying to find it. There are so many billboards and ads for a "good time" that include a ton of soft porn, it is sickening to even drive down the strip. Then as if that weren't enough, we got to follow a billboard truck advertising some whores/ "babes" "who want to meet you" for at least 20 min. I'm glad my children weren't any older. Definitely keep your teenage sons away from this trash town. So we finally found Excaliber and it was $100/ night, but we took it anyway. Then we walked our sweet little children through the casino which smells of cigarettes all the way across to the elevator to get to our rooms. The only appropriate thing we could find on T.V. was baseball, and we had to make sure to turn the complimentary magazines over. What a rotten place.

Since my muscular man was out of comission, I rounded up some dinner and brought up a few things from the car which meant I had the "privilege" of walking through the casino several times. Most everybody was wearing the trashiest cut off shorts and tank tops, there was a really bad Kareoke room, some sports rooms and bars, and a pole dancer. I just kept my eyes off her as much as possible, but I don't think she was even very pretty. I did observe the people watching her though. There was a group of guys which I can understand, but there was also a group of women and there was a couple--which I don't understand as well. There were also a ton of tatoos. It is just one messed up debauched place. I wanted out of there as soon as possible. I suppose that if you planned ahead and knew your way around a little bit, you would know where to avoid. If there was a show you really wanted to see, you would go, watch and leave. But to me, it's just not worth it to see all the ads and other depravity going on there.

The pool ended up being O.K. although it didn't open 'til 9 a.m. so we let the kids swim for a little more than an hour, and then we were out of there!!! I don't think I've ever been so happy to be back in my little sheltered land of Utah. I didn't realize how much I like it here until I've been away. There were a ton of booze shops and gentlemen club billboards and ads in the Chicago area a few weeks ago when we went. I like Utah. So far, I don't see things I don't want to see driving down the road. We count the temples as we go down the freeway. There are families with children in the restaurants. I lived all over the place as a kid and I didn't think I was partial, but I am now. I'm glad to be in Utah!! I hope it stays innocent for a long long time!!

One thing is sure--STAY AWAY FROM VEGAS!!!