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December holidays in college are often way, way, WAY too short. Just as I’m done catching up and settling in with people and places , it’s time to go back again.

That said, at least I’m done with the catching up, aided mostly by the flurry of festivities that necessitated meet-ups.

This holiday was mainly food, books, new-found abilities and shopping (!!!) – also a little bit of running (my favorite non-indulgent/inexpensive hobby), at least before I fell deathly ill (allow me the exaggeration, it goes well with it’s very timely occurrence right before 2014).

So, what I read. Didn’t read much, but I read consistently. I found myself always in the midst of a novel, or else smoothly diving into another (I can’t read books simultaneously!). 1Q84 & HP7 took up the bulk of it, really.

1Q84 was addictive, a feat considering how bloody long the entire trilogy was. The most striking stylistic element of 1Q was its weaving in of completely irrelevant points of mundane life. They carry no conceivable symbolism or contribute to the plot in any way, and are just there to stretch the length of the novel. You’d think that’ll make the progress tedious, but it was in fact strangely enjoyable. The ending was unsatisfactory in that not everything was fully explained – but if you’ve read my reviews you’d know about my weird adoration of abrupt and unresolved plot endings. So I’d say trudging through it was pretty worth it for me. Not the best Murakami but definitely not his worse (at its cheesiest, most Americanized, gimmicky pits).

Amy Tan’s been my favorite author since I began reading books beyond Enid Blyton and Beverley Cleary, so when I heard she was releasing her next novel after a SIX YEAR LONG LITERARY HIATUS I was BEYOND excited and pre-ordered it on BookDepository. But I knew it would disappoint. It was a gut feeling – with past experience and extensive reading of the Amy Tan ‘s complete work as a scaffold – that she had reached and passed her prime. So when Valley of Amazement failed to amaze, I was prepared. It does have it’s solid moments, but it felt rather like hardcore Amy Tan reader, familiar with her style and themes, writing in her stead.

After Valley of Amazement my Amy Tan thirst was yet to be satiated, so I went for a reread of The Hundred Secret Senses, the first of hers I’ve read. Loved it and still do. I love reading books from my childhood in progressing checkpoints of my life. Every reading yields a new perspective, and sometimes I find my evaluations of certain issues brought up divergent with my previous ones.

It’s Kind of a Funny Story was a short and refreshing interim, finished within a day. I picked this up after a few good reviews online. It’s about a kid with depression who checks himself into a mental ward. I liked it because it kept real to the pov of the protagonist’s age and temperament, and was frankly pretty informed about the reality of mental disorders. As opposed to the dramatic, dark, swirling, fragmented world as portrayed by The Bell Jar (although yes, some cases do go there). All in all, it didn’t piss a psych major off, so I guess it has succeeded.

Paddy Clark Ha Ha Ha was pulled out from the depths of Justin’s drawers, after I found out the disturbing secret that he actually reads. He recommended it – and given the recent shocking discovery that he doesn’t not read but is just too discerning to read anything that isn’t great – how could I not give it a try?!? Fortunately for him it was a brilliant piece of literary – underrated, unpretentious, subtly heartbreaking and darkly humorous… kind of like Justin. I’m kidding.

Everything else was a reread. I’m getting less adventurous with my reading because I’m afraid of investing effort and emotions into crappy novels.

Caught of with my bests this holiday. A lot of it was spent with my Popo. Living away from home made me appreciate her that much more. I realized that she’s the family member I see and depend on the most, even despite her active social life and singing performances/classes. She somehow always makes time to cook or clean up after me. This time round I thought we should spend some quality time doing things we both love, which is really just shopping. We shopped. A lot.

Also had Cat back in town with us this time round. Love her even though sometimes I can’t understand her with her thickly laden ‘murken accent.

I’d have loved to meet up with everyone more. If I had the time, I want to have a nice sit down with everyone, just two or three at a time, and have those long, long conversations about anything we want. Now too often we have other places to go and things to do. I still remember those hours after school spent with Gloria sitting around anywhere that wouldn’t chase us away, talking our hearts out about everything and nothing in particular.

Went out with JR, Deebs, and JY early in the month but no photos were taken so here’s one from early 2013. They made me miss A16 a whole lot, too. It reminded me of just how many other friends I’m missing but missed out on outings with, always with the convenience reassurance that “there’s always June”. The CAP bunch, all the Hwach people, and the overseas kids who aren’t available for me to hunt down. I can’t help now that school is drawing close but regret not squeezing out just a couple of hours to see their faces.

Still, Christmas and New Year’s with loved ones, how can I still complain?

This holiday I also uncovered a redundant but amusing ability of mine to make art with my left hand. So the thing is I was born a leftie, but switched a right. Although I’ve always begrudged my parents for depriving me of my natural hand-stincts, I guess it does get cumbersome for lefties because MAJORITY WINS and most tools are catered to rights. So anyway I was experimenting, and found that while I could write relatively decent with my left hand, I could somewhat draw with it too (unexpected)!!!

Spent a few days sharpening my left-handed doodling skills, and there was definitely a marked improvement, although I went stagnant shortly after the watercolor art, which was penciled in by the left and painted by the right.

At the start of every holiday I’d hope to achieve something I hadn’t before. Mission accomplished!

In just a day it’s back to school. I feel again like a primary two kid refusing to return, thinking that primary one was just a temporary interlude to an otherwise free childhood. But ah, reality. Sem 2s are always difficult. You’re still weary from the previous semester, and there’s a whole chunk of it left to go.

Hm. :-(