Bottled Sky

I don’t care what the old adage says. I judge books by their covers. The only times I buy books whose covers don’t tickle my fancy are when they have been recommended by someone with whom I share similar tastes in books (tastes that tend toward the off-beat and the downright weird).

But more importantly, I judge books by their titles. What are titles for if not for grabbing potential readers by the collar and screaming, “READ ME!”?

In my case, the likelihood of my buying a book is directly proportional to the strangeness of its title. If book titles were people, I would be most effectively grabbed by that freak skulking at the back of the classroom or that woman dressed like Helena Bonham Carter on drugs.

See below the titles of the last five books I’ve enjoyed:

• The Wind-up Bird Chronicle
• The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters
• The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy (a well-chosen gift from the same someone I mentioned above)
• Life of Pi
• The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time

So now I ask you, are there any strangely titled books that you could recommend to me? I’ve just got back in the swing of reading, and I want to keep my momentum.

I predict a book shopping spree in my very near future.

Because writing a real post requires the use of actual brain cells, I bring you two random photos instead. Hey, it’s better than whining about how I don’t have time to blog anymore now that I have to write for a living.

Soulful puppy eyes. That’s Oreo being completely adorable, as snapped by my mom. Does it not turn your insides into mush? I regularly request photos of the dogs, because I am completely deprived of pet love in Singapore. Woe.

Continue reading Brain Cells Go Bye-Bye »

Last Monday I turned 24. It was my first birthday in Singapore, my first birthday at work, my first birthday away from home, and most importantly, my first birthday with two cakes (although I only got to eat one of them).

The first cake came from my coworkers, who threw me a surprise lunch at the office. I went to work expecting nothing, so I was caught completely off guard when they all started singing “Happy Birthday” at noon. Aside from cake we had pizza and a yummy salad that Haydee, one of my coworkers, made herself. They also gave me a large card that they had all signed.

While I can definitely report that my first cake tasted delicious, I can only say that my second cake looked delicious, because I was merely able to enjoy it—and the rest of the birthday dinner my family had prepared for me—over Skype. I chatted with them after I got home from work and “blew” out my birthday candles via web cam. Even our dog Biscuit joined the chat. Check out this picture and tell me she doesn’t look smart:

I swear that dog is a genius! She had her front paws on the keyboard, and somehow she managed to shut down the computer in the middle of the chat by pressing ctrl-alt-del TWICE. Next thing you know she’ll have her own blog, “Biscuit, PhD: The Secret Life of a Canine Genius,” where she’ll write about the digestive repercussions of snacking on dirt and share the best yoga techniques to make gnawing at that hard-to-reach itchy spot at the base of the tail a breeze.