Read A Book, Repeat.

ctto https://twitter.com/langleav#timeline

I'm Finally done reading Lang Leav’s “Sad Girls” after ages and yeah t’was alright. First and foremost let me just say I am a big fan of Lang Leav, I adore her flair for writing (prose and poetry) which is the very reason why I got so damn curious when her first novel came out. However, my take on the book would be my honest to goodness opinion. Let me just also say that I purposely eluded any reviews prior to reading this book so my opinion won’t be based on other readers' judgements. So, here it goes. 

“Sad Girls” 

Author: Lang Leav

Setting: 

Australia

Characters:

• Audrey - person speaking in the book; a budding writer 
• Ana - one of Audrey’s friends; committed suicide
• Lucy - Audrey’s childhood friend
• Freddy - Lucy’s boyfriend
• Candela - also one of Audrey’s close friends; a wayward
• Dirk - Candela’s equally wayward boyfriend
• Duck - Audrey’s long time boyfriend
• Rad a.k.a Colorado Clark - Ana’s boyfriend; a budding writer as well; later on became Audrey’s love interest.

Ana's wake.
Ana is one of Audrey’s friends who’s death she felt responsible for because of a “lie” she fabricated. Ana was believed to have committed suicide after she was found in the bath tub with her slashed wrist. Rumor has it Ana had a sexual relation with her own father thus led to her suicide and the rumor eventually spread from an unknown source, and the unknown source was Audrey. Audrey is wallowing with guilt on the day of Ana’s funeral, she never told anyone about the veracity of Ana’s death, not even her close friends Lucy and Candela. The thing was, there’s no truth to the incestuous sexual relation between Ana and her father, it was all concocted probably out of Audrey’s secret hate for Ana. 

Audrey.

Let’s focus on Audrey’s life for a minute here: Audrey had a rough life as well and is seeing a shrink to address her panic attacks which emanated from issues she had in the past such as her mother leaving her father and them kids behind for another man just to come back again to patch things up as if her mistake was irrevocable. Her mother was a control freak as well and is intrusive with her relationship. Audrey’s mother is also responsible why she and Duck became a couple in the first place because her mother and Duck’s mom are good friends. She has not forgiven her mother neither for cheating on her father. Audrey was advised by her shrink to wear an elastic band in her wrist which she could use to snap back to reality when panic attack hits her. 

The third wheel.

Going back to the story, Audrey noticed Rad during Ana’s funeral and found he was her boyfriend. She was undeniably physically attracted to Rad the first time she’s laid her eyes on her. The two left together during Ana’s funeral which even led to further skirmishes. Audrey’s mom was furious with what happened because she felt ashamed for her since she and Duck’s mother are friends. Rad and Audrey on the other hand had a special thing going on which eventually caused a strain on Duck and Audrey’s relationship. Lucy, on the other hand was offered to house sit her kin’s house in Sydney and thought of Audrey since the latter is planning to take a writing job in Sydney plus the tension between Audrey and her mom is getting worse because of Rad. Audrey by the way parted ways with Rad prior to her leaving for Sydney. 

One day, the editor assigned Audrey to interview Colorado Clark regarding his new book. Audrey liked Clark’s book after reading it because she found one of the characters familiar. Little did Audrey know, Colorado is Rad’s real name because his mother wanted to go to Colorado while pregnant with him I think (as far as I can remember). This rekindled Rad and Audrey’s little love affair back home which however led to Audrey and Duck’s break up after the latter learned she’s seeing Rad in Sydney. On the other hand again, their friend Candela, another sad girl, became involved with drugs and took off with her equally addict boyfriend Dirk. 

Fast forward.

Things did not really work out between Audrey and Rad after she admitted she caused Ana’s death. Audrey did not expect Rad to forgive her and they parted ways without closure. Audrey left for Colorado (yes Australia to Colorado U.S) to write, reflect, and probably mend a broken heart. She changed her number and never heard from Rad since. Another little love affair though blossomed between her and a guy named Gabe in Colorado. The two was already planning to go on a road trip when Audrey got a call from Lucy, Candela and Dirk, who both finally got their acts together decided to tie the knot and the wedding is happening sooner than expected. Because of Candela’s wedding happening on a haste, Audrey had to postpone her road trip with Gabe and flew back to Australia. She’s still by the way in love with Rad and never ceased thinking about his whereabouts the whole time. 

Back for Good?

With Audrey’s return in Australia she asked about Rad’s whereabouts and Lucy told her he may not be ok. Audrey looked for Rad and found him working for a park and living in a trailer. She learned that Rad became miserable after a supposedly big writing break did not work out so he decided to live a life of a recluse and stopped writing. Fast forward again, Audrey and Rad are back again and she told him about her plan of writing a book which he of course supported. Rad started writing again and was offered a screenplay gig in L.A. until a startling news broke out. 

Weather the greatest storms..

Audrey got a call from Candela, Lucy’s boyfriend Freddy died from a car accident. Freddy was Audrey’s good friend as well, she always thought Lucy and Freddy are perfect for each other. Lucy told Audrey she already asked Freddy to move in with her before the accident and warned her to be careful with Rad.

Revelation.

Audrey found from Lucy that Freddy read Rad’s suicide note on the latter’s Mac book (he left the mac book to Freddy’s care before he went on hiatus) and was on his way to Lucy’s when the accident happened. Lucy told Audrey what Freddy read on Rad’s suicide letter which stated the whole truth about Ana’s death. Audrey learned from Rad’s suicide letter that Ana allegedly died and hit her head after her and Rad had a fight. Rad felt Ana’s pulse and found nothing so he dragged her to the tub and slit her wrists to stage a suicide. Audrey confronted Rad and he admitted everything. Audrey abhorred Rad for what he did because she carried this guilt with her for a long time.

The novel then ended with Audrey reading through Ana’s handwritten suicide note she accidentally fished through her coat’s pocket which will furthermore justify Ana’s suicide intent. So, should Audrey feel just as culpable as Rad for Ana’s death then if there was a real intent to commit suicide on Ana’s end? My answer is just read the book lol. 

Well, seriously they’re both accountable for Ana’s death in my opinion depending on the circumstance. If Ana committed suicide due to the emotional, social, mental, psychological damage the rumor may have caused (say the rumor served as an impetus for Ana to kill herself then if proven true) Audrey goes to jail. In Rad’s case, whichever way you put it, he goes to jail for staging Ana’s suicide: he moved Ana’s body what more slitting her wrist. If he called for help the medics could’ve revived Ana because in the real world murder is only murder if there is an intent to kill and in Ana’s case she tripped which might’ve caused her death which can be then ruled out as accident provided Rad did not purposely push her then he’s off the hook. Anyways, my love for suspense thrillers and Nancy Drew books as a kid drifts me away from time to time lol.

My Review.

Going back to “Sad Girls” which took me a long while to finish because I got to the point where I just wanted to find out if Audrey’s story has a climax at all since reading the novel felt as if I’m listening to a classical music and I’ve been waiting for the crescendo but it went melodiously on and on. Lang Leav’s impeccable choice of words was very romantic reminiscent to the sound of water lapping or waves crashing if that makes sense, very languorous, that serene vibe even if the novel is quite dark and rueful. The book is a myriad of beautiful words but did not have that many surprising revelations I was waiting for the whole time I was reading it. I have also reached the point wherein I thought the book's release was just overrated because of the success of her previous books (Love & Misadventure, The Universe of Us etc.) that I may have expected too much from the story until I read through the last chapter and thought yeah, it’s not so bad at all although honestly I was only able to appreciate the book when I was down to the last chapter. “Sad Girls” was alright, it's just too melancholic for me. It was beautifully written hands down it's just the lengthy poetic ramblings, they bored me like hell. There was a downpour of words almost half of the book, way too much until your anticipation is gone with the wind. 

On to my next read, Sophia Amoruso’s #GirlBoss. I’m hoping to finish it in less than a month’s time. I must, I will. 

Yuletide Is Coming

ctto intothefoldmag.com

It’s officially 88 days to go before Christmas and I have already decked the halls couple of weeks ago for the holiday season. So, am I excited our what?  I love the holiday season because of how festive everything seems to be. Once your home is adorned with colorful home decors in gold, red, white, green then there’s no more explaining to do, yuletide is coming. 

One of the perks of living in a predominantly Christian country is that we have all sorts of festivities from Mama Mary’s birthday, some Saint’s day, Three Kings, New Years day and the list goes on and on which we of course attribute to the Spanish occupation here in the country. Christmas doesn’t have to be very luxurious and overly festive though because it’s best to celebrate it through sharing, giving and simplicity. Let’s always remember to be sensitive to our neighbors and avoid the flashy things or use Christmas as a display of social class because if that’s what you want then it defeats the purpose of celebrating this season. I personally couldn’t care less if I get a present this Christmas because I’m not big on those things, I just like wrapping presents for others and not expecting anything in return because if I want something I save up for it or jot it down on my little wish lists for myself. 

magnitude 7.1 Mexico earthquake
last September 19, 2017; photo
courtesy of google images

Sad news from across the globe...
My heart also goes out to the victims of the recent earthquake in Mexico, it’s just sad to hear heart wrenching news like these especially now the yuletide season is coming. If you have a big heart and is looking to donate to the Mexico earthquake victims you may also refer to this online article published in NY Times. 

Speaking of compassion, I just recently became a fan of this Youtube channel called Vet Ranch which aim is to fix stray, abandoned and injured animals so they could later on find their forever homes. The proceeds from viewer donations goes to fund animal surgeries and purchase clinic supplies. Vet Ranch also include the surgery process, all the bloody stuff (literally) in the video because they also aim to encourage future vets. I’m just sad YouTube demonetized some of their videos since advertisers wouldn’t want gross stuff which means Vet Ranch will not get paid for those videos (which sucks because if you omit the bloody clips then the real essence of what Vet Ranch is all about gets omitted as well).  To address this Dr. Matt (the vet and owner of Vet Ranch) came up with both the edited and unedited version just so YouTube monetize them. Yeah, business as usual. I am not in any way paid to promote Vet Ranch btw, I am an animal lover myself and a fan of the channel (being a cat momma and co-owner of four dogs) that’s why I’m saying this. I believe the channel deserve more than roughly 2M subscribers and views that’s all. Anyways, if you’re an animal lover and advocate please subscribe to Vet Ranch, it’s very informative. 

Are You Afraid of The Dark.

I know I’m gonna miss Game of Thrones every Sunday (or Monday here in the PH) since Season 7 just ended last week and Season 8 is rumored to be shown if not August next year then early 2019 which sucks if the latter is deemed true (I’m hoping not since two years is far too long). Anyways, the CGI is making GOT more and more expensive by the season especially with the Dragons on it. I heard each episode now cost a hefty $10M USD or so although I thought it was all worth it considering the viewership all over the world. I bet no other HBO series would top that to date as it’s also the most pirated show ever lol. I’ve never had any favorite TV series since “Ghost Whisperer” and GOT’s level is up the ante. It’s sad GOT will already end next year (or whenever it is) because I just recently came to love it now it’s coming to a close. Nothing last forever really, no matter how high their rating is, six bad-ass years. 

Pan's Labyrinth

(El laberinto del fauno)

2006 | Spanish-Mexican dark fantasy film
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Moving on, I’ve always been fascinated with dark fantasy films and I enjoy fairy tales with a dark twist to them. I’m a fan of films by Henry Selick and Tim Burton, I love their gothic cinematography (Sweeney Todd, Coraline, Beetlejuice etc. to name a few), the dark filter and ghostly white complexion of the actors amuses me more than it daunts me. My sister and I share the same taste when it comes to movies so every time we find something belonging to that genre we always recommend it to each other or watch them together.  She recommended this foreign film called Pan's Labyrinth written and directed by Mexican filmmaker Guillermo del Toro months ago and I found it very dark despite the presence of fairies and children what more the era, post Spanish Civil War. It was pretty lengthy as it centered around the protagonist of the story named Ofelia who travelled to Spain with her sick and pregnant Mother to meet Sergi López, her mother’s new husband, a sadistic army officer. 

While exploring, Ofelia met a faun Pan (a fairy) who told her she’s the lost princess. The faun Pan also compelled her to complete three risky tasks (which would cost her life if she fails) so she could be immortal. The tasks were namely: first—retrieving a key from the belly of a giant toad; second—retrieving a dagger from the lair of the Pale Man, a child-eating monster; the faun refused to give Ofelia the third task because couple of its fairies were eaten by the child-eating monster while Ofelia’s working on her second task because of her disobedience. The faun Pan gave Ofelia another chance which would require a blood of an innocent be taken to the labyrinth, her baby brother’s blood. Ofelia refused so the faun declined to help her any further.  Ofelia died by the way after Sergi López shot her while carrying her baby brother (he saw Ofelia talking to someone he cannot see). In the end, Ofelia’s blood was enough (being an innocent) and she became the queen of the underworld. 

Pan's Labyrinth is wicked in the sense the story spawned from some twisted mind, I mean who would've have thought about infusing war and fantasy together in one film? I think there's something more to the film which I'm having a hard time deciphering. 

And again another dark film from the same Mexican filmmaker Guillermo del Toro called Mama recommended to me by my horror freak sister because of her infinite fascination with del Toro’s works lol. This time around it was written by Andrés Muschietti (based on his 2008 Argentine short film Mamá) with Guillermo del Toro as executive producer.

Mama

2013 | English-Spanish 
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The film started with a murder scene, Lucas (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau aka Jaimie from GOT), all messed up in business suite commanding his daughters (Victoria, a 9 year old and Lilly, 1 year old) to pack their things and hurry then later on drove off in the middle of snow covered roads with no concrete destination. Victoria asked her dad Lucas to slow down because he’s driving insanely fast but their car skid and fell off the slippery road. Lucas took her kids to an abandoned cabin house in the middle of the forest. He thought about committing suicide but changed his mind. No longer thinking straight, Lucas attempted to kill his daughter Victoria with a gun but was taken by some paranormal or mythical creatures in the cabin. 

Five years later, Jeffrey (Lucas’ twin brother) who never ceased looking for his brother and nieces received a news that the kids are alive and found living strangely inside a cabin house in the middle of a forest (the car was found first, the hound dog led the search crew to the cabin). Strangely, the two kids are now what seems to be beastly creatures with no recollection of their childhood and behave like animals. There was a custody battle as to who would care for the kids and Jeffrey eventually won with the help of Dr. Gerald Dreyfuss . The girls were also put in a welfare clinic under the psychiatric care of Dreyfuss. Veronica told Dreyfuss someone called ‘Mama’ took care of them when their father disappeared. Dreyfuss interpreted it as Veronica and Lilly's ‘imaginary mother’ due the absence of their 'real' mother. 

Odd things started happening inside the house. Annabel (Jeffrey’s girlfriend) often hear the girls talking to someone they call ‘Mama’ and strange noises inside the girls’ room. One day, Jeffrey saw something strange protruding from the wall. The inexplicable being hurled Jeffrey towards the stairs which almost caused him his life as he was in a coma for days leaving Annabel to take care of the girls. Jeffrey fortunately got out of coma after he dreamt about his brother, he told him to save Victoria and Lilly. 

I later on found that the woman the kids call ‘Mama’ jumped off the cliff and died in the water, she's been looking for her long lost child. In the absence of her child, she took care of Victoria and Lilly instead when the two were left alone in the cabin. Dreyfuss before his death found ‘Mama’s’ baby though which Annabel discovered after rummaging through his files. To make the long story short, Annabel found that the baby in the box is Mama’s baby so she gave the baby's corpse back to set Victoria and Lilly free. Mama refused and want the two kids, Lilly, being so young opted to go with the ghost mother whilst Victoria stayed with Annabel and Jeffrey. The End. I enjoyed this film really, it wasn’t predictable plus the dark theme. I thought it was a horror movie slash fantasy flick.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️  - highly recommended

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️  - somewhat highly recommended

⭐️⭐️⭐️    - it was alright.

⭐️⭐️       - nah.
⭐️           - waste of time.

Heya.

Oh well welcome September!

I know I haven’t written anything in a while because I was kind of busy lately that I was only able to write one blog entry last month, what a bummer right? I have been too busy I can’t even finish reading Lang Leav’s “Sad Girls.” I started reading the book last month and just when I thought I was few pages from finishing it then bam! I found out I just finished reading Chapter One lol. The book was kind of tricky though because as I was checking on my progress I saw 30 pages to go and it did not say off Chapter One as I was under the impression t’was the entire book so I was surprised to know I have another hundreds of pages to read before I reach the finish line oh my Gawd. Anyways, not that I’m complaining it’s just that so far I’m not enjoying ‘Sad Girls’ compared to Lang Leav’s book of prose and poetries. I’ll see how it goes though because it may still be too early to judge as some writers have major revelations towards the end of their novels and I’m kind of looking forward to it. 

Rainy September...

Meanwhile, it’s kind of sad to welcome the month of September with a downpour but what can we do it’s been pretty stormy since last month? Typhoons are globe trotters—their names just change whenever they enter another country then they start lashing again. Hurricane Harvey is another heartbreaking news because it’s been all over social media and I saw how devastating it was. Tons of families have been affected by really deep floodwaters that they needed to evacuate and leave their pets behind to be rescued later. The typhoon eventually also marred other countries here in Southeast Asia such as Hong Kong, Japan, etc. I heard HK was just lashed by a Signal #10 storm named ‘Hato’ and  I honestly thought it wasn’t even possible until I saw the footages online. I guess typhoons are here to stay so we better keep ourselves safe and warm and our pets too. I hope every government will have a better and faster means of disseminating information once calamity strikes especially if there’s  a need for settlers to evacuate their homes. I know how important it is to save human lives first but animals are living beings too so I hope someday they will be a priority too (no questions asked) during evacuation because I myself have pets too and it’s just really painful to leave them behind when you know they won’t be safe neither. 

Studio 18 Residences (Condotel)

Studio 18 Residences #18 Gen. Capinpin,
San Antonio, Pasig

Moving on, my sister and I checked in at the Studio 18 Residences in Pasig for a few days to take care of a business matter down South since our house in Manila is quite far from where we’re headed. It’s this simple white and red building in the outskirts of San Antonio Village along Gen. Capinpin Street. Studio 18 is alongside residential houses and Condominiums and is not accessible to PUJs except Grab taxis which are technically private vehicles except they’re being used as Grab cars. To get there you have to turn right from Shaw Boulevard (you should see Mercury Drug) once you see the entrance to San Antonio Village (FX taxis bound to SM Megamall-Quiapo route).

Studio 18’s lobby isn’t very spacious as it’s pretty straightforward, you see the front desk as soon as you step inside and the elevator to your right. My sister booked our room through Agoda.com and we got a pretty reasonable rate for a few nights stay. We arrived past 3PM for the usual 2PM check in time and headed straight up to our floor. We were assigned a corner room on the 4th floor which was alright because it was a quiet area. It was just a little confusing to get to our room though because of the detours lol. Amenities wise it was good because they have pretty much everything that you need: plates, coffee/tea making facilities, cutleries, a range hood, in-room safe, slippers, towels as usual, decent toiletries (shampoo, body wash/gel), heater in the shower, dental kit, small soap, cable TV with limited cable channels though, A/C as usual, daily free bottled water and 3-in-1 coffee. Their staff are also pretty responsive when it comes to guests' needs. I called up the front desk because the safe isn't working and I'm looking to leave my valuables inside the safe when we leave the next day and the response was fast. Few minutes after my phone call they sent someone up to fix the safe and it was all good, the passcode just needed a reset I guess. Transportation isn’t a problem neither if you have a Grab app on your mobile phone because they can just pick you up and drop you off to your preferred destination which was really a breeze. If you don’t have any Grab app you can just simply request from the front desk to call a cab/Grab car for you at a minimal cost (I read somewhere it’s P50/$1 USD). I think parking isn’t a problem neither but it would be safe to indicate it on your reservation. Studio 18 by the way serves breakfast (roof deck or room service) from 7AM-2PM. If you go hungry after those hours (like my sister and I did), you anyways have an option to call up any fast food company to have food delivered downstairs, just make sure to indicate your room number and the front desk will call you up once delivery guy has arrived. Another option would be the eatery beside Studio 18 (to the right) they sell rice meals for Php40/meal or less than $1 USD. So what’s amiss? They have limited cable channels which are often scrambled/no signal and very weak wifi signal in our room. And oh, an in-room fridge would be better I guess. 

Milkcow, SM Megamall A
Matcha Crunch & Cheesy Berry

So, what’s up?
I’m looking forward to making my own smoothie bowl one of these days after I saw Bliss Bowl in SM Megamall building A few days ago. It’s this smoothie bowl bar beside Milkcow which serves one of those colorful and healthy smoothie bowl I frequently see on Instagram.

  source: tropical-summer-icecream.tumblr.com/

I’ve been yearning to make one long before but I never got the chance to shop for ingredients until after I saw how pricey a smoothie bowl cost outside considering it’s fairly easy to make, all you have to have is a blender,  a plant based milk (soya, almond) some frozen fruits, nuts, coconut shavings etc. I’ve been eating a bowl of rolled oats for breakfast every morning and preparing a smoothie bowl is far more easy than cooking rolled oats. I’m actually having some thoughts and research lately on plant-based foods and meat substitutes/becoming a Vegan someday for health reasons and of course for the animals. If everyone in this planet is a vegetarian, then there's no need for livestock, no need to slaughter chickens, cows and pigs. I don't think it would be so hard as long as there's Tofu. So much thought to ponder.