Fulfilling Friday: Semester Break!

Fulfilling Friday is a feature where I talk about the happenings of the week, focusing on the positives, and plan for the upcoming days- on a Friday, of course!

And this has been quite a week.

The Passing

It is the first week of a three-week semester break, in which I faced the death of a relative, which, although expected- due to her advanced stage of cancer- was still quite a blow to the family. It doesn't help that she's barely 50 years old, which is... really young. Almost my mother's age.

Death drives home the ephemeral state of life, and the permanence of non-existence. It grounds the fact that we will all cease to exist one day- if you still believe in the Big Bang theory, and the theory of Creationism. It drove me to a mini-crisis of existentialism for a day or two, which I fended off with some more reading and reviewing and good ol' sleeping.

We will always miss her and continue to remember her in our fondest memories.

The TBR Pile(s)

I am rather excited for this month's TBR- or was, before the above-mentioned event came to pass. Nevertheless, I will post my TBR pile for this month of March and strike through those I have already read by the time this post is finished. Bear in mind I will probably read more, if things go my way.

1. The Cry of the Icemark by Stuart Hill - IN PROGRESS
2. This Star Won't Go Out by Esther Earl - IN PROGRESS
3. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
4. To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
5. Seraphina by Rachel Hartman - IN PROGRESS
6. Dreams of Gods and Monsters (Daughter of Smoke and Bone #3) by Laini Taylor - IN PROGRESS
7. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
8. Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins - IN PROGRESS
9. The Blood of Olympus (The Heroes of Olympus #5) by Rick Riordan
10. Red Seas Under Red Skies - Scott Lynch
11. Apprentice (The Black Mage #2) by Rachel E. Carter
12. DIAgnosis2 [Bahasa Melayu book] by various authors

Yes, I have the tendency to read multiple books at once. I have no idea why this works for me and why it does not get confusing, because it really doesn't. In this case it really is necessary, because two of the books in progress are really very slow reads for me and I need to punctuate the rather humdrum pace by interspersing it with more face-paced reads. They are my rewards for finishing a certain chapter of a slower book.

Of course, my other TBR pile- the TO BE REVIEWED pile- is stacking up like nobody's business. 

Nobody's business but mine.

I would be more sad about it, if I'm not so excited. It's rather unbelievable how excited one can be about things that are not supposed to be exciting when one has nothing else to worry about.

Plans

This weekend will be filled with reading and reviewing, of course. I am also finishing up an actual letter to send to my high school friend (currently in Canada) and will be sending that next week- whenever I will be headed back a bit in the southerly direction.

There is a Sushi King bonanza next week (all sushi plates at RM 3 each!) which I will definitely splurge on. And I plan to watch at least two movies in the cinema, since I haven't watched a movie in the cinema since the last installment of The Hobbit.

I think I better start planning on some revision and cleaning up too, for the rest of the break.

Last but not least, try to restrict the impulse to keep ordering books online- for which a post is due within the next two weeks.

What have you fulfilled this week? :)

Fulfilling Friday: One-Twelfth Around the Sun

Fulfilling Friday is a feature where I talk about the happenings of the week, focusing on the positives, and plan for the upcoming days- on a Friday, of course!

In the blink of a eye, the curtains begin their descent on January in preparation for February's act.

What have I done in this month?

Book-related

Well, first of all I completed my targets for the first month of this blog's existence. Two book reviews per week at least, and now scheduled posts are still bidding their time until February. I am one month closer to being ready to publicize this space.

Fulfilling Friday: Family First

Fulfilling Friday is a feature where I talk about the happenings of the week, focusing on the positives, and plan for the upcoming days- on a Friday, of course!

This week has been an off-week of sorts. I did not manage to do much revision of my own, and a few classes were brought forward. But I did have quite a few free days to unwind and relax, and though it's not enough for me to have finished a single book by Friday, I am currently near to finishing Eva Ibbotson's The Dragonfly Pool, which I will (hopefully!) review next week.

Fulfilling Friday: What have YOU fulfilled this week?

Based on a screenshot from one of the MMORPGs I play(ed): TERA

Intro to Fulfilling Friday

I've only read about book blog memes. It's easy to see that they're a great way to expand your network in the book blog world, meet new friends and most definitely garner more readership. However, since I'm more into personal reviewing/writing and less into networking at this particular moment in time, I haven't really thought of joining and/or starting book blog memes.

Except... You can only read so many reviews on a blog before it feels dry, and that's me talking about my own blog! 'I must write some non-book-related posts,' I thought. Particularly ones with more of an insight to my life, since I did start this blog with self-improvement in mind. So I decided to do a weekly post which is- to the best of my abilities- consistent, and definitely not just a book review.

Fulfilling Friday is the time when I talk about how fulfilling my week and the previous weekend has been, and detail what I look forward to in the coming week and weekend. Sounds like a blog meme doesn't it? It's not something I have come across, but I would like it to be a feature of this blog- whether or not that makes it a meme doesn't really matter all that much to me, at least in this moment! On that note, it will be as positive as possible, and if there were downsides to the previous week I wouldn't neglect them, but focus on how they improved me. On the Friday that is closest to the end of the month (for example this month it would be Friday the 30th of January), I would probably write a longer post for Fulfilling Friday which may summarize the whole month's fulfilling moments, or even include some throwbacks to some other positive moments in my life, most obviously not limited only to the month or year involved. This would also include aspirations for the coming months and years.

Why a certain day for this? Well it would ensure I remember to come here and do something at least weekly, for one. Also, I would not like to turn this blog into my personal diary- I have another blog for that which is not as public. In addition, in the event that I DO get a readership, I'm guessing it would be more important for people to get a glimpse into my life (and hopefully understand why I don't read or review as often, which is bound to happen sometimes)!

Enough of intros, let's begin!