Saturday Squeeze: The Forbidden Game

Subconsciously making my Saturday that much better

I have been an avid reader from before I even learned the alphabet, no I am not exaggerating: I pored over a picture book with simple sentences long before I could even read the words but perhaps my baby-brain was capable of understanding because Mummy says I actually read the book, not just looked at the pictures and flipped pages. So I am a certified bookworm from the time I was born and with parents who are bookworms themselves what do you expect?

This obviously led to growing bored of the books suggested for my age and by the time I was 11 I was on the verge of reading Robin Cook and Stephen King but instead, Mummy took me to a bookstore where the bookstore owner (who knew us quite well) climbed high and dug out 'The Forbidden Game' by L.J. Smith.

I fell in love. The story is captivating and dark, it can even be sinister if you thought more on it but at the same time the story is one that can touch your heart. It is everything a teen novel should be but even now as an adult I appreciate the fantasy and story as much as I did at that tender age. L.J. Smith has been my favorite author since I was a child and I hoped fervently that she would gain the recognition she deserved but it was only when 'Twilight' by Stephenie Meyer came out that L.J. Smith's books came into the bigger picture.

Now. Not to rant but it angers me when people claim L.J. Smith copied Stephenie Meyer. No. She. Did. Not. She wrote her series 'The Vampire Diaries' (which is now the highly popular television show everyone thinks is trying to trump 'Twilight'...and rightly should) way back in the 1980s. Most of her books were written in the '80s and a lot of them went out of print and only recently are being reprinted (much to the joy of us hardcore fans!). Please do your research before you slag others off, it is only embarrassing when you go to such extremes to sneer at someone only to be corrected.

With L.J. Smith's new popularity it finally meant I could also buy a backup of my favorite novel! Throughout the years it has gotten abused by people I have lent it to - once it came back missing that huge chunk on the cover! I was appalled. Needless to say, that is why I am an absolute, horrendous bitch when it comes to lending my books out. I am not embarrassed to tell people outright "no" when they ask, not everyone appreciates books and even if they do it is still risky business.

My fanatism aside, I was thrilled to be able to cart my new copy of 'The Forbidden Game' back with me to Adelaide and leave my original copy back at home, where it belongs (with most of my heart). I do not care much for the new cover but the print is bigger and easier to read which - for a myopic case such as myself - is a real treat.

This was more of a sentimental post than a review but all I can say is if you appreciate 'The Vampire Diaries' (the books I mean, not the television series) then definitely look into the rest of L.J. Smith's books - trust me, I have them all and they are all very worth it.

GoodReads - 30 Books in One Year?

Read 30 Books in one Year! That's the goal I have set up for myself on GoodReads! Goodreads, is a website that helps you track all your books online. It's like a digital bookshelf! Anyone can go, set up an account for free, and set a reading goal for themselves, or just track what books they are reading! Anyone want to join me in a reading challenge? You set your own goals!

I got this idea from the 'Our. City. Lights' Blog! I hadn't heard of this site until Diana blogged about it, with her own book goal! Now I'm excited and motivated to read all the great books I've been meaning to read, and all the new books I got this past Christmas. (Thank You, Diana! :)

A couple that I've started the year off with -



Gunn's Golden Rules, By Tim Gunn (Loved this! He is so darn cute!)
Room, By Emma Donaghue
Pygmy, By Chuck Palahniuk

I'd love to hear some book recommendations from you! What's your favorite book?

If you're on Goodreads too, Give me a shout over there!

The week of a homesick model

(I vant to suck yer blood a la Hannibal Lector style)

If you follow me on twitter then you will know I am very much alive and have been neglecting my blog since arriving in Adelaide a week ago. Sue me (get it? Get it? No? Oh well...), but I have been busy indulging in my oh so glamorous life of moving back into college, photo shoots and being homesick.

Leaving home was quite difficult (as I have repeated over and over) but I am glad I will at least get to see my family again at the end of the year. I quite miss my little terror of a Prince but at the same time I am quite glad my fingers and toes are spared from his incessant chewing and clawing...

A quick glance at the airport in Malaysia. It was my first time in it and I was quite impressed at how closely it resembled Singapore airport - not at all architecturally but efficiency and atmosphere wise.

I will go as far as so say that I find Malaysia airport's architecture more pleasing than Singapore airport. Is that a crime? I apologize but I was won over by the star-like lighting that looked magnificent as night settled in. The openness of it all with the glass cage effect was refreshing especially when one is in transit for so long.

I was fortunate enough to get free hotel accommodation for my eight-hour transit. While the room may not be up to par with some finicky individuals I found it pleasing that the bathroom was clean and there was a big bed waiting to be laid on. Needless to say, I loved being able to board my seven hour flight back to Adelaide all clean and somewhat rested.

 

Nothing like traveling but from now on I protest at the idea of not traveling with Scott, just because it is convenient having your boyfriend on a long flight to be a bodyguard and pillow. Being completely honest!

I had a photo shoot lined up for the week I arrived back to Adelaide with a lovely photographer from Sydney who flew here to do the shoot. We went with a demon-angel theme and shot at a cemetery and church.

I do not want to disclose much about the shoot until I get the photos but how strange is that plant or shrub or whatever it is growing in the middle of the cemetery?! I was so intrigued by it and it is unfortunate I had no chance to pose with it...albeit it would have terrified me to do so.

So now ensues the photo whoring. What? I got snap happy, you would too if you did your own makeup for a photo shoot and for the first time ever got to do something more than just neutral colors and you also got your hair done in a very Adam Lambert inspired style!

 
The makeup inspiration the photographer gave me used pink in the look instead of gold but L (the photographer) wanted to use gold instead so I used Darling Girl Cosmetics' Plunder which is the most beautiful gold in the world, it reminds me of the gold treasures you find in Ancient Egypt.

For lip color I used Revlon's Colorburst in Raspberry (my favorite wine red color) and slicked on some Fyrinnae Indies on top to dirty it up.

 

Also, I tested out Revlon's PhotoReady foundation in Natural Beige for my other photo shoot (I got a sample packet from a magazine and had no other foundation...criminal yes?) and found I liked it a lot so I went and purchased it for this shoot only to find that it contains...shimmer? What? That was not what the sample was like! So I am a little peeved because I had no intention of channeling - no matter how subtle - a disco ball but in the end I grumpily made do. Given the opportunity, I think I will go back to repurchasing my Dior foundation though.

Unfortunately, upon going to the hairdressers, I realized I had forgotten mascara and some eyeliner. D'oh! But this was quickly forgotten when I proceeded to slam my thumb in L's car door. Ouch. Mega ouch. I had to spend ten minutes outside the hairdressers with my head in my lap as I was on the verge of fainting.

You do not know pain until you either drop a suitcase on your toe (as I did a few years ago) or close a car door on your thumb (as I did a few days ago). If you do not believe me, try it for yourself but do not come running back to me with a lawsuit because I told you and it was your own idiocy that had to test it out.

After much labored breathing as though I needed to give birth and the amazing work of Cherrilee (who will become my future hairdresser in Adelaide due to being able to handle my temperamental hair with ease, hooray!) I ended up with a...very intricate hairdo? And, yes, the whole up-do uses my real hair. No extensions, no additions.

Just a whole lot of hairspray as the sunlight indicates. As well as bobby pins (which the sunlight fails to bring to light).

Upon returning back to college (what? Was not aware of this schedule change...) to wait for L to pick me up for the shoot I thought why not redo my makeup seeing as I originally did a rush job (refer back to schedule change I was unaware of) and mistakenly used She Space's Believe in the Good! which is more blue-black than black.

Plus I had to swipe on some mascara and get some eyeliner on. Still used Darling Girl Cosmetic's beautiful Plunder but used Emily the Strange black eyeshadow which is very pigmented in real life.

 

I quite liked the look with the hair although the makeup was not as dramatic as L's inspiration had been but I thought it worked better with the outfit in the end. Plus, L should have gotten a makeup artist if he really wanted professional makeup!

Also, just to brag a little...how spectacularly angled and not at all sparse and even do my eyebrows look? I tried. Using eyeshadow too. Leave me alone. I normally have a fringe to cover my eyebrows so. there.

So what did I look like when I returned back to college well after 9:30pm and wrestled all the bobby pins and hair ties out of my hair?

Why, like this of course!

How amazingly freaky do my eyebrows look after a days work? I quite dislike filling them in I think, although it suited the concept of the shoot rather well: demonic. They look like malformed triangular slopes...

Just to be creepy and over share, here is my very bare and temporary room at college which also happens to be Scott's former room. No, of course I did not request this room just to indulge in the memories of last year to sustain me for the next six weeks until I am reunited with him...and no, of course I did not sniff around the room trying to find a spot where his scent still lingers...

As you can see, I need to clean up and personalize this room a little more. Seeing as I will only be here for about two more weeks though, I think I will pass on the latter.

What was that in the corner you say?

Of course I got our boys back from my amazing friend who took care of them while I was gone and Scott is working! As you can see, they have developed some bad habits while I have been away. I disapprove highly of the state of their tank every morning...

Before I finish rambling, because this is becoming quite a phenomenally long post (if you are still reading, goodness you are patient!) this will be in a post coming up!

And finally, because the bookworm that I am cannot resist sharing a good morsel of reading, pick up Tobsha Learner's 'Sphinx' if you love a read with a mix of history and modern fixation. I borrowed the book off a friend of mine and could not put it down for even a second! Read more about it (if you are too lazy to hurry to a bookstore) from where I got the image from Paula's blog.

Hope all my lovely readers are having a great start to the year thus far! Toodles!

I agree whole-heartedly

In Between: More Photos Than Text

Just a little filler, just whiling away my days

How I'm going to spend my final two weeks in Sri Lanka will be hard to plan - there is so much I want to do but so little time, literally. I have two family road trips (one is our new years trip), a friend coming in for a day next week whom I need to see, another friend to harass so I can see him before I leave, time with my grandmother and most importantly time with my parents as I'm probably not returning home during my mid-year break next year. Oh! And how can I forget my fantabulous boys - Sydney and Prince? Since losing Pebbles I've only become more determined in cherishing the little time I have with my pets, I won't see my cats for a very long time and who knows how big they'll be when I see them next?

Speaking of pets, our tortoise came out for a bit of a wander today.

She's such a cute critter, I love it when she peeps into the house as though checking to see if we're still alive!

On Friday, Mummy and I went to the usual flower exhibition that's held in our local park and I came across this flower - a passion fruit flower but instead of being yellow it is purple and does not yield fruit as the normal plant does. How beautiful and how in love I fell! Unfortunately the full grown plant was a bit too expensive to gamble with and we wanted a baby plant as it's a creeper and would be easier to "mould" if it's young.

Unfortunately though when we went everything was sold out! I'm pretty disappointed but at least the high demand for them means that at the next flower exhibition they'll surely be stocked up and waiting! So until Mummy hunts one of our own down I'll be patient...

As our driver had today off, we went by tri-shaw to the exhibition. I love going around in these! The breeze is lovely and the ride is always exhilarating.

My Uncle gave me this book recently and I plan on doing a post on it sometime when I'm back in Adelaide, I'm planning on saving this to read on the plane!

Hope everyone is having a great weekend.

In Between: Pebbles, Books, Life and Giveaway

Just a little filler, just whiling away my days

Today I took a break with the makeup since Mummy woke me up saying we needed to take our 14-year old cat, Pebbles, to the vet. Pebbles hasn't been eating lately nor has she been drinking water so we're naturally worried as she has been really weak. We went to the vet yesterday and Pebbles got a booster that was meant to stimulate her appetite but it did little to motivate her to eat and this morning Mummy was worried as it seemed as though Pebbles was wobbly and unable to move much without collapsing in exhaustion.



So we took her to the vet and she got a saline and then a glucose drip. It was good to see her eyes become less glazed and to see her looking more lively after a while. There were some dogs at the vets and I had to endure a poor puppy howling in pain behind me while he got stitched up ): Apparently his owners had unknowingly overdosed him on antibiotics after a pharmacist had instructed them to give three tablets when it should have only been two. The poor thing had fits and has some brain damage! It was lucky the owners got him to the vet in time.

We have to take Pebbles to the vet tomorrow and probably the day after as well for more saline and glucose. Hopefully it'll give her a little more time. We know that she's rather old and it's rare for cats to make it so long but we're hoping we get a little bit more time with her. She's such a tough old thing, I'm glad I'm home now and get some time with her; I don't know when I'll be home next.

Anyway, I'm exited because later today after an appointment at the dentist (yay for not having to take my wisdom teeth out until later!) we went to a bookstore to find the sequel to Lauren Kate's book Falling, Torment only to find two L.J. Smith books that I never thought I'd get to read in this lifetime! I'll probably finish them both in the next few days so I'll do a review then!

Life otherwise?
Tiring. My birthday is in two days (on the 3rd) and I'm really starting to feel my age (which I won't discuss: it's unladylike to talk numbers!). My whole body is sore and aching and I'm starting to worry now, I think I'm going to do more exercise like Pilates and just general cardio. I really don't want health complications...

That's all for now dear Readers, thank you to my 10 followers! I was thinking the other day that if I reached 10 followers I'd do a giveaway and I honestly thought that it would only be when the moon turns to cheese that I'd get a 10th follower (Thank you!) sooo...watch this space? It'll only happen when I return to Adelaide so that'll be in January 2011 but still, it'll happen! (:

Saturday Squeeze: Stardust (The Novel)

Subconsciously making my Saturday that much better

During my sixteen hour transit at Changi Airport, I finished reading 'Stardust' by Neil Gaiman. Apparently it has been made into a movie but I have yet to see it however considering how much I loved the book I think I will watch it soon.

The book is, as Gaiman describes it, a mature fairytale. Initially I thought it was for a younger audience but getting through the first few chapters I soon came to realize that it really targets more mature readers who are still enthralled by tales involving magical beings and the impossible (yes, I do fit into that category!).

Now, truthfully I do skim through pages when a book gets slow but with this book I didn't skip a word, it was that well written and flowed amazingly throughout. If you've seen the movie adaptation of Gaiman's 'Coraline' you'll know just how fascinatingly, darkly creative he is and that is exactly what you can expect from 'Stardust'.

A perfect read to take with you if you have a few hours to spare on a flight (as I did) for it fits perfectly in a handbag or pocket even. I definitely suggest it and if anyone has seen the movie let me know if it's any good! I look forward to comparing the book and movie so look forward for that in the near future.