Day to Read 2009!

Please scroll down for my Fun and Music Monday...


We're doing it again!

Do what, you may ask...

Well SMID started this brilliant idea last year by asking fellow bloggers the following favor --

On Jan. 10, 2008, let us take time to READ.

Read anything you wish to read...

but haven't taken the time to,

...a book...

a magazine...

a newspaper...

what have you!

After it's successful launch last year (which was actually this year!) Day to Read is back and hopefully with more participants this time! And yes, Mariposa...who is a book enthusiast...and can't seem to get herself off from anything that she can read...is joining again!

January 8, 2009!

Please mark your calendar...

And let's do it again!

I invite you ALL to join this wonderful initiative...

SMID has many reasons when she started this Day to Read;

Because according to a report released last year reading books is linked to civic engagement. This National Endowment for the Arts reports that young folks aren't reading like they used to. Get this:

• only 30% of 13-year-olds read almost every day


• the number of 17-year-olds who never read for pleasure increased from 9 percent in 1984 to 19 percent in 2004 - that is 1 in 5 kids don't read for fun


• Almost half of Americans between ages 18 and 24 never read books for pleasure


• The average person between ages 15 and 24 spends 2 to 2 1/2 hours a day watching TV and 7 minutes reading

According to Diane Gioia, the Chair of the NEA,

"The poorest Americans who read did twice as much volunteering and charity work as the richest who did not read. The habit of regular reading awakens something inside a person that makes him or her take their own life more seriously and at the same time develops the sense that other people's lives are real."

Where ever we are in the world, I guess there is a universal decline in people's interest to read...so I hope each of us will pull the stats up comes January next year!

January 8, 2009 turn off your computer and read...something, anything...then on Friday, January 9th, share to us what you read!

It will be fun, promise!

Two Memes on a Friday!

Lines from Page 123...

Lovely Gwen of Everything I Like Causes Cancer tag me...I've done this TAG already. This will be my second time, but it's fine, I love it anyway...the first one I did is HERE.

The rule is quite easy;

1. Pick up the nearest book, of at least 123 pages.

2. Open the book to page 123.

3. Find the fifth sentence.

4. Post the next three sentences.

5. Tag five people.

I'm home right now and is in my mini-office/study! I share this space with the I.T. Guy since he usually spends most of his time here...and does his things here. So we will see what book is at arms length...LOL

At random, I got..."When I'm In His Presence: Devotional Thoughts on Worship for Women" by Anita Corrine Donihue. I opened the first page and it has the date August 26, 2000. I bought this book 6 days after my birthday... ;)

On page 123, OMG...it has only one word, and that is "Faithful".

Now, I don't know if I have to jump to the next page...but just in case I should...

Page 124, sentence 6th to 8th...

"Help you? The Creator, the Controller of the universe? I don't help."

This is chapter talk about faith...and how timely. I have to read this book again...or at least this chapter.

Since I did this already...I'm not sure if I can still tag some people.

Let me try...I TAG the following sexy people from my HNT (Half-Nekkid thursday) crowd...

1. The lovely Kate

2. The ever pink Vixen

3. Amorous Chick

4. The hot CurvaceousDee.

5. Anyone who wants to do this TAG.



What is Mariposa's accent?!

Finally, I took this test to determine what American accent I have...I leeched this from one HNT participants I guess...I apologize for not linking...I'll try to find out who that is. If you get here, please let me know! ;)

So this is the result! (So to our VM, puh...leeaassee stop minding my accent because honestly, you are the only American who gives a fuss about it and while you compliment other people about their communication, makes me think what is your standard!!!) Seriously, can somebody volunteer to talk/ listen with/to me and tell if my accent really sucks?!

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Midland "You have a Midland accent" is just another way of saying "you don't have an accent." You probably are from the Midland (Pennsylvania, southern Ohio, southern Indiana, southern Illinois, and Missouri) but then for all we know you could be from Florida or Charleston or one of those big southern cities like Atlanta or Dallas. You have a good voice for TV and radio.
Philadelphia
The South
The West
Boston
The Inland North
The Northeast
North Central
What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

TMI Tuesday #119

1. What was your favorite book as a kid?

I have always loved The Wizard of OZ...have read it hundred times!

2. If you were stranded on that proverbial desert island (again!), what book or books (up to 5) would you want to have with you?

Mostly would beDavid Morell's book...and some other favorites...can I bring my mini-library?! LOL

(1) The Fraternity of the Stone

(2) Brotherhood of the Rose

(3) Memoirs of a Geisha

(4) The Good Earth

(5) A Brief History of Time - Yes, I'm a fan of Stephen Hawking

3. What was the first "naughty" book you read and in what way was it naughty?

Ha! I was high school then, and it was few days before the semestral break...so I was scanning the library shelves randomly to find some good cooks for me to read...then I saw one, The Blind Date, at first I thought it was written by a Russian, but then Jerzy Kosinski is Polish I think. Honestly, Ican't really recall the story, all I know was it was something like "obscene" to be read by a 15 year old then...It was the first time I read about tieing people in bed and all those "crazy things" that people can/ would do in bed...LOL

I just googled the book, and I think I want to read it again.

4. If you were to publish your autobiography today, what would be the title?

Mariposa's Tales

5. Would you rather look at nude pictures/pornography or read erotic fiction and why?

Read. In always love to read...and In like it when I'm in control...I can't control pictures...but I can control my mind...

Bonus (as in optional):

Do you know the whereabouts today of the first person with whom you had sex?

Hahaha, I just had coffee with him...he drove me to work today! ;)



Other TMI Tuesday Participants!

A Reading Report - Veronika Decides to Die

This is not really a book or reading report...but more of a reaction paper or should I say reaction blog.

Veronika Decides To Die is a book I have been wanting to read...and finally, I did!

I find this book thought provoking, though too short for my usual taste with less than 200 pages. Though with its short length it can be read in one sitting, I found it preferable to read the story in short segments at a time, allowing me to reflect more deeply on the story unfolding before me and that allowed me to appreciate more the messages that the author is trying to get across....and considering I got this book a a gift last Christmas and has until Jan. 10 to finish it...it was already great!

I don't intend to write a very good synopsis about the book, I'm sure you can find something nicely written somewhere in the web. But I'd rather talk about its impact on me.

The title though plays an important part of the story...should not misled us, for the most part of story, I would say, it has us to do with choosing to LIVE. Yes, it is about making the deliberate choice to really LIVE each day, as opposed to just existing...

The book talks about 3 perennial themes:

*Insanity (Madness)
*Conformity and
*Death

It had taken me aback several times...as it is about a desperate young woman's search for the the will to live when she is so close to death...and this was after she decided to die.

Veronika's disappointment at having survived suicide was palpable. She imagines the rest of her life filled with disillusionment and monotony, and vows not to leave Vilette alive. Much to her surprise, however, she learns that a fate she desires awaits her anyway: She is destined to die within a week's time, of a heart damage caused by her suicide attempt. Gradually, this knowledge changes Veronika's perception of death and life.

Then, I'm taken to the time when I got really sick...and how time became to precious to me...

I was taken aback at the start of the novel, a contemplation on the expression of conformity and madness, and it turns into a dazzling exploration of the unconscious choices we make each day between living and dying, despair and liberation.

How deeply it made me think and reflect!

The author, in an unadorned tale, narrated in a charmingly ironic style the profoundest depths of mores, madness and meaning. His book is full of lyrical whisperings...and that is what I need in a book.Not what authors tells, but what it whispers...

I would recommend this book anybody, especially those who struggle through the monotonous routines of life, as this book would show how much more is out there for us to experience.

So after reading the book, Mariposa once again...had been reinforced in her ideas...and decides to live a happy life!

Better Late Than Never

Jan. 10, 2008 was proclaimed as a Day To Read...

I had to leave early from work last Wednesday...and I had to stay in bed since then...I have fever and cough...but I did read!

I will post my reading report maybe later today...

For the meantime...better late than never.

Happy HNT!

Day to Read

I got into WhollyBurble's site, and she inspired me to excuse my life from RL issues and do the things I love to do, READING that is!

So, I am joining Day to Read.

On Jan. 10, 2008, let us take time to READ.

Read anything you wish to read...

but haven't taken the time to,

...a book...

a magazine...

a newspaper...

what have you!

I have been a great fan of books! Books has always been my comfort. If I'm sad, I read. I'f I'm glad, I read. If I'm lonely, I read. If I want to travel but don't have the time and resources to do so, I read.

Most books I am reading and are with me are classics, philosophical (include slef-helped) and business books of course!

An all-time favorites of mine are:

* The Good Earth by Pearl Buck, this books reminds me of my Grandpa who valued land so much. Most of my childhood memories were spent with him in his farm. He allowed me the privilege to plant rice, corn and understand the values of land and agriculture. It breaks my heart to listen to my Aunts and Uncles plan about selling the land. So that I'm saving to hard to make sure I have enough to buy it if ever they really decide to. Some of the parcels had already been disposed and is in my name now. That is not an investment for me though (people may think it is!) but my little attempt to keep connected with my Grandpa whom I dearly love and missed!

* The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. I read this when I was 13 and I still love reading it again whenever I have the time, after all they say, "If one cannot enjoy reading a book over and over again, there is no use in reading it at all.” It taught me at a very yourn age that Beauty depends on the eye of the beholder. More than anything, this book made me decide never to let go the child in me. I never wanted to be those adults who never understood what the Little Prince was drawing, it was a boa's constrictor, not a hat. :)

* Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach. This book made me realize what to look for in a book. It is never what the author says, but what the book whispers...and it whispered to me. "..there is no there, there!" This encourages me to spread my wings and fly...

* The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum. This is the book that I grew up with and how I go back to the different characterisitcs in the story today...as I have been the Lion, the Tin WoodMan, the Scarecrow and etc. at some point in my life.

I still have a lot, and most of them are classics, I love the works of the following authors, Jane Austen, Emily Bronte, John Grisham, and a lot more. I'm too lazy to type all of them, but you can browse my bookshelf here anytime...

So not only I commit myself to Jan. 10, 2008 as a Day to Read but I commit myself here to read a good book and post the review here. (Books that I have been wanting to read but haven't find time to!)

Reading is a discount ticket to everywhere. So, read with me and the rest of the world and together, let us get there! ;)

Thank you!