Top 10 New Year's Resolutions for 2011

10. Thou shalt practice playing thy piano at least once a week. Learning a new piece is a must. Neighbors are getting sick of same compositions being played over and over again.

9. Thou shalt eat well and not more. Thou shall banish thy temptations of palate cravings. The power of vanity compels you!

8. Thou shalt find a suitable laptop desk. Chair and shoe box is not working. Laptop is insulted.

7. Thou shalt increase writing money-making articles. Paypal is getting bored and lonely.

6. Thou shalt hire someone to cut off hair. Banish they idea that the world needs a 21st century Rapunzel.

5. Thou shalt give Wuffy, the white and fluffy dog, a bath at least once next year. Thy dog smells.

4. Thou shalt read more quality books and watch less YouTube. Neurons are fighting hard to stay alive.

3. Thou shalt clean room every weekend. Thou shalt ask reliable housekeeper to clean room every weekend.

2. Thou shalt put thy PRC license to use more frequently and put thy Registered Nurseism to work by serving  human race.

And my No.1 New Year's Resolution for 2011 is...

1. Thou shalt type more, compose more and write more. Thy future novel and blog posts shalt not write and publish  itself.

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“We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year's Day.” -- Edith Lovejoy Pierce

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!

Orchestroscopy's First Annual Book Awards

Novels Never Finished Reading a.k.a. I-Might-Finish-It-Someday-In-The-Distant-Future Books:

• Eat, Pray, Love - Elizabeth Gilbert (19% into book)
  
• The Girl and the Dragon Tatoo - Stieg Larsson (52% into book)
  
• Under the Dome - Stephen King (18% into book)
  
• Flood - Stephen Baxter (12% into book)
  
• Saving Juliet - Suzanne Selfors (44% into book)

Novels ALMOST Never Finished Reading a.k.a  Just-End-Please-Before-I-Give-Up Books:

• The Last Song - Nicholas Sparks
• Bridget Jones's Diary - Helen Fielding
• Nights in Rodanthe - Nicholas Sparks
• The Winner Stands Alone - Paulo Coelho
• New Moon - Stephanie Meyer
• The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold 

Best Written Book: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak 

Worst Written Book: New Moon by Stephanie Meyer

Book That I Will Never Get Tired Of: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by JK Rowling 

Book That I Will Never Read Again: Nights in Rodanthe by Nicholas Sparks

Tear Duct Activator Award: The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger 

Wittiest Prose: The Gun Seller by Hugh Laurie 

Most Boring Prose: Flood by Stephen Baxter

Most Addicting Novel/Series: The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins

Best Female Character: Katniss Everdeen, The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins

Best Male Character: Draco Malfoy, The Draco Trilogy by Cassandra Claire

Best Villain: Anne Boleyn, The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory

Most Irritating Female Character: Bella Swan, The Twilight Saga by Stephanie Meyer

Most Irritating Male Character: Edward Cullen, The Twilight Saga by Stephanie Meyer 

Where Is The Plot? Award: The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

Best Ending: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Worst Ending: The Winner Stands Alone by Paulo Coelho

BEST BOOK OF 2010: The Hunger Games (Book 1 of 3) by Suzanne Collins

Let me just tell you that the first book is brilliant, then it somehow spirals down from there. But still, the creativity, the ingenious plot and the strongly developed characters of the first novel make up for the shortcomings of the other books. Not to mention that, unlike other YA novels, it features a smart, self-preserving and feisty female protagonist that doesn't weep and melt over someone with a Y chromosome in any shape or form. What a great model for girls around the globe.

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So with that, I conclude a full year of diverse universes and developed characters. May next year be as equally fulfilling as this one. A toast to books, novels, fiction writing and the various worlds that only live inside our heads.

34 Books I've Read in 2010

Okay, so I did not succeed in my 50 books read this year goal but 34 books is not that bad. Especially since I virtually did not spend a cent in getting all these wonderful novels (unless you count Internet provider fees). Reading is a lifelong passion and unless I go blind in the future, I don't think I will ever stop what I love most. Even then I'll probably just listen to audio books. Anyway, here is the grand list of all the books, all the worlds and unique lives that I've lived in this year.

In chronological order:

1. The Time Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
2. The Lost Symbol - Dan Brown
3. The Last Song - Nicholas Sparks
4. The Other Boleyn Girl - Philippa Gregory
5. Claiming of Sleeping Beauty - Anne Rice
6. Bridget Jones's Diary - Helen Fielding
7. Draco Dormiens - Cassandra Claire (Fanfiction, read for the 3rd time)
8. Dear John - Nicholas Sparks
9. The Reader - Bernhard Schlink
10. Beauty's Punishment - Anne Rice
11. Nights in Rodanthe - Nicholas Sparks
12. Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister - Gregory Maguire
13. Draco Sinister - Cassandra Claire (Fanfiction, read for the 2nd time)
14. Love in the Time of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marguez
15. The Winner Stands Alone - Paulo Coelho
16. The Ultimate Harry Potter Cliche Catalogue - Clam Chowder (Fanfiction, read for the 2nd time)
17. Draco Veritas - Cassandra Claire (Fanfiction)
18. Hush Hush - Becca Fitzpatrick
19. New Moon - Stephanie Meyer
20. Eclipse - Stephanie Meyer
21. Atonement - Ian McEwan
22. The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins
23. Catching Fire - Suzanne Collins
24. Draco Malfoy, the Amazing Bouncing Rat - Maya (Fanfiction, read for the 2nd time)
25. The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
26. The Gun Seller - Hugh Laurie
27. Mockingjay - Suzanne Collins
28. Before I Fall - Lauren Oliver
29. He's Just Not That Into You - Greg Brehrendt
30. The Carrie Diaries - Candace Bushnell
31. The Book Thief - Markus Zusak
32. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - JK Rowling (Read for the 5th time)
33. I Am Number Four - Pittacus Lore
34. Uglies - Scott Westerfeid

Let's all see together if 2011 can top off this one. As for the meantime, my first ever annual book awards is up next. My dearest wish is that the future generation will lay off the PSPs and the Farmvilles for just a while, crack open a book and discover the possibilities.

Stories in G Major: Where Heroines and Emo Verses Collide

Before computers, the Internet and the birth of blogging, there was me with a notebook, a pen and a crazy imagination.

Now, there's me, a laptop, a new blog, typing enthusiastic fingers, a wilder imagination and a bigger craving for words. Since I don't want this blog to be too crowded since it is already a hybrid of nursing related information, incalculable countdowns, movie / book reviews and everyday ramblings, I have decided to give birth to a separate entity where (hopefully) the beauty and power of words will reign supreme.

Everyone, meet my new online brainchild: Stories in G Major. The place where heroes, heroines,  highly cringe-worthy situations, hallucinations, fairy tales and emo verses collide.

There are only 8 entries at the moment, ranging from poetry created almost a decade ago to short stories written just now.  The posts range from out-of-a-whim shorts to personal verses. I hope to add a lot more in the days to come. My goal is to surpass my inability to write a decent short story at will. All these unfinished novel-length fiction must not bear more siblings.

So why Stories in G Major and not C# or A Minor?

Taken from Christian Schubart's Ideen zu einer Aesthetik der Tonkunst (1806)

G MAJOR     Everything rustic, idyllic and lyrical, every calm and satisfied passion, every tender gratitude for true friendship and faithful love,--in a word every gentle and peaceful emotion of the heart is correctly expressed by this key.

G Major is my favorite musical key if it's not yet obvious. I love how simple it is, the way it sounds and even played. It brings about a true sense of completion, of situations bare yet powerful and of emotions raw and untarnished. These qualities are what I hope to convey with my writing.

So feel free to read through and share your thoughts and you will probably never know if you're staring at an entirely fictional work or delving into the deepest, most secluded part of reality.

Stories in G Major
http://storiesingmajor.blogspot.com

How Your Baby Develops Inside The Womb

Ever wondered what happens inside the womb during pregnancy? This article delves into the magical process that brought people like you and me to the world.

A. First Trimester - period of organ development, which is the most critical period in fetal growth and development

FIRST MONTH

    Fetal Heart Tone (FHT) begins
    Central Nervous System (CNS) develops.
    Gastrointestinal Tract and Respiratory Tract remain as a single tube.

SECOND MONTH

    All vital organs are formed.
    Placenta is developed.
    Umbilical cord is developed.
    Blood is now pumping.
    Arm and leg ...

From: How Your Baby Develops Inside The Womb

Writing Through the Ages: Stories I've Created Out of Sheer Hyperimaginativity

I've been constructing story lines, places and characters in my head for as long as I can remember. It was back in elementary when I started to put them into words. And boy, were they terrible. Grammatical errors ran rampant in my sentences and the format itself is a Francine Pascal's Sweet Valley rip-off, with numbered volumes of a so-called "True Friends Club" series with a childish adventure in every installment. I used to grow callouses on my fingernails because of the long hours I spent writing on a cheap notebook with an equally cheap pen.

Never-finished novel length stories came afterward when I learned to type on the computer with decent speed (thanks to my mother's rigorous typing lessons complete with an antique Typewriter Typing book). Those stories included a Dawson's Creek inspired dramatic cheese fest and even a Castaway-ish murder-mystery-in-an-island chaptered novel where the survivors of a shipwreck fight for survival from the wilderness and maybe even one of their own as someone mysteriously gets killed off every week through the unlikeliest circumstances. And take note, that was way before Lost the Absolutely Confusing TV Series aired on US primetime. And yes, I can be Nostradamus that way.

What came next is fanfiction. The Harry Potter fanfiction community is where I lived for most of my prepubescent years. After reading too many fics for my own good, I've grown envious of how they were creating their own HP worlds so I also made my own. Not all were good but I have to say they were quite imaginative. One is an angst buffet concentrating on  the past and sufferings of a specific Hogwarts teacher in each chapter. Really depressing, believe me. Another is an incredulous hybrid of romance, post-war anguish and wit where a fierce and smart-mouthed Ginny Weasley is forced to apply as a maid for the Malfoy Manor and serve a sarcastic and very very handsome Draco Malfoy in Leather Pants. And yes, it is inspired by Cassandra Claire's epic Draco Trilogy.

Needless to say, most of them were also never finished. Insert sad face here.

Then came blogging and suddenly, my crooked opinions infiltrated the world wide web. The characters and their contradicting lives were pushed to the side and the imagination died down a bit as real opinions and actual life took center stage. School works and peer gatherings bathed in the spotlight of my writing and the castaways, the angsty dramatic teens and my very own masochistic Harry Potter universe took their last shriveled breath.

So what's next? Unfortunately, the death of fanfiction came with the demise of my fiction writing altogether.  Instead of writing my own world, I find myself reading tweets or just watching online videos to pass the time. Since those simpler times devoid of web junk, I have not been able to write a decent story to save my life. I am not proud of this, in fact, I am very much frustrated. I hope that this new project that I'm working on will help jump start some of my creative neurons and bring them back to the bustling cells they were before the brain drain of social networking sites and microblogging platforms.

As of now, my own universe of reluctant island campers, red haired house maid and emo teens are in limbo.

Top 5 Things I Love About Noche Buena / Christmas Eve

Top 5 Things I Love About Noche Buena / Christmas Eve:

5. Our Christmas Tree (which has been standing in the corner of the room for 3 months now) will finally be lit up for the first time.

4. Going online and greeting friends Merry Christmas. And yes, I don't need you anymore Unlitxt20.

3. Food preparations even though I don't cook nor cooperate in the kitchen. Watching is enjoyable enough.

2. Ham. Hamhamhamham... (Insert Glee's Lean On Me intro)

and the No.1 thing I love about Noche Buena.

1. What else? Presents!

HAVE A ROCKIN' GREAT CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

Christmas Eve was a night of song that wrapped itself about you like a shawl. But it warmed more than your body. It warmed your heart… filled it, too, with a melody that would last forever.

- Bess Streeter Aldrich