Another Life Update

Wow. I'm crying right now because I read a post I wrote in 2015 to update my future self, and here I am, in the future, being updated.

A bit of a background check: I was cleaning up my email inbox when I found something in the Spam folder. It was an email from this site, asking if I still wanted updates from this blog. I mean... who wanted to pass up the opportunity to binge-read all my cringey blog posts, right?

That's how I ended up backreading.

I guess I have another message for future Toni.

Remember this moment. You are a second year law student. There are so many opportunities that were opened up for you, and so many that were closed. Right now you really needed a break and this is what you get for wishing that, I guess (haha).

So a little update, you kind of got back into anime, and fell in love all over again with Naruto. Sasuke-kun is still your OG crush and SasuSaku is life. Wotaku ni Koi was Muzukashii is a favorite as well, and so is Kuzu no Honkai (surprisingly).

You have matured a little more but have grown a little more cynical. I hope that's something you overcome in the future.

You've made more friends, and lost some, but both are valuable things that happen in one's life. Don't fret. You got a Vita, and are recently getting into gaming, and you adore Persona 4 Golden. 

Bottomline is, Future Toni, I just want to reassure you like the past Toni reassured me. It will eventually be better and things will eventually look up. Please don't give up because you are an amazing human being, and your parents are so so proud of you no matter what you do. So why not allow yourself to be proud too?

You may be struggling right now but remember that you struggled in the past as well and look at where you are now! Who knew you could make it?

I hope by the time you re-read this life update, you are happy. If you aren't, why not? Go get what you want. You deserve it.

A final word: You always want to take care of everyone to give the illusion that you are in control of your life, but you aren’t. Instead, you tend to neglect yourself. Please be kinder to yourself, Future Toni. 

Our UP Diliman Adventure

UP is not just a school! It's a community!

Have some fun with us in this video!

Bataan in a Budget

Tomas Pinpin was the frirst ever Filipino Printer (nope, not like HP, more like Scholastic). He was also a writer and publisher from the municipality of Abucay, in Bataan. He is sometimes referred to as the "Prince of the Filipino Printers".

Because we missed our class's field trip to Bataan, the three of us (Bella, Danica and I) went to Binondo to get to know Tomas Pinpin, a Filipino hero from Bataan.

Click here to find out more about Tomas Pinpin!

Fireflies

– are the most amazing things in the world. There is something very innocent and pure about them – a place with fireflies is a place with magic.


I only ever travelled to one place with these curious creatures and that is my mother’s home in San Pedro, Camarines Norte.


It would be summer, but the temperature would be cold as city –Bers’, and I would stay outside the front door, looking at the pine tree outside my lolo’s house; I would hide behind a column because I thought if they saw me they wouldn’t come out.


And there, one by one, they would light up and the pine tree would look like a Christmas tree. Slowly, and my smile would creep up my face just as slowly.


I would stay outside until my fingers would grow numb from the evening cold, until my mother or my grandmother or anyone who noticed my absence first called me inside. Only then, only then would I leave and even then it would be reluctantly, because I didn’t want to leave my friends. Friends who didn’t even know I exist, and that I watched them every night, and that I loved them.


Friends that probably only lived for a day or two and whose sole purpose that my little three-year-old brain could comprehend was to light up that pine tree across the yard.


“Bem!”

Oops, gotta go.

Three More Days

(A J195 - Travel Journ - Article)

I did say I took this class because I needed to travel more. I love it when I travel – the feeling of moving from one place to another, buttocks hurting from the amount of time sitting on a bus, knowing there’s some beautiful (or not, but nevertheless, a) place waiting for me at the end of the journey.

I love new cultures, and I love eating food I haven’t tasted before. I love the difference of the smell of the air in the city and the province, the sun on my neck and the wind in my face, the rain penetrating the ground and releasing petrichor and visible stars and –

I did say I love to travel. But I didn’t say why.

You could say I was a well-travelled child. My mother took me to Legaspi every month when she would get her dental supplies and the dentures her patients ordered. She would buy me Funny Komiks and a tube of Smarties and we would go to McDonald’s and she would buy me a 6pc pack of Chicken McNuggets (I was a fat kid) – all these without fail. Every month. Until I turned four.

She had to leave, she said. It was only for three days, she said. I’d be back soon, she said.

Only the first one was true.

It’s not so dramatic, you see. She had to work abroad – for reasons a child couldn’t understand, the adults thought, and so nobody told me anything. And so I didn’t cry when she left – because she said she’d be back in three days’ time. I waited, and I waited, and I remember waiting. I don’t remember when I stopped, though.

And so the next time my mother came home, I was too old for Funny Komiks. Smarties had phased out. And I had grown sick of McNuggets.

Don’t get me wrong, I love her, I can say that so many times and you may not believe me but I don’t care because I do love her and there’s no doubt about that. But I don’t think I ever stopped waiting. For the Funny Komiks. For the Smarties. For the McNuggets. Every month. “Maybe after three more days” is what I still keep telling myself.

I love to travel – and I admit it’s probably because I’m looking for that feeling the monthly Legaspi trips gave me, something that I will never feel again.

So you see, it wasn’t even my going away that made me a changed person.

A Trip Down the Food-Memory Lane

I would say my title sounds cliché, just like the food at Guevarra’s.

Once a spa before it was turned into a restaurant, the house’s owners decided they wanted to do something different with it, and since it was an ancestral house among many others in San Juan, they thought it would be nice to turn it into a buffet restaurant.

My classmates and I paid 447Php for the buffet lunch in the acclaimed restaurant, and ate main dishes by none other than Chef Laudico himself and pastries by his wife Chef Jackie.

The restaurant is two years old, established in March 5, 2013. It offers caterings, and events hosting, weddings often being held at the garden. The house can accommodate 200 people, and it is mostly fully-booked especially at lunch time, when the food is cheapest. Weekends are more special because of seafood and other dishes, and they pride themselves for their roast beef, lechon, and leche flan.

It was nice seeing a restaurant so tastefully presented: Filipino, down to the core. It was situated in a good neighborhood as well, although not too accessible to the masses. Then again why would the masses want to pay 500 pesos for lunch?

As for the food itself, it was pleasant enough; I liked it – I would even say I loved it, especially the roast beef. But I didn’t taste anything different in the dishes. I thought they could be cooked – maybe even better – by my mother.

I guess it would be great for balikbayans, or for people who have not tasted Filipino food at all. It would be a good “coming home” or “first time” experience. But I wouldn’t come back a second time.

Reading my old posts

I was making a couple of academic papers for school (yes I'm in college now, can you believe it?) when I stumbled upon my old blog.

It has been TWO YEARS since I've last written and whoa do my posts make me laugh! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA sorry I had to get that out.

This is my book blog and I realized all my reviews have been pretty gut-based, a lot of "I love this" and "I love that" and not enough substance. Being young was not an excuse, Toni, you were eighteen when you wrote that Mortal Instruments one.

I also realized how much I've grown and how much my taste have differed after two years (discovering Battle Royale made me think not less of The Hunger Games, only more aware of its "unoriginality", and nope that's not a word)

An update for my future self reading this is this:

20-year-old Toni is in love with comic books (Deadpool is going to have a movie all to himself next year, the deserving bastard), children's books (Stargirl is a personal favorite) and classics (still, that never went away), and has tried to read the LOTR series for the boy she loved, but only got through ten chapters, because FELLOWSHIP IS TOO FUCKING LONG. As of now she is waiting for a long enough vacation to start reading it again, because her motto in life is "Try everything at least thrice, so it's statistically significant." And she is also hoping the writing will be different from Tolkien's The Hobbit, because that book was childish for aaaaall the wrong reasons.

Toni has also cut her hair short because she wanted to for so long now and decided society (and her beloved mother) was in no place to tell her not to. (Love you ma). She also got glasses because apparently she has had astigmatism all these years, and crying while reading was not normal (unless a beloved character dies).

She has also tried to get cultured in movies because her childhood, as you know, was never filled with them. She has discovered Citizen Kane and The Shawshank Redemption, and Jurassic Park. She loves all of them, even the sappy romances.

She has also discovered a new love for TV series (although this started two years ago when she got too busy in school to read books for pleasure). Breaking Bad is her all-time favorite, followed by Game of Thrones, Friends, HIMYM, the awesome BBC's Sherlock, and Marvel's Daredevil on Netflix.

She is also afraid she pushed herself too hard this school year, with tutoring and being VP for Screening for an org she loves but she does not see herself being a part of as a grown-up. She mostly stays there for her friends and the kids and the elders and the medical missions and the blood donations... and at the end of the day, she feels better because she knows the members she will bring in will take care of the org she loves.

She has decided to become a lawyer almost a year ago, and has now worked her ass off to graduate as soon as possible given the fact she shifted twice. She will do anything, anything to be a JD, and I hope by the time you read this, future Toni, you are well on your way to becoming one.

She has been through a tough time in 2015, the hardest it ever got. The worst of the bunch was she realized she had no home now, and the only consolation through those tough times was her mother coming home, and her father visiting, and the three of them being together for at least a month. It was everything to her.

Don't forget about 2015. It was the year Toni pushed herself to her limits. She thought she wouldn't make it, but she did.

You did.

That's something to be proud of. Go you!

The Movie-zation of The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones

wow, it's been a year. wow. okay. :))

okay i remember that day on 2007 when i was intrigued by this book but didn't buy it because Stephenie Meyer suggested it (no offense to twilight fans, i only thought i "graduated" from Young Adult by that time).

however, 2 weeks ago, a friend suggested i read City of Bones, because there will be a movie adaptation this August. so i did, and my my, was it something. i wouldn't say it was original or unpredictable, but it had a great story line and it's just one of those books that you get hooked on from page 1.

so yeah, i'm pretty new to the fandom but i hope i love it enough to deserve a place among the mundie moms. haha.

the thing i liked most about TMI is that it explored something that maybe approached a moral gray area, which is something one of my favorite series of all time, A Song of Ice and Fire, thoroughly discussed. (yes, Jaime and Cersei, i am talking about you.)

Daenaerys Stormborn, of House Targaryen, with her Unsullied. Copyright by HBO

of course, when i finished the book at 4am a while later, i HAD to know if (SPOILER ALERT) Jace and Clary were really brother and sister. i could hardly sleep, and i ended up googling the answer. i finished City of Lost Souls 5 days later, purchasing a book a day, and losing my allowance in the process.

cassie clare did an awesome job, and i'm not ashamed to say that this series is one of my guilty pleasures. <3 i especially like the way the characters are well-developed, none of them "perfect", or boring, unlike, say, Jason Grace (don't get me wrong, I love him) of Heroes of Olympus.

The Mortal Instruments Series. Source: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXBbfiGS-3CY5ZWbRFjr0JaHIrMqs6R4C3Hr3l6KUvCM0OFeyANGS_CqL_DocmFjRSVm22TvauinuEUGmgCbxz-n25AbzNBySICENPMzkHCeTYJxBQMEEtWY3Kf9HiBhCK18RivTLpojZ-/s1600/The+Mortal+Instruments+covers.png

i am now currently reading Clockwork Prince, second book in The Infernal Devices Trilogy (the prequel to The Mortal Instruments). it's full of easter eggs, references from TMI, or i guess, TMI is full of references to TID... whatever. i like the setting better, i guess - i've always wanted to live in Victorian Era London because of my Sherlock Holmes addiction (BBC's Sherlock Season 3 airs pretty soon, i hear!) Will and Jem are adorable, of course, and i have nothing but praises to sing about the two of them. again, the characters here are well-developed. but i think i like TMI better, or maybe i'm just biased because i loved TMI first. huh.

The Infernal Devices Trilogy. Source: http://www.fangirlish.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/InfernalDevices.jpg

but anyway, i am EXCITED for the movie, especially after i learned that cassie got pretty involved in pretty much everything. i do NOT want this movie to turn out like the Percy Jackson Series (RIP, Rick Riordan's brainchild and my childhood hero). but that is another story altogether.

right now, i am just waiting with bated breath, and am honestly optimistic. the casting is smart and i think the actors will do their respective characters justice. ;)

The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones cast. Source: I completely forgot. I'm sorry. I do not own anything!

P.S.
i did imagine Kevin Zegers playing Sebastian, though. huh. :))


anyway, here's a trailer if you want to see. (and you should!)

Pocket-sized Philosophy

to my four awesome readers: sorry i have not posted in sooooo long, haha. i've had acads and stuff,and like, life... :))  anyway...

i have been obsessed with Paulo Coelho books recently. i mean i know, i feel backwards because i just started reading his books, but hey, better late than never, so...

i started on The Fifth Mountain first (i got it on a sale, shh) and it was just so... captivating. there's no other word for it. it was dramatic, descriptive, a little melancholy, hopeful, just the perfect mix of everything. once you start, you can't turn away from the page. plus, it's something worth your time; you're not just reading for pleasure, but for spiritual growth. (yeah, i just said that)

it's basically like going through Philo 101 with Coelho, but in a fun way. or i guess, in a funner way. funner? more fun?

anyway, yeah... so my favorite is The Alchemist. isn't it everyone's? it's like EVERY SINGLE QUOTE is meant for you. like really, it's awesome. haha, i should be more descriptive, but there you go. it reminds me of my favorite book, The Little Prince. :)

if it's your first time reading Coelho (i doubt it, but just in case you're backwards like i am), i'd suggest The Alchemist. it's about your destiny, and pursuing it, and all the awesome stuff. i won't spoil it now. :D

so yeah, go on ahead and explore life with Paulo Coelho! you won't regret it. ;)

the entire collection. miiiiiine!!! :))

Happy Hunger Games! And May The Odds...

be EVER in your favor.

The three leads in the movie:  Liam Hemsworth, Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson

okay, so The Hunger Games. i first heard of this series last January (i know, i know, pitiful), when Ginny Goodwin (of Once Upon A Time, eeep!) mentioned it in an interview, alongside Harry Potter, as one of her favorite series. i thought i'd check it out, but since this is the Philippines, and i'm in Bicol, i couldn't really find the books anywhere (or anywhere in our ONE bookstore in Legaspi, anyway).

THEN i saw Taylor Swift's new song Safe and Sound in February and it was part of the OST of the movie adaptation of the series, and so my curiosity got rekindled, because this seemed to be a high-budget film. and they wouldn't spend money on a crappy story line, right? so i pleaded with all my might to my cousin to find it in Manila so she could send it to me before the showing (i like to read first before watching, if you know what i mean).

Taylor Swift in the Safe and Sound Music Video

So by March 9, i was reading The Hunger Games, and by March 10 i was finishing Mockingjay. and OHMYGODS they were addicting. not as addicting as Harry Potter or Percy Jackson, but the series really touched me, especially the way Katniss was narrating her story. it was the PERFECT mix of violence, drama and love, if i could say so myself, haha. xD not that i know much of violence... it was probably why teenagers appreciated the series so much. :))

The Hunger Games Trilogy

why do i love it? hmm.. well, i guess because if there is one thing i hate, it's the unfairness of this world. (is that a word, "unfairness"? guess so, my computer didn't check it...) and what could be more unfair than a dystopian future where everything went wrong? i just couldn't help shouting for change (you know, metaphorically) alongside Katniss, because i wanted so much to end the Hunger Games that caused so much hurt to the remaining humans. and of course, there's Peeta. enough said. :)

Josh Hutcherson as Peeta Mellark

if i had to pick my favorite book among the series, i would have to pick The Hunger Games, because:

(spoiler alert)

1. Catching Fire was DEPRESSING.
2. Mockingjay was EVEN MORE DEPRESSING, and i can't handle that much depression in my life.

of course, Mockingjay made it up on the depressing part when Peeta and Katniss got married. it was like, the only happy ending there, besides Annie having a child and Haymitch living with Peeta and Katniss in District 12 (wait, is that really a happy ending?).

anyway, so after i read the series, i couldn't wait to watch the movie, but unfortunately i got sick, so i couldn't watch it until the 28th (sorry, telling my life story here). so yeah,  i have to applaud Gary Ross for directing a wonderful movie. it couldn't have been more faithful to the book. there were minor changes to the story line, but they don't really matter to me much (except perhaps Madge's absence), because the actors played their characters perfectly, especially the two leads, Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson. they were just awesome! :)

i am so excited for Catching Fire. i hope it (or Part 1) is as awesome as The Hunger Games.

the mockinjay pin

wow, this post is really long. :/ haha, hope you enjoyed reading. :)) oh, and:

LONG LIVE THE MOCKINGJAY! ;)

fixed the font... FINALLY.

so my font is not Comic Sans anymore... hooray for me, i guess. oh well, i just had to say that. :)

why is my font suddenly Comic Sans?

does this have anything to do with my Bob Ong obsession? i don't get it.. :/ it just changed automatically. weird...

Elementary! :)

well, i have been addicted to Sherlock Holmes for the past three years, but i have read a book called The Sherlockian by Graham Moore, and it rekindled my passion for the SH canon.

i have to say, Moore has a really believable Victorian era prose... the way he narrated the events in Arthur Conan Doyle's life was quite realistic... like Arthur was the one writing the words himself. i loved reading those parts...

but his modern prose was a bit weak, i think. it would never have kept me reading if the chapters were not alternating between the Victorian era and modern England. but the mystery was nice, even though it was a bit predictable.

however, like i said, it did bring back my love for the Sherlock Holmes series, and i started to read The Hound of the Baskervilles again. i strongly suggest it to mystery lovers, and even mystery haters, i guess... everyone loves The Hound of the Baskervilles. it's probably Conan Doyle's best work. ever.

my favorite detective. :D

Currently Addicted to Bob Ong's Books Right Now.

sorry for not blogging for the last... erm-i-didn't-really-keep-count weeks. i was busy, you know.. Christmas Vacation doesn't last forever.

anyway, Bob Ong...

if you're Filipino and you haven't heard of him, you must be living under a rock. i kinda did until about two years ago when my cousin introduced BO's (yes, that's his initials) seventh book, Kapitan Sino (roughly translated to English as "Captain Who").

I was 14 and i didn't really care about it at first because, well, (and i'm embarrassed to say  this) it's written in Filipino. But after about two months, i read his fifth book, Stainless Longganisa (a parody to skinless longganisa), and it was all about writing. and i have to say, it truly, truly inspired me. it actually got me started on writing. :)

after that, the rest was a blur. i read his first and second book, but... got sidetracked with Percy Jackson as you very well know.

then two years after, i saw his ninth book, "Lumayo Ka Nga Sa Akin" ("Get Away From Me") just this Christmas, and did i LAUGH at the cover. it looked like a pocketbook, for crying out loud! i was laughing my pants off for the rest of the day (don't worry, Bob, i actually bought the book).

it was sort of an insult... no, that's too strong a word... kind of like a parody of three kinds of Filipino movies: action, horror, and romance. it was hilarious, of course, but as usual, it was accompanied by this sort of sad wish for the readers to put a stop to the seemingly idiotic way Filipinos prefer to watch movies.

in three days i have finished 8 out of 9 of his books. i wish i can go and buy Ang Alamat ng Gubat now.. :( that's how addictive they are.

and you know what? my favorite, ironically, is the one i wasn't interested in to read at first: Kapitan Sino. it just shows Bob can be versatile, you know? ;) (to all BO readers, you know what i'm talking about.

They Walk Among Us... Do they, really? - "I Am Number Four"

Oh gosh. here i go. :)

so i got curious about this book since i never saw the movie (i know, i kind of live under a rock), so i bought it last week and i gotta say: i wasn't hooked eventually. i thought the narration of the death of Three was going to go on forever, and it just seemed so awfully grim.

but eventually, Four began to tell his story, and my face was like this close to the page all day until i finished it. i have to say, i have always been curious about aliens ever since i could remember... since i watched ROSWELL, i think.

anyway, so here's what i think: the story is so believable, i have a hard time believing it's fiction. i mean, it has this logic that is at par with the Percy Jackson & the Olympians series (which i'm going to write about one of these days because it's my ultimate favorite), and i really admire Pittacus Lore for doing that "leader of the Elders" thing. i wonder why he did that, though. why pretend to be an alien if you can get the credit for being the author of a great series? ah, well, only he knows that, i guess.

so yeah, it was definitely... hmm.. interesting. it kept me glued and everything for something that's not that humorous.

something that annoyed me a bit was the love story. i dunno, i guess there's just too much kissing, it's really gooey. haha, i'm babbling. it was nice the way Four found his first love in the human race, though. and Sarah was definitely deserving. :)

the message was clear enough, i guess: take care of Mother Earth, while there's still time. :) i definitely applaud Pittacus for that. who knows? maybe, in time, like Lorien, she'll give us superpowers in return. ;)

Behind All the Wandwork - Harry Potter series

have you ever wondered what the Harry Potter series is really about? i mean, behind all the fantasy and the seemingly violent sorcery?

(well, my dad has. i'm actually posting this for his sake.)

Harry has been a part of my life since fifth grade, when that summer, i chose Goblet of Fire over a vacation in Manila. yes well, don't blame me; i was too lazy to go to the hot, polluted city. Fortunately, i didn't regret the decision. i LOVED Goblet of Fire, and Half-Blood Prince, Deathly Hallows, Prisoner of Azkaban, Sorcerer's Stone and Chamber of Secrets soon followed. Before i knew it, i was addicted. and it didn't even matter that i read the series in that chaotic way.

and then my dad was like, what do you even get from that? and he was all like, read about current events instead, and blah blah blah. i was all like, sure, dad! but really, i was thinking about his question and how i could defend my favorite hero.

so then i read behind the meanings of each story, and i found that from beginning to end, (and as corny as this may sound,) it was love that was always at work. it was love that made voldie's curse backfire, love that made harry so pure as to look into the mirror of erised and find the sorcerer's stone, love that made him find true friendship in ron and hermione, and love, in the end, for his friends, that made him survive his final encounter with voldie.

well, all i can say is:

beat that, current events! :)

"Dumbledore would have been happier to think there was a little more love in the world." - Professor McGonagall

"Has The Sheep Eaten The Flower?" - The Little Prince

okay, it's make or break here. this is my first official entry to my 7 month reading marathon and i'm a bit nervous. but since i don't really have readers (my mom, dad, and cousins don't count), what the heck?

so. the little prince. the story on how i heard about this book is really weird. when i was about ten, there was a movie where my favorite lead actor absolutely LOVED this book, so i resolved to buy it.

five years later, i still haven't bought it, and by pure chance of course, at this contest where my teammate and i were one point away from winning, i was asked the question: "In what book can you find this quote: 'It is only with the heart that once can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye'?". You can imagine my disappointment as i wrote down "Twilight" and the answer was actually this particular book.

so, we lost the contest by a point and my resolve became even stronger. i am going to BUY THIS BOOK. and so i did. i don't really know why; i should have hated it because it was the one thing that caused our loss. but i bought it, and i read it with utmost attention, like i was going to encounter questions about it in another contest or something.

so anyway...

there is only one thing i can say: Antoine De Saint-Exupery was a genius. not in that snobbish, unreachable way, but in that innocently amazing way only a children's book can be. from the dedication to the note at the end, i was totally engrossed. every word seemed so trivial, but words of wisdom were hidden everywhere. every character played a part. nobody was an extra. everything was written simply, but all of them should be deciphered for hidden meanings.

i know that as a sixteen-year-old, i can't really convince anyone of its brilliance, but i do think it is. and all the time, i was thinking... what if i become like the adults in the book? geez, that would be abominable. ah well. i sometimes wonder if the little prince did land in the Sahara. i know it's a long shot, but... what if?

and even for months after reading the book, i kept thinking... has the sheep really eaten the flower? i doubt even Antoine found out.

'The Little Prince' cover art

NOTE: This is Not Nerdy!

geez, it's been almost a month since i last blogged (counting the one I just deleted, of course. i have to set goals here. :)

you know, i have just seen Julie and Julia, you know, the movie about the girl with the blog about food and the happy ending? i'm actually planning to write about something i love, too, but not food, of course, because i can't even cook anything with the exception of cup noodles. the idea was just so nice because i sort of need the distraction, what with graduating and all, so i wish i could do what she did.

wait wait, i'm being sentimental.

anyway, where was i? right. i can't really write about food, because i don't even cook.

so yeah... what do i love? there's music, but i don't think anyone cares about my genres - country, mostly. with a little hip-hop and rock, but i can't really blog about something so changeable and trivial as songs, can i? geez. oh i'm blabbing again. but that's the point of a blog, isn't it? you can talk about whatever you want and nobody cares! :D

hmm... okay so i won't write about music... what else is there? school? blearchh. forget i even said that. oh, i know! books!

well, doesn't that sound nerdy? haha, i'm not talking about text books or anything. i'll write about the books i read - fiction, mostly. but i'll try my best to diversify. anyway, they're just opinions and the like..

i'll write as i please. i'll praise and critique the books i read for the next 7 months, right until the start of college. hopefully i do them justice, and they help me grow as a person (cheesy, i know) and get ready for the dreaded... (and i quote my dad) "real life".

so, are you ready? i certainly am! i'll start with my favorite book, of course!

Destiny? psshaw.

Nope, I don't believe in destiny. In life, maybe, but in love?

I mean, true love doesn't even exist!!! I know that sounds emo, but I feel extremely scientific about this thing we call LOVE. It's just hormones.

I refuse to be a slave to it, because I don't want to get hurt again!!! And I don't want to hurt other people...

GAAAAHHH!!! What am I going to do???

Sorry guys, just blabbing. Forget everything you read. :)

The Heroes of Olympus: The Son of Neptune RELEASE

Book two will FINALLY be here! On October 4, 2011, we will find out what happened to Percy, where he is, and if he and Annabeth will still be together after all of this. Of course, we already know Annabeth is the only thing he can remember (swoon), so of that we're reassured.

Oh, and there's the fact that they will go to Greece!... Not that it will be a field trip; they have to fight monsters along the way.

The questions that remain are: who are the remaining demigods mentioned in the Great Prophecy? Will they "bear arms to the Doors of Death"? Will the world really end?

And... Will this book be released on the same date in the Philippines? It's killing me, really.