Another Update to the CRL

So rather, going all the way back to January 2014's entry post highlighting my updated Comprehensive Reading List (compare this list with the original from Jan. 2013!), I decided to just create a new post instead (and it'll make it easier for me to go back in case I add (0r subtract books in the near future, which probably will happen quite soon). Without further ado, here is my current (and updated) reading list:

Color-Code:

Books added Pre-2013: Orange

Books added in 2013: Green

Books added in 2014: Fuchsia

Reading in Progress: Blue

Finished Title: Black/White (in published form)

001. This Bridge Called My Back - A Feminist Anthology
002. Go Ask Alice - Anonymous
003.-004. The Iliad and Odessy - Homer

005. Tuesdays With Morrie - Mitch Albom
006. The Five People You Meet in Heaven - Mitch Albom

007. Borderlands (La Frontera) - Gloria E. Anzaldùa
008.-010. The Divine Comedy - Dante Alighieri

011. The Long 20th Century - Giovanni Arrighi
012. What You Have Left - Will Allison
013. Invitation to Sociology - Peter L. Berger

014. Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury

015. The Social Animal - David Brooks

016. The Zombie Survival Guide - Max Brooks
017. The Stranger - Albert Camus
018. The Rebel - Albert Camus
019. Myth of Sisyphus - Albert Camus
020. Notebooks - Albert Camus

021. Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card

022. Jurassic Park - Micheal Crichton

023. Next - Micheal Crichton
024. Dancing in the Dark - Morris Dickstein
025. Room - Emma Donoghue

026. Drudge Manifesto - Matt Drudge

027. A Tale Of Three Kings - Gene Edwards

028. The Lost Witness - Robert Ellis

029. Dead Space: Martyr - B.K. Evenson

030. Then We Came To An End - Joshua Ferris

031. The Unnamed - Joshua Ferris

032. The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald

033. A Thing or Two About Curtis and Camilla - Nick Fowler
034.An Abundance of Katherines - John Green
035. The Fault in Our Stars - John Green
036. Looking For Alaska - John Green
037. Paper Towns - John Green

038. Grimm's Complete Fairy Tales (On A Break...)

039. The Books Of Rachel - Joel Gross

040. Policing As Though People Matter - Dorothy Guyot

041. Retribution - Jilliane Hoffman

042. Prince of Thieves - Chuck Hogan

043. Brave New World - Aldous Huxley

044. The Know-It-All - A.J. Jacobs

045. The Year Of Living Biblically - A.J. Jacobs
046. Drop Dead Healthy - A.J. Jacobs

047. Shining Like Stars - Douglass Jacoby

048. Survivors - Zion Ben Jonah

049. What Technology Wants - Kevin Kelly
050. Angry White Men - Michael S. Kimmel
051. Masculinity as Homophobia - Michael S. Kimmel

052. Flowers For Algernon - Daniel Keyes

053. Cell - Stephen King
054. The Walking Dead Compendium I - Kirkman/Adlard/Moore/Rathburn
055. The Walking Dead Compendium II - Kirkman/Adlard/Moore/Rathburn

056. Getting The Most Of The Bible - G. Steve Kinnard

057. Frankenstein - Dean Koontz
058. Unequal Childhoods - Annette Lareau

059. The Satanic Bible - Anton Szandor LaVey

060. Fresh Kills - Bill Loehfelm

061. Our American King - David Lozell Martin
062. The Communist Manifesto - Karl Marx
063. The German Ideology - Karl Marx,  Friedrich Engels
064. The Gift - Marcel Mauss

065. Sin City: The Hard Goodbye - Frank Miller

066. Sin City: A Dame to Kill For - Frank Miller

067. Sin City: The Big Fat Kill - Frank Miller 

068. Sin City: That Yellow Bastard - Frank Miller

069. Sin City: Family Values - Frank Miller

070. Sin City: Booze, Broads, & Bullets: Frank Miller

071. Sin City: Hell and Back - Frank Miller

072. The Complete Guide to the Bible - Stephen M. Miller
073. The Sociological Imagination - C. Wright Mills

074. V for Vandetta - Alan Moore/David Lloyd

075. Watchmen - Alan Moore/Dave Gibbons

076. The Will to Power - Friedrich Nietzche

077. 1984 - George Orwell

078. Animal Farm - George Orwell
079. Damned - Chuck Palahnuik

080.Three Dollars - Elliot Perlman

081. Seven Types of Ambiguity - Elliot Perlman

082. The Reasons I Won't Be Coming - Elliot Perlman

083. 01-01-00 - R.J. Pineiro

084. Bahgavad Gita (As It Is) - His Divine Grace Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

085. Where The Red Fern Grows - Wilson Rawls
086. Save Your Marriage Ahead of Time - Jacqueline Rickard

087.The Happiness Project - Gretchen Rubin

088. The Book Of Vice - Peter Sagal
089. Cosmos - Carl Sagan
090. No Exit - Jean-Paul Sartre
091. The Wall - Jean-Paul Sartre

092. Married To Murder - Robert Scott

093. Derailed - James Seigel

094. The Dark Room - Rachel Seiffert

095. Hamlet - William Shakespeare

096. Much Ado About Nothing - William Shakespeare
097. Forces of Labor - Beverly Silver
098. Coping with Crisis - Gustave Simons

099. The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ - Joseph Smith

100. Mostly Murder - Sydney Smith
101. A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Bad Beginning - Lemony Snicket
102. A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Reptile Room - Lemony Snicket
103. A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Wide Window - Lemony Snicket
104. A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Miserable Mill - Lemony Snicket
105. A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Austere Academy - Lemony Snicket
106. A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Ersatz Elevator - Lemony Snicket
107. A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Vile Village - Lemony Snicket
108. A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Hostile Hospital - Lemony Snicket
109. A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Carnivorous Carnival - Lemony Snicket
110. A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Slippery Slope - Lemony Snicket
111. A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Grim Grotto - Lemony Snicket
112. A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Penultimate Peril - Lemony Snicket
113. A Series of Unfortunate Events: The End - Lemony Snicket

114. Baseball In April And Other Stories - Gary Soto

115. Of Mice And Men - John Steinbeck

116. AMERICA (The Definitive Guide) - Jon Stewart

117. Mr. Clarinet - Nick Stone
118.Brief Interviews with Hideous Men - David Foster Wallace

119. The Purpose Driven Life - Rick Warren
120. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism - Max Weber
121. The Methodology of the Social Sciences - Max Weber

122. I Am The Messenger - Markus Zusak
123. The Book Thief - Markus Zusak

124. A+ Guide To Managing And Maintaining Your PC 6th Ed. (Textbook)

125. Criminal Justice, Citrus College Custom Ed. (Textbook)

126. Electronic Technology Fundamentals (Textbook)

127. Psychology 2nd Ed. (Textbook)

Total Books Read: 60 of 127 (47.24%)

Trip to the Ghetty (Late Post #2)

The front entrance of the Getty.

On a beautiful Friday afternoon in July, one of my friends had to go to the Getty Center in Los Angeles. I say "had to" since he was required to make a trip to examine art from the Renaissance Era and write a concise, yet detailed, report on his observations of said art. He didn't want to go alone, so I asked if I could tag along. It's been years since my last visit and I also vowed to revisit this museum some time this year, and the timing was impeccable. 

Even though it's been years since my trip to the Getty, nothing much has changed. It all felt nostalgic and natural, which my friend felt relief for (since he never visited the Getty until that trip we made) so we had no trouble having to be where we needed to be, which was the west wing, where all European art could be found.

After a good hour and half (maybe two) of examining art, having an on-going conversation with my friend about the art and applying his knowledge to the works that were present, we spend our remaining time exploring the rest of the museum. We found some great architecture (like the photo to the right). While, in honesty, it was something that I couldn't comprehend entirely, it was something that I appreciated simply because it exists. Maybe that's the powerful effect of art: sometimes we don't understand what we see, hear, or feel, but all that matters most is that someone was creative or insightful, or even just lucky enough to create something into existence that didn't exist before.

100 Days of Happiness & 500 Days of Summer

At the time of this posting, someone I know will be approximately 25-30% complete with her personal "100 Happy Days" Instagram project. The goal is for her to make the most out of the next 100 consecutive days, to discover joy and happiness from the conspicuous and the clandestine, the ordinary and the extraordinary. By doing so, she hopes to become a completely different person - a person who is more loving, grateful, and appreciative of the life she's been given, regardless of what trials and tribulations she'll face along the way. I'm hoping she won't mind if I put a link here to her IG account, so you can see her progress yourself!

Her 100 days of happiness project has been making me think of my personal happiness as of late. Somewhere between losing "Rachel" and dealing with the monotony of work and school, I've lost the drive to make the most of life and embrace the simple pleasures of daily life while committing the fantastical moments to memory. This is alarming, considering that one of my key resolutions for this year (and perhaps to infinity and beyond) is to finish the year in a more happier state of mind. With this in mind, I do want to refocus my perspectives on life and try to be more mindful of what's around me, who I interact with, and what feel (physically speaking) on a day-to-day basis. I don't think I'll be devoting a 100-Day crusade to my personal happiness anytime soon. Although, if I did, #Day1 would involve 500 Days of Summer.

To this day, I can't remember how I came to discover this film - I don't remember anyone sharing this movie with me, nor do I recall ever seeing any promos of any sort for the movie. All I can remember is that I've somehow always known about it, in the same way people always just knew how to breathe, and I'm fine with that. This is one of those movies that always gives me that "pick-me-up" feeling, knowing that life has a funny way of saying that it's aware of who you are, and somehow, I'm always inspired to try and pursue a more active love life (whatever that may be) again and again. This is really the first time I've really noticed Joseph-Gordon Levitt (although I knew he was once in 3rd Rock from the Sun in his teen years, and he's been in other films prior to this one) and over the years, he's become one of my celebrity man-crushes (but I'm digressing here). The same applies to Zooey Deschanel - I only recognized her after I realized that she was also in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy as Trillian. I never really noticed how beautiful Zooey was until seeing this movie, mostly because we (just like JGL) saw her beauty in the most subtle of ways: her eyes, her hair, the way she laughs, the way she sleeps...rather than "taking it all in," we're given these little glimpses of her, of who she is, and when it's all compiled together, it's her (again, I digress, which is something I always do, I suppose). This is why my #Day1 would be this movie.

The New (and Color-Coded) CRL

So, in short, I've decided to take some time and redo my whole Comprehensive Reading List (or CRL, for short) to make it more colorful and modern (somewhat). To recap, this list began about 3 years ago, with the intention to motivate me to simply read as much as possible. While this list has been around for some time, it wasn't until last year that I've became quite persistent to cross off every title in my list. Although, the tricky part of this list that I can easily manipulate the list to add/subtract books from the list, which  can make the whole "read --% of the books in my CRL" a pain in the neck or a piece of cake. So without much ado, here is my new, improved, and color-coded CRL for this year!

Color-Code:

Pre-2013: Orange

2013: Green

2014: Fuchsia

Reading in Progress: Blue

Finished Title: Black/White (in published form)

001. This Bridge Called My Back - A Feminist Anthology
002. Go Ask Alice - Anonymous
003.-004. The Iliad and Odessy - Homer

005. Tuesdays With Morrie - Mitch Albom
006. The Five People You Meet in Heaven - Mitch Albom

007. Borderlands (La Frontera) - Gloria E. Anzaldùa
008.-009. The Divine Comedy - Dante Alighieri

010. The Long 20th Century - Giovanni Arrighi
011. What You Have Left - Will Allison
012. Invitation to Sociology - Peter L. Berger

013. Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury

014. The Social Animal - David Brooks

015. The Zombie Survival Guide - Max Brooks
016. The Stranger - Albert Camus
017. The Rebel - Albert Camus
018. Myth of Sisyphus - Albert Camus
019. Notebooks - Albert Camus

020. Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card

021. Jurassic Park - Micheal Crichton

022. Next - Micheal Crichton
023. Dancing in the Dark - Morris Dickstein
024. Room - Emma Donoghue

025. Drudge Manifesto - Matt Drudge

026. A Tale Of Three Kings - Gene Edwards

027. The Lost Witness - Robert Ellis

028. Dead Space: Martyr - B.K. Evenson

029. Then We Came To An End - Joshua Ferris

030. The Unnamed - Joshua Ferris

031. The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald

032. A Thing or Two About Curtis and Camilla - Nick Fowler
033. The Fault in Our Stars - John Green
034. Looking For Alaska - John Green

035. Grimm's Complete Fairy Tales (On A Break...)

036. The Books Of Rachel - Joel Gross

037. Policing As Though People Matter - Dorothy Guyot

038. Retribution - Jilliane Hoffman

039. Prince of Thieves - Chuck Hogan

040. Brave New World - Aldous Huxley

041. The Know-It-All - A.J. Jacobs

042. The Year Of Living Biblically - A.J. Jacobs
043. Drop Dead Healthy - A.J. Jacobs

044. Shining Like Stars - Douglass Jacoby

045. Survivors - Zion Ben Jonah

046. What Technology Wants - Kevin Kelly
047. Angry White Men - Michael S. Kimmel
048. Masculinity as Homophobia - Michael S. Kimmel

049. Flowers For Algernon - Daniel Keyes

050. Cell - Stephen King
051. The Walking Dead Compendium I - Kirkman/Adlard/Moore/Rathburn
052. The Walking Dead Compendium II - Kirkman/Adlard/Moore/Rathburn

053. Getting The Most Of The Bible - G. Steve Kinnard

054. Frankenstein - Dean Koontz
055. Unequal Childhoods - Annette Lareau

056. The Satanic Bible - Anton Szandor LaVey

057. Fresh Kills - Bill Loehfelm

058. Our American King - David Lozell Martin
059. The Communist Manifesto - Karl Marx
060. The German Ideology - Karl Marx,  Friedrich Engels
061. The Gift - Marcel Mauss

062. The Complete Guide to the Bible - Stephen M. Miller
063. The Sociological Imagination - C. Wright Mills
064. The Will to Power - Friedrich Nietzche

065. 1984 - George Orwell

066. Animal Farm - George Orwell
067. Damned - Chuck Palahnuik

068.Three Dollars - Elliot Perlman

069. Seven Types of Ambiguity - Elliot Perlman

070. The Reasons I Won't Be Coming - Elliot Perlman

071. 01-01-00 - R.J. Pineiro

072. Bahgavad Gita (As It Is) - His Divine Grace Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

073. Where The Red Fern Grows - Wilson Rawls

074.The Happiness Project - Gretchen Rubin

075. The Book Of Vice - Peter Sagal
076. No Exit - Jean-Paul Sartre
077. The Wall - Jean-Paul Sartre

078. Married To Murder - Robert Scott

079. Derailed - James Seigel

080. The Dark Room - Rachel Seiffert

081. Hamlet - William Shakespeare

082. Much Ado About Nothing - William Shakespeare
083. Forces of Labor - Beverly Silver

084. The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ - Joseph Smith

085. Mostly Murder - Sydney Smith
086. A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Bad Beginning - Lemony Snicket
087. A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Reptile Room - Lemony Snicket
088. A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Wide Window - Lemony Snicket
089. A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Miserable Mill - Lemony Snicket
090. A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Austere Academy - Lemony Snicket
091. A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Ersatz Elevator - Lemony Snicket
092. A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Vile Village - Lemony Snicket
093. A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Hostile Hospital - Lemony Snicket
094. A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Carnivorous Carnival - Lemony Snicket
095. A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Slippery Slope - Lemony Snicket
096. A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Grim Grotto - Lemony Snicket
097. A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Penultimate Peril - Lemony Snicket
098. A Series of Unfortunate Events: The End - Lemony Snicket

099. Baseball In April And Other Stories - Gary Soto

100. Of Mice And Men - John Steinbeck

101. AMERICA (The Definitive Guide) - Jon Stewart

102. Mr. Clarinet - Nick Stone

103. The Purpose Driven Life - Rick Warren
104. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism - Max Weber
105. The Methodology of the Social Sciences - Max Weber

106. I Am The Messenger - Markus Zusak
107. The Book Thief - Markus Zusak

108. A+ Guide To Managing And Maintaining Your PC 6th Ed. (Textbook)

109. Criminal Justice, Citrus College Custom Ed. (Textbook)

110. Electronic Technology Fundamentals (Textbook)

111. Psychology 2nd Ed. (Textbook)

Total Books Read: 57 of 111 (51.35%)

A New Year and the Future Me... (Pt. III)

Ok, this last part is different from both I and II - Part III is more of a bucket list rather than a list of resolutions to accomplish. After last year's resolutions and even this year's resolutions got me thinking about perhaps establishing some long-term goals for my life - goals that will take time, effort, and even courage to even accomplish. Unlike I and II, this is much more grandiose and extravagant, being so much more than just a task to complete. These goals are, without a doubt in my mind, larger than life (well, at least for me, that is). For now, this will be short (since I'm writing this list at the top of my mind), but I'm sure over time, I'll have more to contribute here. And so, without further ado, here's what I would like to accomplish by the end of my life:

01. Go on a hot-air balloon ride
02. Skydive at least once
03. Visit all 50 states (yes, also Hawaii and Alaska) of the US
04. Host a musical performance for family and friends
05.  Visit Russia, England, Japan, France, and Mexico (in no particular order)

And that's all I got, for now. More to come soon!

A New Year and A New(er) Me... (Pt. II)

Now that I've reflected on my previous resolutions, here are my New Year's Resolutions for 2014! You'll notice that some goals are still the same from last year's and there are some completely new ones for me to accomplish!

2014 Resolutions:

1) Be happier (I've decided that this will always be a life-long resolution for me)

2) Be healthier, physically and mentally (also, another life-long resolution)
    -begin exercising
    -improve diet

3) Read 60% of books in my reading list
    -also, buy at least 10 e-books

4) Complete another CD collection

5) Learn to cook

6) Explore California
    -visit 3 museums
    -go hiking on 3 trails
    -try new food
    -go to 3 new cities

7) Learn a new language

8) Create 2 photo albums
    -one for the family to have
    -one for demonstrating my best photography

9) Find a spiritual calling (of sorts)

10) Learn to dance! (especially like nobody's watching ;-P)

A New Year and the Old Me... (Pt. I)

Well, before I even begin to write my upcoming New Year's Resolutions and the goals I will set for myself, I feel it's best to revisit the 10 goals I set for myself and see how much I have (or have not accomplished) - this is taken directly from my ""Reflections and Resolutions" blog almost a year ago. 

Also to note: Green means I had successfully accomplished that goal; Red means that I failed to accomplish that goal. 

2013 Resolutions:

1) Be happier

2) Be healthier
    -begin exercising
    -improve diet
    -improve dental health

3) Read 75% of books in my reading list
    -also, buy at least 5 e-books

4) Complete my CD collection

5) Make more vlogs on YouTube
    -make at least 25 videos
    -find new channels to subscribe to
    -Be more interactive in YouTube

6) Work on writing skills
    -finish the "Dearly Beloved" series
    -start a new series

7) Learn a new language

8) Take more pictures of family, friends, self, and artistic

9) Deal with nagging tasks
    -check engine light
    -New tires/rims
    -physical checkups
    -dental care

10) Get a girlfriend

6/10 2013 Resolutions Accomplished! 

Wow, I can't believe that I've had such a great year! I mean, it's still a "D", but when so many people struggle to even accomplish even one resolution, this is amazing. I personally was only expecting to only complete 4 of these 10, but I did quite well this year. And with the new year looming around the corner, I'm excited to see just how much further I will grow! Thank you all for an amazing year! Until next time, my fellow readers!