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Currently Reading: Watchmen (Alan Moore/Dave Gibbons)
Emma (Jane Austen)

TV: Burn Notice

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Movie: Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

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Saturday, July 18th, 2009
3:17 pm - Lunch today

Yes, Manang's liempo from the Clubhouse near the covered courts. This entire meal was a shocking 87 pesos, and then someone reminded me that the last time I ate this on a regular basis was more than ten years ago.

It tastes the same, though. We luvs you, Manang.

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9:04 am - Back in my day...

My pick from the 10 Most Shocking Moments on Mad Men - #4 Sally and the Drycleaning Bag. And generally how children are treated in the show.

In one episode Betty didn't wash her son's hands when he peed in the park, she just "inspected" them. Ew! But yeah.

And hello again, Vincent Kartheiser.

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Wednesday, July 15th, 2009
10:47 pm - Thought dump
1. I want Matthew Goode to play James Potter in the next movies. Just putting that out into the ether. Para may suspense kunwari ang paternity ni Harry kahit wala naman.


2. "Avalanche" is my favorite David Cook song at the moment. Love that I can listen to it a zillion times and find something new to love.

3. Tried the Coffee Swirl yogurt flavor at Californiaberry. My vote is NAY.

4. I am now someone's business partner. Loads of work ahead, but excited!

5. Want to watch Entourage but am tired. At breakfast na lang.

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Monday, July 13th, 2009
2:42 pm - Embrace your truths
I read a lot, but I apparently don't have much of a lit pedigree. I blame it on my slum school. My English teacher had the best of intentions, but if he required only a "book report" to high school students and didn't specify a reading list, then of course he'd have dozens of kids writing crappy reports on the thinnest books he had never heard of. I personally did mine on Christopher Pike's Final Friends trilogy. Fun, but not really "English lit" you know?

In college I tried to catch up, because my classmates came from better schools and they all actually read Midsummer Night's Dream and stuff rather than just watched the movie. I took Great Books 3 as an elective, and managed to read some Shelley, Faulkner, Marx, and Forster during that time. Read Phantom of the Opera in En 13. And a few other things, here and there, so I could at least say that I'd read the "classics" -- but very rarely were they fun. But at least I could say I read them.

So this weekend I got into a discussion with my cousin, a college senior and an avid reader, about books. And he said things like:

"Everyone should read War and Peace!"
"But it's Amado V. Hernandez!"
"Have you read Banaag at Sikat?"

He didn't share his own opinions of these books or authors, because he hasn't actually read them. He was, in effect, recommending them to me not because he likes them, but he was repeating a recommendation he read somewhere, written by someone he respects.

So I asked him, why these books/authors in particular? Why are they worth recommending and others are not?

He said, they're classics because they "reveal an essential truth." And then he starts on Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart (which I've never read).

But I interrupted him with, what about Twilight? Doesn't that reveal an essential truth too? He laughed, probably thinking I was kidding, but I wasn't.

There are reasons why Twilight will be better or worse than Things Fall Apart, and they will probably involve discussions on how to write prose or sales figures and blah blah blah. BUT SERIOUSLY NOW. It's one thing to respect someone's opinion or review, another to consider it the only opinion that matters. I tend to check out Booker prize winners (or finalists) because, based on experience, there's a reasonable chance that I'll like them. But sometimes I don't, and that's OK. I'm no longer worried about "catching up," or feeling dumb because only I didn't get this book that everyone seems to love.

As a reader, he should learn to drop that hangup. In the past few years I changed my mind on Noli and El Fili (thought they were overrated and now I love them). I gave up on Wuthering Heights, three times. The best thing I read lately was fanfic that starred an American Idol winner and a vampire slayer. (!) Essential truth? Yes please. Faith and David Cook would rock together, that is true.

But he's in college, so I'll give him a pass.

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Monday, July 6th, 2009
7:04 pm - Back to full employment
I should be happy, but because I try to see the positive in anything I did start to enjoy my weekday gym trips and random afternoon meetups with similarly underemployed friends.

Am happy anyway. Crispy pata, friends?

***

What amyslayer said.

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Friday, July 3rd, 2009
11:09 am - My "Alchemist"
Currently helping someone through a crisis of relevance. She is questioning herself because of a recent health problem, coupled with the ennui of living in sprawling first-world suburbia. I don't know how to ease her into this, but maybe I should get her this book.

Man's Search for Meaning, by former concentration camp inmate Viktor Frankl, is my "Alchemist." It chronicles his experience of being faced with the constant, and random, possibility of death, as well as how other people reacted to it.

OK, so it's not overtly uplifting, but I find comfort and inspiration in knowing that life still has meaning -- and I give it that meaning -- even in the craziest of situations.

Quotes:
"We can discover this meaning in life in three different ways: (1) by creating a work or doing a deed; (2) by experiencing a something or encountering someone; and (3) by the attitude we take toward unavoidable suffering."

"A man who becomes conscious of the responsibility he bears toward a human being who affectionately waits for him, or to an unfinished work, will never be able to throw away his life. He knows the 'why' for his existence, and will be able to bear almost any 'how.'"

"The way in which a man accepts his fate and all the suffering it entails, the way in which he takes up his cross, gives him ample opportunity — even under the most difficult circumstances — to add a deeper meaning to his life. It may remain brave, dignified and unselfish. Or in the bitter fight for self-preservation he may forget his human dignity and become no more than an animal."

"Don't aim at success--the more you aim at it and make it a target, the more you are going to miss it. For success, like happiness, cannot be pursued; it must ensue, and it only does so as the unintended side-effect of one's personal dedication to a cause greater than oneself or as the by-product of one's surrender to a person other than oneself. Happiness must happen, and the same holds for success: you have to let it happen by not caring about it."

"Everything can be taken from a man but one thing; the last of the human freedoms—to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way."

For some reason I don't imagine Horatio Caine saying this. More of a Mac Taylor kind of speech, maybe?

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Sunday, June 21st, 2009
8:45 am - Yeah, in a nutshell
Jill, have you seen this?!

Via librarianjessie

I don't know if I'm just old-fashioned, but yeah, this brings me joy.

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Wednesday, June 17th, 2009
9:46 am - What would David do
Seriously, people, this is helpful to me. Like right now.

When faced with this kind of pain, you can choose to be:

A. Hysterical.

B. David Cook (calm, respectful, productive)

C. Larry King and the people who put together this episode (strangely detached from human emotion -- I mean, who needs more Speidi when you're finding a cure for cancer?)

I think I would like to be David, thank you.

Part 2 is here.

***

(Also, I think you meant "gravity" not "brevity," Cookie, but kebs, I don't care.)

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Tuesday, June 9th, 2009
11:12 am - Guitar monster
Guitar Hero appeals to me because I've always wanted to play an instrument, but never had the patience to learn. catinthehat and gamhanan introduced it to me one day, and they created a monster. krude enabled me by giving me a Wii and Guitar Hero Aerosmith, and months later I discovered that my guitar works with Rock Band. Lagot tayo diyan. Must make sure I still get enough sleep every night!

My favorite tracks from discs I've finished:

Guitar Hero Aerosmith
"Dream On"
"Livin' on the Edge"
"Walk This Way"
"Pink"

Guitar Hero III Legends of Rock
"Barracuda" - Heart
"Black Magic Woman" - Santana
"Bulls on Parade" - Rage Against the Machine
"Cliffs of Dover" - Eric Johnson
"Even Flow" - Pearl Jam
"Hit Me With Your Best Shot" - Pat Benatar
"Welcome to the Jungle" - Guns N' Roses
"Radio Song" - Superbus (from the bonus songs)

And my super favorite, "Paint It Black" - The Rolling Stones. My disc went bad and I miss playing this. :(

Guitar Hero II
Supposedly not available for the Wii but our friends in Quiapo didn't get the memo...

"Carry On Wayward Son" - Kansas
"Heart-Shaped Box" - Nirvana
"Killing in the Name" - Rage Against the Machine
"Sweet Child O' Mine" - Guns N' Roses
"You Really Got Me" - Van Halen

Guitar Hero World Tour
"About a Girl" (Unplugged) - Nirvana
"La Bamba" - Los Lobos
"Livin' on a Prayer" - Bon Jovi
"Santeria" - Sublime
"Spiderwebs" - No Doubt
"Sweet Home Alabama" (Live) - Lynyrd Skynyrd

I wanted to like "Freak on a Leash" but it was disappointing as a game song. I don't know why but it sounds weird.

Last night I started with Rock Band 2. And Guitar Hero Metallica is waiting.

ETA:
Oh my gosh, librarianjessie is awesome! Gosh!

And, a Youtube playlist of the Cookie parts of the Manila concert. In love, all over again. I'm hopeless.

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Friday, June 5th, 2009
2:49 pm - Dilemma
Yes, in light of so many crazy things (politics, climate change, video scandals) that are begging to be cared about, I end up fussing over this:

Who's cuter with Cookie? )

Methinks he should team up with Kelly next.

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