Gloria's Scribbles and Thoughts

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I Read 100 Books in 2020

hello, welcome. Now that I caught your attention, I got you. I actually read 98 books…yeah, I lost motivation towards December 28th and I should’ve totally just read Curious George two times but oh well. I did read Cat in the Hat and another book for a child in December just to be transparent.

I’ll discuss what I learned from reading nearly 100 books this past year and why I did this. In my previous blog post which can be seen here, I mentioned that I would do 1 sentence book reviews for all the books that I read in 2020 that I didn’t mention in previous book reviews, so that’ll be below too.

Also, if you think this is a flex. It’s like literally the only flex I have. So please let me have it. On a more serious note, I think 2020 in its entirety, with the political ~~issues~~ abominations, racial injustices, environmental destruction, and most notably, the coronavirus has impacted us all in different ways and personally, I found reading to be a productive coping mechanism. Lastly, if you’re wondering how I read this much well it’s called working 12 hours to escape the void, cooking, and running away from my problems.

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My Top 10 Books of 2020

So, here we are again, with another book review ish, more like my top books of this past year. You on one screen and me on another. I know I never finished my book reviews but that’ll be in my next blog post so stay tuned for that, I have like 40+ books to jam into it…but I’ll give like 1 sentence reviews haha

These reviews are books I’ve read in 2020, not books that have come out in 2020, unless they have then that’s a coincidence. They’re in no particular order! Feel free to let me know of any recommendations you have 🙂

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Reviewing All the Books I Read in Quarantine Part 2

Preface: Hello, if you’re new then welcome! I hope you’re having a good quarantine, staying safe and socially distanced from others. I totally recommend reading during this time, it’s a great way to learn something new and pass the time. It doesn’t even have to be a difficult novel, I started reading again by reading some of my favourite childhood books like The Secret Garden and the Percy Jackson series 🙂 I’m currently reading like crazy, I have about 5 years of recreational reading to catch up on. I’m reviewing all the books I’m reading during quarantine. I have a part one book review if you wanted to check that out as well. This is ordered in chronological order of each novel’s time period. I’ll try and add more detail to my reviews going forward since that was some of the feedback that I received.

The genres I read and go through this review are: fiction, contemporary, science fiction, romance, historical fiction, young adult, and action.

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Reviewing All The Books I Read During Quarantine Part 1

Preface: If you don’t know much about my childhood, just know that it was filled with books. I was quite the bookworm, my head was always in a new book. I read all the time, literally while I was eating, in the car, in bed, at home, at school, any free time I had. My love for books continued until I started university 🙂 where critically analyzing texts became a priority. However, one of my resolutions for 2020 was to read more. (Actually now I made a goal to read 100 books…we’ll see if it happens). Given the circumstances, I renewed my library cards and have been reading away.

Also, one more thing. I did something sacrilegious and I genuinely am unsure of how I feel about it still. All book lovers know what I’m talking about. I…got an e-reader. I’m sorry, I am but I’m also not. The feel and smell of the book; texture; print; and cover art matters. And yet, I opted to e-reading because I’ll save a lot more money that way and the app Libby has truly changed how I read. If you love reading, I truly recommend you look into getting a Kobo or Kindle. Alright time to get into the books which is in order by genre.

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An Interview with the Queen of Fashion: Franca

Lupe, Claudia, me, and the one and only **Franca**

Audrey Hepburn, Kim Kardashian, Rihanna, Franca. These women automatically come to my brain when I think of modern and recent trend setters. All different fashion icons. All unique women who have started different trends. So, you might be like who’s Franca? (For all the York LA&PS students, you guys know who she is).

Who is Franca?

She’s a crazy but loving Italian superstar. Franca has gone to numerous concerts from Bruno Mars to Ed Sheeran to Elvis. We typically send each other pictures of what we cooked for dinner on the daily while recommending different Netflix shows to watch. She owns pretty much every Gucci bag and Burberry coat. We always have a blast together from talking about new music to checking out new restaurants in Toronto to showing each other memes. We also usually send each other pictures of our plants and flowers in our garden, it’s just wholesome all the time with her. We’re hoping to see a concert together next year!

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Watching Sitcoms for the First Time Ever

As soon as you read the title, I knew you were judging. I can feel it, even from a different screen. Hey listen growing up, I never watched Friends or How I Met Your Mother religiously. My parents never enforced watching TV when I was younger and I preferred reading (yes, I’m literate woo). Later on of course, I started watching trash TV shows like Pretty Little Liars or The Walking Dead but I never headed towards sitcoms. I saw random episodes but I couldn’t wrap my head around them; I just never understood the humour and how idiotic some characters could be (no offence). Don’t get me wrong, I love comedic shows but I love dry and dark humour with witty writing like Fleabag or The End of the F**cking World (or it could just be I like English humour now that I think about it since both shows are British). If you haven’t seen either well…I can’t guarantee you’ll like them if you love classic sitcoms. Both shows contain subjects on violence, death, profanity, mental health, and the whole R-rated area so please be advised. Also, I promise I will do a whole post on why I don’t like The Office as well (it’s literally my most requested blog post so gotta please the fans am I right? Although I highly doubt I’ll have any friends, let alone fans once that post goes out).

I recently finished the first season of True Detective and well, it kind of destroyed me because it just shows the fall of humanity in such a horrifying way and I realized I needed to go on a media cleanse. Sidenote: TD is so good though; the writing is so solid and I feel like this show deserves all the praise (even though it’s a little bit slow for my taste). I thought about the movies and TV shows that I recently finished or was currently watching and I noticed a common theme: murder or just death in general. I couldn’t pry my eyes away from this subject. From Peaky Blinders to Sharp Objects to The Nice Guys, I realized that I was constantly watching psychological thrillers – which were fascinating and I loved them – but my psyche was definitely getting affected. I’ve also been binging like a lot of these shows at once and uh, yeah perhaps it’s not the best.

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Christmas in New York City

Ever since I watched Elf and Home Alone 2, I’ve dreamed about going to NYC during Christmas. The lights, flashy decorations, wonderful food, and snow – seems like a dream right? My family and I actually spent the holidays in New York City last year and here’s my review and storytime of everything that happened. I’m sure some of you may be thinking of going to NYC during the holidays, so I provide some tips! Fortunately, my family didn’t lose me (much to their disappointment, although we almost lost my dad but that’s a diff. story). I’m going to go through my trip in chronological order from Dec 20-26 in 2018.

Disclaimer: I kind of forgot so many details like restaurant names so…I apologize for the lack of details for certain things. Also, I will sue you if you use my photos 🙂

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Adulting 101: Reality

This was a requested blog post idea but it’s a really good one and I think I’m going to make it into a series, shoutouts to Julia – thank you and I miss you a lot.

Just a disclaimer, this blog post may cause anxiety and a mental breakdown because that’s how I feel writing this. Please don’t hold me liable, but we can cry together so don’t worry. Also, if you try to attack me with facts in person that’ll freak me out I will run away from you. Lastly, I’m going to be vuLnErAble, and share stuff so let’s hope this doesn’t haunt me later.

Man, when I was younger I thought I would have a brand new car at the age of 16, living in a nice condo by myself in some city like NYC or Toronto or LA by the age of 21, and married by 25.

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Storytime: Tequila, Bat Poop, and Getting Scammed in Cancun

Now that it’s officially winter in Toronto, I know people are going to be booking their vacation to somewhere hot, like Cancun. So here’s my review/storytime of my visit to Cancun this past July and hopefully it provides you with some insight.

Picture this. Two smoll Asian girls alone in Cancun with no phone service or car and oh, we didn’t stay at an all-inclusive resort. Feeling worried yet? Well I understand your concerns. Surprisingly, I had the most amazing time – and I didn’t get robbed or murdered so that’s a plus. All I can say is that my Spanish music playlist totally came in handy, please follow it on Spotify (it literally has over 50 Spanish songs).

Interesting fact: Cancun’s tourism industry is actually in a decline because in 2017 they had a seaweed issue (I’m not making this up). There was apparently too much seaweed in the beaches due to global warming and because people are extremely superficial and want things to look photoshopped and ridicously perfect, people stopped swimming, going to resorts and going to Cancun. There’s been a 70% decline in tourism in Cancun, particularly in the hotel district. What does this mean?

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Why a blog?

Continue reading “Why a blog?”

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A Review of All the Books I Read in Quarantine Part 3

Hello, welcome back to my blog. It’s been a minute and I haven’t forgotten about my book reviews! You know, a handful of people have asked about my review so you know what, clearly there are some people out there who are curious about my opinions on these books. I’ve read a lot of books during quarantine, ~~I know technically we aren’t in “quarantine” anymore~~ (editor gloria coming in…jk we are back in phase 2) but my book reviews will continue probably until the end of 2020.

I really went through a wide variety of genres the past few months and tried to expand on reading more books by women and bipoc authors. There’s really no particular order on these reviews but here they are. Also, part of me writing this review is partially that I’ll remember what I read. Part one and two can be found on my blog as well.

Let’s Talk About Quarantine

So…I haven’t published a blog post in awhile, by awhile I mean, few months and now it’s September. I am still alive by the way haha (okay in hindsight don’t think I should be joking about death while corona is happening…anyway). Yes, I’m still reading lots and somewhat reviewing them in my head or on Goodreads. I’ll be posting more on my recommendations soon! I, not to brag, am quite known for my book reviews now. No seriously, I starting volunteering as a book reviewer now for a journal so I guess my skills have gotten me somewhere.

Mental Health, Who?

If you’re like me, meaning, if you’re like every other person during quarantine, I slightly just lost it mentally during isolation. I tried to fill up my time with things to do like:

cooking (no didn’t make banana bread because I suck at baking)
reading (did work, would recommend)
colouring (worked for like 3 weeks)
cleaning (redecorated, reorganized my room, the office, kitchen pantries, and random areas in the house so yes would recommend)
downloaded TikTok actually prior to quarantine SO I’m a real fan (hours just countless hours were spent on this app)
working out (i was on that exercise grind for like 3 months…and have somewhat gone off but I’m trying to get back into it!)
walking (I walk daily now because I will lose my mind if I don’t)
writing (editing research and random writing, also works but has also caused me to lose my mind so… risk at your own expense)
I can’t think of anything else ohh….yes I dyed my hair like 5+ times, would recommend it’s cathartic

Needless to say, all the activities I did were fun and fulfilling but I also have just felt so hazy the past few months. I don’t know what to do, I have no concept of time, I rarely have motivation, and my only serotonin comes from my plants [oh yes reminded that I started collecting tons of plants and growing them] and my new water bottle. I think we’ve all been feeling this…dullness lately, like we’re staying at home, wearing the same clothes, seeing the same people, eating pretty much the same food, starting to sound like prison with wifi.

I’m partially writing this to remind myself that there will be brighter days – just perhaps not in 2020, I’m joking, there will be…I think – and that this weird phase will end IF PEOPLE JUST WEAR MASKS AND SOCIAL DISTANCE. Let’s talk about that for a bit, please wash your hands, wear a mask when you’re in busy areas and on public transit and with strangers, and social distance. Please.

So, to recap it’s September and I’ve only partially lost my mind. By losing my mind, I mean really losing track of time or talking to friends, reminding myself that I actually do have friends. It’ll work out, so don’t stress out too much. Anyway, less depressing content to come soon!

All the Questionable Things Shania Says

So I have this friend, Shania who is so …strange and I mean that in the best way possible because I’m really odd too. She and I can have serious discussions from what it’d be like to drown to being murdered to fleeing the country to talking about Airbnbs and other equally important topics. Anyways, I really do appreciate her because we can have any sort of conversation without each of us batting an eye despite how strange the topic may be. Sometimes I start the conversation with, “Okay if you were trapped in a box…” and she responds so normally, it’s amazing. She also says some really honestly hilarious things but don’t tell her because her head is so huge right now. But Shania also says some really like weird things that literally make me react like this gif below.

THIS IS ME