Bubbliness!

(Spoiler Alert:  If you intend to read Uglies someday, you probably don't want to read this post.)

Okay, so everyone was right.  I'm glad I didn't wait to read Pretties.  :)

Not done with it yet, but I have many interesting ideas floating around in my head.  One is about how fascinating it was to read Heaven Is Here and Pretties side-by-side.  They have similar themes concerning true beauty.

In Heaven Is Here, Stephanie mentions at one point that because of her burns they had to scrub her flesh away, essentially scrubbing away her beauty.  Through the course of the book, though, I decided that she gained far more beauty in my eyes by the things that she learned and the person that she became because of her experiences than she lost because of her scars.  (If I remember right, my mom told me a long time ago that she thinks Stephanie is more beautiful now as well.  I get it now, Mom.)

Perhaps the theme is cliche: beauty on the inside is what counts.  But I feel it is becoming an increasingly pertinent lesson in our world today, where so much is about looks and so little about morals.

In Pretties, Tally experiences a "pretty brain" and we take the ride along with her.  I didn't think I'd be able to stand it, (which was part of the reason I wasn't sure I wanted to read the book,) but the experience has been intriguing so far, addressing some deeper ideas about beauty.  Pretties is the converse to Heaven Is Here in that we discover that the "beauty" that they manufacture on the outside of the pretties isn't nearly as harmful and despicable as the "beauty" they impose upon their brains.

They live life in a haze, having impaired judgment and limited ability to act for themselves.  Only by doing things that cause their hearts to race can they disperse the fog and think clearly.  The real-life application of the whole "pretty mind" concept hadn't really clicked for me until last night.

I had just spent the better part of an hour playing some pointless, mindless game on my Kindle.  When I finally tore myself away from the addictive flotsam and jetsam, I had just enough time to read a couple of chapters of Pretties.  It didn't take long before something significant dawned on me.

I was experiencing "pretty brain"!  Everything was fuzzy, my thinking all muddled.  I realized that the more I veg, the less mentally sharp I am.  I don't like feeling this way at all.  I far prefer feeling, as they say in the book, bubbly.  :)

Bubbliness, from my experience, comes from getting enough sleep; exercising my mind through reading, writing, thinking, and discussing; and especially having the Spirit with me.  It sharpens your senses and adds to your mental acuity.

Pretty-brain, on the other hand, seems to come from anything addictive, too much television or movies, mindless games, and staying up too late.

What have you found helps you to stay bubbly?  What, for you, causes the "pretty-brain" syndrome?

(Just as a side note, Pretties has a not so subtle environmentalist agenda, and although I'm all for taking good care of our earth, this agenda always leaves a bad taste in my mouth for some reason.  Does anyone else feel this way too?)