bethgstories

It isn’t the first Chinese drama I’ve seen, but definitely the longest to linger in my head. It has been almost two months since I finished all 40 episodes of Fireworks Of My Heart in 5 freaking days, yet I still catch myself playing the damn thing while I work, laughing and getting smitten by my favorite scenes. I’d like to think that it is because it’s a challenge to get loose from the claws of Yang Yang ’s charms. But maybe, just maybe, this drama just loved me back and that is why I can’t get over it. Image Source Song Yan’s (Yang Yang) uniform won me over. Men in uniforms exude authority, responsibility, and protection and these things are all true about him. He is the fire station chief, responsible for bringing out only the best in the firefighters through intense and somewhat ruthless training, placing the safety not only of the entire city but also of his team members in his hands. While all of us would agree that all of these make him one hell of a dream boy, he is still not...

Whoever said, “I am not buying anything,” is a traitor to oneself. It’s me. I am the traitor. But maybe I just said that because I had no idea that MIBF 2023 would be lit. I can’t remember which year I started attending the Manila International Book Fair – all I know is that I should be at the fair each year. It is the one time of the year when I get to meet my book-lover friends, fellow authors both old and new, and celebrity authors. It is the only other event where I could possibly maximize a fangirling experience aside from the idols I adore. MIBF 2022 was quite uninteresting (or maybe it was just me), and I kid you not the books I bought from last year were left untouched in my bookshelf. Hence the words, I’m not buying anything. Which proved that not all experiences are the same. Because again, MIBF 2023 was an exhilarating experience. The effects of my C-drama obsession My Korean boys will always have that special place in my heart, but ever since Wei Zhe Ming (Unforgettable Lo...

Just when I thought I already finished all of Season 1, I discovered that I actually missed 12 episodes. I know, I am an idiot. House MD is distinct from all the other medical dramas I’ve seen so naturally I had to know what crippled the brilliant man, what it took to be his patient, best friend, protégé, and even girlfriend. Gregory House (Hugh Laurie) had me when he said that “everybody lies” because I am a hundred percent with him on this. People lie to feel better about themselves. We lie to people we don’t like because we want to impress them with things that aren’t true. We lie to our friends because we want to be accepted by them. We lie to our bosses because it would be unprofessional to hit them up with “No, it’s not okay for me to work on someone else’s job just because they ditched workday today.” House MD  is a pain to happen in real life. The seemingly endless, expensive, and sometimes painful diagnostic exams. The cocktails of meds pushed into your system praying to ...

If cats disappeared from the world, I wouldn’t have had to spend a fortune on vaccines. So here I am, on my next book about cats. I am back with my lowkey obsession with Asian literature. They’re calm and warm and would often reassure me that it’s okay to prioritize myself and that doing so doesn’t make me selfish. If Cats Disappeared From The World is just like the other books from the same shelf. It somehow made me question how I am living my life because apparently “being alive doesn’t mean all that much on its own. How you live is more important.” So, what’s the story? The narrator failed to mention his name (or was I not paying close attention again?). Only that he’s a mailman and he was just diagnosed with a brain tumor so his days are numbered. Enter the Devil, who tries to send him the idea of making something disappear from the world in exchange for one more day to live. Being a human being who cherishes life dearly, he agreed. The 10 things I want to do before I die This was ...

Desperate Characters is supposedly included in my April reading list. But because it took me a while to finish it, I decided to have a theme for May’s list, now that I can finally laugh at the situation without bitterness. The book is not really hard to read despite the number of days it took me to finish it, and certainly not as challenging as Insurrecto. Desperate Characters follows the life of the Bentwoods, a childless middle-class German couple residing in 1970s Brooklyn. So, what’s the story? For the love of God, Sophie was just feeding that stray cat when it decided that perhaps, sinking its teeth into Sophie’s wrist is somehow a cool way of showing gratitude. Yes, it was about Sophie getting bitten by a stray cat but for some reason refuses to go to the doctor and get the wound checked. As she ponders on the possibilities of rabies and infections she might suffer, Otto , her husband rants about his partner at the law firm, Charlie Russell , and also, just about everyone and e...