Blog by Jedde

Celebrating my 5th birthday with my sister and cousins. Happy with Filipino-style spaghetti and orange juice! As little girls, my parents would often remind me and my sister to be grateful for what we have. We grew up in a simple household. Usually, our breakfast, lunch, and dinner doesn't change in variety. The food is cooked in the morning and is reheated for the next meals. Yes, there were many instances when we would complain about why it's always repeating. As young children, we wanted to try eating new dishes too. We would whine about it and sometimes throw tantrums, to which my parents would reply: "Be grateful for the food on the table." We didn't understand what that truly meant back then. We thought it was just our parents nagging us and reminding us the same message over and over again like a broken record. We would even lip sync! When we eat and rice grains fall off from the plate, even if it's just a few grains, our parents would scol

Goodreads Summary "The City was built on a sharp mountain that jutted improbably from the sea, and the sea kept trying to claim it back. That grey morning, once the tide had retreated, a whale was found on a rooftop. When a mysterious boy washes in with the tide, the citizens believe he's the Enemy - the god who drowned the world - come again to cause untold chaos. Only Ellie, a fearless young inventor living in a workshop crammed with curiosities, believes he's innocent. But the Enemy can take possession of any human body and the ruthless Inquisition are determined to destroy it forever. To save the boy, Ellie must prove who he really is - even if that means revealing her own dangerous secret." My Thoughts It was a cold February afternoon when I decided to head out and visit a bookshop. While I was enjoying my browsing, mindfully checking the books on each aisle, I noticed a particular title that piqued my interest. Tucked among dozens of books in a co

"Books give a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and life to everything." (Plato) Hi and welcome to Scribbles and Books . On Sundays, I will be sharing with you my thoughts about the books that I'm currently reading and those that I've already read. This is a personal project that I have always wanted to start and I'm happy that I'm finally taking the courage to begin. Why did I choose to write book reviews? Because I want to read more books and also encourage more people to read and actually enjoy it. I hope you're looking forward to it as much as I do. Happy Sunday! Love, Mary Jedde

I'm beginning to feel even more restless. Now that the circuit breaker and ECQ measures have been extended, I cannot say that I'm perfectly calm about it. Each day, I watch the world move a slow pace from outside my window. Cabs in long queues instead of people, a person who just bought a bag of groceries trying to cross the street, a few vehicles driving by, and the trees calmly swaying their branches under the sun. The fight against the crisis still continues up to this day. Although now, my extroverted personality craves to be tended. All I could do is dream - going to a café, meeting with my closest friends and chit-chatting with them, or maybe having a date with Alex and taking lots of photos around Singapore. Alex. I wonder how he's coping with all that's going on right now. You might probably know about this but one very clear thing about us is that he and I have different ways to recharge. As an extrovert, I gain my energy in social situations, often see

Source:  https://www.behance.net/gallery/29412079/Illustrations-of-2015 I am staring at an empty sheet right now. I do not know what to write about. What is my heart telling me? What are the thoughts that haunt me? Am I ready to transcribe my thoughts into writing? Weave my emotions into images for the world to see? Am I ready to be vulnerable? As I am typing these words, I'm thinking about what to write next. Is this truly how life must be? That in each second of the day we are alive, we must always worry ourselves with the things that have not yet arrived? Could we not savour the moment of each letter, each word of this sentence as they are? Why must we look so far ahead into the future when we are uncertain about what's to come? Why are we letting the present become only a fragment of the past?  I have deeply longed for a time when I can be at peace with being myself, no rush, no pressure, no agenda. I have always been curious about what it's like to befrien

Source: Adventure Associates We are now experiencing a new norm. Most of us are spending the majority of our time at home either working or studying. Both situations are products of the strongly implemented safety measures against the COVID-19 crisis, whether it's the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in the Philippines or the circuit breaker in Singapore. While it's important to use the time that we now have to reassess our priorities, we also have to keep in mind that this is not a productivity contest. Using this quiet time only as an opportunity to show other people how productive we are, does not only cause us to feel pressured but it also negatively affects our mental well-being in the long run. When we observe that other people around show their upbeat state of being productive - such as gaining those perfect abs or mastering a difficult skill - we then begin to think that we must as well maximize the time that we have now to show that we too are cap

One cozy afternoon, while I was drinking my cup of tea, a sweet and simple idea came about. I scribbled it down on my journal and felt excited and amused at the thought.  Before I could pursue the idea that was still brewing in my head, I asked my fiancé, Alex, if he was on board with it. He smiled at me and asked: "I thought you wanted it to be private until the big day?". He was so thoughtful to have remembered what I said many weeks ago.  Then, I replied "Yes, although, now I'm thinking how beautiful it would be to share some light-hearted updates to our readers. I feel that there are too much anxiety and worries around most of us so I thought of this idea. What do you think?", I took a sip of my cup of warm, calming pure peppermint tea, as I waited for his reply.  I looked at him with puppy dog eyes. He laughed and said, "Sure, let's do that!". It made my heart skip a little, in a good way of course! Without any frills, I opened the f