The Great Book of Lists- Chapter 5.1: People Who Inspired You

I’ve waited for this day to post this specific TGBoL chapter. Chapter 5.1 is all about the people who inspired you. It’s not about Descartes, Churchill, Coelho or any other inspiring thinkers whose quotes flourish the internet and the social networks. No, this chapter is about a list of real people, unknown (or almost) to the world who had a real impact on our life.

As for me, it’d be:

• God, inspite of failing him most of the time, He never failed me
• My family who are my great source of strength and inspiration
• My college professors who pushed me to my limits, for they knew we were meant to grow
• My treasure box of friends- my high school bffs, my college buddies, my “UTODIAN” friends, my favorite love-birds (Rinabel & Red)

~

The Great Book of Lists- Chapter 5.0: I am currently…

Still catching up with TGBOL’s chapters. ^^

Chapter 5.0 week is about the snapshot of our day. It’s going to be a portrait of you who are, what you do, and what you plan. Here’s mine:

I am currently…

Loving… the idea of being back in here in blog-o-sphere.

Eating… cream-o for breakfast. Yep, I’m a certified cream-o-holic!

Drinking… a hot cup of Swiss Miss dark chocolate drink. ❤

Watching… the  ceiling. We’ve had a long weekend due to Memorial Day and I don’t feel like working yet. Ssshh.. don’t tell my boss! *wink*

Going… to start blog-hopping ASAP. I’ve been gone for a while and I missed a lot.

Reading… Patricia Cornwell’s Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper—Case Closed. I’ve had a reading break and  I’m happy I’ve read a lot. I’m stuck with this one though. It’s been giving me nightmares for two nights. Such interestingly disturbing book. Geez!

Texting… my high school and college best friends. Ah, how I missed the old days.

Playing… dead. Yep. Staring blankly at the ceiling, trying to hold my breath for as long as I can. I need a longer weekend! Bloody har har. XD

Working… on learning more about  my new found interest, calligraphy. I’m back in sketching too but I’m trying to tame my fingers for calligraphy these days.

Listening… to Hillsong United and Casting Crowns these days for inspiration. And Yiruma keeps my mind at ease.

Thanking… God for a long list of reason. I just couldn’t thank Him enough for everything and for never giving up on me. ❤

Buying… nothing (as long as I don’t lurk too long in the bookstore). I’m trying to save for something BIG. *fingers crossed*

Planning… to take another leap of faith and grab the chance at self-growth. Yes, career change. I’ve already let two chances slip right before my eyes. There will not be a third (I hope so).

Visiting… home. Soon! It’s for my parent’s 25th anniversary and I just couldn’t wait. 😀

Wondering… what to do first. Haha. I’m really stuck!

Feeling… happy. I love mornings as much as I love nights. Somebody’s playing upbeat music in the office. The sun’s gorgeous today and I believe it’ll be a lovely day. I hope you guys have the same! ^^

How about you? Can I get a snapshot? I would love to hear them, too.

The Great Book of Lists- Chapter 4.1: Groceries

What good is a book with missing chapters, right? So here I am catching up with TGBOL’s chapters, starting off with groceries. 🙂 🙂 🙂

Chapter 4.1 of The Great Book of Lists is all about our grocery list. This one’s quite tricky since I only do grocery once in a blue moon (if you call buying two or three stuff a grocery). Lol. Good thing I found the printable template below to guide me, and TADA! Hmm… let’s simply imagine that I am a normal human being who normally strolls the supermarket aisles. Here goes something…

Erratum: Adding hotdogs on my list. I suddenly craved for one. HAHA!

How about you? What are on your grocery carts? I would love to hear them, too.

The Great Book of Lists- Chapter 4.0: Hobbies

“In our leisure we reveal what kind of people we are.” – Ovid

This week’s chapter on The Great Book of Lists is another favorite one. Chapter 4.0 is all about our HOBBIES!

We all love to do things besides our jobs and family obligations OR if we are lucky enough, job and family obligations include our hobbies.What are the activities you enjoy, that make you happy, that empty and quiet your mind, or trigger a creativity outburst ? Or in the contrary, what activity makes you run away, backwards, take on a perpetual subscription to terminal procrastination ?

As for mine, I’ll just let the photos below do the talking. ❤ ❤ ❤

1. Poems

2. Junks & Scrapbooks

3. Music

4. Random sketches

An image of Kaneki Ken I sketched on 2015

5. Anime & Manga

6. Books

7. Friends

8. Me-time

9. Family

 

How about you? What are your hobbies? I would love to hear them, too. 🙂 🙂 🙂

F is for Fernweh

GIF source: Wordstuck

FEIRN-veyh

Fernweh is the longing to leave and break free, the longing to be somewhere else; a crave for travel; being homesick for a place you’ve never been; a strong desire for or impulse to wander or travel and explore the world; lit. “an ache for distant places”

My love, take my hands
We’ll walk on new lands
Bask in the heat of the sun
With your hands in mine
Our footsteps align
Chasing the wind, let us run

Hold me in your arms
Draw me with your charms
I’ll take the road to your soul
Your secrets, I’ll chart
The depths of your heart
Take my hands and make me whole

---

Poetry Form: The Alouette

Read more 2016 A to Z Challenge entries here!

The Great Book of Lists- Chapters 3.2 & 3.3: Acts of Love and Ways to Celebrate

This week’s The Great Book of List is a combination of two chapters: Chapter 3.2 ( Acts of Love) and Chapter 3.3 (Ways to Celebrate). But before anything else, I’d like to congratulate our host, La duchesse d’Erat, for passing her exam and kicking out flu! ^^

So here goes something…

Acts of Love
When things go sour, awful, we turn to our loved ones, crawl in their warm embrace and let them try to calm our heartbeat. There’s hardly a better time to show them we care. How do you show your loved ones you care ? What are the little gestures, the surprises, the words that carry your appreciation ?

1. Scrapbook- I usually do this on a friend’s special day. Scrapbooking a favorite hobby of mine and I love making one for them. It gives me time to scan through old photos and reminisce old memories, too.

2. Poem- Most of the time, I write poems for family & friends in any celebration  (birthdays, anniversary, send-off party, etc). I also write poems whenever I feel thankful for having them around or I want to cheer someone who’s feeling down or just randomly remind them how much they are loved.

3. Hugs and Kisses- The easiest and most convenient act of love there is along with the word “I love you”.

4. Presence- I may not have all the riches in the world but to the people that I truly love, I can give all my time. I’m all ears and all smiles to listen. A pillow-talk would be great, too.

Ways to Celebrate
What are the ways you generally celebrate?

1. KTV- One of my favorite ways to celebrate is to sing my heart out with friends or family. It’s such a perfect release.

2. Eat- We do this most often at any events, be it outside or at home. You can never go wrong with a celebration in a table full of sumptuous food. YUM!

3. Travel- At times when my friends and I are feeling really generous, we like to go to beautiful places. Maybe not necessarily our dream travels but just off to scenic place away from the city. In the most special times, I travel back to the place where I belong, too- HOME.

4. Little treats- Just as much as I enjoy celebrating with people I love, I love taking myself for a little treat as well. Dark chocolates or iced coffee would be great. Oh and french fries, too. Haha! A solitary walk at malls would be fine and a book or two would be a great reward. Ah… a lovely date with just me, myself, and I. ❤

How about you?  I would love to hear them, too.

 

The Great Book of Lists- Chapter 3.1: A party of choice

Coffee, Tea, or Chitchat?

This week’s chapter on The Great Book of Lists is probably my second favorite next to Dream Travels, so far. A party of choice includes a list of the people we’d like to meet throughout history- anyone dead or alive. Isn’t that exciting?!

Some time last month, I wrote about the fictional characters I wanted to dine with. Everyone from my hearty meals which, of course, includes the people of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, the Bennets and Fitzwilliam Darcy, Dr. Sheldon Cooper and his friends, and THE Christian Grey are counted on this list. P.S. On a late note, I wanted to dine with the gods and goddesses of Greek Mythology, too!  😀

This time, at exactly 2:15 pm down at my lair, I am inviting these people below for a coffee, tea, or chitchat. Yes, please.

 

POETS

William Shakespeare
John Keats
Rumi
Lord Byron
E.E Cummings
Charles Bukowski
Lang Leav
Sarah Kay

AUTHORS

Mitch Albom
Paulo Coelho
Jane Austen
Richard Montanari
J.K Rowling
George R. R. Martin
J. R. R. Tolkien
Nicholas Sparks

RANDOM PEOPLE

Taylor Swift
Ed Sheeran
Angelina Jolie
My grandparents
D.

So for anyone who wanted to join the fun, be there or be square.

How about you? Who would you invite for a coffee or tea? I would love to hear them, too. 🙂 🙂 🙂

The Great Book of Lists- Chapter 3.0: Your favorite dishes

This week’s chapter on The Great Book of Lists is another challenging one for one sole reason: I CAN’T cook a decent dish. I’ve tried to learn cooking, though not enthusiastically, but it seemed to be not one of my forte. Ha! So much for, “The best way to win a man’s heart is through his stomach.”

Filipinos are naturally rice eater. It’s just hard to let a day pass by without having a rice meal. For this reason, we favor the dishes that goes well with rice. So here are some of my favorite Filipino dishes that I tried (or did not) to cook. 😀

1. Adobong Baboy – A trademark of Filipino cuisine. It could either be chicken or pork but I love the latter most, especially if added with pineapple tidbits. I tried to cook once, with the guidance of YouTube, but I end up with a burnt-bitter version of adobo. (Click here for the original image and recipe.)

 

2. Lechon – You can rarely celebrate a feast in the Philippines without lechon. This mouth-watering, sumptuous, crispy-on-the-outside-tasty-on-the-inside ulam can just never go wrong. I used to hep my cousins turn over the lechon back at home but, mind you, the coal’s achingly hot and the steel’s heavy!

 

3. Sinigang na Baboy- The only decent dish that I have successfully cooked. Although, unlike its original recipe, I cooked it with sweet corn and without the eggplant (not a fan). It may not look much but it’s really tasty, I promise! 😀

 

4. Tinabal– Tinabal is a type of fish processing which popular in the Visayas particularly Leyte. The most commonly used species for this product are parrot fish and frigate tuna. I tried the native bacalao tinabal at Kuizine and it reminds me of home. It’s the perfect blend of salty and spicy flavors that made me crave for more. YUM!

(c) Bukool

5. Bicol Express- is a popular Filipino dish which was made in traditional Bicolano style. The meat is cooked in coconut milk and chili peppers that you just couldn’t say no to. Phew! Now I REALLY have to stop. My stomach’s growling. 😀

 

How about you? What are your favorite dishes? I would love to hear them, too. 🙂 🙂 🙂

The Great Book of Lists- Chapter 2.3:The soundtrack of your life

“Ah, music,” he said, wiping his eyes. “A magic beyond all we do here!”
― J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

Yes, music. One of the most magical things in this world- along with poems, books, and love- and I couldn’t be happier when La duchesse d’Erat introduced this week’s chapter in The Great Book of List. If my life carries a playlist with it, it’ll be filled with hundreds of songs transcending through time. But since we can’t have that, here are some songs from the soundtrack of my life that I’d like to share. I hope you enjoy! 😀

1. A song that reminds me to trust in God- I’ve mentioned this in the previous chapter since every word in the lyrics resonates and matters to me. When everything goes wrong and nothing seems right, I turn to this one. I turn to God.

Just Be Held by Casting Crowns