Ruby Loves Adventure

Posting so everyone could see photos that I took using my Sony H20 while on vacation in DC.
The Smithsonian National Zoo is free to go to - they have a wide variety of animals there, and they are very, very well cared for. The zoo also acts as a research area as well.

The zoo is on the red line, you can go down at the zoo stop. In our case, the hotel we are staying in was just a mile away from the zoo (around 1.6+ KMs) so we took a leisurely walk through the Adams-Morgan neighborhood. Although we only spent a total of 3 hours at the zoo (spent the time there while waiting for us to be checked in our room at the Normandy), it was definitely not enough. I'll definitely go back here on my next DC trip - whenever that would be. :)

Enjoy the photos, but if you plan to use them commercially, please let me know and don't just steal them!

Mommy Panda munching on some bamboo

Asian Elephant

Duckie

Look, it's Timon!

Peekaboo I see you!!

Cuteeee!

Magilla Gorilla - amazing how they're like humans

Galapagos tortoise - can't wait to see you in the wild!

Another one of those bloggers that I've been following for a while. Finishing the Tim Ferris book and moving on to another non fiction, I picked this up from the library on a whim as I was looking for another book to read.

Suprisingly, I was very disappointed as soon as I read the last page of the book. Here, I thought it would be like a very inspiring book about how to not conform but some of the points in his book don't apply to me and my life choices, and most of it just revolves around him.

Sure, there's some points that I like about his book, but in total, 99% of what is in the book was just a repetition of his experiences, and 1% was where you can get to reflect on your own life choices. Hmmm bad ratio, if you ask me.
Like, how many times do you have to say your story about how you went to Africa because you read about this doctor who gave up his practice in California to live on a ship and help those in war torn African countries? He practically related the story like 5 times in the book.

What I also liked was there were loads of feedback from other book authors whose titles I may just check out after my non-fiction pile to read is done.

I won't stop reading Chris Guillebeau's blog - that is still very inspiring, but I would just recommend anyone who would want to pick up this book to just borrow it from your library (which I did, thankfully) and not waste precious $$$ on it. You could get most of the content free on his website anyway - www.chrisguillebeau.com/3x5

Book borrowed from: Jacksonville Public Library
Rating: 1.5/5

“John L’Heureux has built a gripping story of love, genius and betrayal.”

--JM Coetzee, Nobel Prize for Literature, Booker Prize Winner

“Deeply enjoyable, The Medici Boy soars like an operatic aria, before breaking our hearts.”

--David Henry Hwang, playwright, M. Butterfly, Chinglish

“L’Heureux’s is certainly one of America’s greatest living writers. I’d put him in the top ten...And now he’s come out with his first new novel in ten years, The Medici Boy, and it’s a masterpiece, the most ambitious, beautiful, and complex novel I’ve read this year…”

--David Vann, Financial Times of London

Astor + Blue Editions is proud to release perhaps the most passionate work of master storyteller, John L’Heureux, in The Medici Boy [ISBN:  978-1-938231-50-6 (Hard Cover); ISBN: 978-1-938231-48-3 (E-book); US $25.95; Historical / Literary Fiction; 346 Pages, April, 2014].  Described as “one of America’s greatest living writers” by the Financial Times of London, L’Heureux returns with a long-awaited new historical fiction novel; the result of years of research—backed by a Guggenheim Grant—on location in Europe.

In this well-conceived, historically accurate rendering, the Renaissance worlds of art, politics and passion collide. With his distinct style and rich, sinewy narrative, L’Heureux ingeniously transports the reader to Donatello’s Renaissance Italy—directly into his bottega, (workshop), as witnessed through the eyes of Luca Mattei, a devoted assistant.

While creating his famous bronze of David and Goliath, Donatello’s passion for his enormously beautiful model and part time rent boy, Agnolo, ignites a dangerous jealousy that ultimately leads to murder. Luca, the complex and conflicted assistant, will sacrifice all to save Donatello, even his master’s friend—the great patron of art, Cosimo de’ Medici.

John L’Heureux’s long-awaited hardcover delivers both a monumental and intimate narrative of the creative genius, Donatello, at the height of his powers. With incisive detail, L’Heureux artfully renders the master sculptor’s forbidden homosexual passions, and the artistry that enthralled the leading—and competing—powerbrokers of Renaissance Florence: the Medici and Albizzi families. The finished work is a sumptuously detailed narrative that entertains while it delves deeply into both the sacred and the profane within one of the Italian Renaissance’s most consequential cities, fifteenth century Florence.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Award-winning poet, novelist, and short story writer, John L’Heureux has taught at Georgetown University, Tufts, Harvard, and (for more than 35 years) in the English Department of Stanford University where he was Lane Professor of Humanities.  There he received the Dean’s Award for Excellence in Teaching and earned it again in 1998.

A prolific writer, L’Heureux has written more than twenty books of fiction, short fiction and poetry.  His works have appeared in the Atlantic Monthly, Esquire, Harper’s, The New Yorker, and have been included in dozens of anthologies including Best American Stories and Prize Stories: the O. Henry Awards.

John L’Heureux has twice received writing fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and in 2006 he was awarded a Guggenheim Grant to do research for The Medici Boy, his new novel.

He is retired and lives in Palo Alto with his wife Joan.

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You can check out the cinematic book trailer in the link below:

http://youtu.be/cqY4isZMjlI

 
 Also, this book has got some press from the Washington Post: 
http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/book-world-the-medici-boy-by-john-lheureux/2014/05/04/82984268-cf1c-11e3-a6b1-45c4dffb85a6_story.html?wprss=rss_entertainment

Do check it out when you can! 

I picked up this book on a whim from the library. It was finance week and it was one of the featured finance books. I first looked at the book and noticed Ali Velshi - he hosted a CNN business show way back when I was living in Manila and I used to watch said business show everyday.

What can I say about this book? Not much. I read it within a week, it was quite thin at around 170+ pages. It was full of tips on how to speak money with your partners, how to prepare for university/college, how to manage your portfolio (invest, invest, invest) and prepare for retirement.

The beach - although you can't swim there

Travel, for me, is a drug that keeps me moving. It keeps my mind sharp and alert - by making me want to explore more, find more places (which the internet had made it very easy to do), and just know more.

In this post, I focus on Cumberland Island National Seashore. I initially learned about this place from a colleague of mine when I first moved to America. However, he did not say there was a tour. My persistent research showed me to this website:
http://www.nps.gov/cuis/index.htm

**More after the jump -- click on the title link to get to the full post**

Ok, imagine you can only work for four hours a week and the rest of the time, you can do whatever you want. Would you like that type of life?

That is the main reason why I picked up this book in the first place. It was early 2013, and I was hit badly by the travel bug. I had been backpacking for 2 years and really, really wanted to find a way to escape the desk job and find a way to create other income streams so I could travel the world, which is a great passion of mine.

I first bought the book when Fully Booked in Alabang opened. I searched long and hard for it and was thrilled when it was available - it was pricey (in Pesos) but I bought it anyway.

I started reading the book... only, I had to leave a few months later for a new life in America. As the book was quite bulky, I had to leave it at home - only to reunite with it when I borrowed it from the Jacksonville library (YAY).

So, the concept of the book is simple, the New Rich, as the book calls, mostly wants you to look for ways to become more productive by eliminating, automating (or outsourcing), and batching tasks. And for employed workers, to negotiate a remote working agreement so that you can go ahead and live elsewhere while keeping a steady source of income in your pocket.

It also explains the concept of mini-retirements, where you go stay in one place for a while, 3 months, 6 months, however long it takes, before moving on to another place. Every time you move to a new place, a new series of challenges would ensue: how to adapt in the new environment, how to find new friends, and how even the most mundane tasks you do back home are so much different abroad.

Book also provided suggestions on what to do after you have let go of the 9-5 grind, and the main point was continuous learning - which I totally agree with. This is the reason why I keep reading books and travel! Nothing fills up the mind more with ideas of where to go next, and what to do in a certain place (like learn a language and soak up their culture).

The book also warns us that too many options can lead us to become unproductive - as we spend a lot of time mulling over certain decisions, this would mean our attention is somewhere else, and attention is important for us as it consumes our time. It all ties up!

I loved this book - one of the reasons why I have two copies, one of which I'll probably give away to a friend who may need this as well. I have taken a leap - although not the same one as Tim did, but I managed to move to two different countries c/o my company, enabling me to get the best of both worlds (staying employed & living in an entirely different continent from where I used to live in).

Do get a copy of the book and apply some of what's there - I suggest writing down your action points and goals so you could always take a look back at what you've written and see if you did manage to reach your goal.

Rating: 5/5
Published by: Crown
Book borrowed from Jacksonville Public Library.

In my "winter" outfit

Last November 2013, I had a chance to go to South Carolina for a weekend trip. It was a nice, pleasant time to go - and of course, it would tick off one State in my goal of visiting all 50 states in the United States.

In this travel blog, I feature Magnolia Plantation - this used to be a plantation in the old times (yes, where the slaves were, farming for their masters) but has now been opened to the public who want to tour the massive grounds.

Lovely autumn scenery while hiking - look at those leaves!

There's three parts to this plantation: the swamp, the grounds, and the house. There's other areas too but those are the ones I went to so far. We got one free entrance ticket by donating a canned item to the plantation, but the swamp we had to pay an extra for, which was fine.

Even though it was freezing that day, I enjoyed the long walks, the nice colours of autumn, and the natural scenery of the place. For someone who came from a place that does not have four seasons, it is a welcome change indeed.

The Magnolia plantation house

One of the things I loved was the animal watching - there were all sorts of birds around the area. Ture, I'm not really a bird watching enthusiast but since they're there, might as well, right? I've never seen birds like that back home before: pelicans, ospreys, egrets, vultures, even. Back home, the most common birds are little ones called the mayas. In here, the most common ones I see on an almost daily basis are ducks. Also pigeons and some little birds that I don't know the name of.

Seeing a swamp is amazing too - I have never really seen swamps before. Apparently the swamp in the plantation has alligators living there. Unfortunately for me, no gator sightings this time.

And that pretty much concludes my Magnolia Plantation trip. To be honest, I've forgotten how to get to Magnolia Plantation. I think we just googled the directions from the hotel in Charleston and it's roughly around 30 minutes and we're there. Parking is free within the compound.  I've uploaded more photos below that you can peruse while I am out trying to create a new blog post.

Have a nice weekend you guys :)

I've fired up the purple Lenovo netbook because I had to back up some photos from my camera - I have an upcoming trip to Savannah, Georgia in a few days and I definitely need the extra megabytes of space that I could get.

Anyhoo, while I was looking through some old photos, I figured I might as well start uploading them one by one here in the blog so the miniscule number of people reading my blog can actually enjoy some of the photos I take, and not just it being saved down in a computer, being forgotten somewhere.

Most of these photos were taken during my first month in Jacksonville so these were all new to me.

First photo on the left - my employer, Deutsche Bank. They had recently expanded their operations in Jacksonville, FL and I managed to move from the Manila branch to the US. Yay!


 This photo on the left is the Cumer Museum - don't kill me if my spelling is wrong. Normally you have to pay to get in but the museum has free entrance every Tuesdays from 6pm until it closes at around 9. Great, huh? This photo was taken on a Saturday morning, while I was on my way to the Riverside Arts Market every Saturday under the overpass.

And yes, I did get to go in the museum on a Tuesday. There's a lovely garden area inside - they have an English garden and an Italian garden and it overlooks St John's River. A nice place to just chill out and relax.

Photo on the left is Tinseltown USA - the movie theater on the same street as the office and my apartment. While movies here in America cost a lot ore than Manila, my first time to watch a movie here was two weeks after I arrived. I saw Gravity and also saw a few other films here and there.

Normally I don't go to cinemas because of the cost, but it is good to treat myself every now and again.

So there you have it - a brief tour of Jacksonville for now :)

This is currently the place I love and I'll post blogs every now and again on places I've been and what I've been doing :)

It's a nice and sunny day outside in Jacksonville - and I realize that I have been posting mostly about my book reviews than concentrating on my travels - so, this is one of the first that I'm posting since I moved to America nearly 6 months ago.

Hanging out at the boat deck during the cruise

One nice November weekend, my boyfriend (then friend) asked me if I wanted to do a sunset cruise in Amelia Island - and I said yes, of course. Anything for a new experience right? I do not remember how much it costs but it departs from Amelia and tours you around the nearby river areas - where you can see Fort Clinch, and parts of downtown Fernandina Beach. Mostly it tours you around the Cumberland Island area - where there were wild horses roaming around.

Wild horses, you may think? Oh yes - they're really wild. They don't have an owner, and apparently they have a shorter lifespan than normal horses. Aren't they cool?

The sunset was bloody amazing - if you check on the photo I have uploaded below, you could just imagine yourself being in an African safari - it was just that pretty! Plus the reflection of the sun in the water was just so pleasantly nice.

Wild Horses at Cumberland Island - we were lucky!

On the way back to Fernandina Beach from the cruise of Cumberland Island, it got so bloody freezing - hey, what did I expect? It was November! I thought the weather in Jacksonville would be warm (Florida = warm weather = NOT) but I was proven wrong - it was definitely really cold. Maybe because we were in the water - and that's what made it worse.

Sunset view while on the cruise - amazing!

Getting to the cruise/Amelia Island/Fernandina Beach - I do not remember which tour company we booked the cruise from but just google Amelia Island cruises and you should be able to find one or a few companies offering this service.

Amelia Island/Fernandina Beach is around 40 minutes from Jacksonville and can be reached by I-95 or by A1A. To be honest, the drive down A1A is better and more scenic - you get amazing views of the water as you drive through the coast.

Other things to do - While waiting for your cruise, you could walk around Fernandina Beach, which is a quaint little town. You could eat at some of the local restaurants and shop at some of the boutiques they have. I do like some of their kitschy souvenir shops. They could be quite overpriced but you are supporting some local stores, and not chains! You could also do a short day trip at Fort Clinch - a Florida State Park, where there is a preserved 19th century fort and a nice long boardwalk. You could also walk down the beach while there. It is a nice and tranquil place to just relax and just spend the day pondering.

I had a really wonderful time during this trip - and it was only just the beginning :)

No, no - this is not an April Fool's joke. This is just random musings when I find myself in a room all alone, with nothing much to do but ponder on the wonder of life and anything else under the sun.
I'm currently not in the mood to read, but am definitely in the mood to write.

I was looking at the blog and realized that my peak posting period was in 2009 and 2010. Back when I was looking for outlets to express myself more when the frustration of living more and more in Manila was getting to me. In 2011, I slowed down significantly when I had to live in England for a short term assignment at work.

Then I discovered traveling - and although I love doing it to bits and pieces, I realize that I haven't really been posting much about it. Blame laziness, I know, but I really should. I promised all my friends back home that I would keep in touch by posting places where I've been, and reviews of what I've seen - even pictures.

But then I've been posting more book blogs instead. Not that there's anything wrong with that, of course - as this blog got a few hits here and there because of the book blog - and maybe some of my random musings here and there.

These book blogs do not really encompass my life and what I'm currently feeling though. Ever since I left Manila I have been trying to travel every single weekend - exploring new places here and there around Florida, just trying to check for festivals, or some other new thing I could do, in my own backyard.

Maybe I'm just rambling - but I feel like I've gotten my life back. This is exactly what I wanted to do.
I want to be able to have time in the evening to just stare at a blank blogger page and just ponder some thoughts. I love that I can walk home from work and not waste 4+ hours every single day trying to commute form my house to the office, as compared to my old house.

Not that there's anything wrong with my old house, of course - I just hated the stresses and the traffic that that place had.

So, there you go. Everything you may need to know. I'm very happy where I am right now, and yes, my life is back to normal - and I feel like I have so much more time and opportunities now (which I plan to utilise fully, thank you very much) that I am so content. So full. So happy. :)

And yes, you do have to step out of your comfort zone to know what you really like.. and what you want.. and discover more about you in general.

Here's to all of you having a happier life :)

There has been a lot of buzz about Rainbow Rowell's books so I decided to jump in the bandwagon and borrowed one of her books from the library. Seeing that Fangirl is the newest book out, I decided to borrow it (and partly because the waiting list for this book was shorter than Eleanor & Park).

Fangirl revolves around Cath, who grew up with her twin and has to go to Uni. But then her twin, Wren, has told her that she doesn't want her to be her roommate and pretty much have her own college experience.

Cath was devastated and keeps to herself most of the time and create her Simon Snow fanfics (Simon Snow being their equivalent of Harry Potter - a series of books and movies and they're huge) - until Levi comes along..

So that pretty much is my own version of the book summary - seeing as I can't log in to Goodreads to get a summary using this PC I'm typing the blog in at the moment.

This book has been.... disappointing. At first I was really intrigued because of all the praise for Rainbow Rowell's books, but then I started reading and realized what a loser Cath was... and I was really turned off by her personality (ie she has none) in the first 100+ pages of the book until Raegan and Levi came along to at least help develop her.
Given her twin sister's limited appearance in the book, I find myself rooting for Wren sometimes as Cath is just too bland for my liking - I mean how can you like someone who just wants to stay in their own room and who doesn't even want to make friends? Give me a break! (I know, I know - to each their own, I'm just saying I can't relate with the main character. It took me ages to convince myself to pick the book up and give it another chance, read it until the end!)

In page 180+, the book FINALLY picks up with Levi and Cath's cute scene in Cath's dorm (FINALLY, Cath seems to have more of a personality now!)

And then it went downhill again. After finishing the book, I was still highly disappointed - I was thinking - "This was one of the greatest books for 2013? Bummer" To each their own, I guess.

For me:
1) Cath didn't really grow as a person in the book - sure, she had Levi but her resolutions about not going much out of the house/dorm and not being friendly enough to other people, and getting over Simon Snow and the obsession about the fandom wasn't really addressed at the end of the book
2) What about the other characters? What about Wren, Raegan, Levi, her dad? What happened next to them? For me they were just cameo appearances to the book but they were quite essential to Cath as a person as a whole.
3) Simon Snow - it was confusing trying to follow the mini stories within the book. I know it's fictional, and I know that it is sort of based on the Harry Potter series but how does it end? Any closures in the story?
4)  400+ pages of a story that went nowhere for me. Gaah..

Good thing I just borrowed this book from the Jacksonville Public Library - at least I did not pay any money to buy this book.

Overall Rating: 2/5.