Often it is the most deserving people who cannot help loving those who destroy them.
-Hermann Hesse
Month: June 2017
Happy Eid!
Wishing all my Muslim friends a peaceful and joyful Eid!
Realization Came
I woke up one day
and realized, I am not
sorry anymore.
Liebster Award #1
It’s such a wonderful feeling to be recognized in the blogging community! Huge thanks to Shweta! 🙂 High-five! Check out her blog:
https://thesoulsearchersite.wordpress.com/
Lots of beautiful things to read there. It took me quite some time to do this, I’m sorry, but here it is! 🙂
The Rules:
- Answer the 11 questions that your nominator has asked you.
- Nominate 11 other bloggers.
- Ask your nominees 11 questions.
- Let them know that you have nominated them.
Below are the 11 questions from Shweta:
1. How long have you been blogging?
If you didn’t ask, I wouldn’t have realized that it’s been almost two years since I started this blog. 🙂
2. What’s the story behind your blog’s name?
I often feel that I’m such a mess, a walking chaos and so on but a happy kind of mess and all, and so the blog name…
3. What is your favorite genre and is it the same one you write?
No particular favorite and I’m not really a writer, I’m far from it so I just write whatever little thoughts come to mind (or out of boredom) like six-word stories and haiku and book reviews if you can call them that…
4. How has blogging changed your life?
Hmmm… I’m not really an active blogger and there’s no real life-changing effect on me to be quite honest and I hope the readers won’t get me wrong, however, I must say that if I didn’t start with this blog, I probably wouldn’t have met wonderful bloggers and I probably wouldn’t have come across amazing blogs.
5. Describe yourself in five words.
Naughty. Happy-go-lucky. Independent. Unpredictable. Rebellious.
6. Where did you grow up?
I grew up in a small city located some 5,000 feet above sea level within a mountain range in Northern Philippines.
7. What is your most treasured possession?
My books.
8. What is the most watched movie/TV series in your collection?
Lately, for movies, Logan. I don’t know how many times I’ve watched it already.
For TV series, Game of Thrones and House of Cards. (I haven’t watched Season 5 yet!!!)
9. Do you love to read? If the answer to that is yes, Books or Kindle?
Yes. Definitely books though I must say I’ve been reading more from my Kindle since someone gave it to me.
10. Cats or dogs? Or both? Or none?
Dogs, of course! I would love to own a golden retriever.
11. If you could meet anyone dead or alive, who would it be?
Ferdinand Marcos and/or Adolf Hitler.
My nominees are:
And if you’re reading this, consider yourself nominated as well. 🙂
My 11 questions are:
- Describe yourself in three words.
-
What hobby would you get into if time and money weren’t an issue?
-
What sports do you play?
-
What is something you think everyone should do at least once in their lives?
-
Where is the most interesting place you’ve been?
-
What’s your favorite book?
-
Who’s your favorite author and why?
-
What is something that you will never do again?
-
Do you consider yourself an introvert or an extrovert?
-
What’s your favorite cuisine?
-
What do you wish you knew more about?
Thanks again, Shweta and thanks guys for reading! Happy Tuesday!
A Six-Word Story
The problem…
I kissed him back.
Quote of the Week
You will never be able to escape from your heart. So it’s better to listen to what it has to say.
-Paulo Coelho
A Six-Word Story
I saved you. You killed me.
A Six-Word Story
It’s my fault, I trusted you.
Quote of the Week
In some ways suffering ceases to be suffering at the moment it finds a meaning, such as the meaning of a sacrifice.
-Viktor E. Frankl
What Could Be?
What could be worse than
intentionally hurting
the people you love?
A Six-Word Story
I broke my heart loving you.
A Six-Word Story
Hoping you also miss me sometimes…
Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
Book #18.
Marcus Aurelius is the fifth among the five good emperors of the Roman Empire. Meditations is pretty much his self-reflective diary or his collection of “notes-to-self.” He didn’t intend to publish his writings as he was only writing for himself but in 1559, centuries after his death, the first print came out. (Makes me wonder how he’d feel when he finds out it’s read by millions of people already.) 🙂
Meditations in a nutshell: coming out on top, if not better, after overcoming/enduring the many stresses of the world. We can not control other things except ourselves. Appreciating life in a larger context. Accepting things (and people) as they are and not how we want them to be.
Having been able to peek into the mind of an emperor from one of the greatest empires of history, this is a fascinating read. I personally think though that Marcus Aurelius is a bit too forgiving or lenient so not everything he wrote resonates with me and the Stoic philosophy is not everyone’s cup of tea, however, it’s a book you can go back to time and again, worthy of a deep and thoughtful read to be able to absorb the wisdom that is offered.
Recommended!
Quotable Quotes :
“The tranquility that comes when you stop caring what they say. Or think, or do. Only what you do. Not to be distracted by their darkness. To run straight for the finish line, unswerving.”
“Don’t look down on death, but welcome it.”
“Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one.”
“Never let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to, with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present.”
“For it is in your power to retire into yourself whenever you choose.”
Rating : 4/5 stars
Quote of the Week
At an early age I learned that people make mistakes, and you have to decide if their mistakes are bigger than your love for them.
-Angie Thomas
Unsure
Unsure what hurts more…
Losing you or knowing you
didn’t fight to keep me?
The Painted Veil by W. Somerset Maugham
Book #17.
Ending my reading hiatus is my first W. Somerset Maugham read. Narrated in the third person POV but mostly of Kitty’s, is pretty much a morality tale but is actually more complex.
The husband and wife in this book are Walter and Kitty Fane. Walter is a bacteriologist, charmless and cold. Kitty is an upper middle class shallow girl, views the world like a child which I think is her tragedy. Time is creeping up on her as her younger sister is almost getting married, so she married Walter and head off with him to Hong Kong where she started to despise him and then fell in love with Charlie Townsend, a charming womanizer. Walter eventually discovers the affair and didn’t pretend to know nothing so he decided to work in Mei-tan-fu, a remote area where there’s cholera outbreak and Kitty was left with no choice but to go with him (though she knows that Walter wants her to die there) since Charlie refused to leave his wife for her.
Maugham’s writing is simple and elegant. This is a very introspective work and this book seemed to be his voice to tell his opinion about adultery and so much more. It speaks of love, betrayal, forgiveness, reconciliation, understanding other people, understanding one’s self, one’s place in this world, the very universal truths about relationships, and the true meaning of life.
It’s a wonderful read, I’d probably watch the movie and compare.
Quotable Quotes :
“How can I be reasonable? To me our love was everything and you were my whole life. It is not very pleasant to realize that to you it was only an episode.”
“If a man hasn’t what’s necessary to make a woman love him, it’s his fault, not hers.”
“I always find it more difficult to say the things I mean than the things I don’t.”
“One can be very much in love with a woman without wishing to spend the rest of one’s life with her.”
“One cannot find peace in work or in pleasure, in the world or in a convent, but only in one’s soul.”
Rating : 4/5 stars
HappymessHappiness 