Draw Something Oct. 26 - 3

Name: Elizabeth 'Tiny' Snicklenoodle
Age: 9
Loves: Sweets, baking, all things pink and yellow
Hates: Homework, cleaning, bullies
Ability: Transport from place to place with a thought
Curious Tidbit: When Tiny was six, she woke up in an air ship full of pirates but they were kind to her and she went home full of cookies and milk.

Do you love sweets? What are your favorite desserts or sweet treats?

Fiction: Meet the Family

This month's Words for Wednesday prompts are supplied by Sean Jeating and hosted at River's blog here. This week's prompts are: contemporaries, easily, life, met, never and/or one, say, sentence, who, within. Another optional prompt is Charlotte's colour of the month - Smoky Rose.
    The aim of Words for Wednesday is to use one or all of the prompts to write something – ie, a story, a poem, an essay or any forms of writing, fiction or nonfiction, basically write anything you want.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

Fiction: Meet the Family
Like his contemporaries, James wanted to make a good impression when his would-be bride meet his family but he knew they were not the kind of normal people would expect.
    The instant Sophia stepped into the entry, she was greeted with a bloodcurdling scream. "It's the clock," said James. He had forgotten to tell his father to change the sounds but it was October and his family loved Halloween. His eldest sister Mercy, who had opened the door, smirked. Sophia's eyes widened but she was smiling. He ushered her into the livingroom and introduced his father, Pat, his mother Eliza, his other elder sisters, Savor, Grace, his three uncles Stuart, Arthur, Clay and their wives Sandy, Amelia and Caroline and each of their teenager, Samatha, Arthur Jr. and Clara.
    In the dinning room, Sophia sat between James and Mercy. His mother usually sat at the head but she went to the kitchen to fetch more food though the entire dinning table was already covered with victuals that you couldn't even see the table.
    James tried to smile away his nervousness. He couldn't help but noticed Sophia's hesitant smile. Was it necessary for his uncle Arthur to ask how was her last menstruation? He was a gynecologist but she wasn't his patient. Did Savor had to inquire if Sophia was allergic wolf fur? Did Caroline needed to know if Sophia's family had a history of insanity?

Draw Something Oct. 26 - 2

Name: Song Na
Age: 12
Loves: Music, air symphonies, sour candies
Hates: Tubas, white noise, talkative people
Ability: Enchant people with music and persuade them to change their minds & spontaneously make people dance
Curious Tidbit: Song once stayed up until 3am in an hot air balloon to catch a concert she couldn't get tickets to.

Do you love music? Have you ever played an instrument?

Draw Something October 2026

It had become a habit to dedicate October as a month to draw something so that's what I'm going to do again. Last year, I had a theme so this time, the theme is witches, mainly, cat witches. These are students with a few teachers of the Sisterhood of Magical & Culinary Arts - a traveling school for magic, mayhem & culinary - at least, that's what I came up with. Here is the first one which I sort based her on Matilda by Roald Dahl.

Name: Matila Elizabeth Waterbaker
Age: 12 & 1/4
Loves: Discovering boring things about the universe through books and information curated by the librarians of the world, chocolate, riding her bicycle
Hates: School works, walking in the rain with wet socks, people who do not mind their manners
Ability: Moves things with her mind
Curious Tidbit: Matila was once an apprentice to a haughty librarian who turned Matila into a mouse for a week.

What are you doing this October?

Book Rants - September 2026

I've only managed to finish four books and half of them started last month. I think I've been picking the wrong books to read but I guess there's no fix for that. Here are the books I managed to finish and a couple I didn't.

Books I Unfinished:

01 - The Summer War by Naomi Novik 
What's it about: a curse, a witch/mage, gay people, something about a war, 
Quit at: 44%
This was a novella (under 150 pages) but somehow it drags. First, the main character puts a curse on her brother and getting her powers (and her period - I have always hated this association - a girl gets her period at the same time she gets her power, a sign of maturity, blab, blab...) follow by a ton of back stories and then supposedly she tries to un-curse her brother but she (and another brother) was mostly reading books, doing math and listening to songs that tells happenings we don't get to witness and then something happens, the end. 
    I always read spoilers when I decided not to read a book. Click to Show/Hide Spoilers > In the end, there is an orgy (although not described in detail) which the main character watched on her wedding night and she was only 15 years old. She needed to be saved at the end which irks me. What was her power for anyway? And the cursed brother ended up coupling with the jackass who had been treating her like crap and almost killed her - both of these would would have pissed me off so I'm glad I didn't finish this. End Spoilers >

A Refresh

Born to be tidy, 2026

I like to organize, make lists, basically make my blog as tidy as possible. And I like refreshing it now and then, changing or adding something new to sort of give something new to look at.
    As of today, I had updated the hello page, writing page and added a list of the all the books I sort of reviewed but mostly ranted about (titled book index) and even changed the header. Sadly, I was too lazy to update my blogroll or anything else.
    The book index is sort of my way of organizing and listing all the books I read but of course, I don't have the previous books from my previous blogs. This is mostly for me because it's just a list so it's not all that useful unless you are looking to read some book rants about books you may never have heard of know or care to know about. (All page links are below the header).
    I was going to make the above artwork another 'Spot the difference' but decided it wasn't a good idea, too many elements that can be changed and it's kind of hard to spot things. Though I did work on this piece for months. As much as I like an office all to myself, I don't have one but I do like one that is something like that but probably without all the papers scattered around but I do seem to have paper messes every few weeks. Generally, I'm messy unless I had sudden urges to organize and clean again which happens often. Maybe it's why I keep trying to tidy this blog.

Are you a naturally tidy person? Do you like to refresh your blog once in a while? 

Fiction: Good Hair Day

This month's Words for Wednesday prompts are supplied by River. This week's words/prompts are: extravagant, koala, plane, charged, potatoes, alone. Another optional prompt is Charlotte's colour of the month - vivid tangerine. 
    The aim of Words for Wednesday is to use one or all of the prompts to write something – ie, a story, a poem, an essay or any forms of writing, fiction or nonfiction, basically write anything you want.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

~ This is a continuation of this story here ~

Fiction: Good Hair Day
11:01 AM
The Samoyed was too busy admiring herself in the mirror to notice Tess Mercy walking out the door and closing it. Sometimes Tess thought she must be living in another plane of existence or else why did it keep happening? Her ability to change people into animals when she touch them when they anger or mistreat is a family curse she inherited nine months ago when she turned thirty. 
    The Samoyed was Tess' landlady, Mrs. Grant. She never used to raise rent or evict anyone but after her husband's passing, she became highly charged with anger and distrust. Tess wished she had not been so hasty to rush down to Mrs. Grant's apartment when she read the notice with the rent raise. Considering the building had been slowly falling to disrepair, a 300 dollar raise was ridiculous. But Tess' plead didn't alter Mrs. Grant's decision even if Tess did save her life once. 
    Five years ago, Mrs. Grant was evicting one of the tenants when the man set fire to his apartment with Mrs. Grant inside. Tess heard her scream when she was walking down the stairwell. It was hard work carrying a semi-conscious Mrs. Grant down the five flights of stairs. Sometimes Tess regretted saving her especially when the old woman kept raising the rent. 

Why I keep using Firefox

I normally used Firefox as my sole web browser. Recently, when I tried to comment on Blogger blogs, it would not go through but keep saying publishing and nothing happening for so long and after many tries, I had to give up and use Safari.  I don't understand why but most time when I have an issue with Blogger especially with commenting, it's because of Firefox.
    I don't hate Firefox except when it is being incompatible with Blogger. With Firefox, there is like a thousand settings to every little thing and why can't they just cut down on those settings and simplify everything? I guess I may not be the user they are targeting because I find every time they add a new feature, I had to look it up on the web on how to turn it off. It's why I hate updating Firefox, that, also, every time I update, a week or two later, there's another update. So yes, for security, it's a good reason to keep your browser up to date but are they really updating security most of the time?
   I have tried other browsers. I mostly hate Safari - something about it that just irks. Maybe it just seems like everything is on the left side, like closing tabs where the x marker is on the left side. I don't know. I also kind of hate Chrome because it's like I'm using everything google which I dislike and I didn't want to sign into Chrome. (I don't sign in when I use Firefox or Safari.) I didn't try other browsers as I'm too used to Firefox and re-learning how to use them is annoying. I guess that's not-so-great a reason to keep using the same browser but habits, how can you change that easily? Of course, I am not against using a new browser but they would have to be easy and simple for a mac user (using a computer not a smartphone) who likes easy an simple when it comes to browsing the web.

What browser do you use to blog? And do you like it?

Seven Things

01 - My writing ambition has somewhat demised. I haven't been sending out my short stories to any online journals. I think now I prefer writing contests more. At least the competition isn't everybody. I had entered a couple of writing contests before and of course I didn't win but it just seemed somewhat easier than having to randomly choose which story to send because as specific as online journals are with their guidelines (and sometimes themes or genres), they are still sort of vague in some strange way while writing contests are while just as specific, at least, they are not as vague but maybe that's just my experience. Anyway, writing contests are just easier although failure rate is kind of higher.

02 - I haven't been doing the Friday Writings challenges. I think having the restriction of writing the maximum words of 369 is something I'm not good at even though whatever writing (fiction, that is) I posted, I try to restrict to a low number although higher than 369. I guess I'm not one for brevity.
    Plus I think the Friday Writings challenges is more for poetry and prose as the participants are mostly writing poetry which I don't do any more. I like that they tell you what next week's prompt is so that you can write in advance. Check out Poets And Storytellers United over here if you like to participate.

03 - I haven't been participating (posting) in respect to Insecure Writers Support Group so they took me off their sign-up list. I actually haven't joined any other writing groups or even discussion groups so I guess being kicked off one matters little. It is nice to talk about your complaints, failures, activities and anything that gives amateur and seasoned writers something to share and bond over but like I said above, I don't have much writing ambitions so I didn't really have much to talk about. Visit the Insecure Writer’s Support Group blog here.

04 - Book series connecting to one another — I don't like the idea of an author's book series all connected into a single world. I prefer a series (as most books are series) as belonging to itself, its own little universe. Also with connected series, you feel like you didn't really finish a series unless you read the connected other series. It's awful enough that book series are like twenty books long but now they are connecting all the series, it's maddening.

05 - Ebook pricing is really getting ridiculous — Recently I saw an ebook for $22.95 (pricing is usually set by the publishers) which usually are at $12.99. Then there were ebooks at $19 and even $35 - what have changed to make ebooks this ridiculously high? 
    I can't understand the pricing of ebooks but I think ebooks should be lower than paper books. When you buy an ebook, you're not buying a book, you're buying the rights to read a book so why should people pay the same amount equal to paper books when you cannot resell ebooks or even lend them unless you hand over your ereader.
    Frankly, I think people should just invest in their public library and borrow books from them. This way, everyone benefits. But that doesn't really solve anything. What would be better if publishers allow public libraries to have perpetual licensing of ebooks they purchase since they pay triple or even quadruple the price, way more than regular consumers. If publishers are going to treat ebooks like paper books, they should allow permanent ownership (not just letting ebooks sit in ereaders or have temporary licenses) of ebooks when people and public libraries purchase them.
    Here are two links talking about ebook pricing:
    - The hidden truth about ebooks & eaudiobooks
    - The problem with e-books (video)

06 - If anyone is interested in murder mysteries, there is a magazine, Deadly Pleasures, all about new and upcoming murder mysteries books. They now offer their magazine without subscription fees. Check it out over here.

07 - Book samples that only has an introduction — When I read a book sample, I expect to read some of the book not just an introduction. So yes, an introduction is part of a book but it is not the actual book, it's an opinion, an essay, a glorified love letter to the author or the book and it sometimes contains spoilers. For those reasons, I always skip reading the introduction when I read book samples but also when starting a book.
    For a real book sample, it should show the text, like chapter 1 and then some text - this shows samples of the writing style or how the book is structured or formatted, even a little taste of the characters. You don't get that reading an introduction.

What's on your mind these days?

Book Rants - August 2026

I find most books dull even when one side of my brain didn't. Often, the side that found it interesting loses easily. Usually I think it's the expectation of a book - I read a synopsis that sounds so intriguing and then I start to read the book and nothing is intriguing, that is, I'm waiting for that intriguing bit to surface but it took so long and I guess I lost my patience and than I unfinished the book. Sometimes I don't even read the synopsis just so I wouldn't have any expectations but if it takes too long to get to anything that interest me, I will then to quit the book. This is pretty much how I read these days and it's why I only managed to finish only four books. Here are the books I unfinished and the ones I did finish.

Books I Unfinished

01 - The Vanishing Cherry Blossom Bookshop by Takuya Asakura, translated by Yuka Maeno 
What's it about: a bookshop that appears and disappears at will or random, books, people's lives
Quit at: 35%
I may have picked this simply for the cover - it's gorgeous. Perhaps they should have started with a more cheerful story instead of a woman losing her mother. I am unable to find anything interesting about that story, not even the book they mentioned (The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry - I did not like that book). I started on the second story and then just didn't want to continue. Each story is linked to a book and the other books mentioned are: Ten nights of dreams by Natsume Soseki, Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie, and Spring & Asura: Poems of Kenji Miyazawa by Kenji Miyazawa. 
    Other similar Japanese cozy books I tried to read and quit: 
- The Phone Booth at the Edge of the World by Laura Imai Messinal - too depressing, at least the beginning
- The Full Moon Coffee Shop by Mai Mochizuki, translated by Jesse Kirkwood - talking cats, coffee, good mix but somehow still boring
- Marigold Mind Laundry by Jungeun Yun, translated by Shanna Tan - I didn't quite like the start
- With the Heart of a Ghost: Stories by Sunwoo Lim, translated by Chi-Young Kim - the first story was okay but dull and I just didn't want to read more.

Fiction: Bungee Jumping & Maybe Merfolk

This month's Words for Wednesday prompts are supplied by messymimi and can be found on her blog as well as River's blog. This week's prompts are: attention, vague, orbit, game, think, insistence and/or single, brand, barrel, bless, stake, cap. Additional optional prompt is Charlotte's colour of the month - Steel Blue. 
    The aim of Words for Wednesday is to use one or all of the prompts to write something – ie, a story, a poem, an essay or any forms of writing, fiction or nonfiction – basically write anything you want.    

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Fiction: Bungee Jumping & Maybe Merfolk
As he jumped off the bridge's deck, Hawken Decker had a vague idea he might be heading toward his death. All his life, Hawken had been blessed. His family always supported him no matter what he did. But this was to be his last stunt, the last time he did anything this stupid. As he barreled through his unwanted thoughts, he wondered if his sister would miss him.
    Moments ago Hawken stood on the bridge's deck and peering down at the water and drenched in sweat. He had removed his brand new baseball cap and wiped his forehead about five times. Everyone had been orbiting around him like he was a star except there were only twelve people including two professional bungee jumpers who set up the equipments. A few passerby had paid Hawken some glances but they didn't linger, not in the 95°F heat. Maybe Hawken shouldn't have invited Bethany Price since she kept chatting on her phone. His best friend Stella Prickling's insistence grin made Hawken wanted to smack her. She had held a thumbs up and lifted the camera to her eye. Stella was always gaming Hawken into believing every stunt was the greatest thing Hawken would ever do but Stella had no stakes in them except earning a few bucks for posting the videos online. 
    Bungee jumping wasn't dangerous but if the rope somehow failed, Hawken might just crush his brain against the side of the bridge or he might drown in the river below and if not, he might be unable to swim to safety. 
    Hawken was a fool. Twenty-six years old and what did he have to show for? Just some dumb stunts. Hawken could blame Stella for living like this but he chose to do these stunts. Sometimes Hawken wanted to go back and unmade the decision to be friends with Stella in second grade. When Hawken had tripped and fell over his tray of lunch, Stella had helped him cleaned up and even shared her lunch. Hawken still could remember the ham sandwich that had caused him a stomachache but Stella's kindness stayed with him.
    Flying through the air, Hawken was surprised how heavenly it was before he started dipping into the water. He didn't hear a snap but he was certain the rope had broke and he was loose in the water. The freezing liquid was soothing to his hot body but as he sank farther down, he cursed. A strange power surged through him and he swam upward only to slow down as his arms and legs ached while tangled in some rope. Unable to hold his breath any longer, he slacked his mouth. His vision started darkening and then he blacked out.

Bookmarks

I like to make artwork with phrases or sayings so I thought I made some. Here are three that I had been working on for weeks but I'm not quite satisfied with them, maybe some more tweaks later but for now I'm happy with them. I made these as bookmarks but you can use them for your blog or wherever but please do not use them in any rude or unkind way. 

#1 - The Joys of Reading

#2 - My favorite pastime is read books and complain about them

#3 - Think Less Read More

Do you use bookmarks? Do you like bookmarks?

Fiction: Next Stop: Oblivion, Indiana

This month's Words for Wednesday prompts are supplied by messymimi and can be found on her blog as well as River's blog.This week's words/prompts are: plastic, remain, tooth, wisecrack, distant, enjoy and/or heads up; not all it's cracked up to be (failing to be as good as other people claimed); playing possum (pretending to be dead). Another optional prompt is Charlotte's colour of the month - Steel Blue. I only used the first set of prompts.
    The aim of Words for Wednesday is to use one or all of the prompts to write something – ie, a story, a poem, an essay or any forms of writing and the theme/topic is up to you so basically write anything you want.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

Fiction: Next Stop: Oblivion, Indiana
The sky is a gray mass pouring droplets in a carefree but quiet manner. Mavis Manor quickens her pace while dragging her large suitcase behind her. A car rushes toward her and she stumbles backward and onto the ground. For a moment, she calms her racing heart while silently cursing the driver. 
    After adjusting the strap of her shoulder bag and picking up her steel blue suitcase, she enters the station where she finds her way to stand behind the last man in a long line to the train. She listens to the muffled voices and hesitant movements. Is everyone moving slower than usual?
    All morning, she had tried to hurry – sorting, packing, trashing, endless decision making – why is moving so exhausting? 
    Now her afternoon is disappearing and still, it's as if time isn't moving at all. The rain too seems to be moving slower now. Just a few moments ago, she has to discard her umbrella when it collapsed. She licks her lips. Why does the rain taste sweet?
    The man ahead of her takes two steps forward and reluctantly Mavis follows. Already, she misses her tiny apartment but she won't miss waiting on tables and cleaning after people every week with barely time for anything. I can enjoy life later, she often thought. Two months ago, when her fiancé lost their life savings, then went on a suicidal drive with Mavis, her mother and sister, she was cheated of her hard-earn happiness. The moment she woke from a head injury and found out he had died along with her mother and sister, she wished he had lived so she could kill him. But when she thought of her mother and sister, she wanted to disappear, like her father. When Mavis was five and her sister was two, her father went out to buy baby formulas and never came back. One of his friends said he saw him getting on a bus.
    Just when the remains of her patience is slowing ebbing away, it is Mavis' turn. The porter throws her suitcase into the luggage bay of the train. Did she hear a cracking sound? Mavis pictures the glass frame with her family but she is too exhausted to care. She climbs onto the train and takes a seat by the window. The ride is a bit long and she fears the plastic chair will make her regret sitting. 
    Her stomach does a little tumble. The burnt eggs and weak coffee seem so long ago. She longs for some glazed donuts. Her friend, Sally, always said with Mavis' sweet tooth, she might bloat up to 300 pounds. Mavis never cared for Sally's wisecracks. Besides, a woman should be able to enjoy a sweet dessert without worrying about her weight.
    The train shakes and starts moving. In the distant, she hears thunder. Through the windows smattered with raindrops, she watches the passing houses and trees. 
    "Next stop: Oblivion, Indiana," comes the announcement from the speaker. 
    Her heart pumps quicker. This is what she wants so why is she terrified?
    Everything will be new but she will be old but she can get used to that.
    A few hours later, she is exiting the train. After securing her suitcase, she finds the exit and walks out the double doors of the station. Outside, the gray, rainless night meets her. She tightens the grip on her suitcase's handle. Something in her memory shifts and she forgets why she is there. She tries to remember but there is no backlogs of memories in her mind. The rain, she remembers. It had licked her face and she had drank it in and tasted its sweetness.
    She looks around her. This is the right place, she thinks. Only, she minds that she has forgot her name.

Books I like to have read but didn't

I could have titled this as Books ruined by movies but it's not entirely true since most movies inspire me to read the book and sometimes they are better than the book. I had seen at least one movie adapation of all these books except The Woman in White. These are the books that I have been trying to read more than once but I finally gave up on them. But that still didn't mean I won't try to read them again. Here are some books I like to have read but didn't.

01 - Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
This is my type of book - a little bit of fantasy, a little bit of wackiness - that would naturally drawn me in but somehow I started it, stopped, started again, stopped, never returned to it. I may have seen a few move adaptations that may have repelled me from reading the book. I think I know the story because of so many references to it.

02 - Frankenstein by Mary Shelley 
I thought I wanted to read this but then I found there seemed to be different versions and also, the original is written in older English (properly not the correct term) and is probably not as easy to understand so I tried the 'Grey Translation' and I got past maybe a few chapters and then just couldn't mustered the interest to continue. Another book that is sort ruined by watching a couple of movie/tv adaptations and hearing how great the book is and how people constantly referencing this book and how great Shelley is. Maybe I should try again but perhaps read the original version.

03 - Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
This should've been a book I could have breezed through (like the other Austen novels I had read) but I never finished it even trying to read it three or maybe four times. I have a paperback version which I still have a bookmark in it. And sometimes I just pick it up and check to that bookmarked page and then tried to read a few words and then gave up.
    I think if I had not seen the 1999 movie adaptation which put me off reading the book for years, I might have already read this. But it's the ending, the conclusion to the romance of Fanny (the main character) and a certain gentleman that annoyed me in the movie which I'm sure will annoy me in the book. Mostly, I found this boring and tedious and long and why is it so boring to read about a bunch of rich, spoiled people trying to put on a play?

04 - His Dark Materials book 1: The Golden Compass (original title Northern Lights) by Philip Pullman
This is the first book in a series which it's exactly the type of book I would like but somehow I never could finish reading it. And yes, I also saw a movie adaptation which may have influenced me to read the book. The book was slow-moving and somehow it just seemed like there are a lot of boring parts to get through along with politics which I never liked.

05 - The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
The main character was so unlikeable which shouldn't deter me from reading this book but it did. At the beginning of the book, when Walter (the main character) came across a woman in white, he was thinking he could possibly do something to her (ie, assault her) and no one would know. Sorry, what? If a man thinks he can do whatever he wants to a woman simply because there is no one around, then that guy is an a-hole. And then he just becomes much more unlikeable when he met the unpretty sister who was kind and courteous to him but he keeps wishing he was meeting the pretty sister. I know you don't have to like characters to read a book but I just could not stand to be in this guy's head.
 

06 - Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
I think I would have easily devoured this and even liked it if I had read it earlier and if I have never seen the 1994 movie. And knowing what happened to Beth makes it less enjoyable because I found her end so depressing that I really didn't want to read that part. This is probably why it's a bad idea to watch a movie before reading the book.

What books you like to have read but didn't?

Book Rants - July 2026

I pretty much spent July reading book samples and I barely finished any books but I re-read a lot of books. I'm not listing all the books I didn't finish since returned them (I read borrowed library books) and don't remember their titles. Here are the books I unfinished and a few I did finish. (P.S I'm using a hide/show script for book #4, let me know if it works.)

Books I Unfinished:

01 - We'll Prescribe You a Cat by Syou Ishida, translated by E. Madison Shimoda
What's it about: cats, temporary cat owners, cat therapy
Quit at: 38%
It's not a novel as it said on the cover, it's short stories connected by the idea of being prescribe a cat as therapy. I think I had expected it to be a novel and maybe a little disappointed it wasn't.
    I thought the first story I read was rather dull and meaningless where things just happened to this particular temporaty cat owner and it involved the cat a bit. I tried the second story but I just didn't care. There is some paranormal elements but that doesn't come until later in the book. I really did try to finish this but I just couldn't do it.

Fiction: Bad Hair Day

This month's Words for Wednesday prompts are supplied by Charlotte and hosted at River's blog here. This week's prompts are: snake, linen, cake, tired, letter, clip and/or brush, matter, rake, blue, bush, read.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Fiction: Bad Hair Day
10:22 AM
Tess Mercy didn't need to rush but she didn't want to see Rob turned into a donkey or a snake or some other animal.

10:01 AM
Twenty-one minutes ago, Tess and Rob were at Ingrid's Diner having some cheap but decent coffee. After some small talk, Rob said, "Tess, I think we should go our separate ways. I'm sure you'll find someone—"
    "Better than you. Thanks for saying so, Rob." Tess smiled.
    "I didn't— Never mind. I thought you were going to throw something at me or even hit me." Rob chuckled and raked a hand through his blond curls. 
    "Why would I do that?" She grinned. "Thanks to you, I'm a free woman." 
    "I'm so glad you understand, Tess." He grinned.
    She should be angry at Rob, her boyfriend of almost a year, engaged to another woman since last year and was breaking up with Tess as if she didn't matter.
    But Tess never liked to fuss in front of people especially since she worked with some of them. She dabbed her mouth with the napkin and dropped it on the table. Smiling, she stood up and said, "Goodbye, Rob. Have a nice life," and lightly tapped his hand. She half-ran out the exit, toward a subway station, down the stairs through the turnstile and in a few moments a train arrived and she hopped inside. 

Update: Things I like to continue, start or restart

Back in January I made a list of things I may or may not do. I'm going to give some updates because it's the middle of the year and I guess updating this is sort of a reminder. You can read the original list here.

01 - Continue blogging - Succeeded — This I did but not consistently but I haven't been consistent with my blogging for at least ten years so I don't expect that to change but at least I'll keep blogging.

02 - Continue to refuse to join any social media or anywhere else to embarrass myself except in a blog - Succeeded — Yep, still only doing blogging.

03 - Restart commenting more on blogs - Semi-Succeeded — I did comment more sadly not more than I like.

04 - Start practicing procrastinating in my sleep - Semi-Succeeded — While I was sleeping, I forgot what I did so I may have succeeded without knowing.

05 - Restart on finishing my artworks - Failed — I just don't seem to remember to work on them or rather I looked at the long list of (artwork) files, found it too daunting, turned to do something else and then forgot about them.

06 - Continue to not learn any new people skills - Semi-Succeeded — I guess I don't quite know how to be polite anymore when people are rude.

07 - Restart finishing/editing my novels and short stories - Semi-Succeeded — I have tried to finish a few pieces but only made a little progress. I don't know where my motivation went.

08 - Start watching less youtube - Failed — I have a terrible habit of watching youtube when I'm stressed or when I'm unable to motivate myself to do things. Sometimes getting lost in someone else's lives makes you think you have nothing to worry about.

09 - Start exercising every day or at least briefly consider to consider doing it - Failed — why is this so hard?

10 - Continue trying to go wireless - Failed — Even when I'm tripping over them, I seeme unable to keep the wires at bay. I don't think people can go wireless because no matter whatever technology you use, there will be wires.

11 - Continue doing jigsaw puzzles - Failed— I haven't done one puzzle in almost a year. 

12 - Restart reading more fantasies, science fiction, middle grade books and books that are not murder mysteries - Semi-Failed — I shouldn't bother trying to have varieties in my reading. I find most books boring now so it doesn't matter what genre they are in. There's nothing wrong in reading the same types of books.

Did you make goals at the start of the year and if you did, did you succeed? 

Happy 5th Blog Anniversary

This month marks 5 years since I started this blog. Staying at one blog for longer than two years is a challenge because I have a habit of moving to new urls at random or maybe not at random but I never had a good reason aside from wanting a new home/name. Postcards from the Bookstore is quite nice but so was the previous other 30 or so names but I guess I'm still trying to find that perfect name which probably doesn't existed. Moving to new urls is sort of like starting over. 
    To celebrate this milestone, I wrote this post. In the old days, I would make a big deal of this and host a giveaway or three but there seemed to be no interests for that, at least, not here. I guess not being at any social media might make me (and my blog) less known to people. I have often said, blogging is a form of social media but it's not quite true since it's harder to get noticed and my posts are never brief like in social media. I couldn't say blogging is better than social media but it's certainly less daunting to me. 
    I have plenty of moments where I want to quit blogging but I never did. I still needed a place to keep some of my thoughts or else they go nowhere. But also, I really just like writing. I'm not much of a talker.
    You could say blogging is a habit, a part of my life, so that I don't need a reason to keep blogging, I just do it. I'm constantly thinking up things to post and write them even when I don't post them. These days, I don't think you need a purpose to blog unless you're using it to make money. I'm a somewhat slacker blogger and I believe no one have to blog every day or every week or even every month to be a blogger. You just have to post something every once in a while so people know you're still around. 
    Also this year makes it 20 years of blogging for me. Not much of a big deal since I know a couple of people who had blogged way longer than me. I wish I have some wisdom to share but I don't.
    Happy 5th blog anniversary! May we all continue to blog with joy and anything else that comes with it.

What keeps you blogging? And do you need a purpose to blog?

Fiction: Storms & Misfortunes

This month's Words for Wednesday prompts are supplied by Charlotte and hosted at River's blog here. This week's words/prompts are: ants, sushi, meeting, miniature, juniper, leaves and/or mushroom, seagull, windy, glass, knit, safe and (above) the image of a dormer window.

Fiction: Storms & Misfortunes
It was death that made Nora Merryweather stopped telling fortunes. When Nora first ascertained she knew things by looking at something as ordinary as a mushroom or a pebble, her aunt, Mary, taught her how to read the world around her. Sometimes knowledge simply entered her mind when she looked at something long enough and other times, she had to wait awhile. Since the age of fourteen, Nora had been telling fortunes by looking at people's belongings but her true talent was knowing when and how someone would die. 
    At eighteen, Nora tried to prevent her aunt's death by keeping her away from water. Instead of drowning trying to save a boy, Mary was crushed by a shopfront sign when she pushed a woman out of the way. The boy she should've saved, died. And the woman who should have died, lived. Fate, it seemed, could not be tricked but could be altered but never to how you wanted – it was a lesson Nora never forgot. Now Nora try to avoid misfortunes that came her way and if someone got saved, it was a happy side effect.
    A few months after her aunt's death, her neighbor, Mrs. Seagull, the woman Mary saved, offered Nora to live at her boarding house rent-free if Nora took care of the housework. Since Nora had nowhere to go after she sold the house to pay for funeral expenses, she accepted Mrs. Seagull's offer.
    Nora had no qualms about living in a boarding house isolated and miles away from civilization. It's why people came for quiet retreats away from the city. Nora didn't mind sleeping in the tiny attic room as she was somewhat miniature, having never grew taller than three feet and eleven inches.
    Not being much of a talker, Nora was a bit annoyed by the boarders' nosiness. If Nora leaves the house unexpectedly, if she misses dinner, if she sidesteps ants, if she avoids sushi, they all wanted to know. Frequently, Nora did the housework without speaking to anyone but she had a meeting or two with the boarders on her way down and up the stairwell but she never say more than necessary.  
    Each day, Nora would peer out the dormer window at the sky and enjoyed the quiet of the early morning. Sometimes, Nora thought life would be peaceful if only she didn't know any misfortunes but then she wouldn't have learned anything without them.

New music added to my playlist

I rarely listen to newly released music so everything's new to me. Here are some music that I'm currently listening to that I believe are almost recently released.

01 - Lines by Feng Ze > link 
Good pop-rock songs, mostly in English with one mandarin song and two with some mandarin lines thrown in. (If you're wondering, the cover has the artist sitting on the lamppost with a lamb on his lap)

02 - Everyone's A Star (Fully Evolved) by 5 Seconds of Summer > link  
I prefer the clean lyrics version but I like they give people a choice between the two versions. This is punk-rock, pop-rock, fun sounds, serious lyrics. I wouldn't say I love this album but it's very close but I definitely love the last song, 'I'll find you.'

03 - Meant Love by EJEAN  > link
Soft pop-rock that are a bit dreamy.

04 - Songs in the (M)attic by Matt Nathanson > link
Some really good Billy Joel tribute/cover songs.

What music are you listening to these days?

Fiction: A strawberry moon, a fire and a cat

This month's Words for Wednesday prompts are supplied by Charlotte and hosted at River's blog here. This week's prompts are cold, door, fire engine, tree, jacket, sign and/or candle, cup, egg, roses, window, hazy. Optional additional prompt is Charlotte's colour of the month Jade Green.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

Fiction: A strawberry moon, a fire and a cat
The fire engine took almost two hours to arrive but Jane Strong didn't fret as she stood outside in the cold. Staying a few feet away, she started to shout the door was unlocked but too late. The firefighters had smashed her front door off its hinges and the three men trampled on it on their way inside with the hose.
    The night air was cool. Jane tucked at the sweater she had hasty put on. It had been a cool June. Most of the townspeople thought Jane had done something to the weather. They believed she was an enchantress. Perhaps it was her use of candles or dressing in black or perhaps owning a black cat. If the wiring in her house didn't often short out, she wouldn't use candles. Dressing in black had been a habit since her teens and why should she change? As for her black cat, she just appeared and made herself at home. Even if none of those reasons existed, the townspeople would find some other reason to believe their own prejudices since they refuse to believe anything she say.
    She looked up at the strawberry moon in the sky. Was it a sign? Henry, her husband, believed in signs and he believed almost everything signified bad luck.
    Her eyes dropped down to the almost petalless pink roses in front of her house. Henry had planted them when they first moved in last year. People thought Jane made the roses grow with her witchcrafts but all she did was took care of them and the apple tree in her backyard. The townspeople often had trouble growing things and they didn't like that Jane could do what they couldn't.
    Someone thrust a paper cup into her hand. There was a boiled egg inside. She glanced up at the middle-age Marvin Hart, the town's newspaper reporter and busybody. "Old Bane said you're welcome to board at his bed and breakfast with a discount," said Hart. Jane wondered why Old Bane would do such a thing when the man was stingy with money. 
    Hart grinned. "Well, I'll be going now. Good evening, Mrs. Strong." Hart tucked his hands into the pockets of his faded leather jacket, made his way to his beat-up, faded jade green truck and drove off into the darkness. She detested the man. When Henry died eleven months ago, Hart interviewed her and then wrote several articles of how she might had poisoned her husband. The townspeople had believed him and avoided her. The three neighbors on the left and right side of her, moved away. Ever since, only her house was occupied in this far part of town. Even when it came out that a brain aneurysm had caused Henry's sudden demise, people still avoided her. Jane had since decided never to speak to Hart nor in front of him. Sometimes she wondered how Hart kept showing up whenever something bad happened, as if he knew they would happen. 
    After the firefighters left without speaking to her but had glanced at her as if she was some strange alien, Jane inspected her house. The lower level had broken windows, smashed objects, messes everywhere and almost everything was soaked. She dropped the paper cup with the egg into the trash bin in the kitchen. She refused to accept anything that man gave her. Upstairs, her bedroom was mostly unaffected though the scent of smoke lingered. 
    "There you are," Jane said, relieved at seeing the black cat lying on her bed but the cat didn't budge. Jane stroked the animal's back and felt no throbbing. The cat wasn't breathing. 
    About three hours ago, when the cat woke Jane after the fire started, Jane had grabbed the sweater hanging on the chair, ran downstairs, called the fire department and ran outside and forgot the cat. She had told the firefighters to look out for the cat but maybe they didn't care to touch her. Most of the townspeople believed black cats were bad luck. 
    Her view became hazy and Jane wiped her tears away. "I'm so sorry, Moody." She brushed her hands over the cat's body. The cat had showed up at her front door ten months ago. Jane had fed her scraps and apple slices thinking she would go away but the cat stayed on. After a time, she allowed the cat inside and started feeding her regularly. The name Moody was stuck in her head and it became the cat's name.
    Moody sprung her eyes opened and meowed. Jane cradled her. "Oh, you silly thing, you scared me."

Book Rants - June 2026

I might had watched way too more movies than read books. It has been a rather lazy month. I seemed to lack the will to do things. I guess I can blame the weather. Here are the books I read in June and some movies I had watched. (I'm not listing all the movies I had seen because most of them are re-watches.)

01 -  Murder in Chinatown (Gaslight Mystery#9) by Victoria Thompson
What's it about: poverty, immigrants, murder
The mystery was really good in this one and it keeps me guessing who the suspect was. And as usual, I enjoyed the interaction between Sarah and Malloy (the two main characters).

Seven Things: Much ado about nothing

01 - I find now I have no good ideas of what to post. When I did the a-z challenge this April, I was full of ideas but now that I'm back to regular blogging, I've got nothing. My purpose for blogging has not changed all these years: To share stuff - artworks, writings, books I read, movies/shows I've seen, anything that I experienced or thought about or any nonsense I thought to share. Now it seems all I post are books or book-related things, some fiction and maybe some art. I guess I'm more of a slacker blogger now as I post very little. 

02 - If anyone knows of any memes, challenges, blog hops, let me know. I'm always looking for new ones. I like memes/challenges because they allow me to post something without me having to think too much on ideas. It might be lazy blogging but blogging is blogging.
    Lisa at Bookshelf Fantasies had a long llist of memes/challenges over here which consisted of book-related memes. The memes/challenges I know of are (not listed on Lisa's blog):
- Words for Wednesday - this month's the prompts are hosted at River's blog.
- Thursday 13 -
- Friday Writings - 

03 - I don't know why but I keep procrastinating on my writings (and artworks). I have about maybe twenty or thirty stories/novels I had been working on but do I finish them? No. I am unable to. Sometimes I can eagerly work on them and then suddenly, I lost whatever motivation there was. Most times now I seem to be in a state of pauses. I have no idea what I'm waiting for. Perhaps for someone to club me on the head and demand I must finish them.

04 - I had my kobo ereader for over two years now and so far, it's working well but like everything else, it has its down side. One of the features that keeps driving me crazy is the font/text size setting. For example, book 1 can have normal text size (at least in terms of the size I preferred on my ereader) but if I open book 2, the text size can be huge and if I open book 3, the text size can be back to normal size and then book 4, it can be huge again. There is no individual text size preference for each book as the size is whatever you had set for the previous book which means it's like a surprise whenever I open a new book and there's like a 45% change of having to change the text size again. I guess this is one really great reason to read paper books instead.

05 - I had been using Firefox for many years and had been a decent browser but now it's just a messed-up browser where lots of odd things happens (such as zooming into a webpage for no reason) and all the updates just add new things I hate (such as grouping tabs and then coloring that group?). And every time I update, there again is another new feature I don't use. And after every update, there is another update. Why couldn't it update to the latest version when it updates? Why do have to keep updating every damn week?

06 - Closed my The memory of rain blog - that just means I make invisible all the footer elements and reverted all the post except for the one with the notice about the move. I thought of making it private but decide if people land on this page, they can go to my current blog. This is my way of moving on from that blog. 

07 - I updated/changed a couple of things on my blog. I have changed my blog header again. A bad habit that I couldn't stop doing. I think changing your blog's header once in a while sort of freshen up the blog without doing too much. I didn't change it too much. Usually, I had my headers in cool hues for the summer and warmer hues for the winter but now I don't bother with that. I just have light but bright hues.
    I have updated all the pages (links below my header.) I removed the a-z posts links into my introduction page (hello page) which I also updated. And I have updated the writing page which is where I listed with links all the fictions/short stories I posted on this blog. I don't think anyone uses that page but I like to update and organized it.
    I have reluctantly removed Elephant's Child link off the bookmarks list (aka my blogroll). I've removed links all that time when someone hadn't updated in years but for someone who had passed away, it seemed odd, different. Why it should be odd to remove it? I don't know. The world always seems different somehow when someone passes away. Certainly, the blogosphere is different now.

What's on your mind these days?

Fiction: Canoe on the Roof

This month's Words for Wednesday prompts are supplied by Hilary Melton-Butcher and posted at River's blog over here. This week's prompts are: baker, canoe, gable, training, rot and/or lily-livered, provisions, barley, arrow, border. Optional prompt: Charlotte's color of the month Razzmatazz.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Fiction: Canoe on the Roof
Mr. Huckleberry Baker's mind was elsewhere when he climbed the ladder toward the roof of his house. On the front end of his gable roof and sitting on the side of the ridge was a canoe. He hadn't a clue who put it there but he wanted it gone.
    Mr. Baker had little knowledge of roofs so when his left foot sank and created a hole in his roof, he wondered, 'Should it rotted through like that?' It wasn't safe to continue. With his foot bare and a bit tender having to struggle out of the hole, Mr. Baker stood and proceeded back toward the ladder but was hit with dizziness and double vision. He sat down on the ridge and slowly his dizziness faded and his vision cleared. He wasn't lily-livered except when it came to heights which he often forgot about.
    How normal his day had been. This morning, after he ate two toasts with a cup of hot barley tea, he entered his home office and started work. For almost two decades, Mr. Baker wrote manuals for machines and gadgets. He had no training but he knew how things work by studying them. 
    While he was marveling at his masterpiece for a multi-propose blender, the phone rang. Automatically he picked up the receiver and said, "Hello."
    "Hello, Mr. Baker. Do you know you have a canoe on your roof?" Miss Hart was his next door neighbor who was inquisitive about everything.
    Mr. Baker's immediate respond was, 'Do not be ridiculous' but he instead said, "Thank you for letting me know, Miss Hart. I will check it out." He returned to work, had a tuna melt and black coffee for lunch, kept working and didn't remember about it until nearly night. 
    He glanced at the canoe two arms stretch from him. The inside was a pale wood but outside was painted razzmatazz, a word Miss Hart used to describe her favorite bright pink hue. On the side, painted in white was Peace Queen with two, white arrows crossed to make an X between them. Last night, he dreamt about a canoe with those exact words. What did they mean?
    Mr. Baker forgot it all when he tried to get off the roof but as he stood up, dizziness and double vision kept him down. After the fifth try, he gave up. He pictured his funeral with his parents sobbing while beside them his ex-wife laughing and throwing cash into the air. Without changing his will, any provisions he had wanted to make for his parents wouldn't happen if he die today. 
    From up here, he noted all the houses with their lights off. Everyone was probably at the town's ninety-third anniversary party. It must be 7 by now. The party didn't end until after 10. Across from him, the full moon was hanging like a sculpture in the sky. Its beauty made him think of his accumulated ifs and somedays from his forty-three years of living. Why hadn't he taken more chances? Why hadn't he done more? He thought of Miss Hart. Ever since she moved in next door two yeas ago, she had been dropping by or calling to talk about any old thing but he enjoyed her loquacious roaming.
    After a while, Mr. Baker crawled into the canoe. It was a single person vessel with a wooden ottertail paddle. He lifted the paddle and swung it on the right side and then the left. It was almost natural except he had never canoed before. He pictured paddling toward a wide horizon under a bright sky.
    Before he realized, the canoe was shifting and then gliding down the steep roof, past the border of the sculpt hedges that framed his front path and landed on the grassy lawn with him almost spilling out. The paddle had slipped from his hands, slammed against his front windows and put a hole in one of the panes. He patted himself all over and found he was in one piece and chuckled at his good luck.
    "Good evening, Mr. Baker. Isn't it a bit late for a canoe ride?" Miss Hart was staring down at him with a hint of a smile.
    Mr. Baker got out of the canoe with a hand from Miss Hart. "Thank you, Miss Hart. I was just... practicing." He dusted his clothes.
    "Don't you think it's time you call me Betsy?"
    "Betsy, yes. Why don't you call me Berry." He grinned.
    She glanced at the words on the canoe. "Berry, would you believe I used to be known as the Peace Queen?"
    Mr. Baker's grin widened.

Some things that don't belong in the beginning of ebooks

I'm a linear reader, I go from cover, publishing info/copyrights/credits, the content list, dedication, to the first chapter, right toward the back cover which often do not exist. I don't skip any page even if I don't read them thoroughly because you don't really read a book if you don't at least look at all the pages. I read mostly ebooks (borrowed from my local library) and like paper books, they have mostly the same things in the beginning but on an ereader, it's slightly different. Here are things I think shouldn't be in the beginning of ebooks and one that just needs a little styling (#3). (Note: Not all ebooks have these things but many of them do.)

01 - Praises or reviews of the book — I'm already reading it so why do I have to read reviews and praises before I start the book? Only the book can convince me to read it.

02 - Author's bio & back list — Back in the days, the author bio and their back list is at the end of the book and I have always preferred that. After I finished a book, it's like a treat to read the author's bio and sometimes back list when you want to read more of the author's other books. I never read an author's bio if I didn't finish the book. 

03 - Long chapter titles for content list page — Long chapters titles are a problem with ebooks because you tap or press the screen to turn the page and if you hit one of these chapter list (which are links), you go directly to that chapter. Long chapter titles meant no space around the screen to tap/press an empty area to go to the next page (see example A below). So maybe I can just go click on, for example, Chapter 1 and start reading but I like to see all the content list. 
    I'm not against long chapter titles, I actually like them but maybe they need to be smaller than the chapter number (see example B) or put them inside the book and simply just used Chapter 1, Chapter 2, etc (example C). Also flush left text is better than center text but that's a preference.

04 - A preview (usually a future scene) — This just confuses me as sometimes I thought was I starting the book but it was a preview which is also in the book. I think any future scenes shouldn't start the book even if it might peak a reader's interest because it gives readers expectations that takes (sometimes) a long time to meet. If you know you have to read 300 pages of boring stuff to get to that preview, would you even start the book?

05 - An introduction — older books (such as classics) often had introductions which I'm willing to read but sometimes they give spoilers and assumes the readers already read the book - isn't that a good reason to put it at the end of the book? 
    And then there are these introductions by famous authors or famous people which are like love letters to the book or author and they give no new or interesting insights so what's the point? Why should I care about some famous person's opinion about another famous person or their book?

06 - Web link that took up almost an entire page — Once there was a book (two actually) with a page (I think it was about signing up for news or something from the publisher of the book) that kept asking to go to a website when I pressed/tapped to go to the next page and I kept pressing down on the screen at every possible place and it kept asking to go to the website. I experienced this before I learned to navigate my ereader so I must have restarted my ereader at least three or four times just to get out of that page. And I didn't read either book because I was too mad.  
    Only later, did I learn to pressed the very, very bottom corner edge of the screen to get out of such pages. Why would you make an entire page a web link? I have no reason to go to any web link on my ereader, not even to sign up for a free book - it's just something I don't do.
    Edit: The whole cover as a hyperlink — There is one ebook I recently opened and it showed the cover (sometimes an ebook have no cover when you open it) and when I tap to go to the next page, it asked me to go to a web link. No matter which area I tapped, it asked to go to a web link so I looked this up and found the only way out of that cover is to swipe it to go to the next page. Why the hell would you make a whole cover a web link? Why would I go to a website when I hadn't even read the book? 

07- Acknowledgements — Acknowledgements is not the dedication but it's like the dedication but extended. So yes, readers might skip this even if it's at the end of the book but readers still can skip this even at the beginning so it might as well be at the end. I think acknowledgements at the end makes more sense because then I cared enough to read those names unlike the beginning of the book where I really had no such care.

What things do you not want in the beginning of books?