Snail mail

I recently started exchanging letters with some of my friends - real, pen and paper letters. With a stamp on an envelope. It is actually quite a different experience from communicating over the internet, via chat or e-mail. And definitely different from skype or telephone. When you don't send it just by clicking a button (or enter), you think more about what you write. And you can add other cool things, like illustrations and drawings, not only emoticons. When I sit down to write a letter, I find I am so used to using emoticons to express myself using the written word that they sometimes sneak in. I think this is a testament to how much more (and more often) I write on computers than on paper when communicating with someone else through writing.

Writing a letter is a bit more challenging than just writing a note or a short e-mail. It is a relatively slow process, and you have to think about what you are writing and form it into a coherent structure with sentences, paragraphs, beginnings, and ends. At the same time, I like to write informal letters - letters where you just write down whatever you think about at that time and answer the questions from the letter you receive. That way, you become closer friends, by getting a piece of that person's mind at many different points in time.

It is lovely receiving letters, and you get more letters if you send more letters - that's my understanding of things, anyway. Actually, exchanging letters is kind of magical. Suddenly, collecting the post becomes exciting - has he or she written today? So, if you want some more excitement, awesome and lovely things in your life - start exchanging letters with a friend! Don't just hope you'll happen to be online at the same time on facebook, do something about it! Or get a pen pal, maybe from an exotic country or another culture. That way, you will learn about a new culture at the same time as making new friends! The postage does cost some money, but personally, I think it's worth it.

Shades of Grey

Here is a book review for those of you who want something to read in the new year, or something to spend your Christmas money on. I have recently (last year (haha)) finished a book called Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde, and I absolutely loved it, so be warned.

This is a book set in the future (hundreds of years), when social hierarchy is decided by people's perception of colour and The Rulebook decides how they live their lives. The main character, Eddie Russett, is a likeable Red who is sent to the Outer Fringes and discovers that the world he lives in is very different from what he thought. Of course, he meets a girl - who repeatedly threatens to kill him, and of course he falls head over heels for her (I promise, this is not a spoiler - it's from the summary on the back of the book).

This book is a gem - mostly because of the language and the puns. I was chuckling as I was reading and I loved how "old-fashioned" words (that is, longer words from our time that has gone obsolete) were noticed when they were used, and there were plenty of colour-related puns. The characters were also really colourful (excuse the pun) and interesting.

This book was slow paced, but I felt that enough things happened to keep me captivated. I read this book at the end of my examination period, when I was revising for my exams. I just wanted to go back to Shades of Grey all the time, because it was so interesting and funny. And above all, this book was extremely entertaining. I am already waiting impatiently for the sequel, which does not come out until 2013. As someone said on Goodreads: "...this dystopian kicks ass."

I hope you had a merry Christmas and I wish you a happy New Year!

PS: What should I count here this year? 50 books is on again, but should I count something else?

Hilarious Carols

It is nearly Christmas, and you know what that means...children going from door to door singing (not necessarily beautifully) Christmas carols. In addition, the Christmas songs are taking over the airwaves, so that every time you turn the radio on you get 'Driving Home for Christmas', 'All I Want for Christmas' (with Justin Bieber singing this year, just as a treat), or (horrors of horrors) 'Twelve Days of Christmas'. I'm not saying I'm opposed to Christmas carols, they do get you in the Christmas spirit (whatever that is). It's just that I get a bit fed up with listening to the same (old) unoriginal songs over and over (and over, and over, and over....you get it) again.

So this year, what about the old boring Christmas carols with a twist on them? Youtube has this audio transcription tool which quite often does quite a bad job of transcribing the things that are being said in the video. This can often turn out really funny, like in this video, where these two guys (called Rhett and Link) sang some Christmas carols, uploaded them to youtube, and then used the audio transcription to make a new video with the new lyrics. Among the things the poor lover gets during the twelve days of Christmas are experienced ranch hands and two fertile doves (I can't stop laughing). It is quite hilarious, on the whole.

I hope this will brighten up your December day (if the Christmas lights aren't helping), and I'll be back later (when one of my two exams will be done - yay!).

Books read: 50
Pages read: 14756

Re-reading books

People often ask me why I re-read books. I mean, I have a good memory, so a year after I read a book the first time, I could probably remember most of the plot points, the names of the characters, and also probably the tone of the book. But still, I enjoy re-reading books. I usually wait at least one year between each re-read, but still, I go into the reading experience knowing what lies ahead.

For me, re-reading a book is kind of like talking to an old friend again after a while apart. You rediscover small things, you see things that you didn't see earlier because then you were just focused on the story and the suspense drove you on. Sometimes you even discover new facets of the book or maybe appreciate more fully the effort put into writing the book. Maybe you see new literary devices or the long lines in the narrative become clearer.

Anyway, reading a book you liked again makes the world of that book spring to your mind, and you can re-acquaint yourself with the characters and the world they live in. Usually, the experiences of reading a book the first time and the consecutive times I read it are quite different. Since I know what is going to happen and how, I can read slower, appreciating the language and imagery. Another huge plus is that I can usually put the book down easier if I've read it before. And, of course, if you own the book, re-reads are completely free! (The poor student speaks again.) I also have a 'rule' that I re-read series of books or books I have borrowed from the library or friends when I own them or the whole series.

But, of course, there are some books that are good to re-read, and there are some that aren't. A huge criteria is that I liked the book the first time I read it (unless, of course, I am giving a book a second chance). Another is that the story has enough nooks and crevices to discover new things, or that it is written in a way that makes me want to read it to experience the emotions again. Another criteria may be that I liked the characters, or maybe that I want to read a book to investigate some of the minor characters that I might have missed in my first (or even second) read.

At any rate, I value re-reads. I think it adds to the experience of the book and I have a great time revisiting old favourites. When it comes to re-reads in my fifty books challenge, I am following the rules laid down in a post on a forum called Your Pants, which allows me to read the same book up to five times a year. I will probably not read any book five times this year, but I might read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows twice (that is, once more this year). So re-reads are cheap and good fun (I think), so think about picking up a book you liked but haven't read in a while for your next read. Good reading!

Pages read: 12150
Books read: 43

A wanna ride a harse

Before I came here, I found out via wikipedia that the language spoken in St. Vincent was English. Then I came here, and I realised that I couldn't understand anything. Here at Richmond Vale Academy, most people speak Spanish. I don't speak Spanish, so I was lost at mealtimes, and any time I was with Spanish-speaking people (all the time, in other words). And the locals here speak what is called 'Broken English'.

We had some groups of local schoolchildren visiting a while back. We were showing them around and teaching them about the animals and the gardens. When they came running towards the horses, they would often shout: "A wanna ride a harse!" We thought that was a bit funny. The way they talk here is really difficult to understand. They speak fast, and slur the words together. There are certain sounds they just don't pronounce, like 'th'. 'The' becomes 'da', and 'birthday' becomes something along the lines of 'bird day'. The slogan for one of the political parties in St. Vincent the previous election was: 'We naah tun back'. This was printed on T-shirts (with this spelling), and I didn't understand what it meant before I said it under my breath to myself. It is really strange (and a bit funny) to read these obvious spelling mistakes, since I notice them easily and get irritated if I am at home or on the internet. Here, though, it is mostly just funny. It is really difficult to learn the local language, so the only thing I can actually say (and understand) is 'me na no' (I don't know).

Now, on to something else. These flies have been flying around and landing random places. They are connected in pairs by their bodies, so I have been calling them double flies. It is like I am almost constantly seeing flies having sex, and also having sex on me (in my hair, on my skirt, etc.). Frankly, it's a bit irritating. But it's also fascinating. Especially how they can survive and navigate (if they do so at all), being connected like that. And also what the point of this connecting thing is (how it works). I guess biology is the right field for me, since I'm asking these questions all the time. I love being curious about nature!


Books read: 26
Pages read: 7213