2013 Book Challenge 29/35: The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight

This book was a lovely surprise- just a perk for keeping my expectations low. I don't remember from where I read it but there was a review or something that said that this was a shitty book. Although it has a 3.79 rating on Goodreads, I now know better than to rely on Goodreads. Actually, I don't even know why I decided to read this book.

So Hadley's dad went all the way to London for work and then one day told her mom that he's fallen in love with someone else and wanted a divorce. Fast forward several years after, Hadley is on her way (against her wishes) to her father's wedding to that British woman. She was four minutes late to her flight and the rest, as they say, is history.

Four minutes is all that made the difference. If it weren't for those four short minutes, Hadley wouldn't have met Oliver and I am sure that she wouldn't be accepting of her father and his new wife that quickly.

It was on during the wait for the next flight that Hadley met Oliver. He was being helpful and initially, she sort of rejected his help because she was too absorbed in her own bubble like how she's angry with her dad and that she doesn't want to meet Charlotte (who is, by the way, that British woman) and how she wishes she chose not to go at all. So I guess Oliver liked what he saw and no matter how many pre-emptive supalpal were thrown at him, he went for it anyway. See girls, if a man wants you, nothing can keep him away; but, if he doesn't, nothing can make him stay. That one I learned first from watching Hotelier. So, I don't remember from which moment Hadley noticed that, hey this British guy is kinda cute. They started talking and from then on we knew where all this would lead to. Like duh, the title suggests that already.

I guess I liked the book because, of course, kilig-inducing.

Yes. Just like this.

and you know I sort of like this innocent-ish type of stories. With the proliferation of highly-sexed up YA books or just any other highly-sexed up book for that matter, it's always a breath of fresh air when it comes to pa-tweetums books like this one. Aside from being a prude, there's something about this kind of stories, like, say, the concept of true love as opposed to lust at first sight. This book reminds me of This Is A Love Story (Jessica Thompson) because of the innocence of their feelings toward each other. There was no mention of any desire to shag. I say I am a cynic but obviously, I still am a hopeless romantic deep down inside. Hey, it's just me using reverse psychology on the Universe. Har-dee-har-har.

Anyway, this thing with Oliver actually helped Hadley in two ways. First, the obvious, which was having a boyfriend with a sexy accent; and second, it totally took her focus away from her father, the other woman and their wedding. Although, in my opinion, that was real quick of her to finally be accepting of them. Mr. Andrew Sullivan still has to thank Oliver for that.

So yeah, I pretty much liked it. It was such a nice and easy read and I want another book very similar to this. I therefore conclude, hope is not dead. Haha.

You wait for ages, and then two come along at once.

about me. meh.

During a commercial break during senate hearing on the pork barrel scam earlier today, I took an online test to find out my political profile. Here are my results:

Political Values
Radicalism 36.25
Socialism 18.75
Tenderness 71.875
These scores indicate that you are a tender-minded moderate conservative; this is the political profile one might associate with a sincere clergyman. It appears that you are trusting of religion, and have a compassionately humanistic attitude towards humanity in general.
Your attitudes towards economics appear laissez-faire capitalist, and combined with your social attitudes this creates the picture of someone who would generally be described as right-wing.
To round out the picture you appear to be, political preference aside, an egalitarian with few strong opinions.
This concludes our analysis; we hope you found your results accurate, useful, and interesting.
Unlike many other political tests found on the Internet which base themselves on untested (and usually ideologically motivated) ideas, this inventory is adapted from Hans Eysenck's own political inventory which was developed after extensive empirical investigations in the 20th Century.

I don't know how accurate this is though. According to the test, I have 'a compassionately humanistic attitude towards humanity in general' which I don't if still applies to me because recently I've been losing faith in humanity and mukhang I do not believe that humans are innately good anymore. Sad, no?

2013 Book Challenge 28/35: Rock Chick Redemption

Another one of them Rock Chick books. I'm not the biggest fan but it is kilig-inducing, which I like. Like the first and second books in the Rock Chick series, it pretty much is the same. Just a different girl and different boy.

Roxie came to Denver for two reasons: 1) to run away from his ex-boyfriend, and 2) to reconnect with his Uncle Tex.

Like in the first two books, it was lust at first sight.
Like in the first two books, everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, happened within a week.
Like in the first two books, the girls were held against their wishes but eventually they find out that they couldn't resist. Please! Don't! Stop! to Please don't stop!

But even if it's a little repetitive, I still read it for the will-they-or-won't-they moments (but we're sure that they girls could never resist) but I don't think I can read all books in the series one after the other. There should be a good number of other titles in between para medyo nakalimutan ko na kung ano nangyari sa huling libro.

P.S. I really regret watching one (one!) episode of Dog the Bounty Hunter because every time I read this Rock Chick books, all the men (in my imagination) look like Dog and all the girls, I imagine, look like Beth. Kahit anong describe pa nila na sexy si girl, si Beth pa rin ang nasa isip ko. Damn you, Dog. Damn you.

2013 Book Challenge 27/35: Gone Girl

A lot of good reviews made me get a copy of Gone Girl but what made me read it already was recommendation from Cindy Crawford. Siyempre, hindi personal recommendation. I just read it from a magazine interview.

Gone Girl was a thrilling read. One day, Nick's wife of five years suddenly goes missing and all evidences leads to him.

After watching a bazillion crime & investigation shows on TV, I have therefore concluded that it's always the husband (of the wife, sometimes). In the earlier part of the book, I was so sure that it was Nick who was responsible for Amy's disappearance but there's this little voice inside my head suggesting otherwise. I even thought this might be similar to El Zahir where the wife left the husband. But upon nearing the 50% mark, I just had this inkling that maybe it was Amy who was responsible for all this.

In the beginning, I thought that this is just Amy's little game just so Nick would pay more attention to her but after a few days, I thought if the police were involved maybe she would have come out and say everything's just a joke. But she didn't. This little voice niggling in my head was right. And because I was able to predict it, I am afraid to find out my own psycho-factor (I still remember that little psycho test Karl did back in college and it was only I who gave the 'correct' answer which qualifies me as psychotic. Pero wala naman basis. Haha ---> turns out may basis siya. Read here. As of 6-3-15). PSYCHO BITCH.

It was an interesting read but it got a little slow for me when I reached the second part of the book. Maybe because I was waiting for Nick's vindication but it never came. I felt sorry for him but at the same time, he brought it to himself. He has awoken the monster inside his wife, so to speak.

I give it three stars. It was interesting at first but it didn't hold my interest until the end. There came a point in the book where I was just reading just so I could already move on to my next. That, plus seeing if Nick will ever be vindicated.

Update Time!

I'm so tamad to blog these days. Notice how my posts are getting fewer and fewer over the years. I blame it on real life happening, book-reading, Candy Crush, Farm Heroes Saga and occasional projects/orders. It's almost the end of another month and I'm only on to my second post. I like updating this blog not for anything else (or for anyone) but me because I like back-reading and reminisce about yesteryears. Of course I could do this on a physical journal but I can't post pictures and videos there, right? So anyway, what have I been up to this month? Here's a quick recap ☺
♠

Watching the Sarah G album launch in Trinoma with A. I dunno if I had owned up to it in this blog but just in case hindi pa, I just want to say that I am a Sarah G fan. Haha! I dunno how or when it started (pre- or post- nose job?) but I love watching her movies or on TV. I was actually sad that they canceled Sarah G Live.

A and I went all the way to Trinoma just to watch her sing live which I think isn't entirely live. In AB's terms, Sarah sang Plus-1 style. But I still adore her, I'm still a fan. I haven't seen her yet in concert but A promised that in the event that there is, she'll see it with me. Hihi :P

♠ Last minute bazaars. It was a risky move but I just wanted to test the waters. In fair naman to me, I was able to recover rent expenses. I just hope that I'll be able to get bulk orders for Christmas from the three-day event. I therefore conclude that I need volume sales to be able to ROI on my puhunan which means I need to carefully select what bazaars to join and when's the best time to join. For now, I'm just joining for exposure. I think I need to put myself out there more.

♠ The Client List. I started watching this J Love Hewitt series because of the hunky men. Gahd, the Parks brothers are friggin' hot. The other one is from the Something Borrowed movie but I think that this dude right here → is hotter ;) So I find out he's engaged (?) to Jennifer Love and they're expecting! Cute. So anyway, at first I thought The Client List was entertaining with bonus cute guys but I stopped watching when Georgia, the spa owner, gave Riley (J Love's character) the reins to the spa after only a few months working there, even if there were employees who had tenure AND are also capable of management duties (Jolene!), just because of a uniform design idea. WHUT? And oh, now she's thisclose to owning the spa (from where I left off). Agad-agad?

♠ And on other news... Suits is back! I looove Harvey. Harvey used to remind me of George Tucker (Hart of Dixie) back when George was still lean and fit and I used to love George. Until he fell for Tansy, which is not a bad thing, it's just I wanted him to be with Zoe. Anyhoo, George became a little chubby when he was with Tansy and somehow he's not hot with a little chub. So feeling ko ang payat ko, no? But I am not on TV, ya? There's a new Suits episode tomorrow and I'm so excited! If during the first two seasons we sense that there's some kind of chemistry going on between Harvey and Donna, but Donna says that it's never going to happen... well, it already happened. So I guess here is another will they or won't they couple and I am watching for that ;)

♠ Speaking of my beloved TV series... Well, it's actually a bit sad that Gossip Girl won't be returning this Fall. It used to be my most-awaited series but I must admit that it sort of went downhill after the third season and I blame it on Dan Humphrey's hair. Another series that won't comeback for another season is Bunheads, which  may have saddened me at first but I quickly got over it (unlike with Chuck and Emily Owens MD).
This season, I am most excited with How I Met Your Mother's (Sept 23) last season and Hart of Dixie (Oct 7). Other series I'm also on the stand-by for are New Girl (Sep 17), 2 Broke Girls (Sep 23), Elementary (Sep 26), the continuation of Awkward's third season (Oct 22) and The Carrie Diaries (Oct 25). I wanna watch The Mentalist and Dexter but I have been left so behind and it'll be a Herculean task (in other words, mukhang hindi kakayanin ng internet ko) to download all of the seasons I haven't watched yet. I'm only on the fourth season with The Mentalist and third with Dexter. I actually have given up on Dexter but when I found out that Julia Stiles is in Season 6 then Yvonne Strahovski (Sarah Walker!!) is in Season 7, I knew I had to watch it. Exciiiited ☺

♠ Linkin Park concert! Huzzah! Juno and I watched Linkin Park live in concert at the SM MOA Arena last August 13. Actually, I watched the concert for free, c/o Juningning as an advanced birthday gift. Sabi ko sa kanya, best birthday gift unless someone gives me a house and lot for my birthday. Haha!

Actually, medyo na-endanger ang plano dahil may bagyo and Juno had to take a ferry ride to Manila and I wouldn't want to impose if it meant risking their safety. Kinontrata ko na nga si AC na kung hindi makakaluwas si J, samahan niya na lang ako even if it meant not enjoying the concert as much. It's different watching with a co-fan, diba? I also withheld texting her for an update the night before and even in the morning of the concert for fear of unfavorable news. I think I texted her around 12 noon asking if we're tuloy. As per J, "tuloy na tuloy!" Yahoo!

We actually had the opportunity of being upgraded to better seats but we opted to stay where we were. I think there were only less than ten people in our area which we liked because it meant more room for us. I wouldn't buy binoculars because they're just added, unnecessary expense. I do not need perfect view of Chester and Mike's fezlaks to be able to enjoy the concert. It was marvelous! ¡Tan maravillosa! So here are some images from the concert, taken by my kick-ass 3.2MP phone camera

Super fun, I tell you. It was just a little embarrassing that I wasn't able to 'review' their more recent music since I had that sort of impromptu bazaar. What I memorize by heart is their first ever album which were sort of our group's anthem, haha! One Step Closer is dedicated to our bwiset Negproc professor who made third year, second sem a living hell for us. I claim Papercut as mine because, well, I am paranoid. Haha.

Thanks, Lola Juns! Best birthday gift ☺

♠ Museo Pambata with the kids. I remember going to Museo Pambata as a kid myself and from what I remember, I knew I enjoyed the experience. My most vivid memory of the place was going inside the big mouth. Now, my nephews also had the same experience. They got to explore different toys, they were able to "drive" a firetruck and ride the tranvia.

Before the museum exploration, there was a program during the puppet show. There were other kids much older than my nephews. The puppet host would ask the kids where in the map a certain ASEAN member country is and kids would raise their hands, if chosen and the correct answer's given, they'd receive a prize- a keychain. I'm sure my 2-year and 3-year old nephews do not have any idea what Indonesia is, much less it's location on the map so imagine my horror when they were both raising their hands to volunteer. They were coached the right answer I guess, haha! Pero kahit na, ang galing galing pa rin nila!!

♠ That Winter the Wind Blows. OMG, Jo In-sung! I super miss my Korean actors circa early 2000s and I am so happy they're re-emerging again into the scene. Seriously, I am not a fan of metrosexual men with long hair and eyeliners.

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Oppa material talaga haha! I prefer him than this any frickin' time.

Back to the drama~ it was a heavy one. Oh-soo (Jo In-sung) finds the perfect way to pay his gambling debt by pretending to be PL Group's heir, Oh-Young's (Song Hye-gyo) long-lost brother. Of course we, the audience, already knew what the fake brother-sister relationship would lead to and unlike Endless Love (Autumn in My Heart), I do not find it icky because they're not real siblings and they didn't grow up thinking they were brother and sister to each other like what happened in Endless Love. Or maybe I'm just justifying it because I think I still got a little squeamish on some scenes like when they were baking- Oh Soo knew but Oh-Young didn't. But the 'chancing' came from Oh-Soo and not from Young so I guess that makes it not too icky?

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both are beeyotiful

We also knew that Oh-Young would eventually find out and she wouldn't be happy about it. I really thought this one would have a sad ending. It almost did.

♠ Another almost-Ondoy happening. Fortunately for us (unfortunately, for those in the South like Cavite and Laguna), the rain wasn't concentrated in this part of the metro. If it were, for sure it's a repeat of the dreaded Ondoy. All these climate change shizz is scary because it is happening and each flooding is worse than the last. I do hope we can resolve this one. Kawawa naman ang next generation.

So there, an update of how I spent the month of August. Got to finish two books but those get their own posts.

2013 Book Challenge 26/35: Dreaming of Mr. Darcy

Due to my usual last-minute way of dealing with things, I was not able to write a (non)review of my 26th book. 26!!! And to think I only finished 25 books by December last year. This calls for a celebration. Yabu or Cyma? Hihi :)

Dreaming of Mr. Darcy begins with Kay Ashton who has just recently suffered the loss a her mother and then a friend who, amazingly, left her a significant amount of money which afforded her to quit her office work and buy a property in Lyme Regis where Jane Austen's Persuasion was set. Incredibly, a film adaptation of Persuasion was being filmed in the area and by stroke of coincidence, they stayed in Kay's bed & breakfast aptly named Wentworth House, named after Captain Wentworth, Persuasion's hero.

A little contrived, in my opinion.

It was a cute little love story, though, don't get me wrong. I sort of liked the love triangles and webs among the characters in the novels. Adam, our shy writer, fell in love at first sight with Kay who has the hots for Oli who is playing the character of Captain Wentworth who is paired with Gemma, the lead actress in the movie who also thinks she's in love with Oli but eventually developed feelings for the lights guy and all the while, Kay thought that Adam liked Gemma and helped the "lovebirds" get closer. It's complicated ba kamo?

This is a problem for Kay. I mean, these folks were her first customers and already she's falling for one of them. Will she do this every time a guest catches her fancy? She knows she has to be professional and not get tangled in romantic relationships with the guests but what did she do? The complete opposite of that. And I don't know if I've really gotten good in second-guessing book endings or it was that obvious even for other readers, but I kind of already knew there's something going on between Oli and Teresa.

Another thing I find quite incredible is how can Kay do all the B&B upkeep by herself? Not to mention, cook meals for the cast. I just can't. And oh, flirt with guests and do location visits. Yun lang naiisip ko lagi sinasabi na naglilinis siya ng house- how does she do everything?

Well it was an enjoyable read. It was a little more entertaining than Attempting Elizabeth but they're in the same boat- three stars.