A book by love coach Kloudiia, on the things one needs to do in order to sustain a relationship. I guess for most of us, we did not grow up with a concept of how to handle a love relationship. It was much easier in our grandparents' time, or even our parents' time, when they were match-made and they lived their lives just like that.

For us, being the more educated and modernised generation, we expect more out of life. No longer is love and relationships that important. We do not be with someone so easily just like that. We want someone who is the right fit, someone special we can spend our lives with. Hence we get more and more picky and self-centred, expecting the other party to always cater to us, and when things do not go well, we blamed on others and not ourselves.

However, I guess deep down, everyone wants a companion. No matter what, I believe in general, no one wants to spend the rest of their lives being lonely if they have a choice. When we are young, we have our jobs and friends to have fun with. But when our friends all start getting married, and we reach retirement age, what is going to happen if we do not have a companion? Then we may need to live the remaining twenty or thirty years in loneliness.

Thus I believe most of us are out looking for someone. But after the initial period of attraction, what then? Do we live the way we have always lived when we are still single? Of course not. Once we make the decision to be with someone, we have to ensure we are half of a couple, and not on our own anymore. Which means we have to make compromises, accommodate and tolerate each other's quirks and shortcomings.

This is where some people have problems with. Some I know never like to tolerate, they think as long as the person has shortcomings, it means the person is not perfect for them. Hence they nip a budding relationship in the bud before it blossoms, when in fact, the person may be just the right one. But who in this world is perfect? Are we ourselves perfect too? Being in a relationship is not so easy as just entering one and that's it. It needs work to maintain it. It needs adjustments to each other's characters, flaws and lifestyles. It is no longer self-focused. It needs two hands to clap.

And that is where Kloudiia's book The 69 Love Notes comes in. In it, she writes about how to have a loving and lasting relationship, using sixty-nine secrets to spice up your love life. Relationships are never easy, but with her tips, coupled with the correct way of communication and mindset, anyone can have a loving and lasting relationship full of happiness and bliss.

Her book has reaffirmed a lot of what I know and have gone through. And I am sure going to continue practising what she says in order to make my relationship last!

I attempted a book-a-thon during the weekend, only to find out that my reading speed has decreased drastically. I used to be able to devour three books per day, but on Sunday, I could not even finish one book. Maybe it is a sign of old age. I find the older I get, the less energy I have for all the things I want to do.

Nevertheless I came up with a booklist on the books I want to read. Or rather, re-read. None of the newer books capture my interest, so in order to take stock of what I have, I have come up with a re-read list, arranged according to authors :

1. Dan Brown (I'm collecting "The Lost Symbol" today!)
2. Jodi Picoult (her books never fail to make me tear)
3. Nicholas Sparks (his books also never fail to make me tear)
4. John Grisham (courtroom suspense, what more can I say?)
5. Agatha Christie (she's not known as the Queen of Crime for nothing!)
6. Neil Gaiman (stories that are out of the line)
7. Margaret George (historical biographies infused with fiction at its best)
8. Philippa Gregory (another good historical biographer infused with fiction)

And the list goes on and on and on, including Kahled Hosseini, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Paulo Coelho, etc, etc, etc. Now let me see if I can finish my Hundred Years of Solitude by end of the year!

One can never imagine the gems one can see online. I stumbled upon this website and was totally captivated by it! But then, people know I am a bookworm, so it is no surprise a website like this can captivate me, especially if the story is good.

Check out some of its stories if you like!

My examination results are out! And I passed. Whew! After so many years out of school, it was a wonder I could still manage to study and retain information, and I mean, voluminous information, not the simple multiple choice kind of quizzes where one can guess the answer even without studying.

Because of that, I get exempted from certain modules, so I can have a break for this semester at least before starting all over again next year! Half a year to relax and do what I like to do... hmmm... first thing first, catch up on all the books I have been meaning to read but have never started!

I think I am getting old. Or perhaps just a tad too restless. I always must be different, which accounts for a lot of things in my life. Just like right now, I could have chosen to further a law degree, or take up a Business or Accounting course, or even a course by the Institute of Chartered Secretaries, yet I chose to do a higher degree in English Language and Literature.

Now, I only have myself to blame for the intensive heavy reading, research, analysing, writing and discourse I have to do, with one assignment after another. Worse is I am taking two major modules and one minor module this semester, so the workload is really heavy-going.

Oh, I love reading, as can be ascertained by those who have attended schools with me. I remember how a certain Ms Bong and I were always the most avid readers in class, where we could borrow so many books from the school library within a week. But reading for leisure and reading for academic purposes is SO NOT THE SAME!

Even though my textbooks consist of stories I love, like Austen, Dickens, et al, but I much prefer reading them at my own pace, own time. Reading for assignment and examination purposes somehow have the stress attached to it, and I enjoy the books and stories less.

How did I ever survive my NTU/NIE days? Those days seem so long ago, so far gone. I could stay up endless nights trying to finish assignments on time. In those days, I could stay up later and wake up earlier and still feel refreshed. Now, I feel like a lethargic, tired, over-the-hill senior citizen. And it probably does not help that I am a full-time employee and a part-time student, instead of a full-time student.

But that's life. One just have to take the good and the bad, in things you want to do, and goals you want to achieve. Nothing can be achieved if we don't toil for it.