Journal Update

Remember that once upon a time I said I wanted to journal every day of 2014?

It. Didn't. Happen. What a surprise!

I only managed to write for the first four months and then, I went traveling and my journal was left abandoned, never opened ever again. Okay, I might have written a bit during summer but that was pretty much it. I never consistently write in it anymore and for the past few months, I have only recorded life events on my phone because... it's easier.

It is such a big commitment, you know! It gets harder when you have no stories to write about because I live in a cave and no interesting things happen in here. I really should get a life...

Or live life.

Life is too short to be sitting around doing nothing. I would say that to myself every day but I do it again and again because this girl learnt nothing from her own experiences. *sigh*

How do you live your life people? How?

Okay, I might have a few stories to tell or blog about. Let's hope I get over this idle phase soon enough...

What I've Been Reading 003

I am so upset that I couldn't find the quotes that I have saved from the first three books listed below. I read them during summer in Malaysia and I used a different device then. Hence, the quotes mentioned would be some random ones I pulled out of the books and probably not my favourite ones. Haih.

1. The Rosie Project, Graeme Simsion

Why do people value others’ time so little?

Why do we focus on certain things at the expense of others? We will risk our lives to save a person from drowning, yet not make a donation that could save dozens of children from starvation.

I love this book for so many reasons. I personally felt like I was reading the stuff that was going on in Sheldon Cooper's (from TBBT) head. I found Don to be cute and yet frusrating at the same time. The second book was out a while ago and I have yet to find time to read it.

2. I Heart New York, Lindsey Kelk

Sometimes we get so used to not really feeling anything, just going with the flow, that we forget how it feels to be really happy or sad.

I honestly did not like this book. It's too...for lack of better words, shallow? The storyline is too fairytale-ish to me, I felt like banging my head on the wall every time the 'perfect' turn of events happened. There are three other books in the series and I don't know if I would be able to get through them...

3. The Boy Next Door, Meg Cabot

Honey, You ain't a hundred dollar bill, not everyone is going to like you.

 This book was certainly an interesting read because of the sense of mystery that was included in it. A bit Detective Conan-ish I would say. I wish I have my notes with me because I honestly can't remember anymore what else I liked about this book. :/

4. Allegiant, Veronia Roth

I wonder if fears ever really go away, or if they just lose their power over us.

I fell in love with him. But I don't just stay with him by default as if there's no one else available to me. I stay with him because I choose to, every day that I wake up, every day that we fight or lie to each other or disappoint each other. I choose him over and over again, and he chooses me.

I like Veronica's style of writing but the plot of this story was getting more and more ridiculous to me. I couldn't wrapped my head around the idea that she had for the ending that I just wished it ended then and there.

5. Epic Fail, Claire LaZebnik

No one's family is normal. Normalcy is a lie invented by advertising agencies to make the rest of us feel inferior.

You wouldn't think the touch of someone's hand could blow your mind. It's nothing, right? People don't write songs and poems about holding hands - they write them about kisses and sex and eternal love. I mean, when you're a little kid you hold hands with your parents to cross the street. Who's going to write an ode to that?

 This was a light read that I had to had because of my frustrations from Allegiant. It was a fun read nonetheless and served its purpose to me. People say that it's a modernized version of Pride and Prejudice but I have yet to read that book, so I can't really compare them.

Commonplace Book

Starting this moment, I want to officially keep a commonplace book.

A commonplace book is defined as a book that one uses to keep ones' favourite quotes, sayings or poems or whatever stuff for future references.

Technically, I do own several 'commonplace books' though they're not really physical ones. I usually keep the stuff that I like in my phone or laptop. They are very random and oddly placed, like my Twitter for random conversations, Goodreads for quotes, weheartit for pictures and Pinterest for recipes and DIYs.

In short, we can just conclude that I like to collect junk...

And this is the mini neat freak in me trying to reorganize stuff that I own. Occasionally, I like to browse through the stuff that I have saved just because. I find joy in that sometimes...weird, I know.

I also would like to limit the time I spend online for the millionth time. Impossible, yes, but I would like to try. This might be just another empty talk but hey, this is something I love to do, I should be able to do it ~effortlessly~.

I'll brag if I managed to maintain one. :P

Cray Week

These past few weeks are probably the busiest I've ever been in my entire life!

It's too crazy and rare, it's worth writing a blog post about. Experience level increased, new achievement unlocked!

All this while, school is only a place I go to whenever I have classes, or events. I don't go to school to 'study' or to do 'work' because I prefer the comfort of having everything that I need within my arms' reach. You know, if I were hungry, I'd go to the fridge, not the food court or something like that.

However, life changed!

I'd never thought that the day I stayed back in school until 11 pm would arrive. I'd never thought that the day I would go to school on weekends would arrive. They happened, guys, they did! I am still fascinated by the facts myself. I couldn't believe that I actually managed to do so... T_T

*pats self*

This is not the end yet. The coming week will be crazier but I shall brace myself.
I can't wait to be done with this term. Just a bitttttt more. A bittttt more, dear self.

Summer Trip Travelog - Day 2: Hyde Park and Kensington Palace

What happened to my summer stories? To simplify it in a few words, I lost my mojo. In easier terms, I got lazy... Uh, when was I not lazy anyway?

So, here goes...

***

After our vain attempt to get a London Pass, we walked back to the main road to go to Kensington Palace. According to the map and myself, it's not that far. However, my traveling buddies were pretty tired so they wanted to get on the bus. I agreed and we waited at the bus stop.

We waited and waited and waited.

After missing two buses (they were too full, it was impossible to squeeze in), we decided to just walk and we're glad that we did! We got to walk through the famous Hyde Park! To me, it's just a park but I think that it's nice to have a green scenery in the middle of the city. It's a pretty significant landmark for Londoners too, I'd say.

***

The entrance fee to Kensington Palace was £13.70 for students, included was a voluntary donation. We, students, wanted to save money and therefore, only paid £12.40. Hehe.

I would insert all the details about Kensington Palace here but to be honest, I know nothing about the British Royalty. HEH. I heard it's the home for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge but do not take my word for that for I didn't have the right source. I might be wrong...

£13.70

£13.70

£13.70

I personally did not like the way the stories about the palace were told. I found that it was bothersome to have to look around to read the explanation regarding each rooms. I don't know if it's their intention to be interactive but I certainly didn't enjoy staring at artifacts, not knowing their significance to the place and history. (Excuse me for paying attention to details like this. I was still annoyed that I had to walk to the end of the apartment to know why there were 18 empty chairs in one of the rooms.)

Fun fact: Corridors or hallways did not exist until the late 17th century and therefore, the only way to get through from one room to another is by going through all the rooms in the way.

Nonetheless, I still think that it is a place worth visiting for it's glorious history and I did get to learn a few things about Queen Victoria. :B