Book: Go Gently

Go Gently: Actionable Steps to Nurture Yourself and the Planet
Bonnie Wright
Amazon Product Link

An inspiring and approachable tip-filled guide to changing your habits, living more sustainably, and taking action, by Greenpeace ambassador Bonnie Wright (Ginny Weasley in the Harry Potter movies)

Go Gently is a guide for sustainability at home that offers simple, tangible steps toward reducing our environmental impact by looking at what we consume and the waste we create, as well as how to take action for environmental change. The title reflects Bonnie Wright’s belief that the best way to change our planet and ourselves is through a gentle approach, rather than a judgmental one. This is a book of do’s rather than don’ts. It’s also an invitation to Wright’s followers to join her on this journey to sustainability.

Going through every room in her home, Wright helps us assess which products are sustainable, and alternatives for those that are not. She shares recipes to avoid waste, homemade self-care products to avoid packaging, small space-friendly gardening ideas, and a template for creating your own compost system. Finally, to sustain yourself, there are exercises and meditation prompts to keep you energized, plus info on how to get involved in community and organizations.

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Read the book because I figured, since I read Evanna Lynch's book, I might as well explore the HP actors.

I didn't really finish the book - I stopped around where she was listing recipes. Overall a fun, interesting book. Good as a starter guide. But it reads more like a blog, rather than an academic endeavour. Fun while it lasted.

Book: The Mystic Sword of Bezeld

The Mystic Sword of Bezeld (Slayers #9)
Hajime Kanzaka
Rui Araizumi (Illustrator)
Elizabeth Ellis (Translator)
Amazon Product Link

Welp, seeing as how we lost the Sword of Light, it’s time to find Gourry a new toy. These stories about a bona fide “sword in a stone” near Bezeld sure stunk like a scam at first, but learning that a group of assassins has their eye on it too kinda made me a believer! Now we’re in a race for the loot with a few obstacles along the way—namely a little (possibly) rich girl who won’t stop blowing us off, a mercenary couple who won’t stop stalking us, and hordes of demons who won’t stop burning towns to the ground! This mystic sword had better be worth all the trouble!

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Quick, fun read... but this time it was kind of an overused plot device: the so-called "victim" is actually the mastermind! Not much to say otherwise. I keep on thinking Gourry acts something like "the reader"... any explanations Lina makes is really for his benefit (thus, the reader).

Friday Five 20-May-2022

thefridayfive 

1. Do you have any big plans for the summer/winter (depending upon your hemisphere)?
Not really. Maybe plan a couple days for swimming?

2. Have you ever been or are you a fan of camping?
Never been, and while I enjoy a good hike, I don't think I'd appreciate camping.

3. Did you ever go to a sleep-away camp in the summer when you were a kid?
Not a think in this part of the world.

4. What is going to be the high point of the fast-approaching season?
Dunno.

5. What is your favorite way to beat the heat/ be warm and toasty?
The secondary reason of why I love going to work is this: In the hot hot summer, I enjoy the air con there as it's like constantly freezing. In the winter, not so much, because... it is still constantly freezing.

F.riday5.com

1. When have you yelled at a cat?
I'm always yelling at the cats. Sometimes when I'm just walking across the room and then they zoom between my legs and trip me, or I inadvertedly step on them.

2. Would you please tell us you’re looking forward to the weekend without telling us you’re looking forward to the weekend?
Due to Sai Lup's injury, there's no physiotherapy today so I can stay home all day?

3. What first-world problems have you recently complained about?
There was one thing I wrote about a couple days or weeks before, I even wrote "first-world problem, hah!" but now I don't recall what it is.

4. You have one job this weekend: what is it, and how might you mess it up?
There's some planning stuff for the Boss' friends... I've tried to communicate clearly they need to give me some information in order to do it, but they just aren't budging... so I'm not doing it... and I might get crap for that. But hey. They can either give me their credit card info and I do all the arrangements for them, or they can do the arrangement themselves. I'm not going to use my credit card for them.

5. What did you learn when you were today years old?
I was mucking around Goodreads and found out I can change the cover version of a book.

Neither here nor there

One thing I don't see a lot of people talk about when being brought up multiculturally, is culture shock from within.

What the heck am I even trying to explain?

Well, I've mentioned before, there are certain things I will naturally say in one particular language. I generally prefer to write in English, talk in Cantonese, and be exasperated in Portuguese. That's right. When the dog is being annoying and I'm trying to "scold" the dog, I just speak in Portuguese without meaning to. There are also certain particular words that I will use in a particular language simply because, there is no better word in the other language to convey that. I can't think of a particular word right now, but it's been known to happen oncein a while.

There are also certain cultural aspects and mannerisms in play.

With my Chinese friends, I like to joke around that, since I was born in Macau, brought up in Macau, never left Macau for studies, I'm as much Chinese as they are. They tend to agree. My bestie even goes around telling people that "What about her looks? She speaks Chinese!"

But there is one thing that I can't accept in Chinese Culture.

Table manners.

Sorry for the potentially gross-invoking photo (chicken bones on a table).

There are many restaurants, especially noodle restaurants, where they serve a variaty of meats. Usually, chicken is with bones, steamed fish full of bones, spare ribs also lots of bones. So. They never serve you a plate to put the bones aside. I usually bring my own packet of tissues and when the need arises, I'll place all the bones on a piece of tissue. But I just changed to a superlight bag, and forgot to pack in the tissue paper.

Some restaurants have a table cloth or table mat, but more often than not, there's nothing.

And that is what I can't stand. I can claim to be as Chinese-minded as I want, but I can't get past this hurdle. Spitting bones out directly on the table? Just no...... I still can't comfortably accept it.

So here's me. prefers to use chopsticks, loves any most kinds of food, can't accept spitting bones on to the table....