Bitter Pills, Breathing Spaces

Chachic Fernandez once said... well, tweeted...


I think every book blogger friend that I know gets a thrill when authors respond to their tweets and/or book reviews. I mean, who doesn't? As I just started on my other blog, I wonder how would the people of whose works I review would feel. Then again, I hardly care. I still practice some measure of restraint though because I don't want to deal with this kind of drama. Seriously.

Of all the authors that I follow on Twitter, perhaps the most fan responsive is Michelle Zink (@MichelleZink). I've had a couple of occasions wherein I would tweet her about my reading progress for the Prophecy of the Sisters series and she replies as much as she can.  Since then, she is on my "must-read, must-buy" list and I'm so excited to grab a copy of A Temptation of Angels this March. I'm quite sure, like the Prophecy of the Sisters, I would have a hard time putting it down.  She is honestly that good.

As to the authors I've met in person -- like Lauren Kate, Samantha Sotto and Alexander Yates -- I haven't encountered a single one who's not fan responsive as well as level-headed when dealing with not-so-pleasant reviews about their books. The latter is not an easy feat if you consider the drama I just linked a few sentences ago. For that, I salute them.

Most recently, I have witnessed how YA authors are generally responsive and enthusiastic with each other and their fans.  Last January 23, 2012 (22 in the US), the ALA Youth Media Awards -- Libba Bray calls it as "the Oscars for books" -- was held in Dallas, Texas. Tweets and re-tweets of congratulations and thank-yous from one YA author to another and to their fans were so fun to see on my feed; it felt like you're part of their conversation even if you're on the other side of the world. It also shows how closely knit and mutually supportive they are. The winners' list is quite impressive and I saw a couple of authors that I'm following won awards, which prompted me to congratulate them without any expectations. Imagine my surprise when I saw this:

(click to see image in full)

Why, you're welcome, Ms. Morgenstern! It's an honor to hear from you. Cheers!

2012 is starting out nicely.  Here's wishing more fun encounters with authors here and overseas.

After months of not knowing when my other blog would go up, I have finally managed to publish my first review post today.  Woohoo!  Thank goodness for long weekends. :D

What I love the most about my current profession is how learning heavily figures in it.  While majority of my time is spent facilitating the learning of other people, it feels good to learn new things as well.  And that's saying a lot since attending courses is often pretty rare for me.  I woe at the irony of it.  My last formal training was almost a year and a half ago which I wrote about here.

I went through a new training at the start of this year; something specific to my current company.  It was a huge eye-opener in a lot of ways.  I appreciated my role more and I realized that we needed to go back to basics.  There were keys tasks that are already ignored and mindsets that needed to be changed. In the end -- where I found myself drowning my exhaustion with several cans of Coke Zero, no longer caring about adding more pounds to what I gained from all the food I ate -- it made me wonder why people have succumbed to the pattern I came to experience. I knew my work was cut out for me when I signed the contract but I didn't realize that it would require a whole box of surgical gloves.  I guess it's time to stretch the latex.

It's been a while since I made a post about a song I liked.  The last one was about Madonna's Take A Bow.   While I do have plans to feature music that I rave about on my still-in-production review blog, I couldn't resist writing a post about this one.  The song is so compellingly beautiful that you find yourself wishing you're the one for whom it is being dedicated to. Well, at least, I knew I did.

Turning Page by Sleeping At Last is included in the original motion picture soundtrack of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1.  While it wasn't launched with the same fanfare as It Will Rain by Bruno Mars or A Thousand Years by Christina Perri, the song became memorable because of a particular scene in the movie (which I'm not telling for spoiler reasons).  It was short when I heard it for the first time (typical for a song used in a scene) but it was perhaps one of the most notable tracks among the movies I watched last year.  The song catches you with its arrangement: the piano sounds achingly wonderful and the lyrics reads like an ode to true love.

About a month ago, Sleeping At Last shared a live performance of the song. Like fine wine, it just got better.  Here's a video of the live performance and the full lyrics below.  Hope you enjoy it. Happy weekend!

Image Credit: ~Juu97 via deviantART

I guess by this time you'll know that I'm a girl with many hobbies/interests: taking photographs, watching movies (and even TV series although I somewhat neglected that lately), reading books among others.  Listening to music is another hobby/interest that keeps me pre-occupied and something that I cannot live without.

I did say in an earlier post that if get inspired, I'll make another blog.  And so here it is.  Luckily, it's not as taxing to make as my earlier post.  However, in its own way, it did tax me... or my wallet.


I have a confession to make: I am a book hoarder.  If I were to gauge by the number of books that I just sorted and cleaned up yesterday, they are a lot for my room to fit in.  My book blogger friends -- you know who you are -- would argue that they're still by no means the same volume as theirs, to which I agree.  As I'm surveying my room, I'm counting five plastic crates... Five. Plastic. Crates! And I remember seeing more than a handful of stray ones in our living room. Oh dear.

I remembered in 2010, I gave myself a goal: not to buy a lot of books because of my space dilemma.  I made a list, which I kept, followed and succeed. So I thought 2011 would be a cinch. I knew this year would really put a dent in my pocket but I wanted to keep myself in check. So I made a list.  I kept it.  Unfortunately, I didn't follow it.  In fact, I exceeded and got a total of 35 books (3 of which were gifts by the way)!  Jeez, it sounds like I rebounded from rehab.  Hahaha. Here's a snapshot of the books I owned (bought or given) in 2011 as seen in my Goodreads account:


2011 marks the year wherein I've read the most number of books since I got caught in the corporate jungle.  My day job hardly affords me any time to read so finishing any non-work related book is quite an achievement.  I can still remember my 2006 dry spell and I don't want that to happen again.  I gave myself a 15-book reading challenge at the start of 2011.  My total read books: 20!  Woohoo.  I am so proud of myself.  And I thought that was impossible since I switched jobs.  Thank goodness for long commute rides.   Here's a snapshot of the books I read as seen in my Goodreads account:



In some ways, I found all this to be a good thing because I was introduced to a whole lot of authors and my reading palate became more diverse. 2011 also became the year where I met more authors and got my books signed; I loved seeing one again (Hello Lauren Kate!) and meeting two new authors who were such great individuals, very enthusiastic about their work (Hello Samantha Sotto & Alexander Yates!).  I followed more authors this year on Twitter (Hello John Green, Gayle Forman, Scott Westerfeld, Erin Morgenstern and Laini Taylor!) and listed more books on my Goodreads wishlist.

Suffice to say, my love for reading is back in full force and I have no intentions of stopping any time soon.  It helps that I'm actively part of a club with a few friends who meet regularly to discuss and recommend books.  So I guess my target of 20 books for 2012 would be a cinch?  I truly hope.  And about my space problem? I'm thinking about donating, if not re-selling, some of my books.  I'm thankful for my Kindle for PC app but since I can't bring Sydney while I commute, getting a Kindle soon is becoming a priority.

Happy New Year friends! Hope the smog hasn't gotten to you as much as I did. I've been in my room for perhaps the whole day and I'm not exactly looking forward to going to work tomorrow (because it's too soon).  To distract me, I prepared this 2011 recap post.  You may remember that I made a similar one last year.  I liked doing it so much then that I want it to be a regular thing.  This year though, I plan to amp it up by adding two recap posts but for books and music.  Hopefully, these will be up in the next few days... or hours... depending on how inspired I get.

Without further ado, here's my life in 2011 through the movies I watched.  Enjoy!


January 8 - The Tourist
(This movie kept me thinking until the end.)

January 22 - Tangled
(Perhaps the only movie musical that I've watched so far in ages. And yes, I didn't cringe! How could I when I am swooned by the voice of Zachary Levi. Teehee!)

March 5 - Just Go With It
(There wasn't any new movies showing that week. I remembered Meann and I choosing between this and I Am Number Four. Well, obviously, you know what we both chose and neither of us regretted it.)

March 13 - Red Riding Hood
(I wanted to read the book before watching this. After I watched it, I fell in love with Billy Burke more. And I liked Max Irons. I do have a copy of the book; unfortunately, it is still unread.)

March 19 - Rango
(This is for me the best animation movie I've seen. Story-wise, it was compelling.)

March 21 - Sucker Punch
March 26 - Sucker Punch
(Like in my post last year, I have the habit of watching movies more than once. This was no exception. And I'm a proud owner of this book and I won this shirt from New Worlds.)

April 19 - Arthur
(I will admit to not being a big Russell Brand fan but this made me laugh and cry. The geeky, movie cars were awesome.)

April 28 - Water For Elephants
(Thanks to our fairy godmother, I saw this in an advanced screening together with 4 other Robert Pattinson fans.  My friends know that I'm a fan of his so anything he makes, I'll see.  To this day, I regret not seeing Remember Me in the cinemas.)

April 30 - Thor
(If only because I wanted to see Chris Hemsworth in 3D, I made an exception to my Northern allergy and saw this. While this takes my favorite movie of the year award, my only wish: extra 20 feet for maximum ab exposure. =P)

May 31 - Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
(If anyone questions how much I love Johnny Depp, this should be proof that I do. It's the third movie of him that I've seen; that's like an average of 1 Johnny Depp fix every 2 months. Not bad at all.)

June 4 - Kung Fu Panda 2
(This was our company's family day offering. I joined the first screening. I laughed and cried all the way until the end. Keeping my fingers crossed for a 3rd installment.)

June 4 - X-Men First Class
(Since I wasn't contented with Kung Fu Panda 2, I watched this with a couple of friends who swear by Charles/Erik's or James McAvoy/Michael Fassbender's powerful chemistry. I was equally hooked. The duo takes the Best On-Screen Couple of the Year award for me. :D)

June 20 - Super 8
(I loved this movie but if there's one thing I learned, I shouldn't have watched this alone.)

July 9 - Temptation Island
(I loved the original; I loved this remake too. And the crowd that my friends and I were with in the cinema... tres chic!)

August 6 - Cowboys & Aliens
(Having seen Super 8 a few months before, my enthusiasm watered down a bit. Harrison Ford and Daniel Craig easily changed my mind.)

August 13 - Captain America, The First Avenger
(Chris Evans and Sebastian Stan. Need I say more? :D)

September 3 - Zombadings 1: Patayin Sa Shokot Si Remington
(My 2nd Filipino movie for the year! And that is awesome by my standards. It didn't hurt that Meann and I saw Martin Escudero at the end of our screening. Here's proof.)

September 8 - Contagion
(Kate Winslet. Jude Law. Gwyneth Paltrow. Marion Cotillard. Matt Damon. Laurence Fishburne. An all-star cast movie directed by Steven Soderbergh. I've seen similar kinds of movies but this works. So bravo!)

September 24 - Abduction
(Taylor Lautner's first starring role after shooting The Twilight Saga franchise. Not bad; not good either. More movies would do the trick.)

October 22 - The Three Musketeers
(Matthew Macfadyen + Logan Lerman + Orlando Bloom as a bad ass = MAJOR LEAGUE EYE CANDY! The chemistry between D'Artagnan/King Louis XIII is my runner-up for the Best On-Screen Couple of the Year award.)

November 17 - The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1
November 18 - The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1
(Breaking Dawn, the book, is my 2nd favorite in the series so you can imagine my anticipation. I think Bill Condon and Melissa Rosenberg did their best to adapt this. I was entertained.  However, if I were to rank the four movies, this unfortunately takes the last slot for me.)

December 10 - Immortals
(Luke Evans. I sigh as I say your name. Not that I don't like Sean Bean but can you be Zeus in the next installment of Percy Jackson? Pretty please?)

December 17 - Mission Impossible 4: Ghost Protocol
(I love you, Simon Pegg! You were made to be seen in IMAX.)


When I reviewed my last year's post, I watched a total of 17 movies.  This year? 23 movies! Woohoo!  I hope to see more this 2012. And this nifty sequel below would be the first one on my list...