The penultimate November day

Since tomorrow is the last day of November, I thought that it'd be a good time to compare my TBR list to what I actually read. This month, I decided to be considerably more loose, and only selected 3 books to read this month that were predetermined, while the rest could be selected and read on a whim.

Ha.

What I was supposed to read:

• Winter
• Half Wild
• City of Bones

What I actually read:

• The Lost Hero - Rick Riordan ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
• Warm Bodies - Isaac Marion ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
• #88 Love Life: 88 Thoughts On Love and Life - Diana Rikasari ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
• Modern Romance - Aziz Ansari ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
• Finding Audrey - Sophie Kinsella (buddy read with Nars) ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
• The other books listed in preceding post

Basically, I read everything BUT what I was meant to. 

(Insert "Watch out, we got a badass here" ironically)

After this, I won't be sticking to any regimens or plans, because evidently, I suck at them in the long-run. 

*Miley Cyrus' Can't Be Tamed plays in the distance*

On a completely non-bookish note, I also loved November for being a month wherein I was movie-marathoning like a madwoman. Saturday Midnight Skype Movie rituals contributed to that, granted, but trips to the cinema also became a favourite pastime of mine this month (or ever since the end of my practical internship). My favourite was probably The Good Dinosaur!

On a completely bookish note, I treated myself to a delight, in light of author Lang Leav's tour to Malaysia. 

Hopefully, the month is going to end off spectacularly to welcome the last month of the year.

Hi November !

So it's getting to be almost two weeks of November already - wow, like, chill, do you need a speeding ticket, Earth? - and, all I have to say for myself is that I've finally finished my hardbound, and am as free as Dobby, basically.

In honour of that, I thought I would indulge in immersing myself with things I enjoy; i.e., TV show binging, movie marathoning, book read-alongs, room decorating, and painting whatever the heck that looks even remotely like a smooth surface.

I've also started writing for NaNoWriMo with a couple of buds, so that's something that I'm pretty stoked about as well!

I didn't have many books in my reading plan this month, so most of it is basically just picked on a whim. While I was on holiday, I picked up and finished Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, and Can You Keep a Secret? in the space of 4 days. Which is a new record for me, considering the fact that I am a sleep-loving sloth.

November favourites

On the whole, however, I think I read quite a few books I didn't quite like as much as I would've expected to.

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe - Benjamin Alire Saenz:  ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 

Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist - Rachel Cohn & David Levithan:  ♥ ♥ 

Can You Keep a Secret? - Sophie Kinsella:  ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 

The Tell-Tale Heart and Other Stories - Edgar Allan Poe: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 

Animal Farm - George Orwell: ♥ ♥ ♥ 

Why Not Me? - Mindy Kaling:  ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 

Bossypants - Tina Fey:  ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 

The Yellow Wallpaper and Other Stories - Charlotte Perkins Gilman: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 

The Tinder Box and Other Stories - Hans Chirstian Anderson: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 

I also read a number of picture books, because why the hell not?:

A Perfectly Messed Up Story - Patrick McDonell:  ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 

There's a Wocket in My Pocket! - Dr Seuss:  ♥ ♥ ♥ 

Marvin K Mooney, Will You Please Go Now! - Dr Seuss:  ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 

Inside Out - Walt Disney Company:  ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 

Red: A Crayon's Story - Michael Hall: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 

The Day the Crayons Came Home - Drew Daywalt:  ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 

I was in the children's section in the amazing Kinokuniya store, as one often finds oneself when one is just a little melancholy (or is that just me?), and I found that though the books were targeted for a much younger audience, the heart and the humour of them can be appreciated by even the oldest people, if they were as brilliant as Dr Seuss.

What I've been up to while I listen to some interesting audiobooks (such as Modern Romance by Aziz Ansari, and The Wide Window by Lemony Snicket; both of which I have yet to finish!) is finally completing a double page of my colouring book. If you haven't heard of the new therapeutic adult colouring book craze, I don't know what to tell ya. It's completely relaxing.

Medium: water-soluble colour pencils, and watercolour paint

I'm currently juggling about 6 books as of now, and have put another 2 on hold. The reason why I can't read one book at a time like a complete sane person is, is because I have a super short attention span, and I am really eratic, and have specific moods. Like one moment I'll feel like reading an easy-going YA book, and the next, I'm craving a Stephen King book. You never know. I mean, I never know.

Hopefully, I'll be able to complete my 2015 Reading Challenge, which is to read 150 books this year. As of right now, I've read 137. 

Wish me luck!

October Shenanigans

So I'd say this month's quite a lucky month for me. I got a lot done, and had a lot of time to express creativity in outlets, as well as getting some gorgeous seaside vacation time in.

I squeezed in some major reading time, and I'm glad to have been able to stick to my reading plan. I even read some extra random ones, just because.

1. Very Good Lives - J K Rowling                                            ✯✯✯✯✯
2. Fantastic Mistakes / Make Good Art - Neil Gaiman                ✯✯✯✯
3. The Titan's Curse - Rick Riordan                                          ✯✯✯✯✯
4. A Court of Thorns and Roses - Sarah J Maas                       ✯✯✯✯
5. Library of Souls - Ransom Riggs                                        ✯✯✯✯✯
6. A Little Something Different - Sandy Hall                            ✯✯✯✯
7. The Rosie Project - Graeme Simsion                                    ✯✯✯✯✯
8. The Battle of The Labyrinth - Rick Riordan                           ✯✯✯✯✯
9. Royal Wedding - Meg Cabot                                              ✯✯✯✯✯
10. Who Could It Be At This Hour? - Lemony Snickett                 ✯✯✯
11. The Last Olympian - Rick Riordan                                       ✯✯✯✯✯
12. The Demigod Files - Rick Riordan                                         ✯✯✯✯✯

I only have a rough sketch of what the November reading plan is like, but I think I'm going to allow more liberality this time.

October TBR

Here rolls another month, hopefully with so much fun in store! I have so much to look forward for this month, including the bittersweet end to my internship for college credit, and the celebrations that come with that freedom. I can guarrantee a few (if not, more) tears, and saying goodbye to the naughtiest albeit sweetest children; but all in all, I'll be glad to be free of my (unpaid) running of odd jobs.

Anyway, in honour of a new month, I thought I'd make a monthly To-Be-Read list, instead of choosing randomly like I always do; just to see if I'd stick with it.

This month, I'm planning to do a read-along with my bud Nicole (hi), and we'll be continuing our  marathon of the Percy Jackson series. I'm also currently reading two other fantasy books; A Court of Thorns and Roses, and The Diviners (which I totally got left in the dust for, due to being so slow - soz Nars).

The rest of my TBR, I think, will be as follows:

• A Little Something Different by Sandy Hall
• Royal Wedding by Meg Cabot
• The Rosie Project by Graeme C. Simsion

You'll notice these are all romcom-type books, and y'know, I think it'd be refreshing to have some lil' fluffy, cutesy light reads in change of the fantasy streak I've been doing.

In other news, I'd gotten the new, highly anticipated (by me) book, Library of Souls, for RM 4, from MPH. I'm so happy, oh my goodness. I also baked some cupcakes to go with a late evening read, because I'm cool like that. (Taytay Swift would be so proud okay, shut up.)

Wise words don't stop the bleeding

It's been exactly a week since I'd been depraved of the presence of my favourite furry-footed friend, and I have to say, it's been difficult. I've had him since I was 14 years old, and it's incredibly hard losing one of the only things that stayed with you; literally through thick and thin, just so suddenly. It feels like losing a piece of home, or a connection to your childhood.

Though they say he's in a better place now, and that I'm lucky to have had that many years with him, it still pains me to think about him. Every time there's a noise in the kitchen, or under the table, I'd always instinctively bend down to pet him, until realization hits me that he won't be there.

I don't wish to linger too much, as words could never, ever articulate the ardent fondness that I'd had for Fluffy. On the 9th of September, 2015, he was lost to us, but never forgotten.

Answering Tumblr Questions

So, having a tumblr, I wanted to answer some of the questions here, because I like to keep my tumblr feed neat. I thought this would be fun to do, since I haven't been up to anything crafty much that I could post up, so here goes:

1. How tall are you? 5′6, the last time I checked. Taller with heels on (ha ha)

2. What Colour and style is your hair? Black and curly. Ain't nothin' worse than combing mu hurrr.

3. What color are your eyes? Brown

4. Do you were glasses/contacts? Glasses at home, contacts everywhere else. 

5. Do you wear braces? Sadly, yes. I'm pretty sure they would've been an effective medieval form of torture.

6. What is your fashion style? Idk, grandma meets lazy teenager, I guess?

7. What is your name? I'd pretty much be down with whatever you wanna call me. Most go for 'Mia', but commonly I'm 'Mars', or 'Meow' if we're tight. 'Ugh' if we're super tight.

8. When where you born? 25th July

9. How old are you? 19

10. Where do you live now? I currently reside in Malaysia

11. Do you have siblings? Yeeeeaaaaaaahhhhh

12. What college do you go to? Bruh 

                                             Personal much

13. What kind of student are you? The worrywart. I'm that annoying person that calls you for a study                                                    group to finish work that was assigned to us like, three days ago.

14. Do you even like school? Mehh, I'm indifferently neutral. 

                                          Except about 8 am classes. Those are the bane of my life.

15. What are your favorite school subjects? Art, Psychology, Biology and English.

16. What are your favorite shows? HA HA 

                                                 Please consult the gigantic files detailing the many shows I watch                                                      instead of having an actual life. (The Big Bang Theory,                                                                   Supernatural, Gravity Falls, Pretty Little Liars are my go-tos) (RIP                                                   cancelled shows)

17. What are your favorite movies? The Avengers, Up, Tangled, Captain America, The Amazing                                                             Spiderman, Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban, any movie                                                     with Adam Sandler, basically.

18. What are your favorite books? *deep breaths* 

Series:

• Harry Potter
• The Lunar Chronicles
• Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
• A Series of Unfortunate Events
• Princess Diaries
• Dear Dumb Diary

Stand-alones:

• Hyperbole and a Half
• The Sleeper and The Spindle
• The Ocean at the End of The Lane
• Anything by Rainbow Rowell basically
• The Little Prince
• The Picture of Dorian Gray
• The Notebook
• The Night Circus
• More Than This

19. What is your favorite pastime? The Internet, obvs. Also, reading, writing, singing and eating.

20. Do you have any regrets? Yeah. 40-50% of my life basically

21. What is your dream job? I don't have one. But probably a successful author even JK Rowling                                                  would've been proud of.

22. Would you like to get married one day and where? Idk, a garden? DIsneyland? 

23. Would you like to have kids one day? Uhh...yeah? Wait, NO PLURALS OK

24. What type of a girl are you? I'm not really sure what this means, but I'm going to go with female.                                                  I'm female.

25. Do you like shopping? HELLLSSSS YAAAAAAAAAAH

26. What countries have you visited so far? 

• Australia
• Indonesia
• Singapore
• Japan
• Netherlands
• France
• Oman
• Qatar
• Dubai
• Switzerland

27. What is the scariest nightmare you ever had? I have recurring nightmares about running away from                                                                          something/someone through a dark alley. That, and                                                                            demonic clowns.

28. Any special talents? I could probably touch my nose using my tongue if I really tried. But I'm lazy,                                       so

29. What is your favourite material possession you love most? My hardcover copy of The Sleeper                                                                                                  and The Spindle by Neil Gaiman and                                                                                              Chris Ridell

30. What are you wearing? An oversized sweater and tights.

31. How do you see yourself in 10 years? Man, that's trippy. And super depressing. Shoo, question,                                                                shoo!

32. How do you see yourself passing away? Haha, that's funny because once my friend said, "God, I                                                                   can see it now; 'Cause of death: Too shy to call 911'". The                                                               way I've imagined it is somewhat more vague, but                                                                             inevitably ending with me saying, "oops".

33. Are you athletic? Sure! Let's ask the arm flab how well I do!

34. Who is your celebrity crush? This is hard to say, since it's basically just every male actor above 35,                                                but my BAE since like, middle school has always been Adam Sandler                                                  (heart eyes, mf!)

35. Your favourite music artist(s)? Taylor Swift, Drake, Coldplay and All Time Low are my relentless                                                     faves. I'd probably buy a trash can with their names on it.

36. What is your favourite childhood TV show? Bananas in Pajamas haha

37. What are you like irl? I'm just about the most awkward piece of [poo emoji] 

38. What is your favourite food? Yo if it's edible, I'd probably eat it it.

39. What are your thoughts on elves? HAHA WHAT THE FISH 

                                                     I dunno? That they should be freed? FREE THE HOUSE                                                                 ELVES~

40. What are the things that keep you alive? Ahh, the three F's. Friends, family and food lol

Creepy but cute

I'm a fan of all things cute and creepy. The best is probably a conglomerate of both. So, I've compiled a list of such things to be excited about, in honour of a new month!


Melanie Martinez's Cry Baby

I've always been a huge fan of Melanie Martinez ever since I saw her on The Voice some years ago. While I thought Dollhouse was pretty cool, I think her new album Cry Baby is just a kind of ecstasy.
My favourite tracks are 'Cry Baby', 'Carousel', 'Tag, You're It', 'Pity Party' and 'Mrs. Potato Head'.

Melanie even posted on her Insta that the physical album is actually a storybook!

A video posted by Melanie Martinez (@littlebodybigheart) on Aug 13, 2015 at 6:53pm PDT

As soon as this baby hits stores over here, you know I'll be there!



Ransom Riggs' Library of Souls 

Now this is a thing that's been on my 'THINGS TO BE PUMPED FOR' list for oooh - maybe a year and a half?
Library of Souls is the last book of the Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children series, and it is mind-numbing to know that you'll have to wait a year or two for a book to be published, and take just a couple of days to read through it before having to wait yet ANOTHER year for the next book.

I've done my time, and the book's scheduled to be released at the end of the coming month!

This is so exciting for me, next to the movie adaptation! Which brings us to the next point:

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children - The movie 

As if the news of the book becoming a movie was not excitable enough, I also got wind that my favourite director is taking up the project! Yes, ladies and gentlemen, Tim Burton will be directing the movie! This is incredibly amazing, because as soon as I'd read the book, I knew he'd be perfect for a movie adaptation.

A photo posted by Ransom Riggs (@ransomriggs) on Jul 28, 2015 at 10:43am PDT

Ransom Riggs actually posts many sneak peeks at the movie, and posts vlogs with Tahereh Mafi about working with Tim Burton! If this photo alone, of a giant carrot doesn't peak your intrigue, I don't know what would.



A Series of Unfortunate Events - The TV series

So I was telling my bookish friend how I thought about re-reading Lemony Snicket's series, when she interrupted me in an almost unrecognizable squeaky pitch, "NETFLIX! IT'S GONNA BE A TV SHOW!"
Needless to say, I joined in the high-pitched squealing, because the Baudelaire children.

The trailer, though only fan-made, has got me jumping up and down!

Happy National Day!

In honour of Merdeka day, I'm posting a poem I wrote for cultural diversity for a school as a favour for a friend, sometime ago.

I isn't technically patriotic, but hey, national spirit and world cultural diversity go hand in hand, don't they?

A red hibiscus sprouts 
In scarlet glory in East Malaysia,
A cherry blossom blooms beautifully
In Japan's rooted trees,
A colourful collection of orchids grow in floral fantasia west of Hawaii,
A field of tulips flourish in rows on the countryside of Holland

Beautiful these flowers do grow,
Though different,
All are magnificent,
As they sway with the wind to and fro

People all across the oceans,
Are different in our notions,
And beliefs and cultures and motions,
But are all beautiful and unique creations

Like flowers, we differ
In the way each of our petals are arranged 
In the way our colours shine under the sun
In the way our leaves sway in the breeze

There is strength and wonder,
In our cultural diversity,
We should not be put asunder,
But instead band together to overcome adversity

We stand uniquely as different colours
But stand united as one
Meeting at an intersecting point 
An array of colours through a prism

The flash of a kimono's silk in the sun 
The billowing of a baju kurung and
The sanguine sway of the saree in the wind
The clanking of clogs near the windmill

Greetings are exchanged in every corner 
Each with a different lilt and intonation 
Konichiwa, howdy, how d'you do,
Bonjour, aloha, ahlan wasahlan

The swaying coconut trees of Hawaii welcome your stay
The sun kissed sand softens as you cross Saudi Arabia
The snowflakes of Switzerland land gently on your skin a surprise
The smell of croissant greet you as you arrive in France

Diversity extends its hand in all places
Malaysia is no exception
Its sundry and colourful collection of people 
Rejoicing in indifference at their differences

Diversity runs in its entirety in Malaysia 
Where one may find delicious dishes
In every turn
Nasi Lemak in one stall, muruku in another

The smells of Indian spices mix with the sleek aroma of Chinese delicacies
The Malay gerai serve national tastes influenced by
Hands of friends of mixed ethnicities

Cultural diversity lives where it is made allowed to
So hand in hand do we join 
Putting aside our differences and embrace our diversity 
In love and longevity.