out of sorts monday

So, here's the thing, I was not able to catch enough sleep last night, in fact I think I slept at around 5:30 am and woke up at 8:30 am to go to work.  I got to work looking like a cross between a panda with dark circles under my eyes and a parched zombie since my officemates say I look soooo pale.  I feel like I'm floating, my vision this morning is kinda blurred and I feel so out of it, lutang na lutang lang ang peg :P  Damn this insomnia!!!!!

So anyways, I managed to get through this morning kinda okay.  As usual, my go to energizer is coffee and I think I consumed around 2 tumbler fulls in 3 hours :P (no wonder I feel buzzed!). I got to take a nap for 20  minutes during lunch break and that helped a lot.  I still have a lot to do since I will be out of the office for four days for a seminar.  Good thing I managed to sort myself out before my boss arrived :)

I hope the rest of my day will be okay :)  Hope all of you had a better day than I did, though :)

Till next time!

-M

May Book Haul :)

Since its still my birth month and therefore, I still would like to think its my birthday (haha!:P), I splurged a bit on my book purchases for this month (happy bibliophile doing the dance of joy).

I went to Bonifacio High Street on the eve of my birthday, May 4, to have dinner and hang out at Fully Booked :)  I sooo love that branch !  I can get lost in the bookshelves there for hours!  However, since I was with my cousins, Ghina and Regine, and my friend Ayie, and we still have other stuff to do, I was just there for, I think about 2 hours or so (bitin!). Ayie and Regine did not mind the my book geekiness since they were both into books too, but Ghina was another story :P.  Let's just say that clothes are more her thing, by the end of the second hour she was constantly whispering to my ear that she's hungry hahahaha!  I handed her an Archie comic to kinda get her in the mood, but it worked for like only 30 minutes!  Oh well :)

 Pre-Birthday Book Haul

Last week, May 18, I went to Fully Booked BHS again to attend the Travel Writing Seminar with my friends Ayie and Gen.  I kinda got in late, but I still got to take away some pointers that can help me in my writing :)  The most exciting part for me last Saturday was that they were on sale! 20% off on most books! :) Yey!  So, obviously I got me some more books.  Though I made significant progress on my TBR pile, the last 2 weeks added another layer to it.  BUT, hey, no complaints here!  :D

Post birthday Book Haul :D

Till next time! :)

-M

Of Broken Hearts, Pain and Moving On

Another month is coming to a close and as I manage to trim down my TBR for May and June, below is my take on the books I have read so far.  Plus, I also included my pending thoughts on Why We Broke Up from  my March April TBR list.

Broken Hearts, Pain and Moving on is the central theme of the 4 books I finished.  It involves different perspectives and situations but I like the fact that all the characters I have come to like, and some I really do love in these books, all manage to come to TERMs with their realities, however painful it may be and find the strength and the motivation to move on to a better place.

Why We broke Up

(Daniel Handler)

Min is the central character of the story. It is her voice, her experiences and her feelings that we come to share.  I, for one, can relate to her feelings, how she felt, and how she wanted to explain everything to Ed and take him back to the things she thought were important to both of them.  And eventually use all of these to make him realize why they broke up.  Each item served as a poignant reminder of that tingly feeling Min called love, or more likely the kilig factor associated with love and the pain of not being able to feel that again with Ed.

I love how I was able to see and feel how Min's love for Ed developed and how she knew by the end of the story that one day she will be able to smile again, without Ed in the picture.

I also love how the book was presented, the illustrations did not just add value to the book, it added another layer of feeling as well, an added depth to the story if you may.  I cannot imagine reading the book without the illustrations, the experience would not be the same.

Creep

(Jennifer Hillier)

Creep is psychological thriller which involves the affair between a psych professor and her grad student, who turned out  to have huge issues.  When Dr. Sheila Tao broke off her affair with her student, Ethan Hawke, to marry her fiance, all hell broke loose.  The classic case of if he cannot have her, no one else can.  There are twists in the story that are kinda expected but there was one that I didn't see coming, and that changed things for me.  

It was a good read, not as fast-paced as the last book I read from this genre, Gone Girl, but it was enough to keep me reading.  There were some slow parts but overall I liked it :)  I cannot wait to read the next installment, Freak, which is now also available in paperback.

The Fault in Our Stars

(John Green)

I heard a lot of things before I even got my hands on this book.  Mostly good things, but one thing stood out

the most, it would break my heart.  And it did.

Augustus and Hazel are star-crossed lovers, in the sense that they both have cancer and they are both holding on to borrowed time.  Given the premise of the story, I loved that there are light moments and witty dialogues.  It kinda takes away the gravity of their situation and gives the reader a chance to get to know the characters more.  There was a line in the book that says something about letting their disease define who they are and that should not be the case.  They should be remembered more on who they are as people and not as cancer victims.  

The book was written beautifully.  I loved it.  I kept putting off reading it since I knew I would be heartbroken after I read it but, still, it is an excellent read.

Archie in "Will You Marry Me?"

Archie getting married after, like 60 years, is something I wanted to read.  Like most people, I grew up reading Archie and him finally choosing one girl is indeed something I would want to know!

The compilation was quite pricey but I could not let this pass! I have to read who marries who and what happens to either Betty and Veronica if Archie chooses one over the other.  And I was not disappointed.  There are two storylines depicting both of Archie's choices.  My heart still goes out to Betty.  I wanted Archie to pick her every since I started reading the series :)

There are now 3 more installments to this comic.  Archie: The Married Life Series now has 3 books.

So there it is... looking forward to finishing the rest of my required reading for May-June :) 

Till next time!

- M

patience and courage

I saw this post this morning on my FB timeline and I just want to share it :

Quote is from Paulo Coelho's book Manuscript found in Accra.  I am soooo getting this book :)

Have a great Tuesday !

-M

*post from Paulo Coelho's Facebook page

incredible ink

The elections are finally over.  I hope everybody went out yesterday and exercised their right to vote :)  Our voting precinct was located just outside our village gate and the voting proper was really smooth.  Kudos to the teachers, volunteers and poll watchers and everyone else involved in the Felix High School voting precinct, two thumbs up! :)

inked! :)

As my cousin Ghina so eloquently put it, I now have incredible (indelible) ink to show everyone that I voted :).  Now, I just need to find the right cleaning aid to take this ink off.  It does have incredible staying power :P

Till next time!

-M

May - June TBR

well hello there! :)

Presenting my TBR for May to June! :)

I still need to write about Why We Broke Up, all I can say for now is that I loooved it :).  I still have two carryovers from my TBR last month though: Write Here, Write Now and the Song of Achilles.  Counting that and the 9 books above equals 11 books.  I do hope to finish all of them by end of June.

I am quite excited to read John Green's The Fault in Our Stars and Looking for Alaska since I read quite a number of good reviews.  It was quite a while before I got my hands on a copy though, since most of the time both these books were out of stock in the bookstores I frequently visit. 

The Mango Bride is a recommendation from an old friend.  Her cousin, who is also a Palanca Awardee, wrote the book.

Creep is a psychological thriller I am currently reading. I got the book last September 2012 during the Manila International Book Fair and haven't gotten around to reading it.  But now that I am reading it, I can't seem to put it down :)

My pick me-ups and light reading list is kinda long this time: Emily the Strange (3 books!) and Archie Wedding and The Married Life Book 1.

Looking forward to reading all of these books in the coming weeks.  I can already picture myself sitting on  a comfortable couch in a corner of a cafe, sipping coffee and losing myself in my books.  Aaaahhh... if only I could do that often! 

Till next time!

-M

My Nancy Drew Challenge

Nancy Drew was my childhood hero.  A female icon depicting a brave, smart and determined young woman.  I had a collection of Nancy Drew Mystery Books when I was younger, and got around to owning around 20 books or so.  I started reading Nancy Drew when I was in Grade School.  My parents used to reward me with books when I did good at school.  That explains my love of them, my parents were the perpetrators and nurturers of my being a book geek :P

I loved the way Nancy and her friends solve their cases.  It enabled me to think beyond what is conventional, to see beyond what is normally visible to the eye.  Deep, huh?  I am not being philosophical or anything, but Nancy Drew made me believe at a young age that girls can kick ass and be smart and save the day.  She embedded the notion that certain things can be questioned and that brains are needed to succeed.  

Photo from : therelentlessreader.blogspot.com

I kept those books I collected when I was a kid until 2009.  When Typhoon Ondoy ravaged the country we were part of the population that felt its wrath.  Our house was submerged under flood waters for almost 4 days. Part of my book collection including my Nancy Drew Books were sure goners by the time the flood waters subsided.

Now, I am striving to build that collection again, hence the Nancy Drew Challenge.  I plan to rebuild my collection, but in a bigger scale.  I want to collect all 64 books in the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories Series.  I started this project last year and I was able to collect Books 1 - 15.  Will now start to collect 16 - 30.  Then if I am done with that, will move on to the rest :)

Why am I doing this?  aside from the fact that I am a bibliophile and collecting and reading books is part of my DNA, Nancy Drew is a part of my childhood.  And reading those books make me feel nostalgic, happy :)  It kinda takes me back to the days when as a child, life was simpler and brighter :)

So wish me luck!  Will post updates on this project from time to time :)

Till next time!

-M

its my birthmonth! :)

MAY ... my birthday is just around the corner and as always, I have this certain kind of happiness associated with celebrating my birthday ... weird noh?!  hahahaha!  I guess it comes with the feeling of being special even for just a day and I can use that one excuse to shop all I want, eat and stuff my face full with food (which includes chocolate cake in all forms!) and just enjoy my day because ITS MY BIRTHDAY! woohoo!!! 

Aaaaaactuallyyyy... I already did a bit of shopping for my birthday under the guise of my personal wardrobe project (An Article of Clothing per Pay Day) which I still have to write about :P.  I got myself some clothes for work and play (tops, shorts) and I got me a new pair of shoes yesterday from Res Toe Run in Gateway :).  Lovin' my new Native shoes :)  Got the shoes while I was out with my mom, she was lobbying that I get a pair of Sanuks instead.  Maybe next time (or next payday!), I will get a pair since I do love my Sanuks (I have 2 pairs I wear every chance I get) :)

Like most people, I do think about my age, but only for a while then happy thoughts send the aging thoughts back and file them in my brain for later use.  Reserved for emo and take life seriously moments, perhaps :P.

So, how do I plan to celebrate my birthday?  nothing special really.  I would just like to spend time alone (emo moment?!? not!) basically doing nothing :P  I just plan to go to the mall, and spend time in my favorite shops and bookstores, go to a coffeeshop and read, do a bit of shopping (if my budget still permits) and EAT :)  I will be going out with my cousins Ghina and Regine for dinner and coffee on the eve of my birthday.  A sort of tradition we started 2 years back.

On the day, I will spend time with the parental unit.  Have dinner out and maybe watch a movie if they are up for it :).  And as is my practice, I claim the whole month of May as my birthday hahahaha! so everything I do during this month will be under the birthday celebration reason thingie (excuses.. excuses).

Happy birthday(month) to all May celebrators! :)  Happy Happy moi! :)

Till next time! :)

-M