Why Blog?

This is my nth blog. I’ve been jumping from one online home to another and it wasn’t until my friend convinced me to get my own domain that I was forced (!) to update my blog from time to time. Since I paid for the domain, then what the heck. I might as well post as much as I can and join the online noise.

But why really blog?

1. There is fulfillment when people read what you write and affirm you for what you’ve written.

2.  For beautiful strangers to say “thank you” or that I was able to enlighten them anyhow because of what they’ve read are music to my ears. It just inspires me to write more! :)

3. I’ve always wanted to voice things out and to influence people. Through blogging, I get to freely share my thoughts and feelings without the fear of being judged wrongly.

4. I know that in another part of the world, there will be always at least one person who can relate and who share the same emotions as I do. To give inspiration through blogging is priceless.

5. Readers encouraging me to continue what I do always give me the confidence that I need to get through all the dramas in my life.

6. When your readers say “Bless you for writing this post”, how can you just stop?! That’d be a sin!

So yes, despite the fact that I may embarrass myself for some grammatical error I’m not even aware of or maybe give a wrong impression to my readers because my thoughts just don’t blend with theirs, I’m still gonna keep on blogging as long as I have the inspiration to write and influence people. It’s not that bad. It’s true what they say. Just write from the heart. Forget style and the technicalities of writing (I’m not a writer!). Writing from the heart and relating to the readers at the same time at many points just make a good combo.

So what are you waiting for? The Internet is golden. You get to do a lot of things for free and also inspire people just by being yourself. Start a blog, know what your heart says and share it, inspire people and enjoy the satisfaction that you get when you know that you’ve sparked something good among your readers. Trust me, it’s priceless. And it’s worth all the efforts and time you’ve spent finishing one post.

Why I Still Read Young Adult Books

I’m past my young adulthood stage and I guess I’ve come a long way from there in terms of personal growth and maturity. But no matter how mature a person may become, there is always a teeny part of us that clings to the best years of our lives - our young adult years. And this is why I still read young adult novels from time to time.

While the award-winning books make me feel like an intellectual, young adult fiction makes me feel that I am real, that I am simply myself. Young adult fiction is always packed with situations, circumstances and characters that make me remember the best years of my life. Admit it, our young adult years will ultimately make or break us. I still believe that my young adult years are the most formative years of my life, years when I start dreaming dreams and making things happen for myself. Reading Young Adult novels brings me back to my old dreams and fantasies. Reading Young Adult novels always reminds me of who I was and what I’ve always wanted to become.

Sad truth: Gone were the days when my only problem was how to get my crush say hi to me. Gone were the days of not knowing what to say to my parents when I’m home past my curfew. Gone were the days when  I always feel like I’m on top of the world no matter what the situations are. Gone were the days when  my optimism meter is at an all time high. With maturity, I guess comes acceptance that the real life ain’t just about teeny-weeny problems and cutesy stuff. Real life is the real deal. And it’s seriously has been a painstaking struggle catching up with it. And this is precisely why I can’t just let go of Sarah Dessen and John Green characters. Why Lowry’s The Giver will always be my favorite or why I spend time reading The Hunger Games or Nicholas Sparks novels. It’s no brainer, really. But their characters help me relive the dreams I once had and make me realize where I am in my life right now.

Yes, I’ve probably matured through the years but I’m still far from reaching my dreams. And I always have Young Adult novels to thank for for always reminding me that what I had when I was younger are still the same things that I’ve always wanted and that I need to pick up broken pieces from time to time and still live those dreams and believe that they’re still worth fighting for. It’s a different battle now. But it’s still a battle worth fighting every step of the way if only to achieve those dreams I’ve always wanted to have when I was younger.

When Hormones Attack

The past week was pretty tough for me and I’m actually blaming it on the hormones. Heh. I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately and to eventually do something risky ain’t helping at all. My mind is too clouded with worries that I feel pretty lost and really not knowing where to go from where I am right now.

You see, I feel that I’m really in a wrong place in terms career. Heck, I’m not even sure if I have one. I’m not happy with where I am right now. I feel that I’m in the wrong environment and that I’m working with personalities I thought only existed in movies and soaps. It’s an environment where people silently compete with each other and where growth, discipline and professionalism take a back seat. Needless to say, I’m not happy with my job for a gazillion of reasons. I’m in an industry that isn’t my cup of tea. I’m in a company where I can’t give respect to people who should be given it to. I’m in a company where I feel I can do more but will never ever be given a chance to.

Don’t get me wrong. Some of my colleagues enjoy where they are. I just don’t. It just isn’t for me. In 2 months time, I’ll definitely be out of it and that is where all the anxiety comes from. What will happen to me after 2 months??? Oh, bloody hell. I know I shouldn’t worry but not having a job really deprives me of the security that I need in this bloody world.

I’m tired. But I have to keep on fighting. I’m really left with no choice. I just really hope that something good will come in a couple of weeks. I’m really damn worried and it’s not just the hormones. It’s life playing a cruel joke once again and pushing me to my limits. The only consolation I get from this experience is that it will eventually bring out the strong person in me. I still need security, though. I’m really praying that in 2 months times, I’ll be sitting in an office where I can call my second home. It’s been 5 years of working hard and struggling to find my niche in this world. I think I deserve a decent job and a decent workplace. Dear Heavens, pretty please?

John Green’s Paper Towns

The way I figure it, everyone gets a miracle. Like, I will probably never be struck by lightning, or win a Nobel Prize, or become the dictator of a small nation in the Pacific Islands, or contract terminal ear cancer, or spontaneously combust. But if you consider all the unlikely things together, at least one of them will probably happen to us. I could have seen it rain frogs. I could have stepped foot on Mars. I could have been eaten by a whale. I could have married the Queen of England or survived months at sea. But my miracle was different. My miracle was this: out of the small houses in all the subdivisions in all of Florida, I ended up living next door to Margo Roth Spiegelman.

...So begins the bittersweet tale of Quentin ‘Q’ Jacobsen and Margo Roth Spiegelman.

Q, head over heels in love Margo. Margo, the mysterious girl next door. Ben and Radar, Q’s best friends whose characters added a lot of spice and hilarity to the novel.

Paper Towns is no ordinary love story. Q, being hopelessly in love with Margo since age 9 finally got the chance of his lifetime when Margo invited him to be his partner for a night, playing pranks on people whom she never really wanted. Just when Q thought they had the time of their lives, Margo, without any warning mysteriously ran away the next morning. A big part of the story actually revolved on the hunt for Margo Spiegelman. It was Q’s hopelessly devoted love for this mysterious young lady that compelled him to do things he never thought of doing. But at one point, I just felt that Q just needed to prove something. Same goes for Margo.

Apart from being a bittersweet tale, Paper Towns is a novel on getting to know yourself and having that courage to do things you never thought of doing. It is a novel of pushing one’s self to limits, a novel of finding that one thing that could hopefully unleash that part within you that would ultimately make you become the person you were destined to be. Paper Towns is all about finding one’s self amidst the superficial surroundings. Paper Towns for me, has been the main characters’ hunger for truly knowing themselves and not just merely giving in to the whims of the superficial world they live in.

I admire John Green’s genius in the way he realistically portrays the characters. Q and Margo couldn’t have made the novel interesting if it only revolved around them. Ben, Radar and Lacey’s characters were even more loveable for me. Their antics made me all nostalgic as it momentarily turned back time and made me remember my good old high school friends. I personally love how I, as a reader, am able to think a future for them as Green totally left me breathing a long sigh and hoping that things would turn out well for the characters.

Paper Towns is a celebration of friendship, love and growing up. It is a tale of knowing yourself and wanting to become the person that you want to be. It is a tale of finding love, hoping it stays and maybe letting go.

There is all this time between when the cracks start to open up and when we finally fall apart. And it’s only in that time that we can see one another, because we see out of ourselves through our cracks and into others through theirs?

When can we really say that we have looked into one another’s soul? What is the measure of truly seeing a person? In a world full of paper towns and paper people, only the brave and the courageous will ever have the  gracious audacity to choose being real and to allow people to be real and love them as they are. This, for me is Paper Towns’ biggest lesson.

Food Porn!

 

MISTER KABAB

I’m a fan of Mister Kabab. I’m lucky ‘coz its Pearl Drive branch is just walking distance from my office. Their Beef Chelo Kabab is just to die for. Real mouth-watering. Mister Kabab never fails to give my tummy the satisfaction it needs.

 

SOPHIA’S MOM RED VELVET CUPCAKE

Cuppies are so in and with so many cupcake businesses flourishing in the city, competition just gets tougher. When Sophia’s Mom opened in Megamall, I was kinda thrilled since my fave Cupcake Shop is a bit inaccessible for me. I tried it as soon as I saw it and its red velvet cuppy somehow disappointed me. It’s just not as tasty as my fave red velvet cuppy. I just feel that it lacks the sweetness that my sweet tooth can take.

 

ESTREL’S

Need I say more? Who doesn’t love Estrel’s Caramel Cake! Yummy goodness and it just leaves you asking for more! Real sinful.

 

Photos are taken with Instagram (coypatalagsa). Follow if you wish :)