Stumped

Question :

 How does one write an average of 2750 words per day, keep up to date with the news, both local and international, run a valiant race with technology, settle travelling and immigration details (urgh!), squeeze in quality time with the family and canine furry siblings, live life a little and find some time in all that chaos for some peaceful reading whilst resisting the urge to keep one's eyelids open with a toothpick, yet stay sane once all the dust settles ? *note #12354 to self : quit whining*

Bleh .. as an aside, I've been just obsessed with Simon and Garfunkel these days. So many of these bring back feelings of nostalgia, so very reminiscent of my childhood ...

From The Graduate :



I used to sing Scarborough Fair ALL the time back when I was hardly two digits old .. nevermind the fact that I had no idea what I singing about back then ..

digressing, this version's just heart-stopping, tear jerkingly beautiful .......the man has got a voice !! hah, Justin Bieber, take that !! *ducks rotten tomatoes*

Okay, so maybe I have found the cure for this self-induced insanity ..... great company, sumptuous food, stellar ear food ..... yums.

Goodnight people ! ( oh hey, it should be morning ...hello panda eyes )

Hiya

First off, I've been rubbish at updating my blog(s) lately, so sorry for that, I seem to have been consumed by the evil time monster yet again .. I haven't been dropping comments much in other blogs either, but I've been reading all of yours :) just that waiting 5 minutes for each page to load thanks to the fantasticness that is Streamyx becomes a little of a turn off after a while ... :(

So, just a quick post to share a few ads that really tickled me, and kept me up for the better part of a night that was supposed to be dedicated to some quiet reading .. kids are just so hard to resist , regardless of levels of sweetness, obnoxiousness and ingenuity.

Hehe, this is a scream !

Simply because this reminds me of my bro, when he was that age (and well, some things don't change :p ) hahaha.

I like this one best.

If we had commercials like this here, I wouldn't mind them so much. Although, commercials are the best times to get a snack, stretch, or in my case, a few pages read ... hmm... which one was your favorite ? 

Have a good weekend y'all. And Happy World Book Day !!

Wordy Candy

Ah, the intoxicating smell of leather bound tomes

laced with the tingling scent of mothballs,  

pages so fragile they flutter by like the wings of a butterfly,

a wealth of fantasy, 

knowledge and 

heartfelt emotions

from cover to cover,

a voyage that starts with a single word, 

ending with a dot encapsulating

secrets that never perish. 

A few of you may already know this, but I've started a book blog, in order to separate all wordy degustations from my self-indulgent personal jottings. I've kept it all a little hush hush until now, but I think it's time the curtains were drawn. Guys, I'd like you to meet Wordy Candy. 

If you have time to spare, or you're a bookworm (full-fledged, closet and baby worms included) , hop onto this journey of imagination and print with me. I would love to invite you to join me, as I venture into foreign lands, scrutinize philosophies, gush and go slack-jawed with awe at the eloquency of so many great authors out there and share thoughts where it concerns books and all thing wordy. 

Mischief and a Weak Will

They say a picture paints a thousand words...so here's two :

I know I look a little maniacal with my loot, but without further ado ..I'm cuddling : 

The Hour I First Believed - Wally Lamb

Half of a Yellow Sun - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Wolf Hall - Hilary Mantel ( It was calling my name !! ... I.just.couldn't.say.no)

The Enchantress of Florence - Salman Rushdie 

I am a book thong. In the crack of a book is where I belong ... 

Whilst at the counter waiting for the cashier to ring up my sinful indulgences purchases, I caught sight of this sign, above a rack full of wispy, delicate looking ribbons adorned with beads on each end. Highly tempted to bring one home with me, imagine my glee when the very nice cashier said that upon signing up for a new membership, I'm thus entitled to a book thong ... wishes do come true !! (or maybe she saw me casting pitiful, longing puppy eyed looks at the rack and took pity ...... = p ) 

Book Lust (again!)

I'm currently on a mission to read as many Man Booker prize winners as I can possibly get my hands on. Last year's winner, Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall has been taunting me for ages ! ... I.NEED.IT ....... *sulks, mopes, whines, remembers age and comports self with a little more decorum ... 

Wally Lamb's The Hour I first Believed is another one of those books high on my To-Possess list. It's based on the fateful Columbine High School shooting in April 1999, the story's told from the perspective of two survivors. I've heard great things about Wally Lamb's I know This Much is True and I'm thinking this one should live up to it's predecessor's reputation.

Someone recommended Ken Follett to me a while back, and I've been looking at a few of his books, hoping for something that'll catch my eye. I picked up The Pillars of the Earth and World Without End sometime back in Popular and was forced to put it back looking at the price. New releases are a great tease !! Now I know that BookXcess is selling them for a steal, and my greedy heart is dancing a rapid tap dance of ill-concealed lust. Perhaps I shall lift my book-buying ban for a while. Just this once .... (something tells me this won't be the last time I'll say Just This Once ..)

Literary Delights

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Whilst some friends of mine are compiling shopping guides around UK ( read : 200 GBP for a handbag is cheap !! ) , I have very strong opinions about branded handbags, make up, shoes and other fluttery girly nonsense, but let's just keep that to myself shall we ? So, as I was saying, whilst the charming shopaholics are at their chosen pastime, I've been indulging in the poison of my choice, feeding my addiction for books, books and more books. I say poison because books here cost an arm, a leg and maybe throw in a few fingers to secure that good deal. 

I've been looking at bookstores all over UK and Europe, all of them literary heavens and cultural melting pots, I can't wait to go delve my greedy paws in mountains of printed paper, nevermind the fact that I won't be able to afford anything, it never hurts to dream, doesn't it ? So I thought I'd share a little of what I found with you guys here. Perhaps if you have anything to add, recommend or like me, you have a hunger for zooming off to foreign imaginary lands, hop along on this virtual drool-journey. 

Today, we're going to visit  independant bookstores,  jewels that are probably hidden in places you'll least expect to find a bookstore.

First up, is Daunt Books,
83, Marylebone High Street,
London W1U 4QW

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Often regarded as a traveler's bookstore, Daunt Books has books separated according to countries, so you'll typically get travel guides, novels and memoirs all squished into the same section. Very useful for people who are reading according to countries .. I tend to do that, being obsessed with the Middle East some time back, I'm now progressing to India before I make a pit stop in US prior to zooming off somewhere else on my imaginary travels. 

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The store is spread out over three floors, with books nestled in every corner. Would you just look at the beautiful wood paneling, and the entire Edwardian setting the bookstore has ? I think I would love getting lost here....wouldn't you? 

For our next stop, we'll hop over to Ireland, stopping by 

Hodges Figgis 

56-58 Dawson Street, 

Dublin 2, 

Ireland

                         Photo credit 

Founded in 1768, the shop is the oldest yet in Ireland. In fact, if you're familiar with James Joyce's Ulysses, you'd probably have stumbled upon this book depository as the store gets referred to in his work, although the store has since been relocated from its original location. 

The shop is spread across four floors and is reputed to house a staggering number of 1.5 million books, and is the largest bookstore in Ireland, specializing in Irish titles, academic titles, fiction and bargain books ( bargain books go for around  €.3.99 and €4.99 , compare that dollar to dollar with the price that we pay here and you've got your answer for "Why Malaysians don't read " ) 

Fashioned in green and gold livery, the store exudes an aura of an era past, a whiff of whimsical days when women probably walked around under parasols and both Chivalry and Gallantry still breathed. Unfortunately, the store is no longer an independent bookstore, having been bought over by the HMV Group which also owns Waterstones, a famous book chain in the UK. 

And with that last stop, let's wrap things up for the day. I'll continue posting interesting bookstores as I come across them but before we settle back on earth, here's a last thought. With all the books to be read and bought, possessed and digested .... Louis Vuitton who ?? 

Fatigued

When it comes to life, we spin our own yarn, and where we end up is really in fact, where we always intended to be - Julia Glass, Three Junes, pg 286

It's deja vu all over again, and I find myself yet again at the crossroads in life. People tell me my future is bright (is that a standard thing you tell anyone with an uncertain future, perhaps to imbue them with a hope that's fleeing and slipping.. ) but the thing is, all I see is uncertainty and bleakness.

It's so not me to be having consecutive down days. I usually bounce back hard and fast, but the problem is I don't know anymore where I'm heading and what I want. I know of people my age who are about to be mothers, and here I am, failing miserably at getting a grip on my own life. Am I pushing too hard, am I not trying hard enough, is enough ever enough ?

I've tried so hard to find beauty in the obscurest of things. And in many instances I do find beauty in places I least expect. Spurts of joy and laughter in every day, but at times I'm down and beat and I feel like giving up on this race, on hopes and dreams that suddenly feel like burdens and things-I-wanted-to-do-whilst-I-was-young.

I'm still on my break, till I fly off in June to finish up my degree. In this short period ( believe you me, 2 months is NOT long, it's really short when you have a gazillion things to do ) I actually drew up plans on things to do, in order to industrialize my time.

• Work for money for UK ( because contrary to popular belief, I don't delight in spending Daddy and Mommy's hard earned money ) 
• Read, read and read ( so far I've failed miserably at this, time seems to be outrunning me, laughing and teasing , always two steps out of my reach ) 
• Learn a foreign language, preferably Italian or French ( I know, just humour me ) 
• Brush up on Mandarin, notwithstanding the fact that it's non-existent 
• Knit, sew, stitch (don't ask ! ) 
• Learn how to cook ( pivotal for survival ) 
• Find some time for fun ( equally pivotal for survival ... ) 
• Figure out what to do upon graduation , study/work/come back marry a prince and have a brood of Princelings .. = p  ( all I seem to be doing is getting my hopes up high only to have them deflated again ) 

In the arrogance that youth gives, I thought I could do all that and more. I used to wake up early, go swimming, go for lab sessions and classes, come back and write reports, juggle assignments, study, solve a ton of math solutions, cook dinner (yes, I used to cook ... boiled cabbages anyone? *don't laugh!* ) catch a movie AND read a book before I sleep. Now I wake up, write, read a little, work work work and I'm already woozy by dinnertime, nevermind the things-I-wanted-to-do-whilst-I-was-young list that continually mocks me. Is this what getting old feels like ?? 

In me, one of those flaws had proven to be a chronic restlessness; an inability to appreciate, no matter how well things are going, those blessings that were right there in front of me. It's a flaw that is endemic to modern life, I think - Barack Obama, The Audacity of Hope, pg 3. 

I think I've just been diagnosed by the President. *sigh* For now I pray for patience, and understanding. Perhaps one day I will find my place in this big, magnificent world.