Writing A New Chapter In My Life: Learning Modern Calligraphy

Hello, there! Lately I've been contemplating about new things I wanted to try, things I wanted to learn. I recently attended a Lettering and Typography workshop (thanks to the amazing team of Works of Heart!) and I learned so many things about the anatomy of letters. I've always loved lettering and scribbling at the back of my notebooks so I'm not actually new into the art of lettering. I just wanted to enhance my skills and know more about them.

Until I saw my favorite author, the gorgeous as ever Jodi Meadows posting pictures of her calligraphy works on Instagram. I fell inlove with the art of beautiful handwriting. I showed her the picture below, and she told me that she's contagious. I couldn't agree more! I got my basic calligraphy tools from La Bella Scrittura, a group of ladies showcasing the art of calligraphy. They are so kind to answer questions of newbies and give us tips as well.

Quote from one of my fave books, Infinite by Jodi Meadows

A line from Ed Sheeran's song, Thinking Out Loud. Yes, I'm a Sheerio.

I tried brush lettering as well, but I bought a very cheap brush so I never really got into it. I have yet to buy a nice brush pen, preferably Pentel brush pen.

Well, I am spending more time practicing on controlling the pressure and flow of inks because I'm really having a hard time doing so. I'm a left-handed human, which means I can always smudge the ink if I'm not careful. I'm more fond of using an oblique holder, which is made for lefties like me! I first used the nib Vintage Hunt 22, which is advisable for newbies. Right now, my favorite nib is the Brause 66EF because of its smooth touch on paper. Esterbrook 355 is also good for newbies. I also tried Leonardt 40, also known as the Blue Pumpkin and I'm not a fan. It's hard to control the flow of the ink because of its very fine tip. (Trivia: The Hiro #40 Nib (Blue Pumpkin) nib no longer has "Hiro stamped on it, instead it now has "leonardt".)

Also, I'm always taken to the ink spatter land! I hate it when the nib got caught up with the paper. Anyway, I'll be attending a workshop by La Bella Scrittura so I'm really looking forward meeting Ms. Aileen (@theleftieadvantage) personally! Why? Because she's an experienced calligrapher. And left-handed too. I'm so excited!

Here's my latest work, another quote by Jodi Meadows from her book Asunder. It's my favorite book in the Newsoul trilogy and this quote is perfect for me in many ways -- family, friendship and lovelife.

Ink used: Eternal Higgins (Black)
Nib: Brause 66EF

Welcome to Ink Spatter land! Ugh, look at that smudge on the last word.

Oh, I'm hoping that next time, the ink that will form these beautiful words will land on my skin, not on paper. If you know what I mean. :)

How about you? What other activities are you up to lately, aside from reading? I'd love to know thru the comment section below!

DON'T JUDGE A BOOK BY ITS MOVIE

(c) Source

(Just a quick post in lieu of my reading slump... and because I find this GIF very funny)

Have you ever tried watching a movie based on a book that you read? I'm sure many of you already did. But have you experienced hearing negative comments from other viewers inside the cinema, saying how bad the movie is and that they won't even bother reading the book?

I hate it when books are judged by their movies. There is this time when I was inside my favorite local bookstore and while browsing the shelves, I heard this girl wanted to buy a certain book so much. But then her friend told her that the movie was bad, so most probably, the book was bad, too. They had a long conversation about it (and I was there, listening the whole time) In the end, the girl didn't buy the book, saying she realized what her friend said must be true. I wanted to throw (not literally) the book onto their faces and make them read to see how good the book is. 

We all know that when books are set for filming, there are scenes that are cut. Sometimes, it's okay if the scenes were not so important, but there are also times when the part that was cut was the most anticipated part of the readers. Remember the butterknife scene in Divergent? *sobs*

Okay, I know that not all of us are avid readers, but we should never ever discourage someone who wants to read just because its movie sucked. That what chances are for, right?

Top Ten Books that Stayed with Me in Some Ways

I was recently tagged by a lot of my Facebook friends on their statuses about a list of the books that have stayed with me in some way. I want to return the favor to them by posting but I'm afraid my non-reader friends might get annoyed with my redundant Facebook status. Plus, my list constantly changes! So I decided to just share this list on my blog. I think this is the most accurate list so far.

Rules: Don't take more than a few minutes and do not think too hard. They do not have to be right and great works of literature. (But to turn it up a notch, maybe you can share a line or two on why these books stayed with you.)

Not in a particular order, but these are the top ten books that stayed with me in some way:

HEY NOSTRADAMUS! BY DOUGLAS COUPLAND

The book talks about four stories connected, and Cheryl's doodle on her notes "God is nowhere, God is now here". It talks about love, pain, family, miracles, and God. Included in the list 101 Books to Read Before You Die, Hey, Nostradamus! made me feel the connected with the characters and the the trauma they felt by the characters because of the high school massacre. Read my (very amateurish) review here.

THE DIARY OF A YOUNG GIRL BY ANNE FRANK

THE STORY OF MY LIFE BY HELEN KELLER

VAMPIRE KISSES BY ELLEN SCHREIBER

For the love of vampires! This is the first vampire book I've read and I love the series! Who wouldn't fall in love with Alexander, anyway? I really wanna feel how to be loved and protected by a vampire and Alexander made me feel it even if I'm just reading... You can check out my review here.

THE CATASTROPHIC HISTORY OF YOU AND ME BY JESS ROTHENBERG

This novel is a book not mainly about death, but about acceptance and letting go. AND FALLING INLOVE ALL OVER AGAIN. There's also a twist in the story that made me confused at first, "the other life" of Brie.  This, so far, is the most touching and heart melting contemporary novel I ever read. I never expected this to be so great. I love this. I absolutely love this novel!

“You can obsess and obsess over how things ended- what you did wrong or could have done differently- but there's not much of a point. It's not like it'll change anything. So really, why worry?”

EVERY DAY BY DAVID LEVITHAN

The fact that I was so moved by the story, the way it touched my deepest emotions within, the way it made me feel loved, the way it broke my heart... I can say that this is a very good book. Not all books can leave you crying in the end, and feel like you're really a part of the story.

“When first love ends, most people eventually know there will be more to come. They are not through with love. Love is not through with them. It will never be the same as the first, but it will be better in different ways.”

HOPELESS BY COLLEEN HOOVER

The love story between Sky and Holder is perfect. No instalove happened. But in Holder's case, there has always been something about Sky the moment he saw her. And Sky have no idea about Holder's interest for her. It's because he has always been gentle to her. No pressure at all. But he's always there for her and promised to protect her with all his life. They were both broken, but they gave each other the strength and hope they needed. Gaaaah! I just loved every single page in this book.

“When I touch you, I’m touching you because I want to make you happy. When I kiss you, I’m kissing you because you have the most incredible mouth I’ve ever seen and you know I can’t not kiss it. And when I make love to you—I’m doing exactly that. I’m making love to you because I’m in love with you.” 

ELEANOR AND PARK BY RAINBOW ROWELL

This is a simple, classy and nostalgic novel that will bring you back to those days where it all began. When you first felt something weird in your chest, the fast heartbeat, when you first felt the butterflies swarming around the insides of your stomach, when you first felt the heat on your cheeks, when you first felt conscious about how you look... and so many other first times when it comes to falling in love.

"You never forget your first love."

A CRY FOR HOPE BY BETH RINYU

At first, I thought this will be another love story about a girl and a boy who were bestfriends then ended up marrying each other. But I was wrong. This is a story about Hope, a mother, who lost her son. Not only did he lost her son, but also her husband's heart. He blames her for the tragic incident and she can do nothing but to take the blame. I am not a mother (yet) but through Beth's writing, I can feel the exact feelings of Hope. If I were her, I wouldn't know what to do. It's too much heartbreak for me and I can't bear that kind of pain. . .

"My two greatest fears in life were losing my child and dying myself. Since I had already faced one of those fears head on, I no longer feared the second."

ISLA AND THE HAPPILY EVER AFTER BY STEPHANIE PERKINS

So far, this is the best Contemporary book I've read this year! Stephanie Perkins  is the Contemporary Romance Queen! There are no words to describe how lovely this book is!

“Do adults realize how lucky they are? Or do they forget that these small moments are actually small miracles? I don’t want to ever forget.” 

“There's no story,' I say. 'I saw you one day, and I just knew.” 

I actually have a looooooooooooooooong list of books that stayed with me in some ways. But, like the rule said, "Don't take more than a few minutes and do not think too hard." and these books are what entered my thoughts immediately. Some are what I have read just this year, while some I read years ago. Either way, great books are timeless. :)

Tea-rrific Post #3: To All the Boys I've Loved Before...

Jenny Han's latest book, To All The Boys I've Loved Before, is probably the bestselling book for the ladies this past few weeks. It's literally sold out in almost all of our local bookstores nationwide! So during Jenny Han's visit here in Manila, Philippines, I grabbed the opportunity to ask some ladies to finish the phrase:

While waiting for their turn to have their books signed, I interviewed these four beautiful ladies and asked their permission if I can take a photo of them showing off their copy of To All The Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han and post it here on my blog, along with their message. Let's see what they want to say to all those boys they've loved before!

To all the boys I've loved before...

"...thank you for coming into my life and I hope you go through the same sh*t you've put me through. Goodluck to your lives."

-M.C. (@emceeyy)

To all the boys I've loved before...

"...thank you for teaching me lessons about life and love. BUT SCREW YOU."

-Alex (@ughlexandrugh)

To all the boys I've loved before...

..."thank you for everything we've been through. Thank you for the memories even if they weren't so great. Even though things didn't go the way I wanted to, you'll always have a special place in my heart."

-Mika (@MIKAtniss)

To all the boys I've loved before...

"...may you be happy with your life and go for what makes you happy."

-Bea (@beamarciales)

I want to give these pretty ladies a huge hug and thank you for their cooperation and being so nice to let me ask them this favor! Thank you very much M.C., Alex, Mika, and Bea! It's nice to meet you! You can read my review of To All The Boys I've Loved Before here and see what my thoughts about the book are. And of course, I also have a message to all the boys that came in my life...

Tea-rrific Topic #2: Genre Dilemmas

When I started this book blog, it has always been YA books that I read. Particularly those that fall under science fiction, dystopian, utopian, fantasy, paranormal, and other out of this world genres.

I had developed a vast imagination on non human creatures and typically, I learned every single thing about them through cross referencing on the internet. What I loved most are books about vampires and werewolves. It's like no creature could get any hotter than Damon Salvatore and Jacob Black. I have always swooned over these guys when I first met them at the books. They triggered my love for paranormal books and I didn't regret that.

Since then, I always buy books about them. I read a lot of good books and enjoyed reviewing them on my blog. I was even sometimes lost of words to justify the goodness of a book. Then I was introduced to The Hunger Games. Unfortunately, I didn't fall for any of the guys (Gale Hawthorn and Peeta Mellark). Instead, I fell inlove with the heroin, Katniss Everdeen. A year later, I discovered Divergent and I couldn't get enough of the story, as well as the Dauntless characters of Four and Tris. Badass heroins were always the best!

But now, I am so sad to admit that I think they're not my cup of tea anymore. I don't know what happened. I recently became interested into reading Contemporary novels because they're more realistic and easier to relate to. These past few weeks, I chose to pick up light reads. Maybe this is because of so much stress college gave me, that I can't get my brain to work on extraordinary and futuristic imaginations. 

I'm not saying that I won't read books that fall under those genres anymore. I guess I need to take a break from reading those kinds of books. Anyway, I'd still be posting reviews of books about them, books I have read before I suffered this reading problem. Expect book reviews of the following YA titles:

• Ignite Me (Shatter Me #3) by Tahereh Mafi
• White Hot Kiss (The Dark Elements #3) by Jennifer L. Armentrout
• Hush, Hush (Hush, Hush #1) by Becca Fitzpatrick

Maybe one day I'd wake up and realize that I miss them. That I miss bloody nights with a vampire, howls of a wolf, magical dusts of fairies, enchantments of witches,  fallen angels, and more badass heroes and heroins. 

So, Are you experiencing genre dilemmas too? Tell me about it! By the way, what contemporary novel would you like to recommend for me to read? Comment them below! :)

Tea-rrific Topic #1: My Reading Journey + Reading Essentials

(Tea-rrific Topics will be about my book blogging issues and tips for readers and bloggers out there. For now, that will do the magic. It's not really final on what my topics will be so please watch out for my future posts!)

I think it's very obvious that I loooooooove to read. I've been a reader since kindergarten and my parents has always been supportive of that. My mom didn't had a hard time teaching me how to read since I've always been eager to know what those words on the books mean and how they were associated with the pictures with it. Plus, I love to draw. I'm pretty good at it. ;)

I grew up reading Sweet Valley Twins, Sweet Valley High, and Goosebumps. I also had a complete collection of the comic book magazine W.I.T.C.H. Then at the age 13, I started having an interest in reading classics, historical fictions, memoirs, biographies, autobiographies, and fiction contemporary novels. I don't read much Young Adult back then. My YA journey started with Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer and Blue is for Nightmare series by Laurie Faria Stolarz.  Since then, I shifted reading from classics to young adult books. My love for reading is accompanied by my love of writing. I'm a campus journalist when I was in highschool, and I became the Editor-in-Chief during my senior year. I also love to write poems. I have a blog for them named The Tongue-tied Poet.

I started blogging when I was in second year college, while I surfed around Goodreads. Since I was already blogging about my personal life before, I realized it would be a great idea to have a blog about my passion for books. I can finally have a space where I can rant over my feels and meet other people with the same passion (since I don't have many friends who love reading).

Before, it's not really important to me whether I have a copy of the book I like. But since I started blogging, I can no longer stop myself buying books. Before, I don't do highlights or put marks/tabs on the pages where I find quotes that touch me, but now, I'm pretty obsessed with buying bookmarks and post-its. I even carry a notebook with me so I can write down my rants about a certain book anytime and make a list of the books I want to buy. Yeah, I know it's easier to use my cellphone but I just like to write them down. I also use my cellphone by the way, sometimes.

And now, I would like to share with you my reading essentials. These are basically the things I need to have as a bookworm:

1. Discount and membership cards of our local book stores. And yes, a Starbucks card for my coffee and tea addiction!

2. TBR (To-be-read) Jar. A facebook friend suggested that I make one so that when I can't decide on what book should I read next, I can just pick one!

3. Highlighting materials. Highlighter pens (But no, I don't highlight my books. They're for educational books) and post-its for marking the pages I love the most!

4. Bookmarks. I love collecting bookmarks! Actually, I intend to buy a bookmark that would match my next read!

5. Planner. To keep track of my everyday to-do's. I love reading but of course I don't want it to be the reason I don't finish the tasks I need to. Also, as a blogger, I also keep track of the blog tours I signed up to.

6. Pen and Notebook. This is where I write down my thoughts and reviews about the books I read. I can't go out of the house without a pen and a notebook inside my bag.

7. My Kobo Glo e-Reader. I love to read on physical books but sometimes, I don't bring them with me especially during rainy days and because I'm scared them might get damaged or what. So, to fill in my love for books, I bought an e-Reader. This Kobo reads EPUB formats only. I have a Kindle app on my phone.

8. Dictionary. I may have a thing for words and my friends call me "The Walking Dictionary" but I still need this to improve my vocabulary and grammar!

And, to sum up my reading essentials, I bought something to serve as my reading kit. It's called a Habi Binder.

Taken from the Habi Binders' facebook page, here are some facts/description to let you know more about them:

*Habi is a 13” x 9” multifunctional binder that allows easy organization and caters to the needs of the present generation such as the emergence of tablet computers. The Habi binder features pockets, compartments and a secured tablet computer slot. 

The Habi binder comes in a variety of Filipino inspired designs made up of woven fabrics sourced from different places such as:

-T’boli tnalak fabric from T’boli weavers in Lake Sebu 

-Native woven fabric from Benguet province 

-Abaca fabric from Cebu

*Habi means 'weave'

I got my Habi Binder through my blogger friends, Sab of Sab the Book Eater. She's one of the people behind the mini company that started the Habi Binders project. Check out her post about this wherein she introduced it as her Reading Kit! Click here.

So, there it is! My first discussion post. What about you? Share about your reading journey in the comments or give me a link if you already discussed about this thing on your blog! You can also tell me about your reading essentials! *wink*

New Feature: Tea-rrific Topics

It's obvious that I love reading, that's why I created this blog. So I can post my bookish rants endlessly. But there are times that I also take a break from reading, and I come to think of some other bookish things. I've been blogging for more than a year now, and in that short span of my blogging life, I learned a lot of things and met a lot of new friends. Some of them were bloggers like me, some were just into reading, and some of them were the lovely authors of the books I read! I know there's already a lot of discussion posts out there by other bloggers, but I just want to name my own. Some of my future posts might be discussed already, but who knows? There has to be (even a little) a difference between our points of view, right? So my bookish readers, I present to you, Tea-rrific Topics, hosted by yours truly, the tea-rrific reader, Algel.

So, basically, my Tea-rrific Posts will be about:

• my book blogging issues
• tips for readers and bloggers out there

For now, that will do the magic. It's not really final on what my topics will be so please watch out for my future posts!

Here's a glimpse of what my first post will be about:

Can you guess what my first topic is? See you next week for my first Tea-rrific Post! :)