Song OTD

Today's song is あなたに (For You) by Anzen Chitai! Started listening to his discog. I like how it starts out slow and gradually increases in emotion .. man that ending is so good, it's very dramatic and heart wrenching. 
 

Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb

Yesterday I finished reading this book.. I think it's really good :) It's a memoir about the author, who is a psychotherapist that decides to attend therapy following an unexpected breakup. And the whole thing is basically reading about Lori's therapy sessions and about some of her clients while also learning about/improving yourself as well. Ngl I thought it was fiction at first because it reads like a fictional book. 

Anyway, it was interesting to read the psychology parts of the book (and connect it to what I'm learning in psych class 🤯). There are a lot of great insights in this memoir!! It's kinda long (620-ish pages on the e-book I was reading it on, maybe 400~ for the irl book), but it was entertaining, so I got through it in a matter of days. This memoir lowkey fueled my previous aspiration to be a therapist again ngl. I was really invested in all the different characters in the book. I do wonder how much of the convos were changed/censored though? Bc therapists aren't supposed to disclose information about clients. However, despite this, it's still a good read. Felt good to genuinely enjoy and be invested in a nice book again. 

Recommend if you're interested in therapy/psych/mental health stuff! 

Song OTD

 

Today's song is まちぶせ (Ambush?) by Hitomi Ishikawa! I love the melody.. this song is so dreamy 

art

 

trying to get better at drawing eyes .. its hard

Song OTD

 

Today's song OTD is Put Your Head on my Shoulder by Paul Anka!

And also y'all need to see this cover omg. I love this old lady and her big-eyed chihuahua 🥺🥺 theyre so precious. and her singing is so comforting in a way. so glad this popped up in my recs

Song OTD

Today's song OTD is  はぐれ そうな 天使 (an angel who seems to stray) by Takako Okamura! I love the lyrics and melody/instruments sm!

Pretty Pretty Please I Don’t Want to be a Magical Girl

Everyone needs to watch this IMMEDIATELY omg its so gooddd and amazing!! The artstyle is spectacular and very charming, the animation is so good (the fully colored part is just 😍), and the line delivery is on point. I love the trope reversals sm... love the MC's character designs. Aika is so cool (and reminds me a little bit of Darwin from TAWOG) and Zira is so me fr. PLEASE I need a full 5 seasons of these 2 omg I'd binge it all. Everything in this is literally perfect.. love 

Song OTD

 

Today's song OTD is Cosmic by Red Velvet 

February Book Reviews

 Haven’t done any sort of review in a long time so I’ll do some on the 3 latest books I’ve read:

1. Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock by Matthew Quick. Synopsis: On Lonard Peacock's birthday, Leonard Peacock plans on killing his former best friend with a P-38, which he intends to leave as a gift, along with four others, to his true friends, as a way of telling them it wasn't their fault. Then he plans on killing himself, too.

This book’s protag reminded me a lot of Holden from Catcher in the Rye. I feel as if many lines from it sound like it could’ve come from CITR ngl. The letters incorporated into the book were a little confusing at first, but ig it adds to the book. Didn’t really like how the author kept putting some of the sentences into little fragments that spanned multiple lines of the page, like a poem almost- it happened so many times that the intended dramatism of it felt almost nonexistent. I really liked Leonard’s Holocaust teacher, Herr Silverman. Leonard himself was so… he’s a hypocrite and kinda pretentious, looks down on other people. Again, reminds me of Holden. I think maybe there were too many different elements crammed into this book, so some things felt a little underdeveloped. Idk I read this first so I don't remember the fine details. 6.5/10. 

2. Bang by Barry Lyga. “Sebastian Cody did something horrible, something no one—not even Sebastian himself—can forgive. At the age of four, he accidentally shot and killed his infant sister with his father’s gun. Now, ten years later, Sebastian has lived with the guilt and horror for his entire life. With his best friend away for the summer, Sebastian has only a new friend—Aneesa—to distract him from his darkest thoughts. But even this relationship cannot blunt the pain of his past. Because Sebastian knows exactly how to rectify his childhood crime and sanctify his past.”

The premise seemed interesting and I loved the writing style of this novel (also liked how Sebastian had a large lexicon). Sebastian and Aneesa felt like real characters. It was fun to read about their pizza channel and food descriptions! Those lighthearted scenes helped undercut the more tragic parts of the novel.

The last third or so of the novel got me tearing up. I also liked the twist near the end of it, didn’t expect that at all. The actual ending wasn’t very memorable for me, but it was still enjoyable to read. Oh, and I liked how the author didn’t make this into a romance book! Love the message of how just because a boy and girl become friends doesn’t mean they inevitably have to fall in love with each other 💯 8/10 overall. 

3. The Bunker Diary by Kevin Brooks. Read this one in a few hours the other day. It’s very intense. The writing style was simple and punchy. Jenny and Russell were my favorite characters :)

“People are really quite simple, and they have simple needs. Food, water, light, space, privacy. Maybe a small measure of dignity. A bit of freedom. What happens when someone simply takes all that away?” 

This book is about this boy named Linus, who gets kidnapped into a bunker. Over time, 5 other people join him. To sum it up, they basically spend the entire time suffering and trying to escape the bunker. This book is just depressing ngl, especially the ending. There was something I missed about the ending until another person pointed it out and omg 😭 the more I think about it the worse it gets. 

Anyway, throughout the book I was waiting for more information about the man that captured these people, but we never got to know anything about him. Also, it really annoyed me how his name/pronouns were capitalized for no reason. Maybe “The Man Upstairs” is a commentary about God but I hated it 😭 I didn’t really get any takeaway from this except that “life is unfair” … it’s just a really bleak book about people getting tortured. 6/10.

Just realizing I’ve read a lot of books with more depressing themes/mental illness in February 💀 these 3 were the most intense ones. Does anyone have any good book recs that aren’t super bleak… I’m running out of books I fear. 

Song OTD

 

Today's song OTD is APT. by ROSÉ and Bruno Mars! Cuz I'm obsesseddddd! Idk why, I've listened to this song many times before but for some reason I just suddenly got obsessed with APT. Also this fan animation is so cute and well-made

for some reason...

 idk why but akina's teen-age blue has been playing in my mind for the past couple day so many times. literally cant get it out of my head. that song is literally perfection ... my favorite akina song perhaps. its so good to listen to esp when ur feeling down. and its my #1 song on spotify now 😭

also been craving listening to apt. for the whole day today what is happening 

think maybe my obsession for music is coming back. it hasnt been the same since i took that little music break a while back ngl 

march better be good or i will cry

 ngl february was so bad.... worst month ever. last day ended off horribly too bruh i havent really cried in months (?) before this 🧟 i thought 2025 would be better than 2024 wth 😭😭

its march now tho that means spring is pretty much here! then summer! i cant wait to not be cold all the time 🙏☺️

Song OTD

 It's Marchhhh!!!!! Happy March everyone! 🍀Today's song OTD is Spring by Ella Fitzgerald! 🌷The ending of this song is so beautiful...