"WATNEY: Look! A pair of boobs! -> (.Y.)"

Since the dawn of the Accelerated Reader program back in junior high to the rise of mandatory summer reading books in high school, I have been awfully sluggish at making room in my daily schedule to pick up a decent book and read. Now don't get me wrong. It's not that I have anything against reading because quite frankly who can, right? As overdone as it may sound, reading a good book is one of the best ways to just get your mind out of the old stress gutter of your personal life and escape to another life, whether you are being placed into a character's shoes or you are the almighty creepy overseeing creature of the story. Unless you have awesome taste in novels and are reading "The Martian," in which case you get both sides of the coin. Booyah yo! And as ridiculous as it may sound, there's more to love about this book than just simply that.

Everything from the layout of this book to the protagonist, Mark Watney's lame and corny sense of humor was absolute! It's rare for me to come across a book where you could surely find me hiding in a corner with my face stuffed between the pages of the book, chuckling to myself like a creepy weirdo. Not that there is anything wrong with being a weirdo because in truth, this world would be all too dull if people like Watney didn't exist.

Back to the book. Besides the totally sick cover, the main reason why I decided to make it one of my top priorities to finish reading this book was because of all the hype and buzz surrounding the 2015 film. With a Certified Fresh Tomato rating of 93% critic rating and 92% audience rating, what crazy person would not be anxious to check it off their "To Watch" list. Naturally, having been overly obsessed with how excellent the book was, I figured that if the film followed the same template as the book then it was sure to be a foolproof film especially with such high remarks.

Needless to say, I was a little more than just a smidgebit disappointed by the film. I won't get into all the little details as to how and why in case any of you have yet to watch or read it, but I will say that that the book for me was more than ten times better than the film for the following reasons:

- Too much Hollywood fluff
- Some major events were not included in the film (obstacles to the MAV?)
- Events and actions were not explained enough for viewers who have not read the book
- Disliked that it didn't allow viewers to progressively grow with Watney (700 Sols later? Really?)
- Most of all, the ending did not follow the same story guideline as the book. How?!

But who knows. My mind could be bias after having fallen in love with the book so much that my expectations for the film were a smidge too high. My friends who did not read the book prior to the film all tell me that it was worth all the buzz and ratings. Even friends who have read the book prior to watching the film still tell me that the film was superb. All I know is that the number one 2015 film for me is still Mad Max. And though The Martian film did not sweep me off my feet, the book certainly holds a special place in my heart with Mark Watney forever being one of my favorite novel characters.

Gambling Our Youth Away

It's officially the first snow class cancellation day this semester (or at least for me being one of the few rare suckers having a Saturday class) and it's just only begun this past Tuesday (January 19). Makes me wonder how many more of these days there are ahead of us this semester with all the rambling and debate about whether this winter will be a harsh and cold one or a more relatively warm one. Regardless of either, you can always expect to find me staring out the window like a true dog (1994 baby). And no, I'm not being a creepy neighbor (or at least I'd like to think that I'm not), it's just I can't help but find myself reminiscing on the good o'youthful days of me and my siblings running outside like brave warriors to play in the snow, heedless of how much snow there were. 0.5 inches? 20 inches? We didn't care. We'd savagely annoy our mom to let us out there. And then come in shivering with our cheeks all rosy, our noes sniffling like we just got done watching Grave of the Fireflies.

After our mom would get finish cleaning us up, she'd always have something warm prepared for us to devour in an attempt to abolish all the cold in our systems. in this case that would be our beloved eldest sister, Rosy, who we could always count on to have something up her sleeves. Although to be fair, it's not just only whenever it's snowing outside. It could be the most beautiful day and we'd have a fancy-schmancy glass of fruit smoothie made for us. Only right for courageous warriors like us right? 

Perhaps it's the thought of homemade warm goodies that gets me thrilled at the sight of waking up to snow regardless of how old or young I am. Or perhaps it's the thought of being able to rationalize with myself that it's okay to sit around watching movies and playing board/card games all day? Or maybe, just maybe, it's the thought of being snowed in with some of the coolest chumps in the world, my siblings heh!
Oh man, it's ridiculous how much time has gone by and yet we can still enjoy and appreciate the same small tid bit stuffs as we did back in the days. And man, all the things that I would love to go back and tell my weirdo kid self. Oh whales, just got to look at everything with an optimistic perspective.
Starting with me getting back to juggling this blog and getting it back up on its feet! Really looking forward to what 2016 has in store! So far so good!


"Is it worth the risk that we take?
Gambling our youth away,
Waiting and hoping from the side-lines
But this is our moment, it's our chance to shine." -- Dreams & Reality, Area 11