「 ⋆ About Me ⋆ 」

At first, I was super indecisive about an ‘about me’ page. What would I even write? But since this blog is my safe space and its sole purpose is to bring me joy, I decided to write about almost everything that caught my interest over the years. And, of course, that to me are core parts of my personality.

For introduction, I'm bilingual. I speak English and Portuguese, but my biggest goal is to become a polyglot. I've always wanted to learn French and someday I will. I've been self-studying Japanese for a few months and it's really hard. I keep forgetting katakana all the time. However, Japanese is really fun and every time I learn something new I feel motivated to further my language education. The hardest part, of course, is to do it all by myself, without the assistance of a teacher. So I feel like a dog holding my own leash, indecisive about what step to take next.

– my nicknames: I personally love terms of endearment and I believe they are one of the most pure forms of affection. I had plenty over the years and I will share some of them. First the ones based on my own name, I had: Soph, So, SoSo, Soup, Fifi (I don’t like this one), and at some point during the pandemics, my online friends called me Hia, which was for me very alternative and cool. Moving on to other things I’ve been called: Sophie, Sunny, Sunshine (by my friends throughout the years), Sun (by my mom’s friend), little sun and little flower (by my mom and my grandma). And last but not least, for a short period of time in my adolescence, I had wanted to be called Charlie.

「 ⋆ music ⋆ 」

「 ⋆ favorite books ⋆ 」

– Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery

One of the reasons why I love this book series is that we get to read the main character growing up and living different stages of her life. Anne is an easily relatable character for me because the first time I read the first book I was a child and she felt like a friend and in the second time I was an adult and being able to read about her again it was like coming home. I never met a character that made me feel more understood than she does. She has such a whimsical way of seeing the world, of being optimist through hard times. I think that is beautiful! My favorite book is the third one, called ‘Anne of the island’, for the reason of being such a lovely depiction of girlhood. There’s so many things that I share in common with Anne, like our passion for writing, accidental skill for teaching (I guess?), connection with simple things in life such as the sun, the trees and flowers, the sea breeze and so on. But what I love the most about her, it’s that she is a child full of daydreams, delusions and unbelievable bad ideas that never for one second determine that she is undeserving of love for being who she is and therefore imperfect. She teaches readers to embrace happiness and never lose hope of better things to come. More importantly, she grows into her own person, but never loses the inner brilliant child that she once was. In her mature side I still see the little Anne from the first book. What an aspiring character, indeed.

– The folk of the air by Holly Black

This book series was actually my second experience with faerie books and what can I say? I loved it. One of my favorite aspects that I think adds a lot to character dynamics is the fact that faeries can’t lie. It’s just such a nice detail when most faeries are really mischievous and manipulative, making in this context them little beasts with insane ability to bend words to their will all the time. I love the fluid way the author wrote the book, truly poetic. Jude is an incredible main character and the differences between her and her twin sister Taryn makes everything better. She lives in a world that she doesn’t belong to, but that still represents all she knows and at the end, this world, their world, is as much hers as is the faeries’. Her wit combined with her resilience are traits that make it impossible not to root for her. About Cardan, oh my, he’s so relatable at times and also in my opinion impossible not to love as you get to know him more. His hidden feelings behind masks as his way to cope are nothing compared to his true self that we are finally able to see once the cracks slowly appear. I’m feral for these two. Also I dedicated the Taylor Swift’s album “Reputation” to them, just because it matches them so well.

– Percy Jackson and the olympians by Rick Riordan

The day was january 11th of 2016 and my life was forever changed. I was twelve and Percy was too, we were destined to be best friends. (Actually, looking for this information in one of my old diaries, I, two months later, had written about how much I would like to have a blog and here we are, almost 10 years later!). This book series was one of my biggest motivators to initiate a reading habit. And also installed in me a love for magical systems and magical powers in general. I have to say that I kind of geek out on Greek mythology at the time in a very childish way. Percy was one of the first male main characters that I read about and he’s very funny and entertaining in his ways. I was a child that felt sometimes out of place and reading the books that I read I realised that it was okay to be different and more importantly to be myself. I, of course, had a fascination with percabeth, my first book ship?? (one can only guess). They were absolutely everything to me. Still are. There’s so many books and characters and interesting things about this universe that it’s impossible to mention all. Lastly, I’m from cabin 7, a true Apollo’s daughter, heart and soul.

– The hunger games by Suzanne Collins

About this one, I was kind of late to the party. I will explain why. The books were all released. The movies? Everybody had already watched them but I. I had heard so much about it and with no doubt I got curious, but for some reason it never seemed my turn to experience this masterpiece. Until one day my mom bought me the trilogy and I devoured every page. Do not ask me how I had been able to escape spoilers for so many years. Yet, the first time I read these books I was flabbergasted with so many plot twists. Suzanne is really good at her job. Katniss being an unreliable narrator, an unwilling and accidental rebel symbol, a form of representation that no matter what you do or how hard you try we can’t prevent all losses from happening. And at the end of the day, it’s not about who to blame but the inevitable circumstances we live in. Gorgeous! Plus I love kind characters that prevail in their goodness even after facing tough times, and yes, I’m talking about the one and only, book boyfriend of a generation, Peeta Mellark.

「 ⋆ favorite movies ⋆ 」

– Ponyo directed by Hayao Miyazaki

Ponyo is one of my favorite childhood movies and I’ve probably watched it hundreds of times. I love the soundtrack and I think this is something all of the movies I will talk about in this page will have in common. Studio Ghibli always delivers the most colorful and enchanting animations that everyone loves. There’s so much good nostalgia that emanates from these movies. I literally get chills and emotional when I watch them and listen to their soundtracks. Ponyo gives me feelings from my childhood, the memory of a younger version of myself in the summer. I love stories about children’s adventures. And this one is about love beyond social conventions. A fish that wants to become human and a human with a big heart. The friendship and the parents' relationship, a work of art.

– Barbie & the Diamond Castle directed by Gino Nichele

What girl doesn’t love Barbie movies, right? I confess I grew up kind of having a complicated relationship with the color pink, some days I used to love it and others days I didn’t. But Barbie was always a symbol of how a woman should be: confident in herself, not afraid to try new hobbies, kind, brave and smart. She is such an immortal icon. I love the songs of this movie with passion, “connected”, “two voices one song” are bangers. Old Barbie movies are something else entirely. I’m afraid this level of peak won’t ever be achieved again, unfortunately.

– Pride & Prejudice directed by Joe Wright

I remember the first time I had watched this movie was in middle school because a teacher introduced it to us and I didn't understand why the couple didn't kiss at the end. I never imagined that after that moment this would be one the movies I would rewatch the most over the years. It’s one of my comfort films that every time I’m feeling down I hit the play button. Keira Knightley nailed this role. And I have to say that I absolutely love the book and the 1995 tv series version. Jane Austen knew what she was doing when she wrote her stories. It has actually helped me improve my English a lot because of the accents. I have many lines memorized and I like to quote them for fun. My favorite aspect of this story is, of course, how risky it is to be fully judgmental of someone that you barely know to the point of blindly believing any one that strengthens your poor opinion of this person. When we only hear what we want to hear that makes insufferable damage to our egos, something that with time has consequences. I love the ability these characters have to correct their mistakes and forgive each other and themselves.

– Back to the Future directed by Robert Zemeckis

If there’s something that I love the most is time travel movies. Paradoxes, erasing oneself from existence by mistake or changing historical events. It can come in any form, but an old car that can fly? Say no more. The continuity these movies have are my favorite aspects of it. Mark and Doc have a fun dynamic that makes me love their shenanigans. Be it the future or the past, it’s always interesting to watch where they go. And to think that in 1985 they thought that in 2015 we would have flying snowboards? Crazy work. But I love futuristic imagination.

「 ⋆ my kins ⋆ 」

「 ⋆ collections ⋆ 」

「 ⋆ favorite anime ⋆ 」

– Haikyuu by Haruichi Furudate

I think that before watching every fan thought “an anime about volleyball? Nah!” And that was their last words. Because to fully experience the depth of this work you need to be reborn, to become bare of every belief you held previously about life, hobbies and the universe. Jokes aside, Haikyuu changed my life. Among several life lessons, one of my favorites is that the path of achieving something that you value and dream of is along you taking the first step in direction of it. You don't need to be perfect but you will never be great if you stop trying. Time will pass and you can choose to begin or never attempt at all, so we must cherish the memories of our effort put into trying.

– Kamisama Hajimemashita by Julietta Suzuki

I have watched a lot of romance animes but this one is just too good. The yearning levels Tomoe reaches are peak. I love the mix of mythical aspects with Nanami normal life. And ハナエ contribution to the soundtrack? Gorgeous! I've lost count of the amount of times I rewatched and re-read the Manga.

– Love live! School idol project by Hideaki Koyasu

Nothing beats a show where girls prevail against adversities with only the power of friendship and music. More than that, at an early age these girls taught me the importance of perseverance and the end of cycles. That we should enjoy things while they last at the same time without allowing ourselves to be paralyzed by the inevitability of new beginnings.

– Ouran high school host club by Takuya Igarashi

This is one of the pieces of media where we have to agree that there's no need for remakes. There's such nuances that are only achievable due to the time it was created and developed. We can't change the past and neither should we. What we should do instead, is to understand and accept that something only works due to its specific characteristics from the period of time where it belongs. And modern standards can ruin it. There are hundreds of stories where a group of rich people adopt a poor soul and this one is definitely one of my favorites. From the premise, the opening to the hilarious scenarios the characters face, everything is gold.

「 ⋆ credits ⋆ 」

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