Life
Book Review: The R*pe of Nanking by Iris Chang /
The R*pe of Nanking
〰️
The R*pe of Nanking 〰️
Wow. This book contains some heavy yet powerful reading. And as heavy as a reading it is, I think it is a necessary read. I had no idea of the atrocities committed in WW2 by the Japanese.
They say those who don't study history are doomed to repeat it. That's why this book is so important. Without learning from the past, we cannot let this part of history fade away. The Germans have made it their mission to teach everyone about. the Holocaust, yet Japan wants their dirty secrets wiped off the face of the earth. I don't blame them. The Japan of the past is different from the Japan of today. But that doesn't mean we should forget what happened. I get they are ashamed of what they did, but the world needs to know what happened.
And thankfully, Chang wrote this book to help ensure this dark time in human history doesn't fade away. I can't imagine what went through Chang's mind when collecting all the research to make this book happen. It saddens me to hear of her passing, and I wonder if studying all this horrible history was a small part of her death. But she should be proud of the work she accomplished in making sure the people who died, as well as the survivors, live on. This is a story that needs to be told, even if it's a hard one to hear.
I personally think they should make (or edit it) to be part of a history textbook. It's well-written and researched. If you are in the right headspace and want to learn more about this forgotten Holocaust, I highly recommend this book.
20 Facts About Me: A.M. Molloy /
Hello everyone! Welcome back (or to) my blog.
Today I thought I would share with you all 20 random facts that you may or may not know about me. These factoids may not have to with my writing life, but they’ll help you understand who I am as a person. So! Let’s take a dive into my life.
Sorren
Literally my soul-kitty
If you didn't know this already, I have a cat named Sorren. She is my soul-kitty and the love of my life. We’ve barely been apart the 11 years she’s been in my life. I wasn’t going to accept any job abroad unless I could bring her.
I love to travel. In fact, my first big travel was to a summer camp in China when I was 15, way back in 2004.
Great Wall - 2004
15 year old me on the right in China.
So far, I’ve been to (in order), China, America, Japan ( x3 ), Korea, (x3 ), Belgium, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Hong Kong, and Thailand. Being Canadian, I’ve obviously been to Canada, though I haven’t travelled as much within my own country. I do plan on visiting more countries soon, but for now, I’m planning another return visit to Japan for my upcoming summer vacation.
I’m in the front row, middle. Taken right after the test was completed so I’m still wearing my 1st degree black belt uniform.
I am a 2nd-degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do, although it’s been a few years since I practiced due to financial issues. I would love to practice again, especially as I live in Korea now, but now is not the right time for me. I still have all my equipment and remember most of my forms so perhaps someday!
Side note, back in the day when I did practice, I used to go to competitions and would usually win first or second place. Usually first for forms and second for sparing. I rarely got lower and if I did it was for sparing. Forms were my strong suit.
I used to be an animator. I went to an art school studying animation and graphics and working in my field after graduation. Though if I’m being honest, I was never the best at animation. Still, art was more my thing. So when I worked for Contendo, I eventually gravitated towards mostly audio work and eventually becoming their Senior Audio Editor. I still do art, but it’s now for fun rather work. And let’s be honest, the art I did for Contendo isn’t what you would have expected me to be doing. At Contendo we made training videos for oil and gas companies.
Below is my super old demo reel, and I have improved since 2009 But this is to just show you what I used to do. I was by far the best but I enjoyed doing it all the same.
Note: The video is from my old YouTube channel from college. I do not use that channel anymore. If you want to see more up to date videos and life in Korea, check out my actual YouTube channel: Canadian Abroad: A.M. Molloy.
I have a total of 11 tattoos! (So far). Below is a slideshow from my very first tattoo (the tribal dragon when I was 17) to my latest, number eleven done this year in Korea (Sorren).
I am fluent in English, French, Spanish and I can speak intermediate Japanese (taught myself) and beginner Korean (also teaching myself).
My dad is French (from Quebec) so I learned English and French growing up in my household. I majored in Spanish at university and spent a semester in Spain as an exchange student.
I used to do a lot of cosplay, but I haven’t done so in years. I haven’t cosplayed very much and I reused the same cosplay for many cons (and halloween costumes) but I still enjoyed doing it all the same. I can’t sew so I always had help making them. I still appreciate a good cosplay from other cosplayers.
Yuna FFX Cosplay
Not the greatest, but the best cosplay I ever did.
I love photography, though I’m still learning. I’m far from good but I’m getting better every day. I mostly take iPhone photography shots because I don’t always lug around my Nikon D3200. Honestly, with a bit of practice, anyone can make iPhone pictures turn out great. Featured below are a few of my favourite shots taken with my iPhone 8 and (later) with my iPhone 11 Pro.
I own a Polaroid
If you didn’t tell from my polaroid tattoo from fact 5 or my love of photography from fact 8, I also own a Polaroid!
I have a wall of all my shots but my favourite will always be of my best friend, Leila, holding the Polaroid picture I just took of her. The picture of her holding the picture (INCEPTION) was also another iPhone shot.
I made my own language/culture because reasons. Mostly RP though. The language is called Hikaran and is spoken by a race on the planet Spira. I go into full length on said language and people in a previous blog post, so please, go ahead and check it out!
Admittedly, I made most of this up during math class in high school. It’s safe to say I’m not very good at math.
Anyway, instead of going into full detail here (because it’s in the blog post), I’ll just leave this popular Hikaran saying here:
Anel he baka ei = Evil is here in Hikaran.
Queen Letizia Ortiz Rocasolano of Spain
While on exchange to Spain back in the summer of 2016, I met and shook hands with the queen of Spain in what I call a happy accident. One day I was walking around my school and taking a stroll around town and I noticed a blocked road a crowd starting to form where there usually isn’t. So, naturally, I had to get up front to see what was going to happen. Turns out the queen of Spain was in town and she took time to shake hands with people and I got lucky enough to be one of them. Moral of the story: when you see a tent or a barricade and people starting to gather where there usually isn’t, get up front because awesome things are gonna happen.
Unfortunately, I don’t have a picture with her, but I do, however, have a picture of her. (Pictured above).
Marbles and high school me.
Back in high school, when it was time for graduation photos, we were told we could bring an item, like a soccer ball or baseball bat, if we wanted for our pictures. Being the cat-obsessed weird person that I am, I legit brought my cat, Marbles (AKA Mibs) in a duffle bag (it was open) to school for my picture. Needless to say, I was the talk of the school for bringing a cat haha.
I lived super close to my school so I took my picture and brought her straight home. She hated going to school but was a good girl and took an amazing picture.
I’m a huge Harry Potter fan. Literally grew up with it. I was in the 6th grade reading the first three books because that’s all that was published at the time. When the first Harry Potter movie came out, I’ll never forget the experience. It was amazing and I loved every bit of it.
PS: I’m a proud Gryffindor. I also have many friends from all of the houses, but most of them are from Slytherin.
I grew with Pokemon. I was around when it was all first released and Pokemon Red was my first ever game I owned to go with the first ever consul I opened, Nintendo Colour. I buy every game, still collect cards, and I used to watch the anime. Pokemon will always have a special place in my heart.
Max Caulfield (Life is Strange
My new all time favourite game is Life is Strange all other games in said franchise. THAT GAME IS MY LIFE, YO. I mean, if you noticed on fact number 5 that one of my tattoos is Life is Strange themed.
#baeoverbay #pricefield
My favourite author is Rachel Vincent.
Rachel Vincent
Literally, anything she writes is golden to me.
My favourite series of hers will always be the Soul Screamers series. I still can’t believe how she ended that series. Love it! I just get so invested in each world that she creates that I feel like I’m right there with the characters and I don’t know what to do with my life when I finish each book.
If you love reading, I highly recommend checking her out.
The origin of my author name: A.M. Molloy is basically the initials to my given name, Alex Molloy. However, in person, I prefer to be called Mina. Mina is my Korean name and to be honest, I was never fond of Alex. Since I live in Korea, everyone here calls me Mina. It makes me happy to hear people call me Mina. :3
My novel is in its third round of edits and beta reader stage. One of my beta readers created SOUTH’s very first meme! I’m so in love with it that I’m sharing it here.
So, my university had this mini ball pit kept in the student center. Once during a society meeting at my university, my friend and I decided to completely organize the ball pit into a rainbow. It literally took us forty-five mins straight but we did it! And then no one wanted to sit in the ball bit for like a week because they didn’t want to mess it up so we had to mess it up again so people would use it again.
During my second visit to Japan, I had the pleasure to meet a real sumo wrestler. It was an honour. I wish I could have seen an actual match but this was still awesome all the same.
Kyoto, Japan
A real sumo wrestler
I loved volunteering at my university for many things, but my favourite was being an NSO Leader. My last year at uni I had the privilege to be on the best team, Yellow Team, and had the most amazing crew. It was truly the best experience. I loved helping all the newcomers to UPEI and I would do it again in a heartbeat if I was still in school.
Well, you’ve made it this far! Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed learning a bit more about me. For now, this concludes my new post, 20 facts about me.
Take care.
— Mina (A.M. Molloy)
Level 30 Achieved /
First off, I would just like to apologize for the lack of updates on social media. It’s not for lack of wanting. I’ve just been very busy with personal stuff, as well as being sick for like a month. Always fun. Thankfully things are cooling down and are returning back to normal.
That being said, I’m here to say the day has finally come. The day where I leave my 20s behind and level up to start a new chapter in my life. I’m talking about today, my 30th birthday.
Now, I’m going to admit, I’m a little scared. I’m not sure why. Maybe it’s because I’m leaving my youth behind (so to speak) and getting older. However, I’m ready for this new journey.
My 20s were the best years of my life. I’ve done so many things in these past ten years (wow, ten already?) and I’m now excited to see what more I can do. I’ve done things I never thought would happen to me. I’ve got to work for an amazing company called Contendo, where I was at one point promoted to their Senior Audio Editor. I’ve gone back to school and done everything I’ve ever wanted in a post-secondary education, and more. (Such things included, getting scholarships and bursaries, being in society, volunteering, getting on the deans' list every year and even graduating first-class standing, and my favourite, getting to be an exchange student to Spain!). Not to mention I FINALLY cracked down and wrote a novel and with the help of my editor, edited it three times and it’s almost ready completion.
In travelling, I’ve achieved my dream of going to Japan not once, but three times! Even got interviewed for a TV show in Tokyo this year. I’ve been to Korea with my friend and later my dad. I went to school in Spain — and met and shook hands with the queen of Spain! Visited Portugal for a weekend while on the exchange. Checked out Germany and Hong Kong Disney land during super long-ass layovers. Taught English in Thailand. Visited the capital of Canada. And my favourite, achieve my lifelong dream of moving to Asia.
Posing with my friend and Olympic athletes in at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics
EXO Concert
I’ve been in South Korea for over a year now and I’ve even done so much here. I’ve seen the Olympic torch relay pass right in front of me here in Seosan. Saw EXO in concert (and a bunch others, like SHINee, during a k-pop music festival). Went to the Olympics with my best friend from Canada in PyeongChang and saw history live. Had my cousin and friend come to visit me. Met my best friend, Leila, as well as meeting my girlfriend, Leah. Travelled for PRIDE all over Korea, from Seoul to Ulsan, to Busan, tp flying to Jeju. It was a good year for travelling this year.
Speaking of my girlfriend, I honestly thought I’d never find anyone like her. I had accepted I was going to be single forever and accepted that I’d probably never find anyone in Korea because Korea is suuuuuper conservative. But I found her and she’s amazing. To sum it up, here is a short story. Months ago I was in Seoul with my friend Leila and we were on the subway going somewhere and we saw this guy. His phone would buzz and when he’d look at the text on the screen, his face would light up with happiness I’ve never seen before. He’d reply, put his phone away, then when another text came, his happy smile would return. Leila and I watched him every time he’d get a text, and every time his smile would widen. Leila said to me, “I wish I could find someone who makes me smile like that.”
Few months pass and I met Leah, and as time passed we started going out. And I realized something that I had to tell my friend. I told her, “Leila, I found someone that makes me smile like that.” And THAT is what I want for those of you who are reading this. I hope that you find someone that makes you smile, sees you for who you really are and loves you the way you deserve to be loved. I also hope that you realize that your life is amazing and worthwhile, too. You don’t have to travel the world and meet royalty to know you are worth it. It’s how you behave in this life that makes the difference.
Everything happened exactly when I needed it to. If I had gone to university sooner, I wouldn’t have met the friends I made there. If I decided to move to another country but Korea, I wouldn’t have met my girlfriend. Every event, every person, everything I’ve seen has come into my life (or left) exactly when it needed to be there, and I wouldn’t change it for the world.
Now that I’ve hit 30, that is the understanding I’ve come to know.
I Love That Cat /
Why hello there.
My name is Sorren.
Hey guys!
So today I'm going to do things a little different. Instead of writing about, well, anything writing related, I'm going to write about an inspiration. My cat, Sorren, is my life. She's been with me through all the bad and the good. She always knows what to say, er, meow. I also know in my heart she is my soul-kitty. She has a part of my soul in hers and I have a part of hers in mine.
Since Sorren is such a huge part of my life in general, I thought I'd dedicate a blog post to her. I mean, she was sleeping on me the moment I finally finished my first draft of SOUTH.
Below is a short essay I once wrote in university on my wonderful Sorren. And while this post isn't about SOUTH or any novel or writing update or advice, it is still about a topic that I admire. Also, it just goes to show you don't have to write about far off worlds to write. You can just write about what you love. It's also fun to give yourself a break from your main jam and change your mind, all while still writing. Know what I mean?
That being said, enjoy my essay about my soul-kitty, Sorren.
I Love That Cat
by
A.M. Molloy
I’ll never forget that glorious day Sorren came into my possession. It was two days before my nineteenth birthday. She was just ten weeks old and fit in the palm of my hand. She’s dark brown, light brown, black and adorned with little white legs. Heaven knows how much I love those little white legs. To top off her cuteness, she was born with a birthmark on her tiny little nose, and the pads of her paws are a marble mixture of black and pink. She was the runt of the litter, and she was all mine. This cat, whose original name was Sugar, (she was never a Sugar, far from it), is the smartest cat I know, managing to do incredible things with computers and other various things.
I think it’s part of the new younger generation being technologically savvy, but Sorren has always been good with computers, even if all she can type is gibberish to us. Not long after her very first encounter with my computer, she made me, what I like to call, artwork. I was sitting at my computer doing homework for some art project, with my printer sitting next to me on a flimsy table. Working away, I was distracted by a noise to my right. I looked over and the cat was standing happily on my printer. I saw she had hit the photocopy button and had perfectly printed all four of her cute multicolored paws. It was one of those proud parent moments when your young one makes art, however meaningless it might seem to others. I still have that black and white sheet of paper today, proudly owning it’s own page in a photo album. I think that might have been the first time I truly said the words ‘I love that cat.’
Sorren
Cute paw scan of 2008
Then there was the time she literally had a conversation with one of my college classmates on MSN. I was in the shower when my friend had left me a message. Sorren was the only one around to see it, so she took it upon herself to reply. She wrote back with a bunch of number ones, and my friend responded with “Hi Sorren.” Sorren replied, a bunch of random letters and an exclamation point at the end for emphasis. My friend laughed and replied “Oh Sorren, you’re such a kidder!” This went on for a good while, until I came out of the shower to find the cat sprawled out across my laptop's keyboard, purring happily. It was easy not to be mad at her. I just smiled, gently picked her up and exclaimed to the world, “I love that cat.”
Some time later during a weekend visit home from college, she managed to do what I thought would be impossible. Somehow, she managed to turn my laptop’s screen upside down. First of all, how did she even do that? Second, why is this even a function on the computer? After attempting to use Google upside down to solve this problem, I eventually gave up and called my computer technician friend to return my screen to its regular upright format. Still, even after the trouble she caused, I still love that cat.
On another day, I assume out of boredom or an attempt to seek attention, she somehow managed to change my desktop background. I was impressed at that. I was even more impressed at how she one day opened up Photoshop and attempted to make me more artwork. Somehow she managed to use my laptop's track pad to create some random scribbles. Maybe she wanted to follow me in my now former career of art. She’s also tried to open her own Facebook account and is always searching for help on the Internet. Sometimes I find it unfortunate that she can’t type proper English. I’m so curious as to what she would actually write. Still, no matter what she does, I love that cat.
She’s done many amazing things over the years, not just with computers. She truly understands me when I talk, answering with a meow or doing what I ask her to. I told her I gave her fresh water; she gave what I think was a nod then drunk from it. You can talk to her for hours without a reaction, but when you call her by name, she’ll instantly look at you, silently asking what you want. She purrs almost instantly when I pick her up, showering me with little cat kisses. She knows when I’m sad or in need of a kitty squish and will always come by my side, ready to comfort me. But you know what? In the end, it all comes down to four meaningful words said everyday in adoration: “I love that cat.”
“Sorren, thank you for letting me love you.”