Homesickness.

So I just got to NZ again and pretty much panicking about my visa because I did not know that  I had all this shit to settle before I could apply (note to self: don’t be a dumdum next time.). I’ve been having poor sleep until yesterday as well, and it’s because I’m homesick. It hit me right in the gut, and sometimes it hurts to breathe because I was totally unexpected for it and I thought I was over it since I went through once ykno? And for some reason this time it’s even worse than last time. I was just in the shower and literally wanted my mom so bad I just started crying in the shower. This kind of stuff only happens in movies, guys. like, srsly gaise.

On the other hand, I’ve had a good day today. I returned my rice cooker and got a better one, and I had a nice evening with some friends from last year. We got takeout and went to the beach, and I met a few of their roommates which was nice, and we got to chat a bit and stuff, which was great as well.

All in all, I think I’ll get over my homesickness soon, and hopefully I can get my shit together before I do anything next time. I really need to get my shit together. Like srsly I don’t wanna be deported. D: When will I ever get over this like seriously.

Side note: I might try drinking. Like might. try. 

oh well, whatever. until next time.

Love,

Char.

Stress Reading

Stress eating? Pretty common. I do it too.

Stress exercising? Normal.

But stress reading? Never thought it happened to me.

Until it did.

It didn’t start off that way. I just stumbled upon a fun romantic comedy novel which turned out to be a series and I was excited to read more of it. So I did. At first it was too fun to stop. I plowed through 4 books before my brain was finally satiated with its hunger. I didn’t realize I missed reading so much. One series turned to two. Since I was enjoying the romantic comedies, I looked for similar ones, and I did (obviously). Then I had a couple tests coming up but instead of putting the books on hold I just continued with the series. If I finished a book, I’d put it down, make a mental note on how much I liked it, and give myself a minute. At this point, my responsibilities (as a student which is to study) would start floating in my head. I had other responsibilities too, which included but was not limited to taking care of my body, staying in contact with my family and friends, and cleaning my room. I’d give it a minute, and then opened up the next book in the series. It was easy. All I had to do was just pull up the next book on the series. I thought, it’d be okay. There was only one book left in the series. I’ll finish that and then when I have nothing to do, I’ll just start studying then.

I did not start studying then. Instead, I looked for more books to read on GoodReads. And I did. I was halfway through another series (I had now turned to paranormal (? supernatural?) romance which was heavy on the things that go bump in the night and less on the romance. Side note: I was slowly but surely going into the romance section which was something younger me would be repulsed by. Younger me did not see this coming. I went in ashamed of myself, and now I actually enjoy it, so younger me can suck it and go find something else to annoy.) when the test crept up on me. I actually waited until the day before the test ‘stress-reading’ to actually open up my notes and go through some past years as revision. The test itself sucked. It wasn’t too bad, but it was awful for my standards. Not to mention the sleep depravation caused by reading and procrastination.

So yeah. Hopefully it does not become a thing. I need sleep more than I need books. If I can’t make myself study, I should at least sleep the stress away. I’m working on it. I should have a schedule. Or to-do lists. And exams are coming up. Here’s to actually getting my butt into gear and hitting the books.

Best wishes and luck to whatever you are doing,

Love,

Charley.

The evil scientist trope, why it’s doing real world damage to scientists, and why authors need to stop.

I may be a book blogger by night, but by day I spend my time as a scientist, specifically a tumour immunologist. You may assume that due to my vocation, scientific inaccuracies in books would drive…

Source: The evil scientist trope, why it’s doing real world damage to scientists, and why authors need to stop.

Reflection

Today is my birthday. Happy birthday, me.

I thought about what to do today, since I’m technically on my own here, and it just doesn’t feel the same without family and friends. Not that I don’t have friends here, I just don’t feel like making a fuss about it, especially since I recently had a family vacation in Australia. It kinda feels like that was my present already. Added to the fact that I now have a new laptop, plus I bought myself some pretty pricey sunglasses in July, and I just bought myself a sweater yesterday, AND today I got myself some cupcakes. So, since I got a lot of stuff near my birthday, I’ll just take them all as my birthday presents collectively. Life is good. I have flown in and out of the country a couple times already, I’ve spent quality time with my family on a vacay, I got myself quite a few things, and I bought a book before I came back (in July).

So, it’s no biggie. I don’t need a birthday party this year. Added to the fact that I had a pretty shitty day yesterday and I have an assignment due in 48 hours, I don’t really want to do anything or go anywhere, really. Also, Empire of Storms by Sarah J. Maas just came out (highly recommend the Throne of Glass series btw).

I was gonna reflect on somethings, but I will just sum it up in bullet points since I’m too lazy to do this lol.

• I am very privileged to be able to fly in and out of the country while studying abroad.
• I am loved by my family and friends.
• I have nice things, good food and clean water.
• Life is pretty good for me.

I just wanted to take this time to appreciate that. A lot of people, including me, don’t take the time to appreciate the things (and people) we have and I just wanted to do that today. I’m happy right now. And that’s good. (seriously this laptop types so nicely I love it so much lol okbye)

Til next time,

Love,

Char.

Marianas Trench

If you don’t know what that is, I will now save you the time from Googling it. The Mariana (with NO s) Trench is the deepest parts of the ocean. MarianaS Trench is a Canadian band who I love very, very much. Please check them out.

I found them a couple years ago with their album Masterpiece Theater which is one of the greatest albums I’ve ever had the pleasure of listening to. Disclaimer: I am not a die hard fan. I don’t follow them constantly or have a news feed dedicated entirely to them. I just enjoy their music. So I went back to see if they had any new music. And they did. They have outdone themselves with Astoria just last year. I don’t know if it’s because I just miss Josh’s (the frontman) voice or their style of music or maybe I’ve just gotten sick of the mainstream songs lately but that album has literally enchanted me. And did I mention they have acoustic versions? So I dug a little deeper and found out more about them and the album.

 

Some things happened and life was shit for a while. But they picked themselves back up. And here I am being a whiny, hormonal little shit moping about these past few days.

So check out some of their songs:

 

 

If you caught that one reference, it’s because of this:

 

Have I mentioned the acoustics yet?

 

Please take the time to appreciate them.

Love,

Char.

A Court of Thorns and Roses (series)

I read them back-to-back. In one and a half sittings. At 2 am. I decided to start some ‘light’ reading at 2 am. When will I ever learn? Anyway, long story short I was reading for about 4 hours and just started on the sequel. I finally let my worn-out eyes rest when I noticed actual daylight and the clock which said 6:53 am. That’s a new record for me, staying up just to read. I can’t believe myself.

A Court of Thorns and Roses is very loosely based off Beauty and the Beast. It starts out with that kind of theme-ish, just like how the Throne of Glass series is VERY loosely based on Cinderella. You have the main character, 19-year-old Feyre (fay-ruh) who hunts to provide for her starving once rich family. She kills a wolf who was faerie and now must pay a life debt. Die by their hands, or live with them. Forever. She chose to live. What will she do now?

A Court of Mist and Fury is the sequel to a fantastic book, and I love it so much it really took me by surprise. I don’t want to explain anything but basically its her life after that.

ACOTAR gets 4/5 for being awesome.

ACOMAF gets 5/5 for being exponentially more awesome. I can’t wait for the next book which isn’t getting published until 2017 I can’t wait a whole year pls save me

Spoilers down ahead because I need to let this out and I cannot even.

the start of something new.

So I came to New Zealand to study. It’s been about two week since I got here, and my first week of classes has just ended. Here I am. So far so good, as one can be. I made some new friends, and I like them all. I’m not a party-going person, and I still don’t go to parties, and none of my friends party, because most of them are 18. I am a 20 year old in room full of 18 year olds. I feel old. There’s some music event going on at the bar on nearby, and it’s supposed to last two more hours. My internal alarm clock has adjusted itself already, and I am now sleepy. Sleepy at 12 am. That’s a thing now. And I wake up at 8 am every day. It’s a real thing, people, this is not a drill. I have now started a healthy lifestyle (sleeping-wise. I’m still working on the other things). 

I introduced myself as ‘Charley’, and not my real Chinese name out of convenience, but I still feel awkward about it, because I do not want to lose my inner Cina ppl. So I’ll probably start watching more Taiwan dramas just to keep my Cina in check. Already miss my family and starting to miss my friends, sigh.

Studies are fine, but it could be because I already have a (rusty) foundation in chemistry and biology, or also because it is only the first week, and the first few lectures are about introductions and safety procedures. Hopefully things go better. I’m going to watch some shows and brush my teeth and fall asleep. Tomorrow I’m going to the mall with my friends. I made friends 😀

Goodnight peeps,

Love,

Char.

New Year, new me.

I went to look at my old resolutions, and while they seemed doable, I didn’t do them. So there you have it. I am a lazy piece of shit. So this year, I’m going to keep it simple. We’re going to do resolutions that are as simple AF.

1. only  buy things you will use. or also conversely, USE THE THINGS YOU BUY.
2. also, stop buying so much black. opt for white or colored stuff instead.
3. stay in touch with your friends and family. This will prove to be a challenge even without going abroad.
4. stop guilt-reading. read what makes you happy. If you don’t like it anymore, stop. If you want to reread an old book 50 times, do it. but don’t get lazy. This year’s GoodReads aim: 50 books.
5. write more. write anything. just write.
6. take at least one photo a week. be it me, people, things, dogs, cats, ice cream etc.
7. if I do buy books on impulse, you better damn well read it. money doesn’t grow on trees.
8. stop saying no. try out for clubs, join sports, die trying, but JUST DO IT.
9. save money pls. Goal: to go to DisneyWorld with my best emal friend.

I think that’s all I have for this year. 1 & 2 seem like the same thing, but eh. They all seem doable. I’ll have to motivate myself and come back to it at the end of the year, but I hope at least I’ll have crossed out half of them.

Well, I hope you guys had a great 2015 as well. Here’s to a new year, and a new you.

Love,

Char.

cat.

So I came back from work as I normally did, by driving. While I was driving, I heard little mews every now and then. Which surprised me. There couldn’t be cats in my car, right? I locked the doors, there’s no way in. Right? So I let it be and just went home. And when I got home, I let my dog outside every now and then to let her pee and smell things, like dogs do. And there it was again. And Jojo heard it too, so I couldn’t be hearing things. Could I? Or maybe it was a ghost cat?

But no, it was a cat. Specifically, it was a kitten. It couldn’t have been more than 6 weeks old, I guessed. I don’t have any nice pictures, but maybe I’ll upload it later. I googled it, so it’s around 6 weeks. I think. The gender I’ll have to check again tomorrow just to be sure, but I think it’s a tomcat even though I started referring it as a she like ever since I got her out of my car. So I took it out, I cleaned its eyes because holy crap that was really gross and dirty where was your mom?! I cleaned up the eyes the best I could and the nose a little bit and I let it walk around a little bit and tried to give it some water. And then we put it in a box. The proverbial we being me and my sister holding my frantic dog who just wanted to smell the kitten and/or kill it.

I asked a few friends and someone’s mom agreed to take it  in, so that’s nice. It’ll be out of my hands soon. I mean, it’s not like I don’t want to keep it. I’m leaving in two months and I have a dog who chases cats. Plus, no one in my house wants to keep it. So, there’s that. someone will take it in, and I don’t have to feel bad about accidentally cat-napping. I hope it’s sleeping but I don’t want to check on it without waking it up. I hope no other cats try to kill it. ._.

I lied I feel terrible. I can’t get it out of my head and it won’t be over until the kitten is in good hands and mine aren’t good hands they’re terrible hands I want to drive back to where I came from and leave the kitten there ohmygod I can’t

Winter is here.

Winter, by Marissa Meyer. Book four of the Lunar Chronicles. I can’t even. I’m still reeling from the feels.

Sidenote: I feel like lately when I read, I just internalize the feels and curl into a ball feelings the emotions instead of expressing them and screaming and crying. Mostly because there’s no one here to feel it out with me, but it still gets me every time I read a good book with good feels and just a good story. helpme.

Okay, so the main character (and I’m saying this really REALLY loosely because we kind of have a cast a main characters) is Winter. Princess Winter of Luna (aka the moon. Literally) is the beloved princess of the Lunars. This story is loosely based on the age-old fairy tale Snow White. Hence, the name Winter. I’ll try to keep this as spoiler free as possible, but since this is the finale of the series I can’t tell you much of anything. Basically, read the first three books first, based on chronological order. That’s 1. Cinder, 2. Scarlet, and 3. Cress. And now 4. Winter.

I absolutely loved this book, and would have finished this in one sitting if I could. I finished it in two, so close enough. This was honestly one hell of a ride and one of my favourite series of all time. Honestly, I read the first three books in one go and it was a while ago so I only recall bits and pieces but it’s still good. I still remember the general plot and the characters never left me and the cute banter and dialogues UGH. It’s such a different take on story-telling it sometimes feels like its own genre because it’s a loose retelling of fairy tales but it’s set in the future and has a dystopian sci-fi twist in it. And the titles make it seem like companion novels but they’re not. It’s more like a buildup of stories as they go, with the introduction of the new characters as the plot line of each book kinda. It still follows a main story line of the first book Cinder. What can I say? Just read it.

I rate this a 5 out of 5 stars.

Give it a 98%. I will admit there were a few things that needed to be addressed but overall it still smoothed over pretty well and … I can’t give an ending because then spoilers. 

Okay bye.

Love,

Charley. 🙂