Just Checking In

Hi!

I know I haven't been present here for a quite a while now. In the past, despite a super busy schedule, I have managed to take some time and make something for this blog but lately I have a lot of things to take care of. Big things. Things that needs to be taken seriously.

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GFC Followers Drop

Unlike my Instagram or Twitter I don't have as many followers on Google Friend Connect (GFC) so it's easy to notice when someone unfollows.

Yesterday, when I opened my Blogger account I found out someone unfollowed me. Or that's what I thought, at least. I wasn't that sure so I left it alone. I don't really mind the small following - I get steady pageviews and comments on my blog so I know it's not that lonely in here ;) But just a few minutes ago, my GFC followers had a sudden drop. More than 10 unfollows at once! That has never happened in my almost four years of blogging. Until now. At first I thought maybe I offended people with one of my posts, or maybe Blogger is removing inactive accounts. Ha! Close enough.

If this happened to you recently and you are also wondering, here's why:

Where I Live... I Love It Here

Let's talk about something random and personal for a bit. In books, a lot of the characters I've met have expressed the notion of moving away. To escape, the need for space, independence, freedom, adventure... There are plenty of reasons.

My Current Feel-Good Playlist

I believe the last time I made a music related post was almost a year ago *cringe*

Anyway, here are some of the songs that are currently in my feel-good playlist.

"Verge" by Owl City ft. Aloe Blacc

I love Owl City's Mobile Orchestra album. Verge is one of my most favorite and Aloe Blacc's voice is amazing! It is also because of this song that I discovered People Are Awesome's channel on Youtube.

Mara Dyer Spin-Off Series

What is this MADNESS?

Ha! Get it? Cause Mara Amitra Dyer + Noah Elliot Simon Shaw = MADNESS.

Okay, don't mind me. My mind is a bit fried by this news. I had no freaking idea this was happening. But it must be for real, 'cause I found it on Entertainment Weekly.

COVER TREND: Purple, Pink, Orange

Purple, pink, orange -- that is my most favorite color combination of all, if the pinks and purples of this blog isn't a dead giveaway. I noticed that some of my most awaited books and favorite covers this year are pink-purple-orange so why not give them a pitch because of that ;)

Midyear Updates

Hello! I haven't been a very active blogger lately but since July is almost over I figured it's time to look back to all my goals this year and check out my progress. I meant to do this at the start of the month but as I've said, blogging slump.

Anyway, I have four major goals this 2015 (not including the one that says, "I have to read more").

1. Catch up on reading - and reviewing - my review copies.
2. Start and/or finish a series.
3. Annihilate my physical TBR.
4. Don't buy more books.

I only joined two reading challenges this year:

 

Sisterhood of the World Bloggers Award

I normally don't do tags and awards. I love answering questions and doing tags and I really appreciate everyone who includes my blog but I am the worst at tagging. I just end up saying: "I tag all of you" or "I nominate everyone." Laziest person ever. Anyway, this time I was nominated by Olivia of Fluttering Pages for the Sisterhood of the World Bloggers Award and I decided to do it because she is so nice and I'm actually looking forward to this so thank you so much, Olivia!

The Rules:

Thank the blogger who nominated you, linking back to their site.

Put the Award logo on your blog.

Answer the ten questions sent to you.

Make up ten new questions for your nominees to answer.

Nominate ten blogs.

5 Quotes From Favorite Books

Listed in no particular order, here are some quotes for you from books I highly recommend.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT

by Colleen Clayton

Published: October 9, 2012

How can you talk about something you can’t remember?

Witty and poignant, Colleen Clayton’s stunning debut is a story about moving on after the unthinkable happens.

Why you should read it: This book is heartbreaking but beautiful. If you're looking for something real, this is for you. Also, Corey is amazing.

New Blog Look!

So... are you noticing it yet? My baby's got a new look! Honestly, this was a long time coming. I never seem to find the time to sit down and give my blog a makeover especially with school in the way. And eventhough it was on impulse, I finally did it!

Around midnight last night, I thought it's high time I do something to make my blog look presentable. I didn't have any concrete plan like what color schemes or fonts and header would look good so I decided to stick with my previous theme which are pinks and violets and proceed from there. One step at a time. Three hours later and ta da! Have a minute to appreciate all that effort. lol

I'm not an expert at this stuff but I'm pretty freaking happy with the end result. Though I have to admit that as soon as everything's in place my first thought was, "It's so fucking pink I might hurl." But that's probably the exhaustion talking. That, and I've been staring at if for hours while working on it until nearly 3AM.

Hope you guys like it!

Foreign Summer Adventures

A much better way to spend the summer instead of sweating your ass off in your rooms.

1.) Bungy Jump in New Zealand

SUMMER TO-DO LIST

It's finally summer! Has been for a few weeks now but I just got the time to get out of my reading nook where I refused to be disturbed and say hello to the blogging world once again. It's one of the many things I plan to do this summer.

And here are some, or all, of them:

1) Catch up on sleep - DONE

March consisted of a lot of sleepless nights. I'm pretty sure the weeks leading up to finals were fueled by only 2 or 3 hours of sleep almost everyday. The night before I had to hand over my last paper for the school year I decided to take an hour nap around midnight before I finish my research since my head was about to explode. The next thing I know my mom was in my room, freaking out, saying my laptop and pocket wifi were overcharged. I learned it was already seven in the morning. Seven! And my paper was due at noon. I resumed my work immediately even though I'm still in my school uniform I wore the previous day but I'm pretty sure seven hours of sleep can be considered as "catching up".

2014 Highlights

So even if last year was an exhausting and stressful one I still had great moments to treasure forever.

AUTHOR SIGNING:

For the first time, I went to a book signing event right at the beginning of 2014! And two more throughout the year. I got to meet four of my most favorite authors so obviously I had a superb time.

 

2015 Most Anticipated

It's almost 2015 and here we are with yet another storm hitting our place that will last until the New Year. And here I am, still in a freaking reading slump and buried in school projects. But it's hard not to get excited. New Year! I can't believe the year is almost over. To be honest, this year feels like the fastest to fly by. Anyway, here are the things that I am most excited about in 2015.

Books:

Burn 

(The Rephaim #4)

by Paula Weston

CEBU WEEKEND GETAWAY PART 1: Marie Lu Signing + City "TOUR?"

Last, last... last Saturday I went to Marie Lu's signing event. There have been plenty of authors who went here in our country for signings I badly wanted to be a part of. Unfortunately, both venues are too far from where I live and the closest of the two are usually during Sundays and I can't have that because of school. The first time I went, it was Gayle Forman's and that's because there's no way I'm not attending. Lucky for me, we didn't have class that Monday. Not so lucky for me, there was a storm (that was more than a couple of months after Typhoon Haiyan and in the same vicinity) and ALL trips were cancelled. I was stuck at the terminal for two freakin' days and was only able to go home Tuesday morning so yeah, at least I was only absent for one day instead of two.

TROUBLE TUESDAY

So.. my class schedule today is like this:

                                    10:30am - 12:00nn             Control Systems (Lab)
                                    12:00nn  - 1:30pm              Database Management System (Lab)
                                      1:30pm - 3:00pm              Microprocessor Systems (Lab)
                                      3:00pm - 4:30pm              System Analysis and Design (Lab)

At first I was like:

And then I thought, "You know, I've always wanted to be on a diet but I just can't seem to step away from food like that. Now's the time."

HALLOWEEN Reads

I’ve been procrastinating. Can you tell? Bwahahahaha. But can you blame me? My precious days of sleeping in(?) are dwindling. School starts next week! Speaking of which, I’m almost done with enrollment – almost. There are just a few conflicts in schedule to settle and if everything works out, I’m gonna be taking 11 classes this semester. ELEVEN! Le sigh.

Anyway, I’m going back to my hometown for the weekend to visit my relatives (I only get to visit maybe two or three times a year) and I’m bringing flowers to my grandpa and great grandpa’s grave. Also, the food. So I’m leaving you a few books you might want to read this Halloween season.

SEMBREAK TBR Pile

I am blogging. I AM BLOGGIIIING!!!! 

Forgive me. I am that excited. Up until yesterday I was seriously dreading the fact that we were still going back to school and doing projects when semestral break had supposedly started the previous week. Finals wasn't that hard compared to others I've taken before. Of course, there was the hardest exam it couldn't compare to all my other exams combined, there was also one you could take wasted and pass, there's another that was just 'Meh. Whatever', one was cancelled and one I was exempted to take. Projects, though... Argh! Right after we finished our last exam, we all went out to celebrate because eff yeah we survived another semester! But the day after that was back to school stuff. I've been reading a few books since exams ended but with projects in the way I didn't have all my time focused on that. And also, I've been sleeping a lot. Gotta compensate, ya know ;) I mean, we only get more or less - definitely less - than two weeks of break including holidays and enrollment which could take forever just so we can have the most convenient schedule for our classes (and that's next week already!). So it was kind of a downer thinking that I wouldn't be able to read ten books, write plenty of reviews and blog, after all.

QUOTABLE QUOTES

SO. Last night I woke around 11PM, ate my dinner (yeah, my schedule is messed up) and wondered what to do next, still in a post-sleep haze. I was about to find something to read when I got sidetracked by the quotes I have in my computer so yeah. Blog post. Why not?

These aren't all deep or thoughtful or the best quote ever or something. But they made me smile or remember a certain part I really liked in the book. I love to go over them sometimes and just enjoy. These are randomly picked since I have A LOT of them in my laptop. Here are some for you to enjoy as well.

Rafa glances at me as we walk. His hair looks fairer out here in the sunlight. Right now I’d like to run my fingers through it, get a good handful, and smack his head into the brick wall we’re passing.
Haze by Paula Weston

‘You believe what he’s saying—that they’re demons?’
Simon nods.
‘Like, from hell?’
‘No,’ Rafa says, ‘from Comic-Con.’ He shakes his head. ‘Yes, from hell.’
Haze by Paula Weston

HEY, HEY

Ten years later aaaand.. I’m here. So how’s life? Well. After 12 hours straight of much needed sleep after yesterday’s events, my head hurts, I feel like throwing up, my eyes feel bloated, I’m still sleepy and I think I’m coming down with something.

CURRENTLY READING:

The Scorpio Races

by Maggie Stiefvater

Published: October 18, 2011

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