Are You Blue?

Footprints: Day 14

My first read for 2013 is David Levithan's 'Every Day'. I first came to know of Levithan just last year when I stumbled upon a Twitter feed for 'The Lover's Dictionary'  (@loversdiction). It's one of my favorite things on Twitter for the sheer ingenuity of telling a story through dictionary entries, so naturally I'd like to explore more of his prose.

"Every Day" is a story about a guy who wakes up each day in a different body and in essence a different life. Think 'The Time Traveler's Wife' only, instead of jumping through different time frames, he goes through different bodies. As if that's not complicated enough, he wakes up one day in this guy's body and falls in love with that guy's girlfriend. Talk about a dilemma of epic proportions.

I'm only a few pages into the book, but boy am I already emotionally invested in it. There's just something in the way Levithan and other writers who more or less have the same style, such as John Green and Iain Thomas,  reveal the beauty out of even the most commonplace of experiences. The quote above is so far one of my favorites from the book. As simple and familiar as the prose may be, the important thing is that it has a voice and that my heart recognizes what it speaks of.

What to Expect in Books this 2013

I don't like putting a figure on the number of books I will read in any given year (neither do I keep count on how many I've read so far), that just takes too much joy away from an otherwise generally pleasurable experience.

What I will do though for this year is to diversify the kinds of books that I will read. I already have a few classics in mind, the only thing lacking is a solid set of fresh titles. For that, I turn to this list:

  The Great 2013 Book Preview


You, what are you planning to read this 2013?

Footrpints: Day 5

OMGEEEEE THE KOBE BRYANT IS ON TWITTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

**breathe***

I wouldn't have done this on any other occasion, but this post just deserves to be in all caps. heh. Like this is the next best thing to actually seeing Kobe playing on the court (w/c by the way happened to me for realzzz two years ago). Can you just imagine what this means for someone who fangirls as hard as I do?  It's like having a direct line to Kobe never mind that the possibility of him answering is very very slim, but still there's the chance. Ooh my mind is already going cray thinking about all the love I can bundle in 140 characters. #fangirlout


**Footprints is a photo journal that I started this 2013. Basically I just take and post photos of practically anything that best captures my mood/thoughts/activities on a particular day. It's an exercise both in mindfulness and creativity not to mention a wonderful reminder to be grateful for each and every day.

Footprints: Day 4

Along with this photo journal, I've also started a logbook this year. The idea came from Austin Kleon of Steal Like an Artist fame. The idea is to keep track of things that happen during the day, simple facts of the who-what-where type.

According to Kleon,

But more importantly, keeping a simple list of who/what/where means I write down events that seem mundane at the time, but later on help paint a better portrait of the day, or even become more significant over time. By “sticking to the facts” I don’t pre-judge what was important or what wasn’t, I just write it down.

For someone who has the tendency to nitpick on certain events right through their many twists and turns, journaling has become a tedious and exhausting exercise, so the idea of "sticking to the facts" immediately appealed to me. Also add to that how much I love making lists, and this whole idea of having logbook becomes a no-brainer for me. I will still keep a journal of course, but for the most part this logbook will do.


**Footprints is a photo journal that I started this 2013. Basically I just take and post photos of practically anything that best captures my mood/thoughts/activities on a particular day. It's an exercise both in mindfulness and creativity not to mention a wonderful reminder to be grateful for each and every day.

Footprints: Day 3

I had the chance to do a lot of thinking today, and ultimately this is what I came down to:

Forget the former things; 

 do not dwell on the past.  

See, I am doing a new thing!
    Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
    and streams in the wasteland.

Isaiah 43:18-19

**Footprints is a photo journal that I started this 2013. Basically I just take and post photos of practically anything that best captures my mood/thoughts/activities on a particular day. It's an exercise both in mindfulness and creativity not to mention a wonderful reminder to be grateful for each and every day. 

Footprints: Day 2

You only need to look at those who have dared to reach the skies to know that the fulfillment of dreams takes courage. I have my heart set on dreams as high as the heavens, my only prayer is to have the courage to get there.


**Footprints is a photo journal that I started this 2013. Basically I just take and post photos of practically anything that best captures my mood/thoughts/activities on a particular day. It's an exercise both in mindfulness and creativity not to mention a wonderful reminder to be grateful for each and every day.