An instant update!

Salut! And welcome back to this little space on the internet. 

I’m not sure where to start, but I wanted to do a little update where it concerns the blog. I’ve been blogging less lately; it’s not that I’m not inspired, I am, for I have a LOT of ideas in my arsenal, but I’m just not into sitting down to turn the ideas into a blogging reality. I’ll try my best to work through my anemia episodes, but due to the fatigue, I can’t really concentrate on blogging and reading too many blogs. I apologize for not being able to visit your blogs at the moment.

Category is…

La Petite Muse is a pretty random blog. One day, there’s a favorite song, next week there’ll be a freshly crafted story, the next month, a photo, etc. and in the midst of all, Bible studies. You may or may not wonder why don’t I keep God separate. To make a long story short, I prefer to have this one blog where I can share pieces of me from all walks of life so you can see the growth of my walk with God. And I’ve been thinking of adding a few more categories, but I’ll get to them when the time is right.

Upcoming articles

Before this little break, I’ve been working on a variety of topics including:

* The continuation of the Exodus Bible study. I’m currently trying to work on posting the 4th chapter for this Sabbath, but I’ve been slow in getting there. If I had been consistent, I’m certain that we would’ve been wrapping up Deuteronomy. 

* Book rants… well, I haven’t been reading much lately and I’m not into ranting about books at the moment. Most of them are garbage anyway.

* Movie/TV show reviews. I’ve watched a few shows and 2 movies since I’ve been home, but I haven’t been putting enough effort into working on those reviews.

* Topics concerning the right to judge, the rapture doctrine, and why one cannot have heaven without Jesus.

I’m not certain when I’ll be back to a regular writing, posting, and reading schedule, but I’ll be working on it this week. Thanks for understanding.

I’ll try my best to complete those articles soon and also get to your blogs. What new things have you been up to lately?

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A TALL Mochaccino

Reading Daphne du Maurier books for the first time

Reading is kind of slow lately… but I’m glad I’m reading no matter how slow!

Daphne du Maurier (1907-1989) was an English author and playwright. She was known for her moody, so-call romantic, and supernatural plots. Her books are said to be as timeless as Michael Jackson’s music, so here I am.

However, English literature is not exactly right up my alley, so I randomly chose 5 of this author’s books and tried not to read the synopsis or reviews. Had I known what I was getting into!

Book #168: My Cousin Rachel

I actually got to the end of this book, so yay! It was the first book I read from Du Maurier, but I was left wondering if she wrote a lot of stupid characters. Philip Ashley is probably the stupidest character I’ve ever met. He’s rich, spoiled, obsessive, and has no common sense… then the boring book ends. It just ends! But let’s play a game:

Me: Philip Ashley is so stupid.

Audience: How stupid is Philip Ashley?

Ashley is so stupid that when he discovers Rachel wastes money like tomorrow never comes, he actually gives her a great allowance to squander some more. When it gets out of hand, this numb skull gifts her his estate and inheritance. Also, all the clues were given to Stupid Ashley where it concerns the killing of his beloved uncle, but the fool ignored all the signs pertaining to the solving of the mystery. He’s so stupid!

Rachel is quite the stupid character, too, and prettily stereotyped and all.

It was a dull classic with a meh predictable mystery for a highly acclaimed novel. I didn’t enjoy the writing style, the pacing is atrocious, the ending was rushed faster than Usain Bolt could claim gold, and I disliked the setting. Not my cup of coffee. Overall, I wasted time reading this book when I could’ve been reading…

Book #169: …Rebecca

Where do I start? I actually dislike books in which the character/s doesn’t have a name… especially the main one. It’s quite annoying. The main character is dull, boring, and stupid just as Philip Ashley. Perhaps, even stupider and more annoying. Ooh, look at me, I have no name, therefore, I am intriguing and mysterious. Wrong, Nameless! You married a man that treats you like a child. What’s so good about that?

As for Maxi, murder is never the answer. No matter how wrong someone did you, you don’t go around killing people. Books like these are so off-putting. Plus, the author thinks it’s okay to describe every single flower/tree that is encountered and that alone can take up to 4 pages. 

It was a snooze fest and I couldn’t stay for the end. Nameless had no name, and it’s good that her parents didn’t name her, for they quickly figured out that their baby girl would grow up to have no personality.

After reading this book, I didn’t know how to feel to continue with her work for I disliked everything from the writing to the characters in this one. Tell me, Antoine, how am I supposed to feel?

The Others

Well, I didn’t really get anywhere with the other 3 books to be honest. I couldn’t get pass how horrible Joss Merlyn was in Jamaica Inn. I also couldn’t believe how stupid the protagonist Mary Yellan appeared. She witnessed at first-hand how terrible her uncle Joss is to her aunt Patience (The irony isn’t lost here regarding my patience with this author’s work) and still managed to stay. However, I didn’t stay for another second.

Giving this author a 4th chance, I turned to The House on the Strand, yawned and put it down as it suddenly dawned on me: Life is too short to read boring books.

As for Frenchman’s Creek, I chose it for two things: the beautiful cover and Frenchmen (duh!), but that was before I discovered how actually boring this author’s work was. I didn’t get anywhere with this book, but I put it down for two things: a grown married woman committing adultery with a pirate and the usage of the Lord’s Name in vain was overbearing. I don’t know if every 19th century spoiled aristocrat dreamt of escaping marriage to have affairs with dashing French pirates that read poetry (of course, of course, see how the Frenchman is typically, beautifully, and romantically stereotyped!), but this is not the adventurous trip I signed up for.

Overall:

Daphne Du Maurier is not my cup of coffee. Her writing sometimes fell flat and I did not get a sense of that glowing sophistication that’s always associated with her writing. Most, if not all of her work were too wordy and descriptive. And ALL of her characters were stupid. They lacked common sense and book sense; they were all pumped full of nonsense. Du Maurier books are torturing devices and I’m glad this ride is over for I’m…

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French Pressed ☕

A Coffee Update!

I’m not entirely sure how often I do these kinds of updates.

Anyways, salut! And welcome back to this little space on the internet. 

This is a small update on what I’ve been doing lately and the direction in which the blog may go in where it concerns content.

Gardening Project

I’ve been meaning to start a garden last year, but kept putting it off. Now that I have the time, I got the opportunity to start something small with Mom’s help. I don’t have the space to grow big beautiful fruit trees, but I’m working with what the Lord has blessed me with at the moment: pots. Also, I’ll be working on a side project that I’m calling “The Sunflower Project”. I’ll be sharing the lessons I’ve learned while gardening in a later post. 

Song Writing

Sometime last year – or maybe it was earlier this year – I shared that I wrote songs pertaining to my faith and walk with God and I’ll share one or two if the time is right. Here is a snippet of “The Prodigal”:

And like the prodigal
that I am
I return to You

And you embrace me, Lord
You accept me as I am
You took my sins and
made them white as snow
As You continue to mold me
into the image of the Savior

These songs were given to me through the Holy Spirit to worship and praise my beautiful Creator during different stages of my life. Although I haven’t written down all of them, I wrote down the ones that I got led to. I’ll leave this for a future post.

The Animal Kingdom

Growing up, I’ve always been surrounded by animals especially dogs, cats, and chickens. I’ve learned a lot from God’s creations where it concerns the animal kingdom, and I am still learning lessons through them. Some were painful to swallow. Just recently, I learned one about favoritism. I’ve been thinking of incorporating an animal kingdom category, but that remains to be seen. 

New Designs

When I saw how much time I had, I made plans to return to drawing, but I ended up spending that time on designing new logos, banners, and signatures for the blog… as you might’ve seen with the newly touched up banner above. I’m excited to share them all in God’s good timing.

What new things have you been up to lately?

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Espresso Yourself! ☕

Legend Has It…

Short Story #31

“So,” Jack Payet turns around and places his hands flat on the desk. “You’re telling me that three stupid girls went into the woods in search of some legendary monster and got kidnapped?”

She nods.

“And I should report it?”

She nods again.

“Give me one good reason why.”

“Because one of the girls is the mayor’s daughter.”

“Whoop de doo!” Jack mocks. “The mayor has done nothing good for this city and want my byline in the press about his daughter? What about the other girls? Don’t they get some sympathy for being stupid, too?”

She sighs and lets this one slides. When her boss was in one of his so-call righteous mood swings, there was no reaching him. All there was left to do was let him finish his sanctimonious rant and when he was satisfied, he’ll set out to write the article he was viciously ranting about anyway.

“Didn’t Criminal Minds teach them anything?”

“Not everyone watches TV, sir.”

“That one shouldn’t go into the woods alone?”

“Technically, there were three girls an…”

“How could they be so stupid, Lois?” 

“Actually, my name is Janice.”

“Criminal Minds is like the best lesson in how not to get murder 101.”

“Again, not everyone watches TV!”

“I’m going into that woods tonight.”

“Good luck, sir.”

“And you’re coming with me.”

“Why?”

“To prove there is no such thing as the Laughing Man and the girls just wanted attention.”

Janice shakes her head. Sometimes, she didn’t get how Jack Payet was an award-winning journalist for the Los Angeles Times.

Jack grinned at the satire draft and shaking his head, discarded it to get down to the real article. He had an hour and a half to prepare for his trek into the woods, and he didn’t want to waste any more time. 

Related > Sometimes You Can’t Go Home

When I was younger, I wanted to be a journalist (thanks to Clark Kent), a lawyer, or a librarian. God has blessed me with a wonderful library career, and I am utmost grateful for this was definitely the best route for me. However, from time to time, I do enjoy writing about lawyers and journalists. I enjoyed writing Jack Payet, but with this short (it’s actually part of a series that my youngest sister is currently encouraging me to write), I wanted to work on dialogue setting.

Also, the mention of the name ‘Lois’ is a nod to Clark Kent’s partner although Payet ain’t no Kent. I included the LA Times draft “article” to give an insight into the articles that Payet would’ve truly liked to have published.

All grammatical errors are mine.

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Made for two ☕

Travel Thoughts: The Airport ✈️

I watch people lugging bags or rolling suitcases. And I wonder what kind of adventure awaits them on their arrival destination?

Is it Egypt to visit the Pyramids, a feat of architectural genius?

India to experience the best of both worlds?

France to learn why the French are so intellectual? Or to understand high culture?

Or are they seeking enlightenment, humility, discernment, peace, God’s face?

Cry 😢

Short Story #30

The twins were so identical that it was impossible to tell them apart, but that’s where their similarities end for if Ray was the sun, Marcus was certainly the dark stormy weather.

“You make me out to be a robot,” Marcus accuses his twin as they sat in Mille Fleurs with three of their closest friends. “A robot without feelings, too.”

Ray elegantly shrugs for it was the Gallic thing to do before responding, “You’re so emotionless that when you’re chopping onions, you don’t even weep, but the poor onions do!”

Ramses found this highly amusing and the éclair that was about to be devoured was paused midway. Trishanti tried to hide her giggles behind a napkin as she stole a peek at her ex-boyfriend’s expression. Benny only shakes his head.

“I am not emotionally detached!” Marcus defends. “Just because I am not your typical stereotypical over sensitive Frenchman means that I am void of emotions. I just deal with it better than Mr. Sunshine In A Cup over there.”

“Marc, come on, we all know Ray’s the better twin.” Justin playfully inputs.

“And you call yourself a best friend.” Marcus rolls his eyes and looks at the healthy slice of tarte tatin that was placed in front of him by the waitress five minutes before the conversation took a weird turn. “I maintain that my brother is a saint, but it doesn’t make him flawless or perfect.”

Ray shrugs. “You’re right, but you’re only deflecting from the conversation. What a heartless thing to do!”

While the others laugh, Marcus scoffs, leans back and runs a hand through his auburn wavy hair. “All right, what’s the lowest you can hit me?”

Delighted, Ray stops eating for the moment and teasingly grins. “You never cried after reading Charlotte’s Web.”

Gasps simultaneously went around the table.

“I know you’re not a crier, but that’s a low blow even for you,” Trishanti accused.

“Says the ex,” Marcus sneers. “Look, the book sucked. I mean, all the other animals were going to get killed someday, so why do we care about the pig alone? Isn’t that selfish? He wasn’t even all that special. He stood under a stupid web and if a spider spun webs with words, then it makes the spider special, not the pig. THE SPIDER CAN SPELL!

“However, we all know that spiders don’t have a long lifespan so where did it get the time to be all philosophical and stuff? Wilbur is such a whiner that I couldn’t feel sorry for him. I don’t eat bacon, but if he whined one more time, I would’ve made him into bacon. He’s so dramatic, I guess he majored in theater.”

“Wow, you’re going to make a great dad.” Ramses sarcastically remarked. “It’s just a children’s book. Lighten up.”

“Says you, but my children are not going to read a book with the main character running around sobbing and squealing that it doesn’t want to die. In real life, spiders die and leave their children behind. Do human children cry about that? No, they try to kill the spiders. Fight me all you like, but I rest my case.” 

Ray cracks a loving smile at his younger half. “And that’s why you’ll be a top lawyer. Don’t ever stop being you.” Two hours later, after the food was eaten and everyone caught up with one another’s life, Ray stood to help his twin with the crutches. As Ramses made a remark about forgetting Marc’s broken foot, Ray saw another opportunity to rib his brother, “I know, right, and it’s not like he cried when he was flung from the motorcycle either.”

Marcus sighed in exasperation. “Ray, you’re lucky I love you.”

“Otherwise you would’ve beaten me up with the crutches?”

“How do you…? Ray!” 

Would Marcus ever cry? Who knows? I just wanted to write some banter.

All grammatical errors are mine.

I am currently reading my way through classics and wondering if my feelings have changed hence the existence of this story. Do I feel as Marcus does about Charlotte’s Web now? I guess you’ll have to wait for the review to find out. Coming soon!

I love Marcus. But I love Ray more. He was practically the very first character I developed when I took writing seriously back then, hence the reason he’ll biasedly always have first place in my fictional heart. 

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