By the way, I've moved to: http://thatlazycrazylady.tumblr.com :)

Of Children's Books...

My aunt has started night duty the other day. And so, for two days I have been putting my six-year-old cousin to bed (I used to do this when my aunt had to come home late from school as well). As with most children, bedtime stories are a tradition. Sometimes, I would read her several short stories, as these are the most engaging for a young child. Sometimes, she would request one of the longer books because these "made her sleepy faster." It goes without saying then that she finds "long books" a bit boring. It is difficult, after all, to hold a young child's attention for the time it takes to finish a book.

This time, however, she found a "long book" that captured her attention and imagination with every page.

 I'm talking about Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Even I (and I haven't read this book as a child) found it pretty amazing. And funny. I think the descriptions of delicious sweets and colorful things in Charlie's life and inside Wonka's factory stirred her imagination so much that she didn't really need many illustrations to visualize what exactly was going on. She was pretty shocked that Charlie could only have one chocolate a year, and she would clutch her blanket in excitement as Charlie opened his candy bar as she proclaimed "I hope Charlie gets a golden ticket!" And she positively squealed with delight when Charlie finally got one! Halfway through the book, she even got so hungry from listening about candy bars and jelly beans that I had to make her a snack.

Children's books are pretty wonderful. I was a very imaginative as a child myself, and until now I prefer whimsical and meaningful Childrens' books to most Teen/Adult ones. After all, simple stories such as The Velveteen Rabbit and The Little Prince contain so much more wonder and life lessons than a lot of the adult novels I've read. And so, I've decided to start rereading one of the books I enjoyed as a child as well:

Frances Hodgson Burnett's A Little Princess. I've forgotten most of the story, but I can definitely see a lot of myself in little Sara - I also had/have a strong imagination and love making up stories.

And, you know what? If I get children of my own one day, I think I'm going to stock the house full of these marvelous children's stories and share it to them. I don't want them to miss out on the joy and magic of reading books (and they sure as hell don't rot your brain out as television and computer games do.) I don't want them to be boring children who spend their lives with eyes stuck on the television or computer screen. I want them to have an imagination, to see extraordinary things in the ordinary, and to be able to find something fun when everybody else thinks there's "nothing to do".

So, join me in the nostalgia. Why don't you pick up one of your favorite old children's books and reread them? I think it's the best way to feel young again. :)

Pink, yellow and blue sunrise

I went out for my early morning walk today in the usual fashion. It was around six in the morning and the air was still pleasantly cool. I put on a pink jacket and jeans (both my jogging pants are still in the wash), put on my headphones and started to play podcasts from Frenchpod (I'm trying to learn French.)

Today, I was lucky enough to witness a particularly beautiful sunrise. What stood out most to me was the colors (Typical thing for me to say. I'm a color freak. Have been ever since my first, huge box of Crayolas.) I loved the way the soft blue (almost periwinkle) of the sky was stained by the yellow light of the sun. Somehow, as these two colors met, the clouds ended up stained in pink and purple as well.I took some photos too:

 

The colors are a bit darker I think because my cellphone automatically adjusts contrast based on the lightest and the darkest hues. I promise, it was more wonderful in person. So wonderful, in fact, that I think I don't think I remember a single word in French after all that. I was way too absorbed with looking at the sky and taking pictures.
Incidentally, the pictures remind me of the coloring choices and style of one of my favorite artists, Jake Probelski aka OchreJelly.
Case in point:

(See more of Jake Probelski's work here and here)

See the yellows, the pinks, the blues and the purples? I didn't realize that he used such sunrise-y colors until now. I think I'm going to paint something using this color scheme one day.
In the meantime, someone got jealous because I was staring too much at the sun:

Don't worry, moon. You're beautiful too. :)

Happy 2010!

I don't really do New Year's resolutions. And it's not even an issue of wanting to resist change, it's more of an issue of definition. The word "resolution" is defined by Webster as "the act or process of resolving". In medicine, it is used to describe a disease that is disappearing, or someone who is "getting better". Basically, it implies that something is wrong and must be changed.

I don't believe that there can be anything absolutely wrong with the average person. (You haven't robbed a bank? Murdered anyone? Screwed up your sister's life? Not a pedophile? An extremist? Good. I'd say you fall under this category.) So-called bad traits or flaws tend to be good characteristics that are exaggerated or gone (slightly) bad.

Anyway. Since I've decided to start a blog on a New Year, I figured I would start it with a New Year's resolution of sorts. Only, for reasons I've already explained, I won't call it a resolution. I'd call it things I want to happen (and will work on) this year. So. This year, I want to:

• Continue with painting and sculpture. Preferably, practice every day. (I want to improve significantly this year.)
• Learn to bake and/or sew. Maybe I'll take up a course or two at TESDA for this.
• Exercise regularly.(I do exercise but I'd like to do it more often.)
• Eliminate processed food from my diet. (For health and environmental reasons ;))
• Earn enough money to get myself braces. (I don't really need them, but my teeth have been bothering me lately.)
• Enjoy the year!

It doesn't look like much, but I think it will be a real challenge to accomplish these. Whether I fulfill these or not, 2010 still looks like it's going to be a promising year. As I have said, I don't believe there's anything wrong wrong with me or anyone else for that matter. There's nothing I really have to change completely, there's just a whole lot of stuff to do. :)

And right now, I definitely think I can count on myself to make everything I dream about happen. :)