I received a bunch of books in January for my birthday (I always give book wish list to my siblings a month before my birthday). Most of the books in my wish list were still new, so I received 2 huge fictions and not the small paperback version (one is even a hard-cover). I also bought 3 books as my own birthday present to myself
And so that's how my 2019 reading challenge started. But by the time February ended, I already finished reading almost 4 of my new books and I'll probably won't have the freedom to buy any other books, so I subscribed to Scribd once again. Last year, I consumed more than 100 books with the help of Scribd, this year I decided to do it again. Why ? Because I just stop hoarding books and start to have an eco-friendly and minimal life as much as I think will help the environment 😊But I still want to read and consume books, so I chose digital/audio books.
2019 Book List :
Silence : in the age of noise by Erling Kagge
Birthday Girl by Haruki Murakami
The Labyrinth of the Spirit by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Cozy Minimalist Home by Myquillyn Smith
The Simple Guide to a Minimalist Life by Leo Babauta
Down Came the Rain : My Journey Through Post-partum Depression by Brooke Shields
A Spark of Light by Jodi Picoult
Note : I will update this post throughout the year !
Lately we've been having free fancy 4☆+ hotel room offers - and I accepted all offers and went for the mini escapism even for just 1-night because I was not going to waste such a delightful expensive rooms that I'll probably not going to splurge on anytime soon :
All of the hotels are far above my budget when we go for our mini trips (RM 300+ per night) - because we usually splurge on other stuffs than accommodation. Plus, all of these trips happened in less than 2 months time (and for free) :p
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We went to Avani during Christmas, we got the 2-bedroom villa on water and spent 2 days with my dad, his wife, my siblings and Tokmak. The villa was spacious, there were 2 big rooms, a working room, a big living hall and verandah facing the sea.
We also got free Christmas dinner buffet paid for that night - I've never went to any buffets fancier that this. The foods were more than enough, the dessert section was colourful and huge, there were people singing Christmas carols from table to table, people were having fun and enjoying the presentation on the stage. Very fancy :F
My dad rented movie of the night during their stay (they stayed for 3 days) and so we watched 'Crazy Rich Asian' together that night.
The villa, christmas dinner and breakfast buffet costed around RM 1.5k+, and it was all paid for !
We can get a short trip to Bali for that price :F
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Just around a month later, my dad asked us to join them again for free trip that my aunty can't go to and she passed the room to my dad. A fully paid room at Rosa Malacca, a really nice boutique hotel that I already put on my wish list in Agoda some time ago. It would be a waste of a chance if I refused to go without any solid reason. So we all said yes.
Our siblings and even Af shared one room together. So we paid for an extra bed for Af and combined the 2 super single beds for us four. Imagine having 5 adults in one room, the snore competition was real that night :F I woke up super early and can't sleep afterwards.
Here are some pictures I took around the hotel :
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A few weeks later, my mom asked us to join her at Avillion Port Dickson when my uncle's family from Pekan came for a short stay during CNY holiday. I had to say yes - because again, I was free :F So we got a room at Avillion, another fancy hotel on water. My older sister also applied for a holiday so she was there with me as well. We stayed in a room with 2 single beds (for my aunt and mom) and a sleeping nook (for Aja and me).
We tried the hotel before around 1.5 years ago if I'm not mistaken - when I got a chance to get a fully paid room just for Af and me :F Rezeki jangan ditolak. I remember that they have an awesome breakfast buffet that we tried during our previous stay (but this time we didn't).
We also found spa & sauna section, private beaches (of left & right side of the hotel), fully functioning gym, public pool & adult's pool, and mini animal park when we had a short walk exploring the place in the next morning.
That night we went for a big dinner at a seafood restaurant not far from our hotel at :
Af came in the next day to pick me up and we went on our own mini escapism in Port Dickson and Bagan Lalang afterwards.
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Maybe because I'm the kind of person who don't really splurge on expensive things so I never found any reasons to go to these places on whim. But these short trips have been eye-opening and somewhat interesting (to see how people actually spend their money on) - but not really relaxing (because it was too short).
In the monastery of Sceta, Abbot Lucas gathered the brothers together for a sermon.
‘May you all be forgotten,’ he said.
‘But why?’ one of the brothers asked. ‘Does that mean that our example can never serve to help someone in need?’
‘In the days when everyone was just, no one paid any attention to people who behaved in an exemplary manner,’ replied the abbot. ‘Everyone did their best, never thinking that by behaving thus they were doing their duty by their brother. They loved their neighbour because they understood that this was part of life and they were merely obeying a law of nature. They shared their possessions in order not to accumulate more than they could carry, for journeys lasted a whole lifetime. They lived together in freedom, giving and receiving, making no demands on others and blaming no one. That is why their deeds were never spoken of and that is why they left no stories. If only we could achieve the same thing now: to make goodness such an ordinary thing that there would be no need to praise those who practise it.’
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I told Af several days ago, that when I die, I want to be forgotten,
I don't need a tombstone, just put a seed on my grave so I'll be a tree
This year I went to Japan for the third (or forth?) time and I also went to Turkey for the second time.
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We went to Japan again for Midsummer Design Festa, our first summer and typhoon experience. It was all about the bad weather. We had to stay indoor a lot, we didn't explored as much as we wanted, the mini hikes we did were tough, the typhoon attacks were super scary. So we were pretty much disappointed because Japan was not as friendly as we remembered.
But we made a zine out of this trip, called Summer & Typhoon, a collaboration of Af and I. The pictures he took on films and the doodle notes that I did during the trip.
This is a picture of me with the umbrella that Af broke because of the super wind.
Huge reminder : Don't go to Japan during odd season. We went there during the transition between summer and autumn, so a lot of too hot to function and random windy scary typhoon attacks. This was in August.
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Things I wrote in August :
About the 8 hours bus ride from Tokyo to Osaka :
There are many ways to travel from Tokyo to Osaka, one of the most affordable one was an 8 hour bus ride. The ticket was 7,200 yen (RM 260), we booked it 5 days before the date at Shinjuku Bus Terminal with a guide from people working at the bus station.
The bus ride was super fancy, we each got dedicated private and comfortable seat, with thick blanket (it gets cold), personal space (with private curtains for each seat), can lower down the seating, and rise-up the legs section, individual USB charging deck, free unlimited WIFI and toilet (AirAsia seating is far from comfortable - the 8 hour afternoon ride in the bus was much better than the 6 hours night flight).
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About mini hikes in Nara & Kyoto :
Apart from the bad weather, we had several fun times in nature, we did some mini hikes away from the hectic crowds and summer heat. I did planned to do nature walks in the forest (in Japan), but the weather was not friendly throughout the week, so we had to cancel most plans.
These mini hikes weren't planned, it was just something that happened during our trips. It was a nice surprise. The first one was when we arrived in Nara, and we already visited all the listed places, so I suggested that we visit the farthest point in the given map, that is Kasugayama Primeval Forest. We had a nice several hours walk, no one was around, just the calm forest silence and old tall trees.
The second one was in Uji, Kyoto.
We hiked to the Daikichiyama observation deck. It was a fairly easy mini hike, I was trying to avoid the sun and suggested we walked towards the place. Not sure how long did we took to hike up because we stopped several times for photos. The observation deck had a nice panoramic view of the Uji City.
In nicer seasons, you can also enjoy lines of sakura (spring) and maple trees (autumn), among all other tall old trees.
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In Nov, I went to Turkey, just less than 2 months after the Japan trip and without Af.
This was with a Muslim group tour along with my older sister and her friend. Although Turkey is a friendly country, I don't really feel like it is possible for me to do a backpack travelling in Turkey (and those random riots are normal there). Turkey is a huge country with a lot to offer. It even takes up to 12 hours bus ride to reach to the next cities during our trip. So although I hated the group tour experience, I enjoyed the cities we went to during this 10 days trip and it was only for RM 3,250 including flights, hotels, foods and transportation. The last time I went to Turkey in 2014, the flight ticket alone was RM 2,700 :F
I like this photo because I look tall - I am short in nature.
We went from Istanbul - Ankara - Cappadocia - Pamukkale - Kusadasi - Bursa - Istanbul, covering around 2000 km area on bus. So there was a lot of sitting for long hours in the bus. It was also the starting of winter (again, about the weather - I can't function in cold weather). Most days were below 10°C. I'm thanking God for the decision I made in buying my own winter coat (so I have at least 3 layers of thick clothes all the time).
We also survived long flights. The worst one was on our way back home, we went to the airport on Sunday morning (at 10am) and finally arrived in Malaysia on Monday morning (at 10am). That is one whole day ! So around 3 hours from Istanbul to Iran, around 6 hours transit in Iran, and around 8 hours from Iran to Malaysia, missing around 5 hours in between continents.
Lesson : Don't go with a group tour again (I hated the experience) and don't leave your husband (it was tough on me - I never left his side for the past 3 years :F What is the meaning of these travel trips and escapism without my own travel partner? )
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I think I spent less than RM 7k in my 2018's international trips :F
I never thought I would reach that many books in a year - the last time I read that many was probably when I was still a student. Although this year I got a lot of help from Scribd (listening to audio books while working) and rereading my all-time favorite books (it's easier to read books that you know you'll enjoy).
I can't help but to ask myself, what did I learned from consuming more than 100 books in a year? The truth is, I didn't feel like I've read that many, I think I've learned to become more aware of the things that will stay in my mind. Most of the things I read were probably books that I can't relate to, or not-so-important-in-my-life during this phase, or just things that I do not care - so I tend to forget those books. But some books stayed, some stories embedded in my mind.
Probably when I'm discussing about the hardship in life with my siblings (especially in pursuing our passion), I can mention about Bryan Cranston's life experience throughout his early career, because I read his biography. Or I can mention about the high achievers (Elon Musk / Jack Ma), those stories when most people have doubts in them but they persevered and just pushed through the pain and endless humiliation. I read Barack Obama's books (about hope) and Jane Goodall about the earth and the animals (I love), or Jon Krakauer's essays on self-exploration. A lot of biographies, essays and motivational books.
I have this library of stories in my mind with anecdotes, reminders, lessons, and personal thoughts. I'm not sure how to explain to people about the things that I've learned in bullet points. I just know that in certain phases when I need some guidance or reminder, I might probably remember these little stories from people all over the world. These books that left invisible marks in me.
A reminder that I'm not alone, I'm not worthless, even how small it might be, my stories are worth your time.
I love this yearly compilation, of my own successes and failures :o This is a reminder of what I reached every year (because I'm a Capricorn - I tend to take notes and have yearly goals :F). So when I look back, I can track back what I did in my younger years (although I said I'm no longer updating my blog - I'm still crawling back to this site everyday. Or is it because this is the landing page for my browser? Hm).
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1. Read 50 books in a year goal, upgraded to 100 books (Succeeded)
I actually managed to consume 115 books this year, thanks to a lot of audio books on Scribd and rereading books that I already loved. Comparing this goal with last year, I only read 15 books - so I wanted to really pushed myself in 2018. I subscribed to Scribd for only 6 months and didn't buy that many physical books this year :D Read 'On More Books but Buying Less'.
But, I have a long lists of books I want next year.
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2. Travel + Events (Succeeded)
We went to Japan for the third time, had our first event in Japan (Midsummer Design Festa), and I also went to Turkey for the second time (this time exploring way more cities than the trip in 2014).
I also joined a lot of events from May - August, and did a lot of doodle workshops throughout the year. It helped me in funding my way through all these trips and paying off my loans.
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3. Work-wise, freelance life (still surviving)
I started working as a full-time freelancer and independent illustrator in April 2017, and it is already more than a year and reaching 2 years in 4 months. I'm proud of this, my super goal is to reach financial independence, payoff my loans - not to be working for anyone else but me :D
At this moment, I'm having a good time hiding in my apartment.
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4. Having our own child (still trying)
Yeap, we are still trying. Our forth anniversary will be in 5 months and we are still trying to have a baby - but with no luck! But we are still in honeymoon phase (which is a bliss to be in love and be loved :F ).
Maybe we will consider adoption, I don't mind this.
Random story : Yesterday I mentioned about telur pindang in our group Whatsapp, and just a few moments after, my sister already ordered those eggs and had someone send it to our apartment. Just like that. That's how serious they are taking about random food cravings that I have - even with no pregnancy in sight. Not sure whether I'm lucky to have 'very thoughtful sister + mom' or it's bad for me for giving them such hope :D
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5. More shopsand more self-published books (Yess !)
I'm now sending my items to these shops, so you can find my products all over the place :
Salt x Paper, Kota Kinabalu
Stickerrific, Petaling Jaya
MyPaperProjects, Shah Alam
Ikigai Shop & Smida Paper, Georgetown
I also self-published several books & zines this year : the Wander book (Japan Travelogue), the Doodle Journal mini guide and the latest one Summer & Typhoon (mini travel zine).
I don't think I'll be available to update content for this blog anymore. I know I've been writing on this platform for almost 10 years and I had fun, amazing time with you guys. Thank you for being here, for reading my written thoughts and feelings.
The reason why :
I started my Patreon last year, and it took most of my writing time nowadays. Although I've been trying to keep up with writing/sharing twice every week, I'm planning to upgrade to 3 times a week (for different tiers) and maintain the consistency. Yes, most of things that I shared about are related to my works and projects. Three times a week is a lot, so I've decided to focus on that alone.
I'm not sure whether people still read blogs. For all I know, I just write things for myself all this time.
I also make books/zines for my travel. So I don't think I want to share in a blog form anymore, it feels like a redundancy.
I still keep all previous entries here, there are a lot of useful content 😃
I already reached my goal of 31 books this year, last month in March 2018 !
Last year I failed to read 30 books as planned, so this time I had to change my technique to cater my busy lifestyle and I started early (+ I didn't slow down like I usually do every year).
What did I do ?
I started subscribing to Scribd ($8.99 per month) and used it to listen to as many audio books as I want. I download at least 2 offline books (for outing activities - which rarely happen nowadays) and I listen to audio books online most of the time when I'm at home. On my laptop while I'm working and on my iPhone when I'm cleaning the house or cooking. That's it - I stop buying books and I just rent all the audio books. By the time I'm writing this, I just finished book 33 (in April).
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Book List 2018 (bold text are the ones that I like) :
You & a Bike & a Road by Elianor Davis
Anthem by Ayn Rand
Porcelain and Pink by F Scott Fitzgerald
The Sense if an Ending by Julian Barnes
The Book of Tea by Okakura Kakuzo
The Little Book of Contentment by Leo Babauta
What Language is That by Uwem Akpan
The Ghost by Robert Harris
The Noticer by Andy Andrews
The Light Princess by George Mac Donald
Mr. Penumbra's 24-hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan
Cici's Journal by Joris Chamblain
Mathilda by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
Seriously...I'm Kidding by Ellen deGeneres
Call Me by Your Name by Andre Aciman
After You by Jojo Moyes
The Midnight Palace by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
The Magic String of Frankie Presto by Mitch Albom
Sounds Like Me by Sara Bareilles
Rework by Jason Freid
Yes, My Accent is Real by Kunal Nayyar
An Unquiet Mind by Kay R. Jamison
$100 Startup by Chris Guillebeum
Scrappy Little Nobody by Anna Kendrick
The Year of Less by Cait Flanders
Lagom by Niki Brantmark
The Little Book of Hygge by Meik Wiking
Ishmael by Daniel Quinn
The Misfit's Manifesto by Lidia Yuknavitch
Launch Your Dream by Dale Partridge
The Pleasure of My Company by Steve Martin
Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert
Where Am I Now by Mara Wilson
The Wisdom of Sundays by Oprah Winfrey
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson
Unfiltered by Lily Collins
The Achievement Habit by Bernard Roth
#girlboss by Sophia Amoruso
The Joy of Less, a Minimalist Living Guide by Francine Jay
Chakra Healing by Rosalyn L Bruyere
Silence by Thinch Nhat Hanh
How to Talk to Anyone, Anytime, Anywhere by Larry King
How to be Everything by Emilie Wapnick
Awkward by Ty Tashiro
Simply Clean by Becky Rapinchuk
Ajak Penumbra 1969 by Robin Sloan
Madame Zero : 9 Stories by Sarah Hall
Real Artists Don't Starve by Jeff Goins
Talking with Confidence for the Painfully Shy by Don Gabor
To Siri with Love by Judith Newman
Life in Parts by Bryan Cranston
Harvest for Hope by Jane Goodall
50/50 : Secrets I Learned Running 50 Marathons in 50 Days - by Dean Karnazes & Matt Fitzgerald
The Faith of Obama by Stephen Mansfield
Angela's Ashes by Frank Mc'Court
Act Like a Success, Think Like a Success by Steve Harvey
South and West by Joan Didion
If You Feel Too Much by Jamie Tworkowski
A New Model by Ashley Graham
Note to Self by Connor Franta
I Got This by Jennifer Hudson
Brave by Rose McGowan
The Moment of Everything by Shelly King
The Bassoon King by Rainn Wilson
'Tis by Frank McCourt
Three Cups of Deceit by Jon Krakauer
Always Eat Left-Handed by Rohit Bhargava
Letter to my Daughter by Maya Angelou
Reason for Hope by Jane Goodall
The Longevity Book
Packing My Library by Alberto Manguel
Blue Nights by Joan Didion
Life's Too Short to Go F*cking Slow by Susan Lacke
My Paris Dream by Kate Betts
13 Things Mentally Strong People Don't Do by Amy Morin
Ten Days in a Mad-House by Nellie Bly
You'll Never Know Dear by Hallie Ephron
Elon Musk Quest for a Fantastic Future by Ashlee Vance
Girl in the Woods : a Memoir by Aspen Matis
A Work in Progress by Connor Franta
Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer
The Audicity of Hope by Barack Obama
Over the Garden Wall by Pat McHale *<---- i="">The moment I decided to read novel graphics
Quiet Girl in a Noisy World by Debbie Tung
Us by Curtis Wiklund
Giant Days 1 by John Allison
Giant Days 2 by John Allison
At the Shore by Jim Campbell
Giant Days 3 by John Allison
Goodbye, Sweet Girl by Kelly Sundberg
Giant Days 4 by John Allison
Giant Days 5 by John Allison
Giant Days 6 by John Allison
Giant Days 7 by John Allison
Over the Garden Wall #1 (2016) by Jim Campbell
Over the Garden Wall #2 (2016) by Jim Campbell
Over the Garden Wall #3 (2016) by Jim Campbell
Over the Garden Wall #4 (2016) by Jim Campbell
Over the Garden Wall #5 (2016) by Jim Campbell
Over the Garden Wall #6 (2016) by Jim Campbell
Over the Garden Wall #7 (2016) by Jim Campbell
Over the Garden Wall #8 (2016) by Jim Campbell
Over the Garden Wall #9 (2016) by Jim Campbell
Alibaba : The House that Jack Ma Built by Duncan Clark
The Crossroads of Should and Must : Find and Follow Your Passion by Elle Luna
One Sip at a Time by Keith Van Sickle
Julie & Julia by Julie Powell
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon (re-read)
Men without Women by Haruki Murakami
Be Prepared by Vera Brosgol
Onibi by Cecile Brun + Olivier Pichard
The Angel's Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon (re-read)
The Reader by Bernhard Schlink (re-read)
The Prisoner's of Heaven by Carlos Ruiz Zafon (re-read)
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I noticed that it is easier for me to listen to self-help books and biographies (instead of fiction), so I'm using this chance to listen to as many books as I can before I bore myself out and stop consuming books for awhile.
Books for freelancer / creative souls / aspiring entrepreneur :
Launch Your Dream by Dale Partridge
The Misfit's Manifesto by Lidia Yuknavitch
Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert
Sounds Like Me by Sara Bareilles
Rework by Jason Freid
Yes, My Accent is Real by Kunal Nayyar
$100 Startup by Chris Guillebeum
The Achievement Habit by Bernard Roth
#girlboss by Sophia Amoruso
How to be Everything by Emilie Wapnick
Real Artists Don't Starve by Jeff Goins
Act Like a Success, Think Like a Success by Steve Harvey
The Crossroads of Should and Must : Find and Follow Your Passion by Elle Luna
-- Books for minimalist / searching for a way to a simpler life :
The Year of Less by Cait Flanders
Lagom by Niki Brantmark
The Little Book of Hygge by Meik Wiking
The Little Book of Contentment by Leo Babauta
The Joy of Less, a Minimalist Living Guide by Francine Jay
Simply Clean by Becky Rapinchuk
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Note (in April) : I think I've decided to upgrade my next book goal to 100 books, inspired by another app developer I followed on Goodreads - he's on book 32 at this moment.
Note updated (in July) : I've already reached 100 books, so I decided to unsubscribe to Scribd at this moment and wait for January 2019 to start on a a new challenge. Currently I'm taking in super slow back. Picking physical books to reread and enjoy the typed words.
Note updated (in August) : My subscription to Scribd ended, and I started to read physical books that I already owned instead of buying new books. At this moment, I'm currently on the third book. I'm rereading the 'The Shadow of the Wind' series by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, the series that I started around 10 years ago. Enjoying slow life so far :)
Note updated (in December) : I've read all the 3 books in the 'The Shadow of the Wind' series by the end of November and I'm slowing down on reading :)
Have I ever mentioned about my latest craze since May : Over the Garden Wall ?
I think I mentioned several times in my Patreon and Instagram.
Well yes, this is not a new mini-series - it was first broadcast in the US in 2014, and the project was pitched to Cartoon Network in 2006. So it was definitely an old mini series, but I just watched it in Netflix in May so I consider it to be new for me :D
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My latest craze :
I loved it so much, I had to ask Af to watch it again with me several days later. There are only 10 - 11 minutes story so you can actually watch everything in one sitting. I've watched it twice in one week and I'll probably watch it again soon because I've been watching a lot of their Youtube snippets when I'm bored.
I doodled the characters in my doodle book and also did a fan-art of Wirt + Greg (the female version).
I made a Spotify playlist of my favorite songs from the mini-series and called it "Fun oh so Fun !" so I can listen to it whenever I want to :D
I've already put their comics in my DepositoryBook wishlist.
I read all the digital comics on Scribd and I still want the physical copies !
I'm not sure how else can I say, I love "Over the Garden Wall". Please watch it ❤️It will only take 110 minutes of your time - way better than all exaggerated super heroes movies in theater.
We watched Isle of Dogs, directed by one of my favorite director : Wes Anderson last weekend. Af'd been anticipating the movie for awhile. I wasn't. Although I love Wes Anderson's movies, I do not like stop-motion. So the movie was not in my list and I just watched it to accompany Af.
After the movie :
Booooy, I was wrong (*Like I was wrong when I decided to not watch Kubo and the Two Strings).
I loved it so much. I cried at least twice.
There were 2 things that I just can't 'tahan' : Animals and kids. Combination of both always make me bawl. Things I love about the movie :
The whole aesthetic values : colours, design, frame shots, fonts
The detailing of unique characters : "Oracle" because she can 'see' the future just by actually understanding how TV the works, the gossiper "Duke" although we don't see male gossiper in real life that much, "Chief" that was always there with the pack even though he refused to follow the boy "Atari", so it was so much fun to see him everywhere in frames always a bit farther than the pack.
Everything looked staged : organized and structured, as usual. Eye-gasm for OCD-ed eyes.
A relationship between animals and a boy T^T
OmyGOD the cottons for cloud and smoke.
I love everything - if you have never watched any of Wes Anderson movies, what are you waiting for? Please start now and binge on everything he directed and produced - even short stories and ads are worth you time.
Image credit to The Bearded Trio blog
Questions :
Do you think we can have a relationship/bonding with cats as strong as with dogs? Dogs seem to understand human and I always feel intrigued and awed by that. I wonder whether Awan even care about me after 7 years together T^T Noooo, Awaaan.
How can someone be this detailed ? Such dedication bothers me a lot :
