Tag Archives: Facebook

My Book List (or Putting A Challenge From Facebook On Here)

Posted on September 5, 2014 | Comments Off on My Book List (or Putting A Challenge From Facebook On Here)

I wasn’t quite sure what I was going to write about today, but I was inspired by something I was challenged to do on Facebook.

My friend Daniel (who runs the film festival I work for) challenged me to list the 10 books that have stuck with me the most. I was totally for this challenge, but then I realized how difficult picking 10 books out of a lifetime of reading could be. So I bent the rules a little and picked some series and authors as well.

Most people just listed the books on their list, but I wanted to explain each one. Some of these books (or stories about these authors) have been mentioned before on here. I tried to find those posts and link to them when I could.

So this is my list, copied from Facebook:

1. “Rumpelstilskin”. I remember reading this book as a kid (probably when I was 3 or 4) and it terrified me. But I loved it so much. So I would read the book in bed and then take the book outside my room and leave it there overnight so the book couldn’t scare me while I was sleeping. I was a very early reader (I learned to read at 2), and this is one of my first memories of reading.

2. “The Babysitter’s Club” series. Holy moly I loved these books! I devoured them! My parents still have all the books somewhere in their house and when I eventually have a kid, I know that I’ll be passing them down to them.

3. All of the American Girl books. Another series from my childhood. This was the start of me getting into historical fiction (although I didn’t know that at the time). And yes, I had an American Girl doll too (I had Samantha). My doll and all of my books are being stored by my parents at their house so I can pass those down as well.

4. The Body Movers series by Stephanie Bond. I randomly picked the first book from this series up from the bookstore before going on a trip to Tahoe to see my parents. I totally judge books by their covers and this one really interested me. I remember reading the first book at the condo in Tahoe. I got to the end, which happened to be a cliffhanger, and screamed out loud when I realized that the next book wouldn’t be coming out for a year! This is also an important book and author to me because Stephanie Bond is one of the first authors that I ever connected with via social media. The day she followed me on twitter was so awesome.

5. “Jemima J” by Jane Green. Yes, this is chick-lit. But it was the first chick-lit book I ever read. I never knew that there were fun silly books like this that I would love to read. And it opened an entire new world up for me.

6. Anything by Jennifer Weiner. I started with her book “Good In Bed” because again, the cover looked cool. Since then, I’ve read several of her books and have loved them all. She is another author that I have connected to via twitter and it turns out that she reads my blog! When she tweeted to me about that, I almost passed out.

7. “America’s Women” by Gail Collins. This was one of the first non-fiction books I read that I was able to finish without having to read some “fluff” in between. It’s an amazing book about the history of women in the US and it got me interested in finding more historical books to read.

8. Anything by Danielle Steel. I know they are silly, but some of them are pretty fun to read. And this is one of the only authors that both my mom and I both like. It’s nice to have some books in common to talk about and to recommend to each other.

9. The Hunger Games series. This was my introduction to dystopian future books, which is now one of my favorite genres to read. I started to read them after all the books were out so I didn’t have to wait to find out the result of the cliffhangers between the books. Since then, I’ve read many more dystopian future books, but most of them I’ve had to wait as patiently as possible before the next book comes out.

10. “I Heart NY” and all the other books by Lindsay Kelk. This was another random purchase of mine. I saw it as an e-book and it looked like fun. I got it and after only a few pages, I realized that I loved this book! So I went back online and got all the other ones in the series that had come out so far! I connected with Lindsay over twitter and we met up for lunch in Santa Monica when she was out this way. I was totally geeking out over meeting her. But she was super cool and we found out that we both love Disneyland. So on her next trip to LA, we went to Disneyland together and had a blast! I love that I have a new Disneyland buddy!

I love that a book related challenge is going on around Facebook. I challenged 10 of my friends to do this one as well. And I’d love to see any of your top 10 books lists in the comments! I’m always up for discovering new books that other people love!

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Posted in Fun Stuff

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Fake Inspiration (or I’m Not A Beginner)

Posted on March 11, 2014 | Comments Off on Fake Inspiration (or I’m Not A Beginner)

I have lots of websites that I read every day. One of those is Jezebel. I think they’ve got some interesting stories and even if I don’t always agree with their opinion, the articles are different from what I read on other sites.

Yesterday on Jezebel, I saw an article about a post that someone had written on Facebook congratulating an overweight person for running. The entire article is here, but I’ll give you a quick summary. Basically, the person was saying that it must be so hard to run when you are carrying double the weight of the average person and how great it is that they aren’t giving up. That was weird to read.

But what got to me was the updated version of the article where someone had written a response. I don’t think the response was written by the actually person that the Facebook post was talking about, but they get the point.

The response is saying that they shouldn’t be congratulating the overweight person for trying. They are a runner, just like anyone else. And that nobody has any idea of the journey that the person has gone through so far and what part of the journey that they are currently on.

I totally get this. I’ve written about something similar that has happened to me at SoulCycle. And I still feel like people look at me there as someone who is new, not someone who has been there for over a year.

I’ve also had similar things happen to me at various 5Ks that I’ve done. I remember when I did the Hard Rock one, there was someone at the finish line who came up to me to say that they thought I was very brave for doing a 5K and being able to finish. When I told them that that was my 7th 5K for the year, they were in shock and didn’t really say anything to me afterwards.

Same thing happened at the Christmas Run. Someone who was walking back as I was trying to cross the finish line stopped to give me a high-five. Normally, that would be awesome. But then they said that I should be so proud that I’m going to be able to say that I’m finally a finisher.

I had said that I was a finisher in 8 other 5Ks in 2013 before that one. And about half a dozen other 5Ks that I’ve done other years.

It’s really annoying. I know that people mean well and think that they are encouraging me, but it’s really condescending. They are obviously judging me by my appearance and thinking that I’m a beginner.

If people just want to congratulate me on finishing or encourage me to keep going, that’s fine. But you don’t have to add something about me doing this for the first time.

Because my wall makes it very clear that I am a 5K racer. No matter what I look like. I am a finisher and there’s no denying that.

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Posted in Fitness, Fun Stuff, Tough Stuff

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Putting Myself Out There (or No Time For Fakery)

Posted on January 9, 2013 | Comments Off on Putting Myself Out There (or No Time For Fakery)

The other night, I was getting things cleaned up around my house and had the tv on in the background. The tv show “Catfish” was on and I was half paying attention. I saw the movie “Catfish” and questioned the idea that it was a true documentary.

In case you don’t know the story of the movie “Catfish”, it’s about a guy named Nev who falls in love with a girl named Megan on Facebook. Nev decides that he wants to finally meet Megan in person, and that journey is filmed. It’s discovered that Megan was a fake profile started by a woman named Angela (she also created a ton of other fake profiles to make Megan seem more real).

The tv show is the same idea as the movie, except that Nev is now helping other people find out if the person that they are in love with online is the real person.

I’m still questioning how fake this show is. I know most reality tv is fake (at least partially), and I wonder who really wants to be outed as someone who tricks people on Facebook.

I don’t understand the idea of creating a fake Facebook profile to trick other people. It seems silly.

But I can understand not wanting to be yourself online.

About a year before I started this blog, I had another blog. I only wrote 2 posts on it, but I didn’t tell anyone that I started it. I also didn’t use my name. I didn’t pretend to be someone else, I just only used my middle name. I didn’t want people to know that it was me. I wasn’t ready to admit to the world about my eating disorder.

I’m proud of how far I’ve come since then. I’m happy to be open about everything in my life. I don’t care who knows that I have an eating disorder, credit card debt, or panic attacks. What I’ve learned is the more I share these things, the more my friends open up to me about their issues. I feel like so many of my friends and I are closer now than we were before, and if I was still trying to hide all of this, that never could happen.

I’m going to continue to be as truthful as I can on here, and I hope that it might inspire you a little to be more truthful in your own life as well.

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Posted in Tough Stuff

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Happy Birthday To Me (or Why Social Networking Makes Me Feel Fabulous)

Posted on August 9, 2012 | Comments Off on Happy Birthday To Me (or Why Social Networking Makes Me Feel Fabulous)

It’s my birthday today! Yay! I’m a big fan of birthdays (I mean, I’ve already written a few posts about my birthday, can’t you tell?).

Growing up, I spent several birthdays at summer camp. That was pretty fun because the entire camp knew that it was your birthday and everyone sang to you. Then you got thrown into the lagoon, but that’s a whole other thing.

One of the greatest things about my birthday now is all of the wonderful birthday messages that I get. I have Facebook to thank for that.

Before Facebook, how many people’s birthdays did you know? I know that I only knew a handful, just some super close friends and family. But now, I wake up on my birthday to dozens of Happy Birthday messages on my wall. That’s just awesome.

Even though I know that some people only post because Facebook alerts them to, but I still feel really special.

So now I’m off to have a fun birthday morning before having to work a 12:30-9 shift at my day job.

Some birthdays throughout the years:

My 1st Birthday

Sweet 16 in Catalina

In acting class with Chris Kattan

Playing penny machines in Vegas

Dodgers game

Last year at Medieval Times

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Posted in Celebrations

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Thank You (or I Should Have Done This Sooner)

Posted on July 27, 2012 | Comments Off on Thank You (or I Should Have Done This Sooner)

I’m feeling so loved after writing yesterday’s post. Thank you all so much.

When I wrote it, I deleted and re-wrote it several times. I wondered if I should really put it all out there. I wondered if anyone would read it. I wondered what people would think.

And what I got was a lot of love and support. Thank you all for the comments, tweets (BTW, you can follow me on twitter, I’m @thejenlevin), Facebook posts, emails, and texts. I read every single thing sent to me, and several of them made me tear up. I know that I made the right decision by being this honest this early in my blogging experience.

I’m feeling so free and energized now. I never knew that by holding that in, I was hurting myself so much.

I hope that I can inspire at least one of you to go and put your whole self out there. Even if you are scared about being judged, know that the person who is judging you the hardest is yourself.

I know that after yesterday, my confidence has grown so much. I feel a lot more sure of myself. I know that it sounds so cheesy saying all of this, but it’s true. And I would have never believed this if it wasn’t happening to me.

Thank you again all so much. I hope that you are going to continue reading my journey. It’s really only just begun.

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Posted in Tough Stuff

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