[Day 13] A fictional book
I’ll count the last entry as the one for day 12.
Funny, when made to name a fictional book, I’m at a loss for words. Where to start? I already wrote about Harriet the Spy.
Ah, I know, I’ll write about the Jessica Darling series.
I make no excuses: this is chick-lit. I actually like chick-lit when the female protagonist is not so simplistic. It isn’t all about settling down and getting married after all. As a twenty-something girl who often feels like someone in a chick-lit setting, it’s a juggling act of work, love, friendship, and coming to terms with myself. It is a cliche because it’s true.
Jessica Darling from books one to three narrates through a compilation of letters to her best friend. She is a frustrated achiever, smarter and more aware of what goes on outside of her little town. Of all the people to empathize with her, it’s with Marcus, the high school druggie. What follows is a rollercoaster relationship with Marcus, as well as struggling to stick to the bigger picture no matter how small-minded the world around her is. As she enters Columbia University in New York, she finds that even she looks as small as the town she left behind. Add to that is the complex on-off relationship with Marcus, who has chosen to tread an alternative approach to life.
In book 4, Jessica Darling chooses to make her life without Marcus. It’s not a spoiler, I think this is a plus in the Jessica Darling series – book 5, she encounters Marcus again. They don’t end up together, but they finally understand what it is that has kept them together for all that time.
The Jessica Darling series was lent to me at an interesting time. I had a Marcus, one I’m still coming to terms with. It is one of those things a friend and I often agree to be, “when smart people become stupid”. I’m not ashamed to own up to my smarts, but I know I have HUGE potholes in my rationale.
I always appreciate female leads who don’t have to be right all the time. That is more real to me than someone who actually makes the dream of having it all. I only know one person who finally had it all, and it was a lifetime struggle for her. I like that the series writes about the struggle. Jessica Darling is often unsatisfied, but it rings true. It helps that McCafferty made it so timely: she did her research and grounded it very well into the time it was written.
Everything just read so well and felt so real. I still read it from time to time when hit by nostalgia, or confusion.
Part of the 30 Day Writing Meme. Next is Day 14: A Non-fictional book.
[Writing Meme] Day 6: Whatever catches your fancy
I am a workaholic because I don’t like being restless. I also like money a lot, like any person really. I don’t like being tied down by poverty, and I abhor being bored.
Of course, juggling labor-heavy jobs such as crew-work and teaching will take its toll on the body. I hate getting sick, and I should be taking my vitamins more diligently. Even when that doesn’t work, I can only hope to stave off the flu with home remedy I picked off a talk show during college. It’s what I like to call the anti-flu marinade.
Anti-Flu Marinade
Ingredients:
(1/2) Cup Rock Salt
(1) Lemon wedge (can be replaced with 2-4 calamansis)
(1) Tablespoon of olive oil
Preparation:
Pour the rock salt into a small bowl, then mix in the olive oil. Squeeze in the lemon or calamansi.
How to use:
Scrub down with this mixture in a hot shower or bath. Rinse off.
You’ll feel refreshed right after. In my experience, if you do this during early symptoms of the flu (low fever, slight sniffles) it’s sometimes enough to keep it away.
So that’s what I’m doing now for a speedy recovery for the flu. I have tech week, bills to pay, and I need to be in tip-top shape!
Part of the 30 Day Writing Meme. Next is Day 7: A photo that makes you happy.
[Writing Meme] Day 5: Your Favorite Quote
Two stick to me —
“From the ashes of my failures shall rise the empire of my successes.” -as seen by Jessica Zafra on the back of a jeep
and,
“The world is not perfect, therefore it is.” -Kino no Tabi/Kino’s Journey. This is the fansub translation in the anime. The official English manga translation says it’s “The world is not beautiful, therefore it is”, which could also apply, but I much prefer the insight from the fansub.
Part of the 30 Day Meme. Next is Day 6: Whatever tickles your fancy.
[Writing Meme] Day 4: Your Favorite Book
I was a funny kid. I was more enamored by a list of banned books than I was by any best seller or recommended library list. Harriet the Spy caught my eye on a list of banned books in one of those almanacs. I was intrigued about the story of the spunky young kid who writes notes about other people. My first writing workshop with Teacher Maya Jacinto used an excerpt from Harriet as an example for worldbuilding, and a few months later I managed to find a copy from a boutique bookstore.
I had this vague notion of wanting to be a writer, and I automatically took to anything that talked about writing. I was eleven years old at the time and didn’t really understand the emotional range and complications Harriet went through, even though we were about the same age. I realized later that I probably saw myself through Harriet: the awkward kid who wrote a lot and were open to a lot of things my peers weren’t open to. At the time I started reading Harrier the Spy I really was growing up, and growing out from my colleagues. My elementary school was one of those most students stayed in from kindergarten through grade 7. I got the feeling, though I couldn’t quite put it to words at the time, that change was not something my peers were open to. I didn’t feel free to try new things, and in the few times I did I wasn’t prepared for the ridicule and criticism that followed.
It took a few reads for me to get Harriet, and a few more years before I really understood how much the book taught me. To this day I read the book when I feel that I’m in an awkward place, or when I’m about to come face-to-face with dangerous, beautiful truth.
Part of the 30 Day Writing Meme. Next is Day 5: Your Favorite Quote.
[Writing Meme] Day 3: Your Favorite TV Show
I currently don’t have cable TV so I have to turn to DVDs or the internet for my TV fix. I am addicted to crime dramas, especially to Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.
If you’re not familiar with the series, L&O:SVU focuses on a special team in the New York Police Department tasked with investigating sex crimes.
I am one of those that enjoy criminal profiling and forensic investigation. It started with Discovery Channel’s Medical Detectives from several years back when we still had cable TV. I didn’t get into CSI because it was too glitzy, and I preferred the psychology more than the fancy laboratory toys that can track a perp from the littlest details. L&O: SVU is dark and disturbing, but most of the time delivers excellent mysteries and commanding performances. I have yet to see a crime drama top the quality of this series. The closest was Criminal Minds, up until the writer’s strike did them in during their 3rd season.
A part of me considers getting units in Criminology because of these series’, but even they advise against it. For one thing, I’m queasy. Also, these cases take a mental and emotional toll on the investigators. It’s tough enough to make the case, and to see justice served.
Part of the 30 Day Writing Meme. Next is Day 4: Your Favorite Book.