day 29 | 'cause i'm hipster like that

I almost forgot the reason why I opened this computer in the first place. Oh well! I'm getting to it now!

I can't believe I only have two more days with this book challenge! I really wanted to devote more time in writing these blog entries; unfortunately, I really do not have all the time and resources to make a proper blog post. I am way too effing busy at work, and when I finally get home the only thing I want to do is curl up into a ball and sleep. Then I wake up and repeat the cycle all over again. Woe. Hopefully the work dwindles down in the coming months.

That said, I shall go on with my entry.

Day 29 - A book everyone hated but you liked

I seriously can't think of an answer to this! Usually when people hate a book, that's a good sign that I probably shouldn't read it. I take people's advice on books seriously, lol. Sooooo let's pick a book that people are meh about but I liked enough:

Graceling by Kristin Cashore.

I just recently saw on a forum that a lot of people were apparently bored by the book. I really liked it though! I love Katsa and Po, the setting, and the plot. Also, I love how there's finally a book that recognizes the fact that some girls don't want to get married. Oh well, different strokes I guess.

Tomorrow shall be my final entry for this book challenge! Will I be able to write it or not? Find out, mwahahha.

Day 30 - Your favorite book of all time

day 28 | ALL THE RAGE.

*meditative breath*

So. I just got home from work. And I mean I JUST GOT HOME FROM WORK. What time is it? 9:17 PM. What time should I have been home? 7:40 PM. That's an hour ago.

It took me more than an hour to get to the bus terminal when it should have taken me only 30 minutes! For some fucking reason, the roads were really congested, so the jeep I was riding took an alternate route. Bright fucking idea, because everybody else thought the same thing! Now the alternate route took so fucking long, and we had to run into a Flores de Mayo procession. Whoever you are, what a bright fucking idea to hold a Flores de Mayo AT NIGHT on a WEEKDAY, at a BUSY STREET. Gosh darnit. And I almost fell off the jeep because the driver was being an IDIOT and continued to drive even though it was fucking obvious that a bunch of us were getting off the jeep.

Oh, but that's not all! I walked all the way to the bus terminal, and when I finally got on, the bus took the long route home. Like, seriously? You are obviously aware that the traffic situation is mental out there, but you chose to take the long route home?

PLUS, I had to sit next to the most kuuki yomenai person in the history of EVER. I have this anxiety when someone in the bus sits beside me and there are a fuckton of free seats all around. I just get soooooooooooo annoyed and frustrated! And it was totally showing in the way I was zipping my bags and massaging my forehead. But the idiot still was not getting it at all. I had to double my bitchiness before he even got the message.

PLUS PLUS, when I got home (finally!), I am greeted by a banshee who does not understand how fucking stressful my night was and proceeded to scream about how much she needed to get her presentation done, when in fact my sister is the one making the presentations and all she was doing was screaming about her presentation. How much more stressed would you fucking be if your computer-illiterate ass was the one doing this presentation?

GOD DAMMIT I AM PEESED.

Now that that's over, it's time to get on with the book challenge, which I honestly am not up to right now. But anyway, I'm already here and I might as well type something.

Day 28 - Favorite title

days 22 - 27 | BOOK CHALLENGE SPREEEEEEEEEE.

Oh freaking elephants.

I had no idea that I was so behind on entries! Gosh darnit. But I have totally valid reasons though. This week was pretty busy (in the sense that my to-do list was longer than the Nile). Also, last Saturday was mah burfday and yesterday was my cousin's birthday PLUS I went to a Flores de Mayo procession. Blogging was just not an option.

But hey, I have a significant amount of free time today! The whole day! What an amazing thing! So I shall spend it filling up the blog challenge. Today, I challenge myself to make this as succinct as possible because I have a lot of entries to write.

Off we go!

day 21 | life imitating art and vice versa + a bit of childhood regression

Sigh. Once again, work piled up and my tasks for the week barely fit in a notepad. Thus, having no time to write a blog post during work breaks. I should have foreseen this coming! Then maybe I wouldn't have spent half of an entire fucking day playing Sims 3.

Out of sheer boredom I made a Sim, aiming to be a doctor. For some reason I was really obsessed with her getting her lifetime wish (thus spending 5 - 9 PM madly making her play chess). At one point my sister came to observe my game and commented on how alone the girl was. "Ang lungkot-lungkot naman niya! Bigyan mo na ng asawa! (She looks so sad! Give her a husband!)" she said.

"Career before love!!!!" I screamed, and she guffawed.

Y'know I think this Sim is going to be me when I grow up, haha. Not that I ever want to become a doctor. But I didn't realize I was living vicariously through this Sim, being successful and having fun "socializing", until my sister commented on it.

She did look pretty lonely though, so I found her a boyfriend. Something I'm not doing for myself in this lifetime XD

Now, onto the book challenge! Hey look, I only have 10 entries left!

Day 21 - Favorite book from your childhood

day 20 | love is all around.

It's such a boring Monday morning.

I guess we were all really tired from yesterday's events. We had a procession for Flores de Mayo and it was exhausting. Running around for an hour and a half trying not to trip over children and taking photographs. Urgh. It was fun though, but I'm glad it only comes once a year haha.

Let me just share a photograph I took yesterday of our two "tenants"! They're a mother and daughter pair and they ham it up pretty well for the camera. Aren't they adorbs?

I realize I made a promise to myself to make a weekly photodiary, and though I have been doing pretty well with that, my problem is I don't really like sharing my personal life through a public platform. Lol. So I will resign myself to take more pictures of animals and inanimate objects for this blog.

Anyway, onto the blogging challenge!

Day 20 - Favorite romance book

day 17, 18, and 19 | apologies in order

BEEP BEEP BEEP Here comes the failboat! 

Urgh. I really need to get better at this whole updating thing! To be fair, I had a busy day last Friday, and I spent yesterday out with my friends for a joint birthday celebration. Both days had me wonky by nightfall. It looks like it's going to be a busy week too, so I know I'm bound to miss a day or two this week again.

ANYWAY let's get on to it. This is going to be a really short entry because I am so lazy it's criminal.

day 15 and 16 | guys and dolls, gather round

I thought I wasn't going to be busy today. FAT CHANCE. Now I finally have some free time, so I'll use it to type up a quick entry.

Awww man, I really want to dedicate more time to these entries! But I can never get enough typing time at home, so I have to sneak it in during lunch breaks or work breaks. Ugh. Maybe next time I'll try writing up some stuff on my phone and try to save time.

Anyway! I combined the entries for day 15 and 16 in one entry because they're related. I think it's easier to talk about my favorite characters in one go than dedicating separte entries for the males and females. 

As you might know by now, I like cheating with this entry and providing more answers than necessary, so you will expect THREE characters! 

I promise I'll keep this as short as I can.

Day 15 - Favorite male character and Day 16 - Favorite female character

day 13 and 14 | the wordsmiths and their crafts + a rant of a democratic cynic

This entry has been three days in the making, yet I can't seem to really get into it and write.

I blame the elections.

Last May 13 was my second time participating in my country's elections. To be honest, I was a bit excited! I saw it as an opportunity for change and improvement. A lot of people in my social media accounts seem to be getting into the spirit as well, promoting the candidates who they think deserve a spot in the senatorial roster. I thought, "Wow, people are really getting into the spirit of things!" As I stood in line to exercise my right as a democratic citizen, I believed in a change. I believed in progress.

But everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked.

Sadly, idealism will get you nowhere, and as the recent results will tell you, my country still has a long, long way to go in terms of "voting wisely."

I seriously didn't understand the situation. I felt like everybody knew who to vote for, and who NOT to vote for, yet everything still went downhill.

Then my father said, "Well, that's just how it is. Especially the urban poor, they'll vote for whoever gave them money or gives them feeding programs or hands out bags of groceries."

And that just sucks. It sucks that it's not even a matter of information dissemination anymore, it all boils down to who gives short-term solutions (money, groceries), not people who are capable of pushing for bills that will help the Filipinos for generations to come. It sucks that people would vote for a candidate because s/he entertained them with a song-and-dance number during the motorcade. It sucks that people who come from the same family as an esteemed politician will get voted because hey, "baka namana nya yung galing ng tatay/nanay/kapatid/lola/lolo nya."

I can sit here and rant all I fucking want, but at the end of the day, these are who the "people" voted for. I'm just one person who's very dissatisfied with the results. All I can do now is hope and pray that these elected people would do their gosh-darn best to make this country a better place.

And now let's get to my book entry!

Day 13 - Your favorite writer and Day 14 - Favorite book of your favorite writer

I know that this entry is a day late, but that's cause I wanted to combine the two topics together.

I'm kind of annoyed at this question, actually! Way down Day 30, the question is "your favorite book of all time" but obviously, if I had favorite book EVER, I'd probably really like the author too right? Ugh. But no matter, I'll still try to not repeat a book while doing this challenge.

Day 12 | now you're just a book that i used to love

Lol at my title.

Anyway, before I get to my entry, let me greet the mothers a Happy Mother's Day! 

Coincidentally it is also my twin cat's birthday today! Happy Birthday Oya! 

It may be mother's day but my mom was definitely not in a celebratory mood, as she spent at least half of the day asleep. It prompted me to say "Happy Mother's Day wooohooo party people" in a really bored tone, flailing my arms. At least my sister was amused.

As we already had our fill of cake and pasta, it's time for me to write, write, write!

Day 12 - A book you used to love but don’t anymore

Aww man, what kind of question is this? I'm not the kind of person who just suddenly hates something I love because I grew up or whatever. Especially when it comes to books. So I think I'll discuss a book that I thought was the shit when I was younger, but looking at it now, it's not as good as I made it out to be. And that book is...

day 11 | brace yourself for immense loathing below

I have an hour to write this blog entry if I want to remain faithful to my "one blog entry a day rule." Challenge accepted! Damn, I didn't realize it was already 11 PM because I slept like a log during the bus ride home.

I was planning on doing this during my lunch break at work, but I didn't get the time at all. I think I underestimated my workload for this month by a mile. Now I can't work properly because I'm thinking "Am I prioritizing the right thing? Should I have done this later?" which leads to me not working, which leads to work not being done, which leads to work piling up. Argh! If I could only learn how to execute Kage Bunshin!

Well, let's forget about that for a while! Bring out the next entry!

Day 11 - A book you hate(d)

Y'know I just realized these questions are a bit repetitive. Or at least my answers for these questions will tend to be repetitive. Serves me right for not reading all the questions when I first encountered them! Anyhoo, I will try my best to not repeat any of my answers for this challenge.

See the little modification I made on today's question? It's cause I still hate this book, haha. So without further ado...

day 10 | something old

Congratulate me! I reached day 10 of this challenge! 

Well to be honest, I had every intent of finishing this challenge anyway, but I'm having difficulties with the Internet connection and the inspiration. So I think "congratulations" are in order! *throws confetti for herself*

Ehem. Anyway, I think I'll trying doing the illustrations for this challenge tomorrow, when there's not much to do.

This particular entry will be an exercise on time restraint, as I have only 15 minutes before I get out of work. So let's begin!

Day 10 - Favorite classic book

I am a fan of classic books. A lot of people deem them boring and would not even waste an ounce of effort reading the blurbs. I, on the other hand, adore classics. I think if something's a classic, it's bound to be good if it can stand the test of time, right? I try to read as many classics as I can. 

Because I am indecisive once again, I shall pick THREE books! Three seems to be my magic number for this challenge!

1. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde.

I adore Oscar Wilde's writing, ever since we had to read The Happy Prince for my high school English class. I stumbled upon a collection of his short stories and I wanted more! So naturally, I picked up this novel and of course, fell in love with it. There's just something about Wilde's prose and narration that makes you feel like you're part of a fantasy. I remember reading this novel from cover to cover in one day, because it was that interesting! Strangely, I've yet to watch the movie adaptation of this novel, but I'm sure I'll get to it soon.

2. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen.

Welp, I know, typical answer. But I included it on the list because it's one of the few romances that I truly like! It's difficult for me to get into romance, but for some reason this really pulled me it. The beautiful movie was also a factor. I like relationships like Lizzie Bennet's and Mr. Darcy's because I have an equality kink and I don't like romances where they're making out like crazy every other chapter. I've yet to read another Austen novel, but eventually I'd like to read all of them!

3. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett.

The inclusion of this novel in my list is a bit of a stretch, but I think it counts as a classic, don't you think? This was one of my first "serious" novels as a child, wherein the language wasn't so simple, the plot was a lot longer, and it was not episodic but linear. I read this because I've been a fan of the many movie versions of the story, and I thought reading it would be fun. Then I started re-reading it forever because it was my favorite novel as a child. A lot of people in my family also like telling me that I remind them of Mary Lennox because I was such a cross child. Maybe that's why I liked this novel so much.

And I finished this entry in record time! Yay me! See you again on the next days to come!

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Day 11 - A book you hated
Day 12 - A book you used to love but don’t anymore
Day 13 - Your favorite writer
Day 14 - Favorite book of your favorite writer
Day 15 - Favorite male character
Day 16 - Favorite female character
Day 17 - Favorite quote from your favorite book
Day 18 - A book that disappointed you
Day 19 - Favorite book turned into a movie
Day 20 - Favorite romance book
Day 21 - Favorite book from your childhood
Day 22 - Favorite book you own
Day 23 - A book you wanted to read for a long time but still haven’t
Day 24 - A book that you wish more people would’ve read
Day 25 - A character who you can relate to the most
Day 26 - A book that changed your opinion about something
Day 27 - The most surprising plot twist or ending
Day 28 - Favorite title
Day 29 - A book everyone hated but you liked
Day 30 - Your favorite book of all time

day 9 | when school reading gives you jewels

I'm feeling better today, but still not completely in shape. Ugh. Should I have gone to work today? I rather would have not, but c'est la vie -- a penniless creature such as myself needs to go to work for the monies.

Ugh.

Anyway, let's discuss the book for day 9! Honestly, I am finding it hard to answer this question because I don't really pick up books without at least being intrigued by the summary. Will you seriously pick up a book with the initial thought of "this sucks"? So I decided to talk about a book that I had to read for school. Because seriously, no student thinks "fun!" when they're assigned to read a book.

Day 09 - A book you thought you wouldn’t like but ended up loving

Crime and Punishment by Fyodr Dostoyevsky

We had to read this book for my world literature class, and of course I wasn't that thrilled about it. I mean, the blurb was OK, but it didn't reel me in (especially since I was a science fiction, swashbuckling action fan!). But what the hey, it's not like I could protest and refuse to read the book. I could, in theory, but the most probable end result would have been my expulsion from that class. So I grudgingly read the book, armed with Spark Notes.

To be honest I was surprised that I actually liked it! I found myself really excited and nervous when Raskolnikov was plotting to kill the money-lender. And even though I knew what he did was wrong, for some reason I wanted him to be saved. But as such, justice must be served and the moral lesson is "two wrongs don't make a right."

I've been meaning to read this book again for sometime now, since I was reading it in a certain time constraint. I think I'll read "The Brothers Karamazov" first.

This entry has been really short! What a record! Well, until the next book!

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Day 10 - Favorite classic book
Day 11 - A book you hated
Day 12 - A book you used to love but don’t anymore
Day 13 - Your favorite writer
Day 14 - Favorite book of your favorite writer
Day 15 - Favorite male character
Day 16 - Favorite female character
Day 17 - Favorite quote from your favorite book
Day 18 - A book that disappointed you
Day 19 - Favorite book turned into a movie
Day 20 - Favorite romance book
Day 21 - Favorite book from your childhood
Day 22 - Favorite book you own
Day 23 - A book you wanted to read for a long time but still haven’t
Day 24 - A book that you wish more people would’ve read
Day 25 - A character who you can relate to the most
Day 26 - A book that changed your opinion about something
Day 27 - The most surprising plot twist or ending
Day 28 - Favorite title
Day 29 - A book everyone hated but you liked
Day 30 - Your favorite book of all time

day 8 | the fault in this book

I feel horrible.

My stomach is aching and my kneecap is hurting. Earlier, I was breaking into a fever. What in the world did I do to deserve this? I feel like dying. Hopefully writing will ease my mind a bit.]

Let's talk about the most overrated book! I know that people are going to be mad at me for writing about this, because it's a book that a lot of people really enjoyed. So I'll just disclaim beforehand that this is all my opinion and I am not judging you for liking this particular book, it just didn't do it for me and did not live up to my expectations.

Without further ado, let us discuss...

Day 08 - Most Overrated Book

days 5, 6, and 7 | hodge-podge!

WELL SNAP.

I failed to update for two whole days! But I have an actual excuse! The Internet connection at home is still a nightmare, and I was out for the whole Monday. By the time I got home I was dying from exhaustion. I seriously wanted to write something, but I was soooooo tired. Ugh.

Anyhoo! Now I am here and I shall write, write, write! Last week I said something stupid about doing illustrations, and I think that'll take a backseat for a while. Obviously I can't do it with this entry. So let's just say by the tenth entry, I'll probably do it, to commemorate me sticking to something for once.

Onwards we go!

Day 5 - A book that makes you happy.

book challenge day 3 | until the next episode

Welcome to Day 3 and 4 of my book challenge!

I actually had half of my Day 3 entry written up yesterday, but as luck would have it, my home Internet connection was being wonky as heck. Sigh. So I'm going to combine the entries for Day 3 and 4. It's a good thing the two questions are connected!

Also, I've been thinking of doing something different with this challenge. Since my entries are looking so blah and imageless, I think I wanna try illustrating my answers. I know this idea is probably going to crash and burn, given my history of brilliant ideas that never seem to reach resolution, but what the heck! It's not a sin to make and break promises, haha! I might try it with my entries for next week.

That said, let's get on to our next entry...

Day 03 - Your favorite series and 

Day 04 - Your favorite book from your favorite series

By now, I think you know that I'm going to cheat again and name more books than is required. Why? Because I'm indecisive like that!

To be honest, I'm not really a fan of trilogies and books that come in a series. I just hate having to wait! I have a tendency to pick up completed series or stand-alone novels, simply because I am consumed with such giddiness and impatience when waiting for the next book. I also have a tendency to obsessively marathon-read books when I want to find out what happens next, to the point of staying up all night just reading or buying the next book (and does not happen to be in my budget). But I still read a lot of series books 'cause I never learn my lesson.

That said, I am going to name (once again) three series!

book challenge day 2 | reading and reading and reading

I am bored (shh), so to prevent myself from falling face-first on top of my desk, I will write day 2 of this book challenge!

Day 02 - A book that you’ve read more than 3 times

Man, I got stumped again! The truth is, I was a big re-reader when I was younger for the very simple reason that I didn't have enough books! Books were a luxury to me. I had tons of hand-me-down books from my uncle, but once I finished all of them, I had to wait for special occasions before I could buy a new book. Of course, when I got older I blew all my savings in books, no occasion needed. So I had a bit of a hard time coming up with just one book. 

Which is why I'm writing down three! Mwahahaha!

Another Apology + A Book Challenge!

GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

I AM AN IDIOT.

Remember almost a month ago how I made an apology about not writing in this blog? Well, I AM APOLOGIZING AGAIN. Because I am an inexcusable idiot!

See, this time I don't even have a reason for not writing. I'm just an idiot who has random bouts of depression and general discontent with life. And I hate it! I think it's because I'm getting really burnt out at work, causing me to go home and temporarily convert to an amoeba. I'm not even reading as much, which is definitely a surprise!

I've also been having a lot of bouts of just general reflection and thinking, "what's the fucking point?" So what if I have a blog and I don't update it? So what if I'm unproductive -- not everybody can be the next Steve Jobs.

And then I finally kicked myself in the proverbial arse and said, "YOU should care about your life."

So yeah, here's me caring and trying to get back in the writing groove again.

I actually had my March books lined up AGES ago, but I never got around to finishing it. I swear, I'll put it up sometime this week. My April reads will be easier because I only read two books :(

AND! As a way to kick in the month of May, I am doing a 30 Day Book Challenge! This month, I am challenging myself to write about books that I've read and all that jazz, one entry per day! I really hope I accomplish this, I think it pressures me more when I have to go through a timed challenge.

Onto the first challenge:

Day 01 - Best book you read last year