Goodreads 2012 Reading Challenge!

Hello guys! It's the second day of the year and so far so good. Regarding my blog, I already queued up reviews and memes this month. I am very well motivated to give life to this blog this year. As you might know, I'm entering college this coming June so I will have more free time between classes. That's ironic, isn't it? Mostly will say they will have limited time when they got into college. Well, I think Time Management skills can loosen up those hassle days to have more free time.

2012 Reading Challenge

Ivan has


read 1 book toward his goal of 50 books.

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1 of 50 (2%)

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Yes, that is correct. I will only try to read more or less 50 books this year. Why so few? You might ask that. Let me explain. Reading is my true passion and blogging is just an add on to it. It's very nice to voice out what you think about a book to people who also read. Have you ever tried to have bookish talk with video-gamers?

So why 50 books? As what I learned from The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, try to be a filter not a sponge when reading. What does that mean? You read not only to enjoy but also to learn. If you're a sponge, you are just letting the words pass in your mind without comprehension and application. When you're a filter, as what the word suggests, there are bits that remain in your mind as the words pass through. That's what we call learning. And those learning that you have gained by filtering should be applied to your life.

Phew! I hope I did not became a philosophical monk on the Himalayas with that paragraph. But it's true. So 50 books this 2012. That 4-5 books per month.

How about you? How many books do you plan to read this 2012?

Happy New Year!

I wish you happiness, good health, fun and success. Happy New Year!

Reviews! Where are the reviews?

Advance Merry Christmas!!

I hope you are having a great vacation right now with your family, friends and books. Today is already December 22 and I can't wait 'till the 25th for the family luncheon. 

So for the purpose of the post, I'll be talking about the past, present and the future of my reviews. I've been very busy since December because of flabbergasting amount of schoolwork, including testing days. As a result, I have very limited time to read and so I finished like one or two books only in the past months. 

What I realized is my reviews are time realistic or whatever should you call it. I mean I post reviews only after I finished reading a book or so. So next year, (weee! 2012 is nearing!) I device a plan on how to maintain proper flow of reviews in my blog. Since last week, I've been reading tons and tons of book and writing reviews. These are to be published next year starting January 1, 2012. My reviews will be queued and so if hell weeks (a.k.a school) comes around, there will still be reviews and my blog will not be like an abandoned house. This is also means no new reviews this month. But I will try to entertain you with post regarding Christmas and New Year. 

So, Au revoir! and I will get back to reading. 

The Influence of Anna and the French Kiss

It’s been eight months now since I have read Anna and the French Kiss of Stephanie Perkins yet the beauty and grandeur of Paris in Stephanie’s words are still in my mind. The places and the people and the food. Oh yes! The food. Everyone loves food!

Since I have read AFK, I’ve been drooling to buy French foods. First on the list – French macarons. French macarons are indeed hard to find in the Philippines. Only few sell them. And according to the laws of economics – high demand with few suppliers means high price. Yes, macarons here are very pricey.

Goodnews! There is what we call here The French Baker which is a bakery that sells, of course, French pastry and cuisine. I managed to buy six French macarons that each costs me about $0.81 or Php 36. Two mocha, two pistachio and two raspberry.

My comments…I love the pistachio and raspberry! I don’t like the taste of mocha. Even in ice cream flavors, I hate mocha. I wonder why I even bought two of them. I can really feel the crisp and sweetness of the macarons. Plus their gorgeous colors. I will surely go back and buy more. 

Steve Jobs: A Goodbye

Maybe, the most influential person to me when it comes to leadership, vision and creativity was the man who showed the world that apple is more than just a fruit, Steve Jobs.

I first knew Steve Jobs when I had received my very first apple product to own, an iPod touch, which until now is still alive and kicking. That was about two years ago since my mother gave that iPod to me. Since then, I became a very big fan of Apple Inc. Especially their CEO, Steve.

Known for wearing black turtleneck and faded jeans during keynotes, Steve had inspired a lot of people, that includes me. I became very interested in Steve's life that I read the scroll-worthy page of Wikipedia. So how he had inspired me?

Leadership

I prefer to be a subordinate rather than take the responsibility of being a leader. Leaders carries vital responsibilities that will enable the group to do something worthy. A leader must be harsh so that everyone will follow him. That was my old perspective of leadership. 

However, since I knew Steve, I learned a lot of things. A leader shouldn't be that harsh to his fellow in able for them to follow him. I read some articles saying Steve walks in the corridors of Apple Campus bare-feet. Sometimes, carrying a flame thrower and pointing it to random people in the hallways. I learned that humor is also vital for leadership.

But when it comes to business, business is business, no humor. Steve was known to be strict when it comes to every detail of their projects. I read last year that Steve called Google to change the yellow color of their icon to a little more dark saying that it distorts the beauty of the main screen. 

Vision

A visionary man, Steve believed that he can change the world. And he did! I don't know if Steve was the one who said this but this quote is always referred to him. "...because the ones who are crazy enough to think the world that he can change world are the one who do." It's a very inspirational, motivating and powerful quotation. 

I learned to set goals for both myself and others. I sometimes dream that my club, Book Buddies, where I am the president, will sometimes be called one of the prestigious clubs in our school. For myself, I know this is crazy but I want to win the Nobel Prize. Hey, it's not bad to dream. I can recall that I said to my of my classmates, "I cannot die now because I have a Nobel Prize to win." I know how crazy it sounds. 

Creativity

Both in art and science. Steve is known for his innovative inventions. He didn't invented neither that personal computers nor the music players, but he changed the way they are seen and called them 'revolutionary'. I learned from him that thinking something crazy is not always unworthy. I can prove that using my last year's Investigative Project. I used rain to power a calculator for almost two weeks (It can last long however the electrodes began to rust). At first I was like "Can that be possible? I should be crazy enough to think about this." But it worked! I scored the highest, higher than the top 1 student, in the Investigative Project and earned the wow of my Chemistry project. Now I'm working on a new source of power but I will say to you, this is the craziest idea I've ever thought so far."

I tried to apply as many lessons I learned from the one-dollar-earner-CEO. And I'm very proud of the changes in my life today. I excel and excel every time. My ideas become crazier and crazier. But Steve had been crazy also. Crazy enough to think he can change how humanity lives through his inventions. 

Today, I'm in grief after learning his death. Cancer is really deadly. That's why I'm taking medicine for my college. I want to research the cure for cancer. And that is again one crazy idea. 

He was a friend, a mentor and inspiration. Even we never met, I will truly miss him. 

Flags at the Apple campus waving in half-staff after
the announcement of Steve's death. 

My Very First Written Story

Since it will take me days before I can post my next review, which will be Unearthly, I come up to an idea to post of my very vivid memories from my childhood.

One rainy morning, me and my mom was lying on the master's bed. Just typical mother and son bonding and talking about certain things. Well, my mother likes me to excel in English (since English is not my mother-tongue) so she challenged me to write a story, about anything - considering the fact that I'm six year's old that day.

I said yes, and imagine what I look like...

no not like this, he is so professional looking

That's what I looked like when I was writing my very first story. Well, there was no rules that the story should be original, just write a story in English. Guess what I did? I did a retelling of the popular Turtle-Rabbit Race story. 

So basically, here's the basic story. (This is not what I wrote back then)

A race was held between a turtle and a rabbit. Once the gun shot, they both run. Rabbit was so fast that he cannot see Turtle anymore. He stumbled upon a carrot field. But he was concerned that Turtle might win the race. But juts laughed considering the speed of Turtle. So, he went to the carrot field and eat all of the carrots. Suddenly, he fall asleep. When he woke up, Turtle was already inches away from the finish line. He ran so fast but didn't made it. The End

How about you, did you write a short story when you were still a child? 

Time to Remember

I was surfing the pictures on my camera a while ago when I stumbled upon a picture. It was taken last week when we visited a mall art gallery. The artwork reminded me of someone special. Not human, but a cat. I thought of sharing his story is wonderful. This is a bit emotional. 

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It reminds of our cat named Yuri. He was a white with black patches cat with very green eyes. He was rescued -literally rescued - from our backyard. It was in the morning when two cats chase each other in our backyard. Then this white cat's foot get stuck on a piece of iron that serves as our fencing. Our housemaid let him free. There is no wound so she just ignore him and let him chase the cat again. But the cat didn't chased the other cat. He stayed in our backyard.

Our housemaid feed him and from then on, he never left. I feel so pity for him staying outside during the cold and rainy nights, so I ask for my mother's permission to let the cat in. Of course, my mother didn't agree. We don't have any pets and she doesn't want one because of their fur. I have asthma before.

I ask and ask until she gave up and said 'yes'. I let the cat in our house. He is so tame and do not run away fishes from out kitchen counter. He patiently wait for someone to give him food.

I got a hamster, thanks to Yuri pets are now allowed in our hourse, and really love them. Until one night, they both found dead outside their cage. There is no blood or any sign of wounds so the probability of Yuri killing them was eliminated. Since the bodies will smell, we wrapped them in a piece of cloth and put them outside until tomorrow when we will bury them. I thought that Yuri thinks that the hamster escaped from their cages. He hold the two bodies using his mouth - but not biting them - and bring them inside. My father said that our cat brought the hamsters inside. I check it out and the hamsters' bodies are again in their cages. The metal doors were left unclosed.

Yuri sat beside the cage, licking his fur. My cat really thinks that the hamsters escaped and bring them back home.

After years of his residency, he got so sick. He becomes very thin and lost the appetite to eat. The last of his life, he spend it sleeping on my lap. He just sleeps. His tail waving slight and his whiskers moving. I rub his fur and was so sad. He meows to me and I meow too - human meow of course. He just sleep there for the rest of the day.

The dawn next day, he was found dead in our balcony. He was curled to his body like a sleeping cat. Like a peaceful sleeping cat. His paws under his chin and tail around his body. He left us smiling.

We buried him in our backyard and our other cat, Yutah, spent the day watching his grave. They become friends when Yutah was still a baby. Yuri is like a big brother for him.

Every November, it is a tradition here to lit a candle for every deceased family member. We usually lit five candles for our other relatives but after Yuri's death, we lit six candles. One for him. Remembering his joyful days in our house.

From time to time, I dream about him. That he is alive and is sleeping in my bed. I know his soul is still with us.

So people, love your cat and give them your love.

Article a Week! -- Happy Thanksgiving

Hi there for another article a week post.

First, I want to tell that you that I'm not an American or Canadian or any other raises that celebrate Thanksgiving. We don't have that here in the Philippines, but I thought sharing you my thanks to the good things happened in my life this year is a great idea. So let's get started.

1. I belong now to the PEP in our school. It is Proficiency Excellence Program. It is a program where top 20 students by year level have special classes on English, Math and Science. Since first year high school, I want to be included in this program so that I can maximize my ability and learn more things. I'm very thankful that I succeeded in my gaol to be a PEP member. It really made my parents happy.

2. Sometimes, we cannot prevent some misunderstanding in our circle of friends. Last October, I have a quarrel to my second best friend. We are just joking him and he suddenly get pissed and told us that he cannot feel us as his friend. We are really hurt when he said that so we a two week long argument. I found my self really angry and my pride took over. He was very sorry but I won't forgive him. Until his birthday comes where I decided that he didn't mean what he said. And our circle of friends are again restored.

3. I thank my mother for giving me NOW a budget for my books. I said in the past that they don't give me money to buy books, now they do.

4. Lastly I want to thank GOD (Even we are in different religion, we have our Gods) for guiding me and keeping me safe and healthy this year.

So, how about you? What do you want to thank?

Article a Week: I prefer the printed ones

Good day to all, I'm here again for Article a Week. Today I will feature e-books and why I prefer printed copies instead.

Printed or Electronic? For me I'm on the side of printed works. I'm not against e-books of course. They are handy and good for busy people. They are also cheaper than printed ones. But I prefer to buy the printed books. I have this dream of having a collection of books, where, when I'm done studying and have a job. I will make my house where my room have several bookshelves to hold A LOT of books. If I buy e-books, then, all I need is a memory card. How awful to see a memory card in a bookshelf. And, I need a computer to open it and read it.

Another great thing about printed works is that I can share it with my friends legally. I mean, I'm not reproducing the book to share it. If I share an e-book copy, he/she might copy it for her/his own copy, then the copyright is violated. And I hate violating the copyright.

Article a Week! -- Why I don't lend my books?

Yes, I'm one of the massive number of lend-haters. Well, not totally. There are many reason why I don't lend my book. I love my books and I want to preserve them as long as I could. I don't want to see them like those old dictionaries in libraries which are full of stress marks, and some are worn out. I still lend my books to my friends but very few of them can. . .

They don't take care of it >:)

---I spend at least 30 minutes or more to cover my books with plastics covers. I really cut the plastic as straight as possible, tape them as neat and possible and cover the book as tight as possible that you will not notice it has cover on it. Well, I successful to do that with not more than 10 of my books. I really don't want to see the covers with folding marks. They ruin the good image of the cover. I also keep away drinks or food that might spill by accident and stain the pages. And here comes the borrowers and give back my book with full of folding marks and chocolate stains in the pages. He is my friend and I cannot just simply say to him "How dare you make my books look like this?" Yes I'm very friendly :) hehe!

I see them store my books like a trash >:)

I have a friend which ask me if she can borrow my Lightning Thief book and I said yes, she can. So I'm very happy that we enjoy same passion for greek mythology since I read the book. Then one day, we, barkada, decided to watch a horror movie in there house. So we watch, got scared and eat a lot. Then I said if I can see her laptop so I can go online and she said it's upstairs in her bedroom. I climb the stairs and see my LYING ON THE FOOT STEPS! And it is at the center of the stairs. Anyone can step on it. Worse if her/his feet or slippers have something underneath that can stain the cover. I got the book and place it together with her other books and say to her to never do that again. Especially if it is only a borrowed thing.

Bookmarks shouldn't be a tons of paper >:)

We as students have a lot of paperworks. And we are very fond of putting a lot of papers in the pages of a books. But I saw one of my friends to place almost 50 pages of short bond paper at the middle of my book. That cannot be a book mark of course. It can destroy the binding. Unfortunately that the book he borrowed has a very weak binding. He can do that to all school books but please not in my books.

Now, when someone ask me to borrow a book. I recall all memories I can recall about him/her borrowing my book and how he/she treated it. If I can't remember something bad, then I say YES but if something bad happened in the past, my best reason is "I'm Sorry but I will reread it for my blog"

Article a Week! -- Book Piracy

We can't deny technology today. We depend on it. Think about ourselves working so hard, manually building The Great Pyramid. We can make a pyramid bigger than that using our technology today, but what is missing? The Greapt Pyramid was known for it's beauty and the manual work of Egyptian slaves. The new pyramid built by present technology will be less valuable than that in Egypt.

Let us bring the concept over the books. I know some of you have Amazon's Kindle or any e-reader out in the market. So convenient right? You can just buy some e-book online or at CD format and install it at your e-reader. I, personally, want an e-reader. It is so convenient that will allow me to bring it everywhere, and can read anywhere even without light.

So you knew about e-book and I'll pretend you are also aware of FREE downloadable e-books. FREE, yes for FREE. All you need is your computer. I have a classmate fond of downloading free e-books using a software and he is really happy of what he is doing. But IT IS A CRIME. You are stealing, and breaking the laws of copyright. All of us know the back of the front page of a book, it is all about the copyright and related text.

Put yourself in the author's case. Imagine your best selling books can be obtain for free and worse, without your permission. It is like inventing a time travel machine and your work was stolen by somebody. How will you feel if that happened?

You may put the blame on the people uploading e-books at the web, but why put the blame on you? You are the one benefiting right? You are the suspect, you make crime. Yes blame the uploader but blame yourself more if you download their uploads. They will be attracted to upload those if no one cares about it, right? It is us, the crime makers, but we still have the guts to tell somebody 'we are honest'.

Also, for me, printed books are more valuable than e-books. Every book published was a masterpiece. I would buy a printed book than e-book. I can lend them the others, but e-books you cannot. How will you lend your kindle if you are reading. Think of giving him a soft copy? Then beware, it is a crime. You are reproducing it.

So let us not be a pawn by these e-books. They are part of the growing technology but they should not be a part of changing our morality.

Article a Week! -- My Bad Book Habits

I am like the other who have these bad habits to books. I love books but It's hard to remove the habits that I practiced through out the time.

Judging the book by its cover is my top bad habit to books. When I go to the bookstore, I always go to the new arrivals and best selling sections. I look each cover and look if the design caught my taste. For me, when a book have a nice cover then it have a nice story; But I'm wrong. Canal dela Reina, a novel by Liwayway Arceo, have a cover design of water droplets. At first sight, there is nothing special with the cover. Required by the school, I read the  novel and find it amazing. It is full of values and family related filipino traits. Even my schoolmates are discussing how good the novel is.

I like hard bound than paperback, so this habit developed when I bought a novel in paperback type in which the pages are crumpled near the binding area. Maybe some of you are familiar of what I'm saying. The wavy look of the paper near the spine and when you turn the page, it produce sound. I hate those kind of books. That's why, as long as I have money, I buy the harbounds; But today, I realized that their is nothing wrong with paperbacks. They save money but gives you exactly what you can found on the hardbounds.

Popularity , some books, like the Twilight Saga, had gained attention due to massive advertisement. I have this habit that what's new is a must have! When I read the new arrivals section. I look for the summary of each and critics for it. The one that is more popular, I want to buy. I bought breaking Dawn as on that time, it is popular. With this bad habit, we forgot to scan the bargain section which cost less but have a very nice story. A while ago, I visit National Bookstore (because it's near to us) and look at the bargain section. I found several books that have nice covers and some are also familiar. They are forgotten. They only cost P90.00. I saw a thick book and how amazing it only costs 90.00.

I'm trying to eliminate these habits. I hope other bookworms do the same.

Happy Reading!