I Think I May Be Getting Better At This

For me, summer is not just about the weather, it's also about end of season sale. Surprise, surprise! As we head towards July long weekend (Canada Day for us, 4th for US), my inbox is getting flooded with all kinds of sale alerts.

So over the weekend, I thought I'd check out what's "out there". I know, I know, I don't have to, but I thought, why not. I wasn't overly concerned that I would go crazy all of a sudden after months (yes, as in months) of not shopping. And hey, you know what, I was right, in a way.

Bath & Body hand soaps

Yup, I did buy something but those were it. So hey, I think I may be getting better at this, after all, no?

To Dads

To the new dads just discovering the joy of fatherhood...

To the old dads who continue to be there for their children, whether they're 4 or 40...

To the future dads looking forward to a future with their children...

But most of all, to MY dad...

Happy Father's Day!

Miss you more and more everyday...

Closet...

... Blogger

Still? Yes. To this day, still not too many of my friends know that I blog. I started sharing this fact with a few when I first started, but as it turns out, most of my friends are not so keen on blogging, whether reading or writing one, let alone finding out about my inner thoughts. Well, duh, I guess they hear enough from me in person or FB (ok, not so much there either lately), and now I expect them to read about it too? As it also turns out, some, if not most, are keen on keeping their privacy and think blogs negate that. Hey, so am, and do, I! Yes, seriously! Perhaps my major reason to begin with about being in the closet with my blogging. Oxymoron-ic, I know (is that even a word?).

... Tweet-er

Again, I learned that my friends are not that big fans of Twitter. Solid FB users, thru and thru, but the love doesn't quite extend to Twitter. What's not to love, I'm not sure. I can be succinct or cryptic as I can be in 140 characters or less to no one in general.

... Tumblr-er(?)

Ok, I don't really use my Tumblr account.

... Goodreads member

If you're an avid reader and haven't been to this site, you have to check it out. Maybe it's just me, but it's addictive! I can get lost in this site for hours just discovering new books and reading what people think about various books. And I think because I was reading so many reviews, I had this brilliant idea that I can do the same *raises an eyebrow*  I thought if I cared enough about what some random people feel about a book, without knowing anything about those people, then perhaps some other random people will feel the same way about what I write... *sigh*

(via Google images, courtesy of syra-arts.com)

So there you have it! My virtual self, all (mostly) compartmentalized in tiny digital boxes. *grins* You may, or may not, get a sense of (a part of) who I am...

When you blog/tweet/post, what goes thru your head when you hit that publish/tweet/post button? How reflective of your real self is your virtual self? Do you ever think of possible consequences, or if there are any at all?

Things That Keep Me Up At Night

How am I going to find time the time to read my bajillion books?

What book should I read next?

Why is my e-reader not syncing properly?

How can some e-books be more expensive than their paperback version?

When are they going to put that pair of shoes on sale?

What restaurant should we try next?

What if I miss {insert name}'s tweets?

Generic ketchup or not?

How can she wear the same top from yesterday?

How can they end The Following that way?

Why am I keeping all these episodes of {insert title}in our PVR?

Why is {insert title} so popular? What am I missing?

Did s/he just really write that? What is s/he thinking?

Did I use the right tense in that sentence? Was my grammar correct?

Why did she take that character in that direction?

Did s/he see my tweet? Why is s/he not responding?

Why can't I delete this activity from my timeline?

**********

... ok, not really... {hashtag} first world problem...

HAHA!

Not So Guilty Pleasure Anymore

Hi, my name is... and I'm a closet romance reader...

There! I'm finally admitting it, I love romance novels! *shrieks* 

I haven't really read romance novels since my early teens. I used to devour them like crazy, starting from the teenybopper Sweet Dreams right up to the steamier ones like Mills & Boon, Harlequin and Loveswept (hey, what can I say, I'm a Gen X-er after all). That is, until I reached a point (a year or so later) when I just got tired of the formulaic stories, the weak female heroines and the same alpha heroes with more money than god. I turned my back on them and moved on to other books that I thought will feed my brain better.

But a certain book got on my radar last year (it that shall not be named HAH!) and next thing I knew, my fascination with romance novels has been re-kindled. The funny part is that particular book was not even really the best written one out there and will probably not win any literary awards but one thing it did do is it hooked me right back in. *sigh* (whodathunk!)

As a result, what I did discover as well is that the new romance novels have now developed a new formula, so to speak. The better written ones have the right amount of angst to evoke enough emotion, the characters have more texture to them, the heroines have finally developed some spine and the alpha heroes, although some of them still with more money than god, have become, let's just say, more varied in their occupation. And boy have they gotten a whole lot steamier too, oh my! (as in NSFW... or young 'uns for that matter... you've been warned!)

And these days, one of my fave, if not THE most fave, in this genre has got to be Sylvia Day.

The Crossfire series follows the emotional and romantic journey taken by Gideon Cross and Eva Tramell

Sylvia Day, as far as I'm concerned, has got this corner covered. Not sure how she does it, but dang, she does! Here's a series with characters that are well developed, a heroine with so much fight in her, a hero *major swoon* who you can't help but fall in love with (just ask all the Sylvia Day fans), and it covers a whole gamut of emotions, that you really can't help but get immersed in it. Just saying...

As we speak, the 3rd book in this series, Entwined With You, has just released, and it could not have come fast enough! Love this series! Love the characters and their story! Care to take a guess what I'll be doing this weekend? heehee...

In the meantime, I wonder, do you think that romance novels have just been getting a bad rep all this time? Just because it's a "fluffy" form of escapism, does that make it less of a written art? A well written story is a well written story, is it not? And if it gets people reading, hasn't it achieved its purpose in the end?

Hoorah to Social Media! Death to Social Media!

I recently had an email interaction with a public personality, who I was am(?) a big fan of, about an interview that the person did. It was an interview that I really enjoyed but there was a portion of the interview, about social media of all things, that didn't sit quite well with me and I thought I'd let the person know how I felt about it in the hopes that the person can address it. (Address it? Who do I think I am? *raises eyebrow*)

(courtesy of blog.gemalto.com, via Google images)

Let's just say that it didn't go down very nicely. Had I not been secure with my views and taken the entire content of the response I received personally, let's just say I probably would have been curled up in a ball after reading it, huddled in a corner and just started questioning my beliefs (ok, I'm exaggerating). I think that was the intent of the response anyway. I guess the person felt personally attacked so the person responded in a similar fashion. But I didn't take it personally (how can I when I only "know" OF the person?), and just looked at it as objectively as possible. In retrospect, I still didn't think I've said anything demeaning, I thought I was merely making a point. Unfortunately, from the person's perspective, that wasn't the case, as I've regrettably learned (What do I know? I'm just a fan, after all, right? *insert googly eyes*). Real shame...

Regardless, what it did to me though is it saddened me. It revealed a side of this personality that I wasn't prepared to see at all (I should have just been happy, I suppose, "adoring" this person like a regular fan, is that it?) and it just further confirmed what I already know, that image is not necessarily everything. Shoulda' known better... *sniff, sniff*

The only other thing I'm gonna say about this experience is that social media has indeed become a game changer. For everybody. These are the (digital) times we're living in... fortunately, or unfortunately... depending I guess on which end you're at...

O well... C'est la vie...