Like The Tomato
Nothing here but my musings about daily life, books, anime, and food.
- Title: Darling Girl
- Author: Liz Michalski
- Genre: Fantasy
- Pages: 352
- Publisher: Dutton
- Published: 2022
I would like to assume that everyone has heard of Peter Pan. Or at least familiar with it. I never watched the Disney movie, Peter Pan. I have not read the book. However, the Peter Pan I knew was from an anime adaptation of the novel by JM Barrie. I enjoyed this anime while growing up in the Philippines. So for this purpose, let’s just say that I am familiar with Peter Pan. This book followed Holly, the granddaughter of Wendy Darling – yes that Wendy from the fairy tale. Holly had to take on the infamous Peter Pan to save her daughter’s life.
What made me pick this up? When this book showed up on Book of the Month, I had to get it. The premise itself was interesting. I mean, you cannot go wrong with a dark Peter Pan. And I enjoyed that aspect of the book. It was nice to see Peter Pan not being the golden boy. Let’s just say that this book would definitely give you a different idea of the boy himself. I loved it. And honestly, it made me continue reading the book. Heads up though, trigger warning for the depiction of sexual assault.
However, regardless of the premise, I had issues with Holly. The protagonist. She was not likeable whatsoever. There were decisions she made that I questioned and hated her for. I was livid for the most part when I was reading. And that made me struggle a lot since the book was following her. There were some questions about morals and ethics for sure. All I could think of was “What the fuck is wrong with you”.
What really made my skin crawl? Holly’s tryst with Peter. Sure, it might not be a prolonged affair. But she was doing sexual things with this boy. The excuse? He looked older than what was described in the fairy tale. But how old? One thing that stood out to me was the concept that Peter Pan gets old, he just does not grow up. So you’re saying this man-child has a handicap? And then what annoyed me more, just to justify the actual sexual act in this book, it was put in as a sexual assault. Peter assaulted Holly and that resulted in her getting pregnant.
There was also a private investigator in this book that made me smile when he was on the pages. The way he was introduced made me swoon, and from then, I was just swooning.
The book was good, I found the premise really interesting. However, I did not enjoy the book as much as I thought I would. And that was because the MC was just so darn unlikeable. I really do not like her. It was so hard to read because I found her decisions and rationales so infuriating. The ending was fine. I just wished I saw the big showdown between Peter and the investigator. And I somehow felt cheated because Holly was not in the final showdown so I missed the whole climax of it. Would I reread this? Probably not. But hey, I would keep this on my bookshelf regardless.
I had a rough day. On top of my mood not being the best, I’ve just been feeling off the whole day. Headache. Right ear hurting. Eyes itchy and watery. And I felt meh. I felt tired. I felt exhausted. I felt like I want to be in bed the whole day. Of course, I did not spend the day in bed. The fact of the matter that I woke up later than usual this morning was enough to not make me actually stay in bed.
Regardless, I was able to throw away the trash from the apartment clean-up yesterday. I also walked around the block with Paco. At least he was happy about that. And for the most part, it was nice to not be in the apartment even for just a little bit. The only thing that sucked was I forgot to wear my smartwatch so my steps were not recorded. Boo. I’m going to try again tomorrow.
I was just lost watching YT videos, and watching some streams on Twitch. Well technically, I was not watching. I was more like listening because I just had my eyes closed most of the time. I couldn’t care less about other things that I need to do. I just wanted to close my eyes and not do anything. So, I guess that was a win?
Man, sushi has been invading my brain for the last few days! Maybe a couple of weeks at the most. I just want some sushi. I think my craving started when my roommate decided to play the Yakuza series. I blame that one anyway.
Anyway, what did I do today? I cleared out some more space in the closet. Which was nice and productive! So now, I have space for blankets and bedsheets in there. Of course, I had to throw away 3 bags of stuff that I don’t wear anymore. But that was fine. Like I said, I don’t use them anymore. So bye-bye.
I guess I was in the mood to watch some movies today. So that was what my hun and I did. We watched Scream 2 and Scream 3. I knew I watched the second installment but for some reason, I did not remember anything from that movie. So I totally forgot the killers in that movie. The third installment I watched for the first time today. And I did not realize who the killer was in that movie. Although, I should’ve known looking back. Anyway, I am pretty partial to the first movie of course. I tend to not enjoy the installments after that. But this trilogy proved me wrong. I enjoyed all of them. I think the execution was better in the second movie. But like I said, I will always prefer the first movie. And I know, that there are a couple more Scream movies available in Paramount+ but I am considering these first 3 movies a trilogy. It has a clear ending and everything. And I’m pretty sure that even if I watch the other two films, these three will stand on their own.
I decided to put Peter Pan on hold. And decided to pick up The Lord of the Flies for the classic pick. And I also decided to start reading Know My Name, which is a memoir. I don’t know, I started reading Peter Pan and I was struggling, I was not in the mood for it. We shall see about how I do with The Lord of the Flies though. Know My Name has been on my TBR for quite a bit, and I think it’s time to pick it up now.
My roommate got offered a job today! Yay. That is one stressor eliminated. Now, I just need to find one for me. We got laid off at the same time, so it was definitely very stress-inducing for both us. I am not going to lie, more for me than for her, for some reason. But then again, the way my stress manifest is a bit different compared to hers. I tend to freak out. She tends to somehow just do it in stride.
The whole day I was stuck trying to fix my resume. Jesus, tailoring it to a job post is a bitch. I hate it.
I was able to do a little bit of organizing today. Not much, since I was pretty distracted. That, and I did not buy enough DVD/Blue Ray/Games shelving things. So I need to buy more of those. I need more room for my books. Well, mine and my roommate’s books. We have a lot. I have not done a formal count since it was in the 600 range. Once, I am able to get these organized, I would need to create a database for all the physical books we have.
I did play Honkai: Star Rail today. Which was a welcomed distraction. I was only able to play for a bit since my head started hurting. So I watched a movie today – Pitch Perfect. Because that movie was just damn fun. I mean the mermaid dance, the horizontal dancing. Classic. I still stand by my assessment that Beca and Chloe should be together. I mean, jesus, they just made sense to be me. I mean, Jesse and Beca were good too. But Beca and Chloe were just on a whole another level.
Anyway, no big plans tonight. I might read though. Well, most likely read since I don’t have anything else to do. I am also craving soda. Damn, this is a sign that I’m stressed by the way. I eat when I’m stressed and have very high cravings for sugar. So well, I guess I will have some soda.
This was long overdue. I visited SoCal in late February to early March this year. So, this post had been super delayed. No excuse just going through some pictures on my phone and found some snapshots I got from a brunch!
The 411: I have a best friend from the Philippines, we’ve been friends since elementary. Sure we might not be as active in keeping up and talking to each other. But he moved to SoCal right after I moved to the PNW, so we kind of missed our chance to actually hang out. The last time I saw him in person was during my brother’s wedding back in the Philippines back in 2014. So it has been a long while. Anyway, I knew I had to see him during my visit to SoCal. I shot him a message the morning after I arrived, and we set the date for when we would have this catch-up thing.
Don decided on the places that we went to since he was from there and I have not been in the area for almost five years. The first thing that we realized was that we were practically neighbors! Flashback to when we were in elementary and high school. His house back in the Philippines was within walking distance from my house. My parents’ house was less than five minutes drive from his house. So that was nice. Like, back in the day.
Anyway, for brunch, he chose Urban Island. From the get-go, he introduced this place as some kind of fusion Fil-Am restaurant. We went there on a weekday and it was raining. You heard that right, it was raining in SoCal when I visited. And just the timing of our visit to the restaurant, the place was not packed. Thank god, cause the restaurant shares a plaza with this huge Asian market. Imagine if we went there over the weekend, that plaza would be packed.
We ordered warm pandesal with ube butter for starters. Dude, that ube butter was the star of the show. It was so good. I know it was just butter, but damn, that ube flavor elevated this butter to new heights.
Another one we ordered was the FOB Fries. Basically, fries with pork belly sisig, rooster sauce, pico de Gallo, topped with a fried egg. Not going to lie, these fries hit differently. Just look at this as the FIlipino version of loaded fries. It was good, but I would prefer this with alcohol. I mean, the dish was under the category Pulutan on their menu so I would not be surprised if this dish matches well with San Mig.
I ordered the classic Tortang Talong. Classic dish. It was a roasted whole eggplant omelet, with ground longganisa, gouda cheese, served over fried garlic rice. You could also get this with hashbrowns. I had the tortang talong with just regular ground pork/beef but never with longganisa. Having it with ground longganisa slapped. The little surprise though was the gouda cheese. It did kind of elevated the dish a little bit. But I could also do without it. This dish was better with hot sauce. And yes, I am thinking of recreating it since it was so good.
Don ordered a Barkada Bowl. So it has bacon, pork belly, topped with longganisa gravy, cheddar cheese, fried egg and scallions, served over fried rice. You could also substitute fried garlic rice with hashbrowns. He swore by this, I would take his word for it. I was not able to taste it since I had my own food to eat.
Food was good. I would describe it as Filipino food with a twist – well, definitely, a Fil-Am fusion. I appreciated the little things they did to elevate some Filipino food faves. This place was definitely more for people, Filipinos to be exact, who have more of an adventurous palate. My mom didn’t like the place as much, but then again, she liked her Filipino food traditional. I enjoyed my time here because I was with my best friend and we had some good conversations between us. Would I come back again when I visit SoCal? Definitely. I would go back at night though, cause I really would like to try their pulutan with some alcohol.
I have nothing to show for today. I did not do a thing. And honestly, that was totally fine by me. I decided to be a couch potato today and I loved every minute of it. No complaints whatsoever. Sure, I should be doing some things but I would do them tomorrow. I was just too lazy to move my ass today.
Anyway, my hun and I got to watch some anime today. Both of us were feeling under the weather yesterday so we didn’t get to spend time together. Good that we were feeling up for it today.
Naruto. We finally saw the conclusion of the Neji-Naruto fight. And honestly, what was up with all these backstories? They were so good. And then you have Sakura’s backstory and how shallow that was. Seriously. I swear this anime just did that character so dirty. Anyway, Naruto really did so well in that fight. He knew how to use that shadow clone jutsu so well. He was able to tap into that nine-tail fox’s chakra without issue and he was able to stay like himself. He really did come a long way. And honestly, I really did not appreciate how these people in Konoha just kept on underestimating him.
Inuyasha. I was just happy that I got to see Sesshomaru and Koga in the episodes that we watched today. I got a glimpse of the demon Inuyasha once again, and apparently, that made Sesshomaru tremble with fear. Like what? And why do we have to keep seeing Kagura in every freaking episode? Sure he was trying to kill Naraku to be free, but another character that was not needed. Useless side plot. Not needed.
Hiromiya. We finished this anime today. And it was fun. We really liked it. Personally, I enjoyed Miyamura’s inner monologues. It was the culmination of how much he had grown since the beginning of the anime. I liked the fact that after he and Hori got together, the anime focused on the side characters. Aside from Miyamura, I really loved Tooru Ishikawa. The anime was real, the situations were real, and the anime did a good job without making them over the top like an anime tends to do. And I appreciated that. I gave it 9 out of 10, my hun gave it 8 out of 10.
All Saints Street. This could potentially replace Hiromiya. The anime was set up as a skit type, it has multiple mini-episodes in an episode. We watched one episode tonight. We don’t know how we feel about it yet. It looks interesting for sure. The animation was good. We shall see after we watch the second episode. I wanted to see Bungo Stray Dogs but I wanted another slice of life, so we shall see how this anime satisfies that.
I am planning on reading tonight. I started reading Peter Pan but I was only able to read a paragraph. I am not feeling it. But we shall see. I wanted to read two classics this year, but I might pick up The Catcher in the Rye but I don’t yet. I might give Peter Pan another go.