Entries for May, 2008
Palawan was great. Beautiful doesn't even begin to describe it. It was... MAGNIFICENT and EXTRAORDINARY! It's Thank-God-I-live-in-the-Philippines good and to think we've only been to Puerto Princesa. What more if we got to visit Coron and El Nido?! I can't wait to go back and visit again.
If in Puerto Princesa (Palawan), you should never fail to go to:
- Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park It is so worth the 2-hour trip to Sabang from Puerto Princesa. Before actually going inside the cave, you are greeted by macaques and monitor lizards that roam the park freely.
- Honda Bay Island Hopping Go snorkeling near the islands. I was creeped out in the beginning--seeing the corals and my feet dangling over them but I got over it and it was the greatest experience ever. I actually got to experience schools of fish swimming with me in circles.
- Iwahig Prison and Penal Farm I love the long stretches of rice fields surrounded by the mountains--the bukid in other words. Fresh air and clean water to swim in (Balsahan)--what more can you ask for?!
Puerto Princesa is not really for beach bums but it is a great place nonetheless. Now I know why Palawan is called the last frontier of the Philippines.
{ book } The Lost Diary of Don Juan by Douglas Carlton Abrams
{ mood } thankful
Fetish, Ai-Love-Amor | say what?
I was so tired and sick when we got back from our vacation last May 10. I was not in the mood for anything but rest and sleep--not even for Earl's birthday bash. I backed out a few minutes before 4PM--when.
After going and spending two remarkable days in Puerto Princesa, we spent the rest of the vacation malling specifically the SM Mall of Asia. My dad didn't want to go to the Ocean Park and I wasn't really upset because Che said it was really nothing much. And after swimming with the fishes in the ocean and marveling on the coral reefs, looking at fish in a huge aquarium, nay, oceanarium, poses not much of an attraction. 
I went book crazy at MOA! When I see a book store, a light bulb comes out and dings. HAHA I went to all three--Powerbooks, National Book Store and Fully Booked.
I bought:
- Artemis Fowl: The Lost Colony by Eoin Colfer
- The Lost Diary of Don Juan by Douglas Carlton Abrams
- Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto
- The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
- Twisted 8: The Night of the the Living Twisted by Jessica Zafra
- Ang Paboritong Libro ni Hudas by Bob Ong (I lost my first copy!)
- Uglies by Scott Westerfeld
I already finished reading The Lost Colony and I loved it!
If I see one of these books on eBay at a lower price, I'll scream! HAHA
I also bought my own UNO cards. 
{ book } The Lost Diary of Don Juan by Douglas Carlton Abrams
{ mood } crazy
Fetish, Ai-Love-Amor | 3 hollered back
A date nailed on my skull. Although, it'll be showing nationwide in Japan only, I can't get my head out of it.
I checked its website and sadly it's still only in Japanese but it does have more features, check it out and if you can find someone who can understand, tell him or her to message me!!!
To those who don't get me, it's Hana Yori Dango Final--the movie. Click on the screenshot to view the site. 
{ book } Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto
{ show } Youtube
{ mood } excited
TV/Movies/Music | 2 hollered back
The movie is set to be released on December 12th this year. Although I didn't really love the book, I still want to watch it. I always had the fascination of seeing how other people's imagination work and compare it to how I personally imagined it when I was reading the book.
{ book } The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
{ mood } contemplative
I got to watch Iron Man when I was at Zamboanga last Wednesday. I thought it was cool. I'm quite fond of superheroes who are simply human beings who also happen to be filthy rich and highly intelligent.
That's why I like Bruce Wayne/Batman more than Clark Kent/Kal-El/Superman or Peter Parker/Spiderman. And now, there's Tony Stark/Iron Man. 
I finally found the poem from Akeelah and the Bee. Here it is:
Our Deepest Fear
by Marianne Williamson
from
A Return To Love: Reflections on
the Principles of A Course in Miracles
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate -
our deepest fear is that
we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be
brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?'
Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God.
Your playing small doesn’t serve the world.
There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking
so that other people won’t feel insecure around you.
We are born to make manifest
the Glory of God that is within us.
It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone.
And as we let our light shine, we unconsciously
give other people permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our own fear,
our presence automatically liberates others.
I love it. I loved the movie. And as the movie and the poem suggest, we should never be afraid of our abilities and of ourselves. It's a very good advice, don't you think?!
{ book } The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
{ mood } I can't figure out the AAO Website thingy! Help! :(
TV/Movies/Music | 1 hollered back
My dad borrowed my phone all of a sudden last May 9th while we were malling because his N95 broke. To add insult to injury, he made fun of my phone--calling it "very high-tech" sarcastically. I retorted that although my SE K300i is not a high-end phone, at least it works perfectly well even after two years of abusive use. His N95 isn't even a year old yet. Besides, I use my phone to its utmost ability and capacity. I bet he doesn't even know half of the uses of an N95. I'm so pissed.
Anyway, back to my dad borrowing my phone. I got my phone back in the evening and noticed that he deleted all of the messages in the inbox. I got more pissed. He explained that he didn't know how to use my phone. His phone before the N95 was an SE W800i. He forgot how to work a phone that quickly?! Geez! So now with an empty inbox, I was waiting for friends to text for it to fill. Josh and a few others texted forwarded messages, I think but I erased all of them and then a text from Jae2x came. It said:
Gud eve..
Atty. Clarence Sotto jst passed away yesterday because of seizure..
Imagine my shock when I read the message. I knew--my classmates knew--that he suffered an aneurysm and was rushed to a hospital in Manila for treatment but I never--we never--thought his condition was that critical. It was so unexpected. One moment he was reciting Shakespeare's Sonnet 116 in our classroom and the next, he's gone.
I can't forget February 14th of this year. I meant to write about it--I think I wrote a draft--but I never got to posting it. Here's what happened:
We were having our usual Law class--discussing articles on partnership and corporation and he was his usual prim and proper self (His hair in its ever-unfailing dapper do. It's all about the hair! 
) but it was Valentine's Day and maybe due to the presence of Jens' bouquet and balloons--a gift from her boyfriend--he suddenly brought on the topic of poems and that we should read literature while we can because when we get to be professionals, we might never get a chance to do so. He then asked us the definition of LOVE and if we knew the one by Shakespeare. My classmates suggested I say something, thinking I knew everything there is to literature but I'm not really that good nor that fond of Shakespeare though I do know some of his works. (Who doesn't?!) Seeing nobody would speak up, he then recites a few lines of the sonnet (116):
Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
We broke into howls of surprise and laughter. It was an evening to remember and one that I will not forget any time soon. Especially now.
To our dear Sir Clarence (Clarissa):
Your life was short, your career as a CPA/Lawyer shorter still but you have in your own way touched our lives. Although I have to wait aimlessly for six hours before your class, I don't ever regret being a part of it. Thank you for our semester together. We learned a lot from you.
NB: It took me a while before I wrote about this. His death caught me offguard and I guess I was knocked out of my senses or maybe writing about it gives it a discomforting finality none of us want. 
{ book } The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
{ mood } sad
David Cook wins American Idol Season 7. Finally, a rocker!
I'm quite happy that he won over Archuleta.
P.S.: Renaldo Lapuz stole the show! HAHA
{ book } The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
{ mood } jubilant
"True love doesn't have a happy ending: True love doesn't have an ending." -- Anonymous
I just wanted to post this because it's been running through my mind incessantly in the last couple of weeks. Not really this quote (by Hermann Hesse?!)--I just read this yesterday and I can't help but smile since it hit the bull's eye--but it sums up what I've come to realize which is:
There is no such thing as "happy endings" because love never ends. Love is like energy. It can never be destroyed.
{ book } Uglies by Scott Westerfield
{ mood } thoughtful
Ai-Love-Amor | 2 hollered back
Don't you just hate it when somebody ruins your meal, especially breakfast?!
Picture this: You just woke up. You think, "it's another boring day at the house". That already fouls your mood. Then, you sit down for breakfast and start eating. Suddenly, somebody tells you to stop slurping (READ: tasting) your food because it's a no-no in table etiquette and you answer by knitting your eyebrows that literally say: Fuck off! After that, you get reprimanded for not listening and accepting that they're just teaching you manners.
HA! Manners?! A guy who intentionally farts while eating has the tenacity to teach me some manners?! Screw you!
I am so damn pissed. Do I even have to tell you who ruined my otherwise boring and uneventful day? I never thought I could get any more infuriated.
You know what? I accept it when people teach me how to behave but only when those people have the right and capacity to do so. People who don't have any manners to speak of and have far worse habits than I do should just shut up and go to hell.
{ book } The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
{ mood } Need I say more?
A new school year is about to begin in 19 days.
I'll go back to Zamboanga City on June 5th for our Consultation. (It means getting our schedules for the semester.) I can't wait.
Staying in Basilan is okay but I find it hard staying long in this place. I'm no longer used to it. I don't have anything going on for me here and so I'm bored to bits.
Don't get me wrong, I love Basilan. Coming home is always a nice experience but I don't think I'll work and settle here, which is what my dad thinks I'll be doing. I guess I just have to live up to being a dissapointment to him.
{ book } Uglies by Scott Westerfeld