Morning Person

First of all, I'm not it.

Second of all, no one in my family is it either. So I guess it runs in the family? I mean my dad wakes up early every single day and I could tell that he hates it. So much that he feels the desire to ruin his children's day, wake them up at sunrise, to not let himself be the only one who has to suffer. To not let himself be the only one feeling miserable in the morning. Love you, dad!

Thirdly, Hey guys! How's it going? Me ? Oh, I'm good.. Thank you very much. *smiley face*

Anyway, yeah, I am definitely not a morning person. I am a certified nocturnal. While I was in my home country, enjoying my winter break, I never sleep until everyone else is up. When the entire house is getting ready to sleep, I am at my most awake state. It's kind of annoying because I've only slept like three hours before my dad would wake me up. This kept on going throughout the month that I'm home. And mind you, waking me up is one of the hardest tasks that anyone in my family has ever done in their lives (I am obviously exaggerating but you know what I mean). After a week of trying to get me to get up at appropriate hours failed miserably, they just give up. Not even gonna try anymore. Sick and tired of my shit, apparently. However, they keep on commenting how I am such a bad example for my siblings. Which in all honesty, doesn't really affect me in anyway. They are capable of making their own choices. I'm not going to go around telling them what they should and should not do.

But then, comes the time when I get to arrange my schedule for the next semester. I was on my bed, still. Just woke up and immediately opened my laptop because what else would I be doing. Checked my school portal thing where I can organize my timetable. Not one, but TWO subjects. Morning class. Can't change it. No other class available for it. THE HORROR. I didn't have to deal with this last semester. WHY NOW? All kinds of curse words were yelled out. In my head. Because everyone else is asleep at the time, obviously. I am not the kind of person who would wake up at the wee hours of the morning. Why would you do this to me, Satan? I then proceed to convince myself that maybe, there will be new classes uploaded after a few days. The timetable's only been up for a couple of hours. There will be more class. There must be. There. Must. Be. Two weeks later, still no class. I can only cry at my horrible fate of not one, but TWO 8.30 classes. Bye aimless internet surfing time. I'll see you when the semester ends.

Last week, seven days before my classes commence, I volunteer (as tribute) to help with new students orientation where I was required to be at the headquarters at 8 in the morning. Can I do it? Very questionable at the time, considering the sleeping habit that I had just a week before that. I did it, though. The latest I've been is 8.15. It's not that bad, is it? Tolerable, I guess? I was surprised, too. I have very low expectation in waking up quite early to get ready. But I did it. Along with the zombie-like greetings I gave everyone every morning. I did it. It's fine.

However, comes Saturday. Finished my volunteering duties on Thursday. Can finally sleep in. Saturday, though. Oh my, Saturday. I woke up at 6.30. In the morning. Can you believe that? I mean, my earliest alarm is at 7, the remains of my volunteering activities. My alarm hasn't even woken up yet. I was so confused. I thought it was 6.30 in the evening at first but I was like nah, there's no way it's 6.30 pm already. So okay, after a short while of "What? What happened? Okay?" moment, I went to the bathroom to take care of my business then went back to my room. Then I apparently started to do my laundry in my half asleep state. I didn't realize I did it until I had my breakfast. When realization hit me, I started screaming in my head. WHAT AM I DOING? Did I just do my laundry? Unconsciously? What the hell? I was doing my laundry at 7. In the morning. On a Saturday. No college student does their laundry at 7 in the morning. 7 in the morning is the time for sleeping. Sleeping is love, sleeping is life.

So weird. So very weird. Is this my body clock now? Am I going to wake up before 8 everyday now? Am I a morning person now? What is this? This is not me. I am not a morning person. I never was. Huh. Weird.

But honestly, I'm not really mad about it. I am actually pretty grateful that I can finish doing stuff earlier in the day. It has that sort of productive feeling to it. You all know I am a pro procrastinator. It just feels bizarre that *I* am the person getting stuff done in the morning. It's not what's usual for me. But at least I get to be more productive than I was when I wake up after noon. So that's good, I guess.

Finally, one question: How many times did I say morning in this post?

I'll see you guys next time. Bye!

Riz

On Being Organized

Hey guys!

It's been almost a month since I post anything on this blog. I've been kind of busy travelling from home to my grandparents' place and back to Australia. I've been on the plane so much last month my butt hurts. Since I'm back in Australia now, I've taken care of some school matters and done some volunteer work for my campus this week which have been so much fun but also quite exhausting. I have been very productive this past couple of weeks. Everything is under control and I can relax a bit this weekend. Now that I have free time in my hands (finally!) I'm going to talk to you guys about what being organized mean to me. (What a segway)

Being organized is something that I find difficult at times and it doesn't get any easier the longer I do it. I started to have a real planner or agenda or whatever you call it, in 2013. It was sometime between the last years of my high school and moving to Australia. I thought that since I'm going to live on my own now with no one telling me what I'm supposed to do, I have to be responsible for everything. I have to take care of school things, chores, social life, and work by myself. So, of course, I need to arrange everything in one place where I can see it. Because apparently, keeping a reminder in my head wasn't enough. Planner it is, then.

About the Reading Thing...

Hello again, people!

So, Riz, you might be asking, what happened to your book obsession? Why aren't you talking about it as much anymore? Well, in short, it has changed. I mean, it's not that I'm not reading anymore or I've stopped buying books altogether. It's nothing like that. I even got loads of books for my birthday a few months ago. It's just I don't see myself being as excited about books as I was a couple years back. Maybe I'm just in a huge reading slump. I don't really know. It's saddening, really. I hate feeling like this.

It probably started during my foundation studies period when I have anxiety attacks and depression episodes almost daily. I can't really be excited about things anymore and just become this lump of emotionally non-functioning human. I'm not ready to talk about this yet so I'll just leave it at that. Point is that it was the moment when my motivation for reading (or anything, really) kind of go down the hill. I mean, I still liked watching videos about books on youtube but I kind of drift away from reading book reviews. I don't even open my goodreads account anymore. If you see the widget in the right side of this blog, you'll notice that I've only read four books this year. That's kind of sad.

I'm actually in the middle of reading Champion by Marie Lu and it's a great book. I really like how it's going. The thing is, I've been in the middle of that book for months. And I hate that it's been months that I'm standing in the same spot. As I said, the plot is going really nicely. So, obviously, it's nothing to do with the quality of the book. That only leaves me with one reason. Me. Something is wrong with me.

As you probably know from my last post, I'm home now. I reason that I've not been reading here because there are a lot of manga and I can access the internet 24/7 without needing to go to the library like I do in Australia. But even in places that I have books laid in front of my eyes, I never choose to read them. Instead, I read short stories on the internet. I am so angry at myself when I figure that out. I try everything to go back to reading again. If you remember, I tried doing the week-long read-a-thon and it was a complete fail. I felt really saddened by that. I mean, I read two (three?) whole books but I just didn't feel the kick of wanting to read more books after that. I just read for the sake of the marathon and not because I really did want to read.

It's kind of depressing how it has changed for the worse. I remember being so excited to read a book after I bought it but it's not at all like that now. When I buy a book, it feels nice to hold it in my hand but as soon as I get home, I just put it in my bookcase and never touch it again for the next few months or even years. I hate it. I don't want to not be happy about books. It is what I feel like has shaped me as a person (other than the internet) today. I don't want to walk away from it but at the same time, I don't want to feel obligated to read because I'm guilty about it.

I don't know how to feel about this, I'm sorry for the complains I have put you guys through with these posts these days. I just need to get things out my chest before it kills me. And with all the stress of my exams a few weeks ago I kind of get mood swings so unreasonably. I don't know. I'm sorry. Bye.

Riz

Legend by Marie Lu: A Review

Title: Legend
Author: Marie Lu
Publisher: Speak
Series: Legend #1
Release Date: November 29, 2011
Pages: 305 (Paperback)
Source: Purchased
Rating: 

What was once the western United States is now home to the Republic, a nation perpetually at war with its neighbors. 

Born into an elite family in one of the Republic's wealthiest districts, fifteen-year-old June is a prodigy being groomed for success in the Republic's highest military circles. 

Born into the slums, fifteen-year-old Day is the country's most wanted criminal. But his motives may not be as malicious as they seem. 

From very different worlds, June and Day have no reason to cross paths - until the day June's brother, Metias, is murdered and Day becomes the prime suspect. 
Caught in the ultimate game of cat and mouse, Day is in a race for his family's survival, while June seeks to avenge Metias's death. But in a shocking turn of events, the two uncover the truth of what has really brought them together, and the sinister lengths their country will go to keep its secrets.

Bout of Books 12.0 | Wrap Up

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, January 5th and runs through Sunday, January 11th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 12 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team

In conclusion, I'm horrible at this. Maybe it's because I picked the wrong time as I am a week away from my finals. Or maybe I'm just lazy. Either is correct. I ended up reading two and a half books which is not too bad considering the circumstances. Maybe I'll try read-a-thoning again next month. I'll be free most of the time, so should be fine. Anyway, on with the wrap up!

Book(s) read:

• Girl Online by Zoe Sugg
• Grace's Guide: The Art of Pretending to be a Grown-up by Grace Helbig
• Legend by Marie Lu

Total pages: 726

Thoughts: I am tired. I'm gonna take a nap.

Riz