These Are My Favourite Things #2

I did one of these ages ago... and it's kind of fun and therepeutic, so I think I'll do another. Here is where I will share random stuff and promote things that I love and hope and hope and hope that you'll go away with something new and awesome ^_^ Although a lot of the stuff that I do like isn't very... well, unheard of.

Okay, so firstly, I like stories. So here's a story:

A Cup of Tea

A group of students, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old teacher. Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life. 

Offering his guests tea, the teacher went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of tea and an assortment of cups – porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite – telling them to help themselves to the tea. 

When all the students had a cup of tea in hand, the professor said: ‘If you noticed, all the nice looking expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress. 

Be assured that the cup itself adds no quality to the tea. In most cases it is just more expensive and in some cases even hides what we drink. What all of you really wanted was tea, not the cup, but you consciously went for the best cups… And then you began eyeing each other’s cups too. 

Now consider this: Life is the tea; the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain Life, and the type of cup we have does not define, nor change the quality of Life we live. 

Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the tea Allah has provided us.’ Allah brews the tea, not the cups. Enjoy your tea.

And I think this is the sort of advice/kick-in-the-butt I need every now and again...

And this picture makes me happy:

 Ok. Let's do books. 

Recently, I finished The Lumatere Chronicles, by Melina Marchetta.

 Oh. My. God.

It's pure awesomeness. Every single thing is perfect. I don't really throw that around easily (I think) but, I mean, she wrote it so well. You'll love the characters, the setting is amazing, every intricate detail is mindblowing, the plot is intriguing and tragic and twisty and - well, okay, here is my review, it's under Quintana but I was reviewing the trilogy as a whole, I guess. Some words of advice: 

1. Finnikin of the Rock you can read as a standalone novel, I think, but once you read Froi, rest assured you must read the rest. What's more, unless you have the best of the best memory, I highly recommend reading them consecutively, without a huge gap inbetween. Especially after Froi - there are so many details in it that are relevant to Quintana and if you leave a huge gap inbetween readings (like me), you'll sort of lose the quarter of the novel before you really start understanding everything.

2. Also, hm, from Froi onwards it get's very... adult ='_'= I mean, she doesn't detail stuff, but it's all there in plenty of references. So I guess Arvie, you should stay away ^_^

Okay, now another: The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak.

... hold up, forget me throwing about perfection not easily... o.o This novel is perfect too. But... but... in my defense, I'm recommending from my favourites shelf. So everything on the favourites is always perfect. Mostly.

Anyway, I actually read The Book Thief yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeears ago but I feel the need to recommend now, because, last Thursday, I learnt that...

OkayI'mhavingdifficultybreathingagain

THEY'RE MAKING A MOVIE. THEY'REMAKINGAMOVIEFORTHEBOOKTHIEFOHMYGOD.

Now there is something Very Important that you must understand. When I read this book, when Markus Zusak ripped out my heart and fed it through a meat shredder, when I finished it, it didn't occur to me once that this should be a movie. Ever. On the one hand, the story itself is perfectly amazing, but on the other hand, it's just the way he writes. It's so poetic and pretty and perfect. I wouldn't even have the right words to do justice to how he writes, and I guess my subconscious figured a movie needn't, couldn't, do it justice either.

But as soon as I saw the news, I stopped breathing for a while anyway. See, last week, I had been watching a French movie (my way of studying for French), and when I watch these movies, if they turn out okay, I look up the actors/actresses, particularly if they're little, because the younger they are, the more likely the movies they're in don't have naked people getting up to things (as is common with the French). The movie I was watching was Monsieur Lazhar, with a little Canadian-French girl called Sophie Nélisse in one of the minor starring roles...

Yup, Sophie Nélisse is LIESEL. DHFLJADHLFKJADSHFKJA.

 In case you didn't get that, I think she's perfect. Really.

I think I can give you a run down on The Book Thief without spoiling anything - basically, it's set in Nazi Germany, it's the story of Liesel Meminger... oh, I read some of the blurb, and to finish:

It’s just a small story, really, about, among other things: a girl, some words, an accordionist, some fanatical Germans, a Jewish fist-fighter, and quite a lot of thievery. . . 

And the fun bit? It's told through the voice of Death. You gotta love Death.

Oh, one more thing. What really always gets me about The Book Thief is that Zusak tells you what's going to happen at the end at the start, and it still has the same profound effect when you get to the end, even though you knew it was coming. Gosh. Gosh.

So The Book Thief. January 2014, guys. *dies* (Go read the book though, if you haven't. Or I'll hit you. The movie is NOT a substitute, I don't think it ever is.)

Btw, the soundtrack for Monsieur Lazhar is really nice...

Oh yeah, Monsieur Lazhar is a movie I'd recommend. It's not very climatic, but there's something very... pleasantly melancholic. I'm not sure I can call it that... it basically involves this teacher - Monsieur Lazhar - going to a school where a teacher recently committed suicide in a classroom. While he observes them coping, he... happens to be coping with his own issues. It's just... nice.

So, because my charming French teacher is absolutely useless as a teacher, I've taken to watching French movies as part of my study, besides the tuition I take. As I mentioned before, it's a bit hard to find French movies that don't have random naked people turn up, but... well, okay, if the following movies have random naked people, I'll tell you.

There's Amelie. In one word, it's quirky. It does have ... some naked people. Brief glimpses, and oh God, there's this one scene where you don't see anything but the sound effects are positively scarring.... but they're not the centre of the movie and they're VERY brief, and the overall movie is fantastic x) I've watched it twice.

Les Intouchables. NO naked people. It's ... hm... the unconventional tale of a paraplegic and a young man who sort of accidentally ends up being his caretakerishperson. Based on a true story :)

Ummm... I can't remember any others that were ... exceptional. What else? Well, I absolutely love this post I saw on Linchy's tumblr, but I can't make myself repost all the swearwords and... I'm too lazy to link every single gif. But Harry Potter fans, it's for you. J'adore ♥ 

Oh, just found this awesome quote:
catalyse:

To people who believe long skirts/concealing clothes/burqas restricts and oppresses a woman’s sexuality: I can enjoy my body without you enjoying my body. 

Going back to JKRowling, though, I love this quote by her. So much, I wrote it up and stuck it in my school x)

“Fat’ is usually the first insult a girl throws at another girl when she wants to hurt her.

I mean, is ‘fat’ really the worst thing a human being can be? Is ‘fat’ worse than ‘vindictive’, ‘jealous’, ‘shallow’, ‘vain’, ‘boring’ or ‘cruel’? Not to me; but then, you might retort, what do I know about the pressure to be skinny? I’m not in the business of being judged on my looks, what with being a writer and earning my living by using my brain…

I went to the British Book Awards that evening. After the award ceremony I bumped into a woman I hadn’t seen for nearly three years. The first thing she said to me? ‘You’ve lost a lot of weight since the last time I saw you!’

‘Well,’ I said, slightly nonplussed, ‘the last time you saw me I’d just had a baby.’

What I felt like saying was, ‘I’ve produced my third child and my sixth novel since I last saw you. Aren’t either of those things more important, more interesting, than my size?’ But no – my waist looked smaller! Forget the kid and the book: finally, something to celebrate!

I’ve got two daughters who will have to make their way in this skinny-obsessed world, and it worries me, because I don’t want them to be empty-headed, self-obsessed, emaciated clones; I’d rather they were independent, interesting, idealistic, kind, opinionated, original, funny – a thousand things, before ‘thin’. And frankly, I’d rather they didn’t give a gust of stinking chihuahua flatulence whether the woman standing next to them has fleshier knees than they do. Let my girls be Hermiones, rather than Pansy Parkinsons.” 

 I think I'll finish this with some songs...

ALEXANDER RYBAK. I love him.

Ingrid Michaelson. So cute (:

Cimorelli. I just love that they're all sisters and they're so nice.

 & of course, Lindsey. Because it's Lindsey.

No, wait, before I go, you need some Kiko ^_^

Peace in,
Laila

Secret Lives

Some time last term, Star turned to me during lunchtime and said, maybe with a little surprise: 'You have friends.'

This is very nice to know. It might seem like such a weird thing to say, because usually you don't really expect your friend to say something like that, but it has its importance. I remember mentioning, a post or two or three ago, that I don't have too many close friends because I keep people at bay.

But Star's comment came with the realisation that while not many people know about the workings of my head or my 'personal' life, people still talk to me. Or they have been this year, more than before. And when they make their confessions and unburden their woes, I realise that I seem to have uncovered a whole new underbelly in my high school. Sort of.

Now, with what I might tell you now, you might go 'awww', because it's a serious case of delusional naivety. You see, I know what teenagers theoretically get up to. The parties, the drinks, and what happens under the covers. But because I hadn't physically witnessed it before my eyes, never having been to one of these things, it never occurred to me that this actually happened with people in my school. Or maybe I knew, at the back of my mind, but never really comprehended it.

But last term, as I sat with one of the school captains who I'd newly made friends with, and some others asked her about something that happened at her birthday party...my God. It happens. It's all there. And although no one was talking to me, I was blushing mentally because for some reason it just felt so shocking and scandalous.

In a way, to me, it felt like a majority of the teenagers in our school led a secret night life. Of course it's a stupid notion, they're not exactly bashful about it, but just in my stupid head it felt like it.

Then it sort've runs deeper. As I mentioned, I had recently made friends with one of the school captains. Let's call her Helen. I think she's lovely, I do. I mean, she's been around since the beginning of high school, but I had never spoken to her because our social circles were so far apart... and they still are, for that matter. At least, I figured from what she told me.

See, one day she looked stressed, so I asked her how she was doing, and she sort of sighed and said it was all the 'drama'. My expression must have been sort of blank, because she kind of gaped at me, and said: "You mean... you don't know?"

Cue the embarrassed nod.

"Well, I don't want to tell you... because I don't want to backstab, nor do I want to weigh you down," she said. But she explained that because she's the social butterfly that she is, she has a wide range of friends who are forever having fights. They fight, they break up; they kiss, they make up. Every. Single. Day. Kind of like my friends and I in grade two.

And poor Helen gets caught up in this because they're always trying to make her take sides. Most of the time she gets away with playing Switzerland, but recently it's been one of her closest friends, and she mentions this girl... and I'm bamboozled. Because I've seen this girl, I've shared classes with her, I know her vaguely, and she's always so bright and bubbly and happygolucky, and I absolutely cannot fathom her being the sort of petty prima donna that engages in this sort of activity.

No judgement, but once again, it makes me feel like everyone is having this secret life that I'm unaware of.

Anyway, this post is not really about my oblivion. It's about how Helen tells me these intimate things without the detailed gossip (because that's only some of the stuff she's stressed about), things she can't say to her real friends, and I wonder why. I wonder if she realises how little she knows of me, too. And I wonder what else I'm missing from the facade of my seemingly carefree peers.

She's not the only one. I have another friend, this one is more long-term. Lettuce call her Preity. Last term, again, Preity was chatting with Star and I, and I have to let you know: she's what you call really bright and bubbly, happygolucky, hyperactive, made of love. We were talking about things, and one thing led to another, and eventually she told us her father was an alcoholic, he would get angry with her older brothers (who, you could say, are old enough to take care of themselves) he'd hit them, and her mother would faint during these episodes. He never hurt her, though. I don't know how commonly this occurs in her life, but...  yeah. And also, for all her high school life up til like, two weeks ago, her parents have never let her go out with friends. Ever. EVER. And - and this is a normal Asian thing, I suppose ^_^ - her parents have forced her to take all the scienceymaths subjects, which are just not meant for her. Her personality doesn't fit it, and I don't want to be mean, but I don't think she'll do that well. And she doesn't think so either, because they weren't subjects she wanted, nor is she good at them.

("And I thought your parents were strict," Star says to me. I have never thought of my parents as strict, but now I know that if I ever do... well. Well.)

And no one knew about this, at all. We were trying to pep talk her on how to deal with this, and we kept saying she shouldn't have to live like this, but - and this is why I say she's the real bright and bubbly, happygolucky, hyperactive, made of love of person - she was telling all this to us with this big beam on her face. And when we prodded her, she sort of just sighed carelessly and said: 'Well, yeah, I know, but I mean... they're my family. I know they're not perfect, but I still love them anyway.'

And in a weird sort of way, I understand her, and I couldn't push her any further because I felt like somehow, making her change that would ruin her happiness. She's the kind of person who would only be happy if she could make her parents happy. Nevertheless, I've told her that she can spill to me or call me whenever...

... but once again, how doesn't anyone know this stuff? I've known her for almost five years! FIVE! And I didn't know this!

Two of my friends' mothers have cancer. For one, she told me, but it's still a Big Secret, and for the other, my mother told me, and that friend doesn't know that I know.

And to think of the things that I don't tell my friends - it frightens me at all the possibilities of what everyone could be hiding. 

Recently, around the table in my kitchen, I've been hearing things. About the Swindler. About his house. About sending people to check for cameras. About going there at night. About getting the money back in not very nice ways.

And it terrifies me, because there's an underbelly going on in my very own home and I don't know what it is, but I can feel it's something big and it might explode and drag us all down.

Peace in,
Laila