Excuse my 'Rules of Civility' withdrawals

Grand Central Station circa 1935-1941/Courtesy NYC Municipal Archives

“In our twenties, when there is still so much time ahead of us, time that seems ample for a hundred indecisions, for a hundred visions and revisions—we draw a card, and we must decide right then and there whether to keep that card and discard the next, or discard the first card and keep the second. And before we know it, the deck has been played out and the decisions we have just made will shape our lives for decades to come.”

“It is a lovely oddity of human nature that a person is more inclined to interrupt two people in conversation than one person alone with a book.”

“If we only fell in love with people who were perfect for us...then there wouldn't be so much fuss about love in the first place.”

“Anyone who has ridden the subway twice a day to earn their bread knows how it goes: When you board, you exhibit the same persona you use with your colleagues and acquaintances. You've carried it through the turnstile and past the sliding doors, so that your fellow passengers can tell who you are - cocky or cautious, amorous or indifferent, loaded or on the dole. But you find yourself a seat and the train gets under way; it comes to one station and then another; people get off and others get on. And under the influence of the cradlelike rocking of the train, your carefully crafted persona begins to slip away. The super-ego dissolves as your mind begins to wander aimlessly over your cares and your dreams; or better yet, it drifts into ambient hypnosis, where even cares and dreams recede and the peaceful silence of the cosmos pervades.”

“I've come to realize that however blue my circumstances, if after finishing a chapter of a Dickens novel I feel a miss-my-stop-on-the-train sort of compulsion to read on, then everything is probably going to be just fine.”

“Whatever setbacks he had faced in his life, he said, however daunting or dispiriting the unfolding of events, he always knew that he would make it through, as long as when he woke in the morning he was looking forward to his first cup of coffee."

“That's the problem with living in New York. You've got no New York to run away to.”

Inspiring. Gad, I adore Amor Towles.

Monday Read Lusts

Sorry for going haywire all of a sudden. The past days has been a whirlwind of work, a pseudo-typhoon that submerged MNL making me work at home for two days, distractions (my resurrected Tumblr), hanging out with friends - glad to be back on the outside world, and my stint at the emergency room yesterday because of my swollen, irritated eyes.

I just had to whip up something good for ya, like these interesting things from around the web (not the usual "links only"):

Is it just me or is RPattz becoming more boy toy material since she left KStew? Extra points for this quote.

I wanna be Molly Mahoney and this will be Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium! Ahhhh!

11 Books You Should Read If You're A Woman In Your 20s - What would you read from this list? I'd probably go for Garden of Eden, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, and The Edible Woman.

This item tipped the scale to "buy a Kindle ASAP". Pretty nifty!

Gives me hella good laughs and a glimpse of the world of writers. Cos writers can joke too!

Hit me up on Tumblr.
Happy reading/watching :)

Writing & work

The faster I write the better my output. If I'm going slow, I'm in trouble. It means I'm pushing the words instead of being pulled by them. - Raymond Chandler

When we read we start at the beginning and continue until we reach the end. When we write, we start in the middle and fight our way out. - Vickie Karp

Sometimes you have to go on when you don't feel like it, and sometimes, you're doing good work when it fells like all you're managing is to shovel shit from a sitting position. - Stephen King

All the words I use in my stories can be found in the dictionary - it's just a matter of arranging them into the right sentences. - Somerset Maugham

The secret of becoming a writer is to write, write and keep on writing. - Ken MacLeod

One hasn't become a writer until one has distilled writing into a habit, and that habit has been forced into an obsession. Writing has to be an obsession. It has to be something as organic, physiological and psychological as speaking or sleeping or eating. - Niyi Osundare

I never want to see anyone, and I never want to go anywhere or do anything. I just want to write. - P.G. Wodehouse

Being a good writer is 3% talent, 97% not being distracted by the Internet. - Anonymous

If you don't have the time to read, you don't have the time or the tools to write. - Stephen King

If you read good books, when you write, good books will come out of you. - Natalie Goldberg

You are what you read. - Esko Valtaoja

PS. Having too much fun on Tumblr lately but I promise not to abandon Blogger!

Crave

Letting you slip away is such a terrible waste, it’s consuming me.
I could’ve had you for a couple of touches and it will be the world for me.

They stare at me while I crave you.

A reminder

For several weeks I felt like a speeding train with no brakes - a machine, nothing more. Something stopped me in my tracks just when I thought I was going straight for the cliffs. And I breathed, I was human after all with dreams as scary as this. Thank you Anon, for pulling me back a step just so I could see how far I've come - not that far yet. It was the best prologue for my birthday month!

"Sometimes, you need to step outside, get some air, and remind yourself of who you are and who you want to be."


Why hello, August!