I’m loving this new craze of colouring books for adults. I'm sure these books have been around for a while but I've just made the discovery about a month ago.
I’m
not an artistic person but I’ve always had a set of colour pencils with me. I
know it sounds weird but I use it to colour my Moleskine notebook which I use as my daily
planner. When I’m planning my day I use colours to identify meetings, to-do
list, urgent or non- urgent matters etc. I’ve always found colouring an
enjoyable activity, sort of a de-stresser when I list out my often long and
always URGENT to do list.
So, when they started selling the colouring books at MPH I
got myself two copies. These are not the books that I wanted but since it’s my
first time trying this out I got the ones that interested me the most amongst the
pile available at the book store. These are the two copies I got for myself.
I haven’t done much colouring as I’ve been pretty busy lately
but this activity is quite enjoyable to do with the kids. The kids have their
own set of colouring books and colour pencils and we coloured our books together. Though
I have to say the kids need a little bit more practice when it comes to
colouring their books…
I hope I’ll be able to have more time to spend on my
colouring books soon but I’m doing it bit by bit every night. This is my first
attempt which is still a work in progress:
Are you into colouring? Share with me your work in progress, I’d love
to know what you are coloring right now.
Written by: Neil Gaiman
Designed by: Chip Kidd
Format: Paperback
Publisher: William Morrow
Publishers Summary:
This book is a reprint of Neil Gaiman’s speech to the
graduates of Philadelphia’s University of the Arts in May 2012. In his speech,
he shares a bit of his experience and how he succeeded as a writer. The
nineteen minutes speech also covered his thoughts on creativity, bravery and
strength. Neil Gaiman’s ‘Make Good Art’ Speech is not a normal book, the speech
is printed in stylish graphic design by renowned graphic artist Chip Kidd.
Review:
I absolutely love this book. One because it was so bright,
colourful and beautifully crafted by Chip Kidd that it was really pleasing to
read. Two, though Gaiman’s speech was specifically targeted to art graduates I
felt that there were a few pointers that anyone regardless of age can take as
good advise in order for them to succeed in what they do.
There are two quotes that I love from this book. The first:
“I tended to do anything as long as it felt like an
adventure and to stop when it felt like work, which meant that life did not
feel like work”
I totally agree with this. I hold the same principle and believe that one should have
passion in what they do then only will they enjoy the work.
The second quote I like from Gaiman’s speech was on why
people will still get work, they don’t have to be perfect but at least good in
one of these three things and people would re-hire them regardless.
“1. Their work is good,
2. and because they are easy to get along with,
3. and because they deliver the work on time.
And you don’t even need all three.
Two out of three is fine.”
I have much respect for Gaiman and have always thought of
him as a very talented writer. I have enjoyed all of the books I've read from Gaiman so far. This book opened up my eyes to the fact that even though he is a great writer, he too faced challenges, made mistakes and faced failures in his journey
to success.
This book will take less than one hour to read. It’s
definitely a keeper on my book shelf for the insightful content as well as the
colourful style it was presented in. I gave it a 5 over 5 in Goodreads.
“Wise old
man, won’t you help me, please? My house is
a squash and a squeeze.”
This was my
first book, published in 1993, but it started its life earlier still, as a song
which I wrote for children’s television. There is also a Big Book, a board
book, a Braille edition, a Let’s Read edition, a 20th anniversary edition with
early drawings from Axel’s sketchbook and audio version with Imelda Staunton,
Steven Pacey and Julia which includes both story and song (I sing the part of
the little old lady!)
A Squash and
a Squeeze features in a Scamp play called Tiddler and other Terrific Tales
which frequently tours the UK. For performing details visit www.scamptheatre.com
"a bit
of a classic… a goat on the bed and a cow on the table tapping out a jig? My
readers collapsed in heaps, and then had to have it read again. And
again." Vivian French in The
Guardian.
Review:
The kids and
I are exploring a lot of Julia Donaldson’s books this year. So far the boys’
favourite is The Gruffalo and Room on the Broom. We have these in both
paperback and audiobooks formats. Whenever we travel in the car, the kids will
definitely want to hear either one of these books. I think my eldest has even
memorized the whole Gruffalo book by now.
A squash and
a squeeze is a simple story of a woman who thought her house was too small and
had asked the advice of a wise old man. The old man then had asked the woman to
bring one animal after another into her house and then take the animals out
again one by one. It was not until all the animals were out of her house did the
old woman realized that her house was not small after all.
I really
liked this book. The story has a nice rhyme to it and I quite enjoyed reading
it to the boys. The illustrations were colourful and bright and the kids loved
asking about the animals. However, the kids didn’t seem to be as engaged with the story as much as they were with The Gruffalo or Room on the Broom. I’ve
tried reading this book to them a couple of times already but they were just
not interested in the story but were more inquisitive on the animals. Maybe
stories of little old ladies don’t appeal to them? Oh dear...
Regardless of how the kids reacted to the book,
I personally think this was an enjoyable book to read.
In the
author’s website, Donaldson mentioned that this book started off as a song for
a children’s television show. So I googled and got a video of it on YouTube of the song which is sung by none other than the author herself. I’m
going to try sharing the video with the kids instead and see if the kids will like
the video better.
We have a
couple more books from Julia Donaldson which I haven’t started reading to the
kids yet but I really like her work so far. I gave this book a 3 over 5 in
Goodreads.
When I started my blog in 2008, the purpose was to review and write about the books I’ve read and engage with other book bloggers. It took me a while to find a name for the blog but after some brainstorming and checking with friends on their opinions, I decided on Ulat Buku in the City.
It’s
pretty obvious my current blog name was inspired by my favourite show at that point of time, Sex and the City. I was single and living in
a high rise apartment right smack in KL city. Ulat Buku means book worm in my native
language Bahasa Malaysia. Book worm + living in the city = Ulat Buku in the City. It's not the most creative blog name but hey I loved it and it reflected well on who I was back then. I also created a twitter account to support the blog @msulatbuku.
In sum, the blog name, look, feel and content quite suited me
at that point in my life.
However as individuals, we change and evolve as we grow (older? wiser?
I’m not sure which to use to be honest LOL) and looking at the blog
now I somehow feel that it does not reflect the person I am today.
I’m not a
consistent blogger obviously but I love my blog site. I love writing and at
this juncture in my life when I do find the time to write, I would really like to write about more than just the
books I read. I want to expand my content to also include my experiences at
home, my family and some thoughts on my profession as a marketing
communications consultant.
On Twitter, I have stopped using the @msulatbuku handle for quite a while now and started tweeting @tashmusa instead. I don’t know
why but I just felt that the @msulatbuku handle seems a bit childish now and like
my blog, not reflective of the person I am today.
I know for a fact that I want to keep this blog site. I’m
too lazy to start all over again with a new blog site. In fact, a couple of
years ago I experimented with a new blog site at Wordpress and that did not
turn out well for me.
The question that I am asking myself is do I re-invent
and rebrand this site? Should I? To be honest, I have not decided. I am still
mulling over this but I’m leaning towards re-naming the site simply as Natasha
Musa’s Blog, that way however I evolve in the future, the writing and content
is from me and reflective of who I am. BUT... I'm finding it hard to let go of Ulat Buku in the City due to sentimental reasons.
If you are a blogger and you are reading this, have you ever
gone through such transition? What did you do? I hope you can share your
thoughts and advice on what happened when you outgrew you blog. Drop me a note,
I’d love to hear your opinion.
I celebrated my 40th birthday in January this
year. To be honest, I was quite hyped when my birthday came about. I have some
friends who would mope and say that they get depressed leaving their 30’s
behind. Me, I was actually looking forward to it and am pretty proud that I
have reached 40 quite gracefully (or at least… I think I have).
Whilst I am very happy with my life, I have to be realistic and honest about my physical state. I am very
unhealthy and am often stressed out juggling the responsibilities of building a
career and managing and caring for my family. Like most working mums, I think I
got overwhelmed with my responsibilities at work and at home that I often forget
to put some time aside for myself. Anyway, overall I felt shitty physically. I
am tired all day, I have low energy, I suffer from migraines quite often and
also from back pains consistently.
A couple of months ago, I went for a medical check-up
for insurance purposes and the doctor told me I had early signs of diabetes. My
father’s family have all suffered from diabetes. I’ve known that I had a high
chance of getting diabetes seeing that it is a hereditary disease but I guess I
was hoping that it might skip me completely. This news really got me to stop
and think: If I’m unhealthy now how will I be when I am 50, 60 or 70- if God
willing I live that long?
Reflecting back on how I’ve lived my life so far; I never
did care much for my health. I never exercised. Rarely took vitamin supplements.
Never monitored the food I ate. I work too much. I slept too little. I smoke
too much.
Time for change
At the time I was reflecting my unhealthy physical state,
I came across this article on my Facebook timeline “How to get a muscular body after 40?” - an article written by Gert Louw.
Gerts article showed how he was at the age of 40 and how he is now at 51. He decided to make a change because he was suffering from so many health problems at the age of 40. I was honestly impressed with his transformation. Yes, I am fully aware that his
website was written for men but I was inspired by his story nevertheless.
Anyway,
reading Gert's story sort of motivated me to start exercising and eating better.
My objective is not to gain a muscular body at the age of 50 like Gert
obviously but I would really love to be fit and not feel like dying when I go
up ten steps of stairs. I want to stop feeling tired and lethargic all the
time.
What I got from reading his article was if he can do it at
40, then damn it I can do it too.
The new regime
So for the past two months, I have been taking baby steps to
change my lifestyle. I wanted to take things slow cause I’m one that can get
excited with something new easily and also feel demotivated and drop a project
instantly when I get bored especially when it comes to
exercising. This was what I have done since June:
Step 1: Medical check
up
By luck, I found a doctor who practised holistic healing and
went to consult him. I briefed him on my health history, concerns and what I
wanted to achieve. We also discussed about my current meal
intake. The two hour plus consultation also included a blood test which helped
him to diagnose what was lacking in my body.
From my visit with the doctor, he had recommended a very
detailed meal plan for me and also recommended some vitamin supplements I
should take to improve my health.
Step 2: Healthier meal
plan
The first two weeks of going through the new meal plan was tough
and expensive! Who knew eating organic food like brown rice, fruits and juicing
could cost so much. I suffered from more migraines than usual and my eczema really got worst but the doctor did say that it will be a normal side effect from changing my diet plan and the new supplement intake. His exact
word were “Be prepared to feel worst, before you feel better”. To be honest,
after a month – my husband did say I
looked much better, my skin felt softer and I did feel a slight improvement in
my energy levels.
I am unfortunately not following through the diet plan fully
at this point of time but I do take the vitamin supplements religiously. Like I
said, baby steps. I will change my diet plan slowly but surely.
I am also planning to do a more detailed health check but
after looking through the packages offered on hospital websites I found it to
be very expensive. So I’m saving up for that and hopefully will do a full
medical by year end.
Step 3: Exercise
Ok. I hate exercising. I really do. But when you want to
lead a healthier lifestyle I guess one must just persevere.
In the past, when I have had a sudden inspiration to get
healthy, I’d join a gym or yoga classes. Historically, these things never did
turn out well for me. I’d drop the classes and continued paying without
attending any of them. So this time around, I decided to exercise from home and
not spend a single cent on instructors or classes.
I decided to do two things: Yoga and indoor cycling. The
plan was to wake up earlier in the morning and spend just 10 minutes a day to do my exercises. I would alternate
the exercise: yoga one day and indoor cycling the next.
Yoga at home
The beauty about this day and age
is that there are so many YouTube video that can guide you for your exercises.
All you need to do is research and choose one to do as part of your exercise
regime.
The first week, I did yoga
following this video
as a guide. Its 10 minutes of yoga stretches without getting out of bed! That’s
how lazy I am! Lol.
I think I did this for about two
weeks. Now, I am following this video for my 15 minute yoga in the mornings
instead.
Indoor cycling
My husband bought an indoor
cycling machine some years back. We use it mostly to hang stuff. Really…. The handles are handy that way.
Anyway, I thought that I should
make use of the machine in the mornings instead of using it to hang my handbags in the recreation room. On days that I don’t do yoga, I switch on my audiobook
and cycle for ten minutes.
This is my second month of exercise and I have
increased my cycling time to 15 minutes.
There are days when I say “Screw it, I’m going back to bed”
but most mornings in the past one month plus I do wake up looking forward to do
the exercises. I’ve been chronicling my exercises on twitter. I don’t know why
but I think announcing to the world that I am exercising and making a slow
change in my life helped to motivate me somewhat.
As I mentioned earlier, I am currently in my second month of
exercising. I definitely feel the difference. I still feel lethargic sometimes but its not as bad as before. To be honest, I think I love this new
lifestyle of mine.
Last week I added this video – 10 minute No Equipment Home Workout, Full Body – as part of my exercise regime on days I don’t do yoga or
indoor cycling. This one is tough but so far I quite enjoy trying to do the
exercises.
So, this is me at 40. I’m trying to change for the
betterment of my health. I remember reading somewhere that it takes 30 days to
change a habit. If this is true then I hope this new habit of living life
healthier remains consistent in my life. I’d like to live healthy and grow old
enough to meet my grandchildren one day.
I’ve decided to use this blog to chronicle my success or
failure in following through this journey of living life healthier. If you
happen to read this, wish me luck and a word of encouragement would definitely help.
"The dead don't talk. I don't know why." But they
do try to communicate, with a short-order cook in a small desert town serving
as their reluctant confidant. Odd Thomas thinks of himself as an ordinary guy,
if possessed of a certain measure of talent at the Pico Mundo Grill and
rapturously in love with the most beautiful girl in the world, Stormy
Llewellyn.
Maybe he has a gift, maybe it's a curse, Odd has never been
sure, but he tries to do his best by the silent souls who seek him out.
Sometimes they want justice, and Odd's otherworldly tips to Pico Mundo's
sympathetic police chief, Wyatt Porter, can solve a crime. Occasionally they
can prevent one. But this time it's different.
A mysterious man comes to town with a voracious appetite, a
filing cabinet stuffed with information on the world's worst killers, and a
pack of hyena-like shades following him wherever he goes. Who the man is and
what he wants, not even Odd's deceased informants can tell him. His most
ominous clue is a page ripped from a day-by-day calendar for August 15.
Today is August 14.
In less than twenty-four hours, Pico Mundo will awaken to a
day of catastrophe. As evil coils under the searing desert sun, Odd travels
through the shifting prisms of his world, struggling to avert a looming
cataclysm with the aid of his soul mate and an unlikely community of allies
that includes the King of Rock 'n' Roll. His account of two shattering days
when past and present, fate and destiny converge is the stuff of our worst
nightmares, and a testament by which to live: sanely if not safely, with
courage, humor, and a full heart that even in the darkness must persevere.
Review:
A couple of years ago, I saw a movie called Odd Thomas. It
was a good movie with a very sad ending that made me cry buckets. After
watching the movie a couple of times, I suddenly wondered if it was an
adaptation from a book. So I googled and found out that it was an adaptation
from a book of the same title authored by Dean Koontz. To be honest, I was
pretty shocked that I knew nothing about this book. Why? Because in my late
teens and early adulthood I thought I had read everything from this author.
Dean Koontz was my favorite author during that time and I assumed that I had
read everything and I really mean EVERYTHING from him.
Anyway, back to my thoughts on this book. I loved it. I
think the movie adaptation also did justice to the book.
I really do admire Odd’s character. At times I feel sorry
for him especially when the book reveals a little bit about his parents and his
upbringing but I love him for how he decided to live his life independently and
in pure simplicity despite all that he had gone through in his young life. I
love the relationship he has with the people around him especially with his
soulmate Stormy.
I’m a big Dean Koontz fan and honestly I am biased. This
book could do no wrong for me. The storyline was excellent and the pacing was
good. The audiobook production was also excellent. The narrator’s voice and
depiction of Odd’s character is perfect. Truth: I cried at the end despite
knowing fully well how it ended as it was similar to the movie.
I definitely will read the rest of the series and see how
life turns out for Odd and his little troupe in the little town of Pico Mundo.
When paramedics find a malnourished 6-year-old boy near a
burning car that holds a dead woman, they wonder who he is – and why he won’t
talk. Chase, a small-town journalist who was raised by foster parents, is
assigned to cover the story and investigate the boy’s identity. But will his
search unearth long-buried emotions – and answers to his own history?
Review:
The first few pages starts with intense drama. A 6 year old boy is being abused by whom we can only assume is
his mother in a car, parked in the middle of the railway track with an oncoming
train headed their way.
The story follows through in the aftermath of a tragedy, when the boy is found wondering, not willing to utter a word to anyone
and Chase Walker, a local reporter is put to task to investigate on the boy’s
background. The journey leads to a story of self-discovery, the test of family
bonds and a secret that is finally revealed after being hidden for so long.
This book is definitely the best book I’ve listened to in
2013. Hands down.
This novel has strong and memorable characters. The
development of each character from the first page until the last is absolutely
amazing. Unc, who is Chase’s foster father, is my absolute favourite character
in this book, followed by Chase and Tommye. Unc’s relationship with Chase as a
foster father is admirable. Though Unc is known to sometimes utter things that
only he can understand; spoke many words of wisdom in the book. Listening to
audiobooks while driving means that I am not able to jot down notes of quotes
from Unc which is really sad but trust me some of Unc’s words are profound.
Chasing Fireflies is paced well. Characters and storyline is
revealed at just the right time and the storyline is engaging which actually made me want to take longer drives. Shamelessly, I’ll admit tearing a number of
times while listening to this book on my drive to work.
This book is about the importance of family relationships
and the quest in search for the truth. It is a beautiful novel that is filled
with emotions, strong family bonds and a revelation that is quite unexpected at
the end.
My hats off to Andrew Peterson, the narrator of the
audiobook. Not only did he read the story well, he manages to read each
character differently and bring each and every character to life and made the
listening experience even more worthwhile.
I absolutely LOVE this book. I loved it so much that I gave
it a 5 over 5 on Goodreads.
Aislinn has the third eye and is able to see faeries.
Unfortunately, Aislinn’s mother was killed by faeries when she was young.
Because of this she has been trained by her grandmother to hide her gift in
order to protect her from the evil faeries.
She lives her life by a set of strict rules outlined by her
grandmother. And these rules have kept her safe, until now. Suddenly, none of
the rules apply anymore as she is stalked by Keenan, the faery Summer King.
Keenan is after Aislinn as he believes that she could be ‘THE' Summer Queen and
help release him from his mother’s evil powers.
The review:
Ok. This was not an exceptionally great book but I quite
enjoyed it.
It offered a different take on how I normally see faeries. I
always thought that faeries were like Tinkerbell from Peter Pan… Eh. Wait a
minute. Is Tinkerbell a faerie even? Ok whatever…. Anyway you catch my drift,
faeries: small creatures, a bit mischievous but overall good supernatural
beings with wings attached to them.
My absolute favourite character in this book is…. drum roll
please… SETH! (I’m so predictable right?) He’s the perfect guy (well, maybe a
bit too perfect thus the reason why he only exists as a fictional character). I
love him because he was:
Patiently waiting for Aislinn (I mean the guy did wait for 7
whole damn months before he told her he was in love with her)
Supportive (Did not call Aislinn crazy when she told him
about her gift plus he even went all out and did research to find out more
about the fairies)
Cool, outgoing, good in bed and apparently the man can cook
(two thumbs up from me on this point more than the previous points).
Keenan on the other hand I find a tad annoying. I won’t
comment on the female characters cause … well, none of the characters had a
huge impact on me.
Overall the storyline was ok. I quite enjoyed it mostly
though I thought some parts was like… huh? For example: when grandma met
Keenan.
Storyline revolves mainly around Aislinn (duhhh… she is the
main character Tasha!). But seriously, its Aislinn wondering what’s happening,
Aislinn pissed off at Keenan, Aislinn wondering what to do with Seth and
Aislinn having to decide whether she would take up the challenge handed to her
by the faeries. That about sums up the story. Sorry for the spoiler.
I heard this on audiobook and thought the narration was
great though the narrator’s voice seemed a bit too mature for Aislinn.
Good book but not great. Enjoyable nonetheless because of
the different take on faeries plus I do love Seth tremendously in this book. I
gave it a 3 over 5 on Goodreads.
*Side note:
After writing this post, I did a quick Google search on
fairies vs faeries. I’ve always spelt it as fairies and wanted to know what the
difference was. Turns out there IS a difference between fairies & faeries. My perception on fairies (like Tinkerbell) is right and Marr’s
depiction of faeries is not new or different after all.
Hah! I learn something new everyday. Lets see if I can make any use of this information in real life.
