My Bad Habit

Oh no. April has come and will be gone in few hours. Time sure flies. I've been so caught up with work. There are simply too many things to learn and ask. 

Don't worry, I am still faithfully following book bloggers I like. Just that I am too ashamed to leave any comment because I have not been reading much! In fact, I have spent more time than ever reading online book reviews compared to before. Though, it might not be a good thing after all. 

In my opinion, resources (i.e. time and money) are limited. So before going to any movie, I make sure that I do my "homework" - look up Wikipedia for the plot and Rotten Tomatoes for the rating. However, that irritates The Boyfriend and brothers because it defeats the purpose of enjoying a movie when I have already known the details and have had my perception on whether the movie is good or bad. Most often than not, I skipped movies that didn't receive favorable reviews.

Same goes to buying and reading books. I survey for reviews and I look up the rating system on Goodreads. In a way, I have limited my options - I go for those that are well-received. What works for others might not work for me. As a result, I miss out the fun and surprise of discovering authors (and books) whom I might really like. 

So what's your take on this?

Guilt

I have not been reading as much as I should have over the past few months. So much had happened - graduation, a long-distance relationship, unemployment, job interviews, debate tournament, first job, convocation, The Boyfriend (and his family's) visit etc. Truth to be told, I was unsettled most the time, especially during my unemployment period. When I started working, I was simply too exhausted to read much after work. From time to time, I welcomed some good news and was overwhelmed with the joy which was soon followed with worries. 

So far, I have only read The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook, A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius, and Betrayal by Ben Mezrich (which I might or might not blog about). Other than that, I have quit a few books half way. One of them is Lord of the Flies by William Golding (which I might reread). I doubt I would ever achieve all my reading goals and challenges since 2013 is approaching soon.

A Dream Came True

(photo taken from Borneo Post - Refer here for the newspaper article)

Years of hard work had once again paid off. And it took more than just hard work to get to where I am today. Couldn't have been any happier to end my university life this way.

Looking at all the pictures taken, one thing I realized - my appearance is getting more and more "polished" (even without make up on) these days compared to how I looked in my late teen years.

That should be the case for everything in life.

For the coming one year..

I am not going to start with how much the local libraries suck with their pathetically inadequate book collections which they never seemed to update since ages ago. Instead, I am going to talk about one which never fails to surprise me, which is my uni library.

For the past three years in university, I had spent majority of my campus life in the library. And I foresee myself spending more time there in my coming final year. However, I must admit I was there mostly for the free internet access and cool air-conditioning (to avoid the killer heat) other than the fact that it does provide the kind of superb environment that enables me to concentrate on doing my works.

Regarding the books, I was initially there for reference books related to my field of study. Then I started to explore more and discover that there was a section for fictions. And I was even more amazed that they have some really good collections such as Kafka on The Shore, To Kill a Mockingbird, Never Let Me Go, The Virgin Suicides, Memoirs of a Geisha etc (but mostly are Asian Literature which I wasn't all that keen). One day, I even found an erotic short stories which I of course wouldn't miss haha! Without limiting myself, I moved on to other sections like economics, religion, science etc and I was pleasantly surprised with what I had stumbled across.

For the coming one year (August '11-August '12), I am aiming to read more non-fictions instead. With that, I am targeting to at least read a minimum of non-fictions on biography/ psychology/ philosophy/ politics/ business/ culture while at the same time, I hope I will still be reading fictions. I try not to be ambitious or unrealistic because it will be my final year and I am positive I will be very much occupied with my final year project + lectures + assignments + exams + goofing around with friends before we go separate way + job hunting.

Lets see how it goes then. :)