GoF now joins moulin rouge and the return of the king as the films i watched the most number of times in a movie house. four times.
watched it this time at IMAX theatre. spent extra five bucks for the ticket but it was worth it.
the only downside of it was seeing a more close-up shot of hermione’s twitching eyebrows.
1. that despite my constant ‘japan-bashing’ for the past three years that i lived there, there are some things about it that i miss from time to time.
2. that one of the hardest parts of leaving a place was letting go many of my personal items i accumulated over the years.
3. to always check if the medicine tablet is chewable or not (my sister recently had a near-death experience by swallowing a humongous pill that was supposed to be chewed).
4. to always put name tags on luggages when traveling (reducing the risk of them being lost or misplaced) .
5. that the midnight shopping galore in pinas is no match to the black friday sale in the US; people waking up in the wee hours of morning and braving the icy weather just to shop.
6. to save up for the abovementioned event.
7. to never put all your IDs in a single wallet because it’s a taxing task to have them reproduced when your wallet is stolen.
8. that some dreams remain as they are – dreams.
9. to let anger subside by keeping my silence.
10. that the ’sign’ i got some years ago was indeed the ’sign’ i asked for.
happy christmas everyone!
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woke up late for the morning Mass so we had no choice but to go to church in the afternoon. lo and behold! all the churches nearby were closed and were not offering their usual Sunday services. weird! and sad that we weren’t able to hear Mass on Christmas day.
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was browsing through the pages of vogue magazine this morning when this page on ideas for christmas presents caught my attention. a designer umbrella worth $1,450!!! what difference does it make when people walk under the rain or under the glaring sun with a highly expensive umbrella? what fool would buy someone such a costly gift?
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i still owe my blog an entry about our recent florida trip. so little time we spent there and yet there’s so much to tell. i swear to sit down sometime this week and write about our experience. i hope this isn’t one of the many broken promises i have had with my blog. maybe i should jot this down as one of my new year’s resolutions: be true to my word.
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one of the most important lessons i have learned on card giving during the holidays is to send out greeting cards that say ‘happy holidays’ or ’seasons greetings’ instead of ‘merry christmas’. this is being sensitive to friends who do not actually believe in the celebration of Christmas as a religious holiday. .
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dear santa, you’re never too late for my christmas presents. please
to my santa if you're not too busy this time of the year to read my blog.
- a really nice branded winter coat (there's one in banana rep that's relatively cheap).
- a pair of chic dress boots.
- hobo bag.
- roundtrip tickets to any place in this world (or give me a free ride on your sleigh).
- the zahir by paulo coelho.
- harry potter and philosophy: if aristotle ran hogwarts.
- lord of the rings and philosophy: one book to rule them all.
- a wedding planner/scrapbook (check at borders).
- clothes my size (XXS, XS or 0).
- laptop.
- lots and lots of earrings and other accessories in style.
- a cute, huggable puppy.
- a new pair of eyeglasses.
- gilmore girls complete DVD set (all seasons available).
rummaging through my old files (yet again!), i found this: chronicles of a muse lost and found.
october 13, 2004
9:50 p.m
beppu, japan
my muse came to me at an unusual time. i was sitting in my japanese 4 class when i felt the sudden urge to write. i was trying to figure out what my sensei was saying when i sensed the need to write my thoughts down or at least compose my thoughts in my head, otherwise I would burst out of frustration. our lecture was about EU and APEC but i couldn't understand most of the lecture. everything i knew about the topic was based on the little stock knowledge i possess.
japanese wasn't that bad before. although i abhorred the tons of work which the prior courses required us to do, deep down i looked forward to attending the classes everyday. i had great affection for my 'cross national boundaries' book. there was an ample amount of satisfaction in me whenever i can read a page of kanji, more so be able to comprehend what the text actually says. but japanese 4 is a different story.
it may not be as demanding as the previous japanese courses but it is certainly more difficult and more complex. now we are asked to sit in an actual japanese lectures in sociology conducted by Japanese professors. the professors expect us to transform into immortal beings capable of understanding what they are talking about and how they talk at a speed of 100 words per minute. okay, i am exaggerating here but then again, i really have low tolerance level for japanese native speakers.
i sat in class half-listening, half-daydreaming. the next day in my japanese class, we watched the video of the lecture once more through the aid of personal computers, while answering the task sheet my sensei prepared. i didn't know what to write because i actually couldn't make anything out of what the professor was saying. there was a rewind button in computer but it didn't help at all. what i needed was a slow motion command to make the professor talk at my own pace. i sat in front of the computer, watching and cursing under my breath all the time.
when my sensei explained the answers to the questions, that was when my muse visited me. she may have felt my need to be transported away from the rigors of nihongo class; to be back to my previous world where only the roman alphabet exists and only mr. webster has control of my vocabulary. my japanese class and my life outside it are like two parallel lines which do not meet at any given point, so said my muse that time.
my muse was missing for the last two years. i wasn't able to write as much as i did back in the philippines. i must have left it at home while i was packing things. i remember i had to let go some of them because i cannot carry excess baggage. i had to talk to them (yes, literally) and tell them why i couldn't bring them to Japan. my muse could have been in one of those objects i left behind. strange thought but well, maybe she was that old worn-out shirt i had since high school or that pair of black shoes i threw away. or she could have disguised into one of my many angels still at home.
my passion for writing came back soon after my recent trip to the philippines. it was as if i went home and inadvertently found my muse locked somewhere there, waiting for my arrival. and through an inexplicable force of nature, it was able to travel with me here in japan. maybe in the form of my favorite head and shoulder shampoo or the local version of cosmo magazine which i brought with me. maybe she was wrapped inside the warm memories i shared with my college friends in my one-month stay in the philippines. but whatever transpired between then and now, what is important is that my muse came back when i would rather write than be in my japanese class.
post script: notice how i kept starting my sentences with conjuctions — yep, that's me defying grammar.
when did i start growing-up?
to wear make-up when going out;
to trade flip-flops for pumps, comfy sneakers for stilettos, flats for heels;
to read more sophisticated magazines like cosmo and glamour;
to stop playing silly children's games and start to plan of having kids of my own;
to share a part of myself to my other half, without doubts and without compromises;
and, yet i know some things about me will remain like a child
childlike, not childish (there lies a big difference).
because i have the body of a twelve to fourteen-year old caucasian. (i get cool clothes for a cheaper price by scanning the array of clothes for teens.)
because my love for harry potter and his world is my elixir of youth.
because i still find the time to laugh with my friends.
because i am not scared to act like a crazy in-love teenage girl with my other half.
and, because i promise myself that when i have children of my own
i would be the coolest mom ever.
things that irk me and people who get into my nerves often (with emphasis on the word 'often' lest i be accused of a snotty mean girl).
1. people who put 'h' on their names because they think it's cute or cool (e.g. bhong or dhiana). one of my friends in UP made that mistake of introducing herself in class, saying her name is bhora* with an h and to her chagrin, the professor told her it is phonetically incorrect to put b and h side by side.
2. similarly, people who replaces the 's' in their name with a 'z' (e.g. melissa -meliza). and for the record, mine really ends with a 'z'. it's spelled that way in my birth certificate.
3. men and women who think they are God's gift to the human race. please!
4. highly pretentious people who try to be as conotic as they could but have 'p' and 'f' defect.
5. bad grammar. if i were a college professor, i'd fail any student who does not know or cannot follow even the simple rules of subject-verb agreement.
6. jessica simpson, especially when she starts to open her mouth. she's the living testimony of the 'dumb blonde' stereotype and if i were a blond, i'd kill her to save my race from humiliation.
7. screaming fags, especially the old ones. before you accuse me of being a homophobic, lemme just say that i have great respect for subdued gays.
8. unsolicited advices from strangers.
9. people who plead their friendsters for testimonials. c'mon, they should be written and given voluntarily.
10. 'jologs' to the nth level.
11. the overuse of ellipsis.
12. people putting open and close quotation marks on their own names or others'.
13. delusional harry/hermione shippers (that ship has long sunk. oh wait, there was never 'them' in the first place.)
14. the overuse of pinoy slang ('haller', 'pasaway').
15. too much politicking.
*name changed to protect the identity of my friend.
this relatively new commercial now tops the list of my favorite ads.
below is the transcript of the monologue by kate winslet on american express.
guess which of her films she's referring to.
At 17, I went to prison for murder.
By 19, I was penniless and heartbroken.
I almost drowned at 20.
My mind started to go at 24.
I had my memory erased at 28.
And by 29 I was in Neverland.
My real life doesn't need any extra drama
That's why my card is American Express
i am not a kate winslet fan but i have great respect for her as an actress. she knows her craft. her two academy award nominations can vouch for the sensitivity she has as an actress.
i also love robert de niro's american express commercial even if it received a lot of flak from people.
in case you want to view the ads, here's the link: http://www.mylifemycard.com/commercials/spot5/index.html
i was listening to christmas carols the other day when i suddenly missed nysnc.
of all the boybands that emerged during the 'boyband era' in the late 90s, nsync was my favorite.
it was partly due to my younger sister's teenage obsession with justin timberlake. she had a makeshift altar of justin in her room; her wall was adorned with posters of justin; she was a member of the nysnc official fans club (my ever obliging dad paying for the membership fee); and, she watched the band's concert with jasmine trias (yes folks, she knew the now famous jasmine trias way back her elementary years).
before leaving for japan in 2002, i bought a bootleg copy of nysnc's christmas album. and for three straight years, raj and i played the cd over and over again once the holiday season started to kick in. it brought us the christmas spirit that was conspicuously missing in japan. it gave us comfort and warmth as we celebrated the yuletide season away from home.
today's the first day of december. i'd probably start playing my nsync cd today had it been here with me, but i trashed the cd when we left japan for good. i couldn't bring it here in the US where piracy is strictly forbidden.
i could, of course, buy an original copy but i'm such a cheapie, i'd rather download the songs for free. so sue me, hahaha.
