monthly recap

May was a bit lazy for me especially in terms of reading. Hoping June would be better in terms of reading.

LIST OF NEWSWORTHY

Bout of Books x 3
Due to my self-induced book hangover after finishing Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy, I couldn’t focus on a single book. So when Bout of Books 10.0 rolled around, I had to take part because I had managed to finish one book almost two weeks in to May. I’m so glad I took the plunge ’cause not only my reading choices turned out to be amazing, I managed to reach my goal of reading four books.

Bedroom Choices
I finally took out the rest of my books from the closet! My sister put them there when I left for college back in 2009. But now they’re on my bedroom floor ’cause lack of a bookshelf will do that to you. And then cleaning closets is not an easy feat. Now I’m trying to figure out how to repaint a table for my creative needs so there’s that as well.

TV WATCH

I watched TV pretty sporadically but I’m caught up on most of them so that’s good.

Revenge was amazing. Way to turn the tables!
What in the world, The Vampire Diaries?! I’m happy, though? Ha ha.
Reign‘s finale was okay and New Girl‘s finale kinda sucked.
I finished my binge-watch of Arrow (which was amazing) and The Carrie Diaries (which was bittersweet).
Awkward and Faking It are going fine, I guess.
Orphan Black is going awesome. I’d really recommend that you watch it f you aren’t already.

MOVIE WATCH

Transformers (7/10) – I love Bumblebee and Optimus Prime is the autobot. Still these don’t have much on Pacific Rim’s jaegers.
Her (8/10) – Subtle, thought-provoking and beautiful. I think everybody should watch this movie.
Toy Story 2 (7/10) – I liked it but not more than Toy Story. Now I’m bracing myself for Toy Story 3.
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (9/10) – A beautiful, beautiful movie. Ben Stiller is an amazing director.
Walk of Shame (6/10) – I liked it more than I was expecting to.
The Internship (5/10) – I pretty much just watched it for Dylan O’Brien. The movie was meh, he wasn’t.

LIST OF READS

Talker 25 by Joshua McCune
Life by Committee by Corey Ann Haydu
Open Road Summer by Emery Lord
Since You’ve Been Gone by Morgan Matson

LIST OF BLOGPOSTS

I posted my review of The Taking by Kimberly Derting.
I posted a Fresh Bytes playlist full of undiscovered music awesomeness.
I posted about my reading progress during Bout of Books 10.0.
I posted my review of Life by Committee by Corey Ann Haydu.

I also wrote a post about some quirks of Asti on her blog.

LIST OF BOOK BUYS

The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson
Red Rising by Pierce Brown (thank you, Hodder!)
Since You’ve Been Gone by Morgan Matson
Open Road Summer by Emery Lord

PLAYLIST

April was laid back and tense. In all honestly, it was pretty much an oxymoron of sorts.

LIST OF NEWSWORTHY

Nephew’s Arrival
I finally, finally an aunt to baby boy. I’ve four nieces and it’s such a different feeling to finally have a nephew in the family. He’s 9 years younger than her only elder sister and so, so adorable. He gets annoyed easily and is one of those babies who like to wake up at 2 am in the morning and wail and wail.

Days of Binge-Reading and Awe
From 3rd April to 30th April, I started and finished  Laini Taylor’s Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy. I didn’t think I could do it but I did and I loved every minute of it. Definitely binge-reading more series and hoping that they turn out to be as awe-inspiring as this one.

TV WATCH

I watched TV pretty sporadically but I’m caught up on most of them so that’s good.

How I Met Your Mother series finale, you sucked major balls. I shouldn’t even have mentioned it.

I’m getting bored with New Girl. I need more laughing bits.
Suits finale was EPIC and asdfghjkl.
I caught up on all of Reign and got obsessed with Torrance Coombs. My ship sank, though.
Awkward is back and I’m really glad that I can laugh on Tuesdays again which is pretty much why I watch it.
Orphan Black is back and OMFG, I love it so much.
I also started watching Faking It. I think I like it, yes.

MOVIE WATCH

April was great in terms of the number of movies I watched.

The Avengers (9/10) – I can’t even with this movie. Perfection, really. I needed amazing in my life and it delivered.
Sixteen Candles (7/10) – A classic feel good movie.
Oblivion (6/10) – Such a pretty, pretty movie but it just didn’t blow me away plot-wise. Too many unanswered questions, maybe.
21 Jump Street (5/10) – I thought it’d be way more funny than it was so, it was an okay movie.

LIST OF READS

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell
Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor
Days of Blood and Starlight by Laini Taylor
Night of Cake and Puppets by Laini Taylor
Dreams of Gods and Monsters by Laini Taylor

LIST OF BLOGPOSTS

I posted a 101 on how to browse catalogs and tag titles on Edelweiss.
I posted my thoughts about characters who pull a one-eighty.
I posted a top ten Tuesday list of YA for fantasy and sci-fi movie watchers.

LIST OF BOOK BUYS

The Assassin’s Blade by Sarah J Maas
Days of Blood and Starlight by Laini Taylor
Night of Cake and Puppets by Laini Taylor
Dreams of Gods and Monsters by Laini Taylor

PLAYLIST

LIST OF NEWSWORTHY

Manic about Music
I listened to a ton of music this month. Yesterday, I listened to One Direction more than fifty times. Midnight Memories is one of my favorite albums and I’ve only listened to it only a couple of times. I so made fun of Sandra for loving One Direction and now I’m sobbing over their awesomeness and winning at life.

Home is where my butt is.
It feels so good to be back home. Not that my thesis is over yet. I’m just trying not to stress about it too much ’cause it has to be over one day. Anyway, my city knows what spring is and I’m loving the breezy weather. It is also a little chilly but I don’t mind it.

Birthday
I turned 24 on March 29th and wrote a blogpost about it. Thank you so much to everyone who wished me. I feel so grateful to know so many awesome people.

TV WATCH

I watched TV pretty sporadically but I’m caught up on most of them so that’s good.

I watched all of Teen Wolf. Expect a blogpost about it to go up this week because this show demands it.
Jess’ sister is in New Girl is meh. Buster, though.
The season finale of Brooklyn Nine-Nine aired. My life is over.
Suits is back! Oh, how I missed this show.
How I Met Your Mother will be over today. I don’t even.

MOVIE WATCH

I did not watch any movies this month. But I do plan to watch a few in April.

LIST OF READS

I managed to read in between the eight books and if I manage it every month, I can get to 96 by the end of the year and maybe, get to 100 even. Eep.

Panic by Lauren Oliver
Side Effects May Vary by Julie Murphy
Elusion by Claudia Gabel and Cheryl Klam
The Taking by Kimberly Derting
Salvage by Alexandra Duncan
Ask Again Later by Liz Czukas
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz
Angelfall by Susan Ee

LIST OF BLOGPOSTS

I posted a top ten Tuesday list of authors I’ve never read.
I created a playlist titled Operating on Electric because music is awesome.
I posted my review of Panic by Lauren Oliver.
I started another new feature and posted about YA adventures in parts.
I posted about turning twenty-four and random favorites.

LIST OF BOOK BUYS

The Maze Runner by James Dashner
Allegiant by Veronica Roth
The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater
World After by Susan Ee

PLAYLIST

LIST OF NEWSWORTHY

The Neverland of Thesis
Population: 1.
Why can’t I be done and over with it? Ugh.

Rollercoaster Ride
I procrastinated at the beginning of February by listening to tons of music, reading books and bing-watching Orphan Black. The middle of February was filled with love-a-thon-ness. But the end of February took a complete one-eighty on me. I wallopped in a state of distress, was unable to finish RDR’s Virtual Book Club pick and failed my comment-on-at-least-one-blog-every-day goal. Sigh. I’m much better now, though.

TV WATCH

TV in February turned out to be pretty sporadic.

I finished the first season of Orphan Black. Watch it if you haven’t, you’ll not be disappointed.
The pilot episode of Veronica Mars was too good.
New Girl and Brooklyn Nine-Nine still making Tuesdays worth it.
I just want for How I Met Your Mother to be over.

The pilot of The Mindy Project was just…okay. Or maybe I’m not in the mood for it.
I continued Teen Wolf this month and got to the middle of the second season. I’m pretty much just watching it for Stiles.

MOVIE WATCH

I haven’t been watching as many movies as I used to. I want to but then I don’t want to. Err.

Frozen (8/10) – I liked it a lot. I still do but I also feel like there’s room for improvement.
The Kids Are All Right (7/10) – Annette Bening is such a good actress. The movie gets points for spontaneity.

LIST OF READS

Still ahead on my Goodreads challenge this month. I feel weird about it. Then I think that it’s probably because of the few novellas I read in between the eight books.

Proxy by Mindee Arnett
Avalon by Mindee Arnett
Neverfall by Brodi Ashton
Everbound by Brodi Ashton
Evertrue by Brodi Ashton
Scarlet by A. C. Gaughen
I Am Pusheen the Cat by Claire Belton
All That Glows by Ryan Graudin
Split Second by Kasie West
The Last Best Kiss by Claire LeZebnik

LIST OF BLOGPOSTS

I started a new feature and posted about absent mothers and female bildungsroman in YA.
I started another new feature and talked about serial distress.
I took part in Love-a-Thon.
I posted my review of All That Glows by Ryan Graudin.

LIST OF BOOK BUYS

Split Second by Kasie West
Lady Thief by A. C. Gaughen

PLAYLIST

January turned out to be an all-around good start to 2014 despite my thesis defense almost happening and then getting delayed. I got disheartened for a while there but it is what it is. Sigh.

LIST OF NEWSWORTHY

Snowfall
It snowed! I saw snow after four years because college made it impossible for me to be in my city for when it happened. Anyway, it was beautiful and there was snowball fights and I never want it to end.

Macaron-ed
I had my first macaron ever and it was divine. My friends and I were having tea in a cafe and they offered us macarons to try them out since they started selling it only recently. There was a strawberry flavored one and the other one was caramel-ish. I’m never getting tired of them.

All the Books
I bought seventeen books this month because I just want to read all the YA fantasy series. So yeah I went ahead and bought three complete series: Graceling Realm, The Archived, and Fire and Thorns. This is also in preparation for the ereader that I’m buying next month (yes, this is totally, finally happening).

20K Tweets
I planned to reach 20K tweets before January was over and right now, I’m at 20.3K. If only I was this motivated in other areas of my life as well. Seriously, though, Twitter is the best.

TV WATCH

I didn’t watch as much of TV as I usually do.  And yes, usually, I do watch a lot of TV.

I watched the first episode of Sherlock this month and mentally shook myself to ask just why did it take me 2 years to watch it.
Awkward‘s season finale left me feeling all fuzzy and warm.
New Girl and Brooklyn Nine-Nine make Tuesdays worth it.
The latest episode of How I Met Your Mother was so whimsical I loved it.

Reign threw me in for a loop and I’m loving the role-reversals.
I finally caught up on Revenge and it’s all gone so twisty!

MOVIE WATCH

This year, I aim to watch all the movies I so easily watchlist on IMDB. I might actually succeed. I think.

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 (thumbs up) – It was ridiculously funny and I loved Barry the strawberry. Why aren’t foodimals real?

LIST OF READS

I’m actually ahead on my Goodreads challenge this month. Yeah, that’s how rarely I’m ahead when it comes to this challenge. Ha.

The Witch of Duva by Leigh Bardugo
Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
The Tailor by Leigh Bardugo
The Promise of Amazing by Robin Constantine
Uninvited by Sophie Jordan
No One Else Can Have You by Kathleen Hale
Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge
Just One Year by Gayle Forman

LIST OF BLOGPOSTS

I posted my review of Vicious by V. E. Schwab.
I posted my goals and progress regarding bout of books 9.0.
I posted a top ten list of my bookish goals and this year’s YA sci-fi debuts.
I posted my review of The Promise of Amazing by Robin Constantine.
I posted my review of No One Else Can Have You by Kathleen Hale.
I posted my review of Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge.

LIST OF BOOK BUYS

Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson
Incarnate by Jodi Meadows
Halfway to the Grave by Jeaniene Frost
The Madman’s Daughter by Megan Shepherd
All the Truth That’s In Me by Julie Berry
Graceling by Kristin Cashore
Scarlet by A.C. Gaughen
Just One Year by Gayle Forman
The Archived by Victoria Schwab
The Unbound by Victoria Schwab
Seraphina by Rachel Hartman
The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson
The Crown of Embers by Rae Carson
The Bitter Kingdom by Rae Carson
Mammon Inc. by Hwee Hwee Tan

PLAYLIST