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Wednesday, December 31, 2003
"HA~PPY!!!" ~ me at PowerBooks Live in Greenbelt 3, carrying a mountain of books in my arms towards the cashier First, quizzie:  Morpheus ?? Which Of The Greek Gods Are You ?? brought to you by Quizilla MORPHEUS!!! *remembers Neil Gaiman's Morpheus, and starts bouncing around* I had roughly 4,000+ when all my Christmas money came in. Now I have only 124 bucks. Exactly. Where did all that cash go? In the register of PowerBooks Live in Greenbelt 3. I spent almost all my Christmas money there buying myself books to read over the next few days. A few are writing aids, while the others...well, let's just say I bought them because I wanted to expand my library ^_~. Here follows a list of books that I have purchased. 1. Aliens and Alien Societies: A writer's guide to creating extraterrestrial life-forms by Stanley Schmidt, edited by Ben Bova ~ I bought this for two reasons: first, I'm taking up a course on sci-fi writing next term, and I figured that it would come in handy. Second, I bought it because the idea of character creation COULD come in handy when I wanted to develop races - even if my ideas are more about fantasy than about sci-fi. Then again, Anne McCaffrey made both sci-fi and fantasy meet with her Dragons of Pern series, so I figured, if she could do it, so could I. 2. The Writer's Idea Book by Jack Heffron ~ I bought this because I've got so many ideas in my head, but I don't know how to develop them. And for me as a writer, it's an especially sad thing to let ideas go to waste. Goddess only knows how many ideas have already rotted in my head and never been put down on paper... 3. Creating Charachters Kids Will Love by Elaine Marie Alphin ~ People have complained many times before that my chief weakness is character creation. I have a tendency to make them flat and not well-rounded - I am infamous for creating Mary-Sues. But with this book, I hope to be able to get my characters into shape - and hopefully find some way of making my ideas available as children's books since there's a bigger market for that than there are for adult fiction. 4. Fast Food Fiction: Short-short Stories to Go edited by Noelle Q. de Jesus ~ I've been wanting to purchase a copy of this since Mel introduced me to the joys of writing flash fiction and ever since I started writing my own. I intend to use the stories here are sort-of guidelines to making wonderful short-shorts. 5. The Eye of the World: Part One of the Wheel of Time Series by Robert Jordan ~ Have heard a lot about it, and now have the first book to it. If I like it, then I will slowly build up the rest of the series. 6. Sabriel and Lirael by Garth Nix ~ I've heard a lot about these two novels and have always wanted to read them, so I bought them. Between these two books and The Eye of the World, I will have enough fantasy novels to last me until the start of next term ^_^. Ha~ppy... ~ Harle Dream is Real, and Real is Dream .. 6:54 PM [*] .. Tuesday, December 30, 2003
*presses pause on the DVD remote control, and ogles the TV screen* "Ooooohhh..." ~ me upon seeing a small detail in Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings Extended DVD I just noticed a few things in the extended version of Fellowship... 1. In the scene where Aragorn places back the shard of Narsil on the statue, if you pause the DVD and look REALLY closely at the background, you will actually see Aeglos, the spear of Gil-galad, propped up in a corner alongside a banner which could have been the very same one Elrond carried into battle as Gil-galad's herald. 2. Beside Aeglos, there is a painting. I think it depicts Gil-galad in the same way that the painting across from Narsil depicts Isildur. Judging from the shadowy shapes on the painting (I can't see all the details because the camera's too far away and the pillar gets in the way). It seems to be a picture of Gil-galad, with Orodruin flaming in the background, standing on a hill in Dagorlad, Aeglos in his hand, and his foot planted on the neck of an Orc - at least, it LOOKED like an Orc to me... Mel has posted some of the chapters of her story Points of Five, a story I've been bugging her about for quite some time now. Also, she's created the LJ community for the both of us called "Backstage Mayhem" - where we will post our snippets on my fic Windy Day. And I know she'll be bugging me about getting on with it and writing, but I need to see the Appendices of the Extended DVDs before I can get any proper work done. After all, there's a lot of things I have to edit in my original version of Windy Day before it can go up on the Internet... ~ Harle Dream is Real, and Real is Dream .. 5:55 PM [*] .. Monday, December 29, 2003
"Are you going to go swimming?" *grumbles* "Can't. I have my period, remember?" ~ most frequent question (and matching answer) during the three-night-four-day stay at Boracay THE DEPRESSING 1.) If anybody asks if I was able to go swimming while I was at Boracay, I have two words for you: I DIDN'T. I just HAD to get my period on the first day there, and so I couldn't go out and play in the water the next few days. 2.) There were not as many cute guys as I had hoped. There were a couple of celebrities (more on that later) but save for several Mark Ferguson lookalikes and a guy who looked EXACTLY like Mai's boyfriend, there was really no one of note. Most of them were either too fat (porkchop, anyone?) or too old - and this is coming from a girl who has a crush on a 43-year-old (give or take a year) Kiwi actor. 3.) Speaking of lookalikes, I kept on spotting Mark Ferguson lookalikes, but none of them were him. This is VERY depressing for a girl who will probably never get the chance to see her celebrity crush in the flesh, since he only goes to conventions held in New Zealand (his home country), Bonn (RingCon), and Toronto (The Gathering). 4.) Due to foul weather (which I will discuss later), I wasn't able to get as nice a tan as I had hoped. There goes my brand-name tan... THE BAD 1.) Boracay weather is supposedly splendid during this time of year, more so than during the summer. I should know, since I have been to Boracay during both summer vacation (last year) and Christmas vacation (the last three times I was there, plus this year), and I do have to admit that Boracay during Christmas vacation is a helluva lot better than Boracay in the summertime. However, it was just my luck that while we were staying there, a storm was passing through the Visayas area. While it didn't rain per se in Boracay (it was just drizzling), the winds were really strong, and really cold. Like I said, I wasn't able to go swimming because of my period, but I don't think I'd have wanted to get into the water anyway because of the coldness and strength of the wind. To make matters worse, the winds kicked up a lot of sand - something that's NOT very good for me because I've been trying to recuperate from tonsil-ache, and breathing in the sand only made things worse. 2.) I like walking barefoot on the sand - but only on the beachfront. While the backroad is lined with sand, in places the sand thins out or is filled with gravel. Really SHARP gravel. I was wearing Max's plastic slippers, but they didn't really fit me and were hell on my feet. So I ended up walking barefoot a lot just so I could avoid getting my soles bruises, but I had to pay my walking on a lot of sharp unidentified objects. I think I have a cut on the bottom of my right foot, but it isn't all that deep. It's far from my gut, so I'll live. 3.) I met a few of Max's friends on the first night we were there. Let me just say this: my sister is fluffy-headed, ergo, her friends are fluffy-headed as well. 4.) Max managed to lose one of the pages to my book Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden. I am NEVER lending any of my novels to my sister EVER AGAIN. 5.) The food in the hotel we were staying at, the Le Soleil de Boracay, was HORRIBLE. The only places we could get good food was outside the hotel, and even then we had to walk long distances just to find it, like the famous crepes of Cafe Breizh (I think that's the spelling, don't remember anymore), or the pizza at Pizza di Baffo. THE GOOD 1.) The SHOPPING. I found a lot of things - mostly jewelry - that I wouldn't be able to find here in Manila. Downside is that they were all rather expensive, but hey, better that I bought them there than having to come back here and not be able to find them. First was a lovely Celtic-style pentagram. It's rather big and will be very visible when I put it on - something I've been wanting since I saw Mel's witch-broom pentagram (the one that she hangs on the side of her card pouch). Aside from that, I also found a pointed clear quartz pendant, which I plan to use both for my wand and for clothing. I also bought a rutilated quartz pendant, mostly as jewelry and quite possibly for wands. And because we bought so much, the owner of the shop where we made our puchases gave me a free shard of black tiger's eye. This one is DEFINITELY for use on a wand, for when I want to do binding or banishing magick. I also managed to buy a new dragon pendant. This one is more Western-looking than the one that Mel gave me. Now I have an Eastern dragon and a Western dragon. All I need is a dragon pentagram and I will be set. 2.) The drinks. Mom let me try two drinks while we were there: the Singapore Sling (pineapple and orange juice with vodka) and the Mai-Tai (pineapple juice and rum or tequila - no one's really sure anymore). I didn't like the Singapore Sling very much because I was still able to taste the alcohol. The Mai-Tai, on the other hand...well, let's just say that I managed to down a glass of the Singapore Sling fast, but I slurped down the glass of Mai-Tai FASTER. Mostly because I couldn't taste the alcohol. I was half-tipsy after that, and couldn't stop giggling and talking as I followed my sister to the El Toro restaurant where she met up with her friends. Amazingly, I didn't have a hangover the following day. Which is very, VERY good. There was something there that I wanted, but couldn't buy because I thought that they were a little too frivolous already and I knew I wouldn't be able to take it home to begin with. One of the shops there was selling glass bottles in nice, pretty shapes. I was looking through the display, and I choked at one of the bottles. It was shaped in the EXACT SAME STYLE AS THE PHIAL OF GALADRIEL FROM THE LOTR MOVIES!!! The stopper wasn't the same of course - if it had been the same I would have snapped up the bottle regardless of the price - but the shape was pretty much the same. And it came in three sizes: small, medium and large. Speaking of LOTR, for the entire time that I was there, I managed to catch FOTR on HBO. And I ALWAYS finished it ^_^. ~ Harle Dream is Real, and Real is Dream .. 9:37 PM [*] .. Thursday, December 25, 2003
"Please take Mr. Sparrow below, where he will contemplate all possible meanings of the phrase: Silent as the grave." ~ Commodore Norrington from Pirates of the Carribean And yes, I AM contemplating all possible meanings of the phrase, "Silent as the grave," at the moment... The best gift I could ever get for Christmas: have my voice taken away from me. Damn my tonsils, they ache like hell. And yes, I say all of that because they DO hurt like hell and I can barely talk. Quizzies that I stole from various LJs and blogs (can't remember right now):  Compassion: You are there to share your sympathy with others. People would consider you affectionate and caring, and someone to look up to. Which Characteristic From the Samurai Code Matches You Best? (You may find out your best trait) brought to you by Quizilla *blinks* Am I really?  You are Form 3, Unicorn: The Innocent. "And The Unicorn knew she wasn't meant to go into the Dark Wood. Disregarding the advice given to her by the spirits, Unicorn went inside and bled silver blood.. For her misdeed, the world knew evil." Some examples of the Unicorn Form are Eve (Christian) and Pandora (Greek). The Unicorn is associated with the concept of innocence, the number 3, and the element of water. Her sign is the twilight sun. As a member of Form 3, you are a curious individual. You are drawn to new things and become fascinated with ideas you've never come in contact with before. Some people may say you are too nosey, but it's only because you like getting to the bottom of things and solving them. Unicorns are the best friends to have because they are inquisitive. Which Mythological Form Are You? brought to you by Quizilla A lot of people would agree, trust me... Here is something I got off the TPTS ML, and was posted by Lorraine Kiamco. For all Viggo fans out there (*pokes Isis to get her attention). Lord of everything By Garry Maddox December 22, 2003 This movie hunk is a shining overachiever who puts everyone else in the shade. Viggo Mortensen is about to storm the cinema screen again in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. And, from past experience, female hearts will be beating just that bit faster at the thought of a bloodied Aragorn charging into battle on his steed. Most actors would be pleased enough - no, absolutely thrilled - to be cast as a heart-throb in one of the biggest trilogies in cinema history. But apparently not Viggo. Adoration is not enough. He has to spoil it for the rest of the male population by having an exhibition of his own landscape photographs to coincide with the world premiere in New Zealand. His photographs were called arty things such as Lost 1, 2, 3 and 4. These ones were taken while he was lost in the wilderness. And Viggo appeared at a poetry reading for charity, possibly the only sold-out poetry reading in human history. He was well down the bill, but shrugged that off by saying there were some very good poets reading their work that night. When composer Howard Shore conducted the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra in a Lord of the Rings concert with four choirs, Viggo joined in. Singing in Elvish. Once, it was not that hard for an ordinary Australian male to appear cultured. If you knew STC didn't just stand for Sydney Turf Club. If you knew Peter Carey wasn't just an AFL umpire. If you knew Les Murray wasn't just a soccer commentator. That would do it. But Viggo has raised the bar. There's a VM (Viggo Moment) guaranteed to take the rest of us down a peg. How can we hope to even get near competing with a man who, when invited to address the crowd in New Zealand, starts by speaking flawless Maori. While wearing a UNICEF shirt. Any attempt to speak semi-knowledgeably about a film, book or play is bound to look feeble in comparison. You want to show your tender side with your affection for a favourite pet? When Viggo finished shooting Lord of the Rings, he bought the two horses he'd been riding to take home. Trumped! Want to appear relaxed and in control of a stressful situation? When Viggo met the world's media before the premiere, he padded around a five-star hotel in bare feet. Out-nonchalanting everyone. Want to appear committed to your job? Well listen to VM #71. When Viggo was cast as a deaf mute on a film, he decided not to speak to anyone for the entire shoot. He scribbled notes to the crew and ordered food by pointing. His dedication was such that he faxed his ex-wife (hah, a chink in the armour!) to say he'd call his eight-year-old son, but not speak. While young Henry chatted away, Viggo made breathing noises to indicate he was still there. Now that makes staying late at the office and working the odd weekend seem positively pathetic! Want to seem well-rounded in female company by mentioning that you wrote a short story once or have a complete collection of Ramones albums? Be wary: she may mention VM #157. Viggo is releasing a CD (along with guitarist Buckethead and guest appearances from Viggo's actor friends), of music, spoken wordplay and aural collage. Called Pandemoniumfromamerica - yes, that's one creatively long word - it's reputedly "a sonic snapshot of 21st century disorientation and dissent". And he's dedicated it to Noam Chomsky, no less. Want to enhance your working class credentials by mentioning that you do a little home renovating or can change a tyre? While living in Denmark, Viggo (VM #221) worked as a truck driver. Not only is he passably good-looking - OK, quite good-looking, OK, he was named one of the 50 most beautiful people in the world by People magazine last year - Viggo mostly appears in movies with cool directors, such as Peter Weir (Witness), Jane Campion (The Portrait of a Lady), Sean Penn (The Indian Runner), Brian De Palma (Carlito's Way) and Ridley Scott (G.I. Jane). When cast as a painter in A Perfect Murder, he did his own murals for the film. He speaks Spanish and Danish, as well as English. He doesn't own a television, but he does have a publishing house. If you're female, you're no doubt wondering where you can get Viggo's phone number, even if he's only breathing strangely down the line. And you're probably thinking that every male you know seems like Homer Simpson in comparison. But what's Viggo really like? Would he honestly be the answer to any woman's prayers? I say no. And I'm prepared to suggest he'd be the stuff of nightmares rather than dreams. The bare feet around the house, the time all those interests must take. And - this is a big call for someone who has never even met the guy - there's a certain neediness about all these Viggo Moments. And an earnestness. Lighten up, Viggo! The rest of us might look like shop-worn merchandise as you gaze at Aragorn on screen, but, hey, we're flesh-and-blood. We're real. Have to go. Time for my Maori lesson. We're studying Chomsky today. Uh...the rants of an extremely frustrated person who cannot seem to match up to Viggo the Renaissance Man? I mean, let's face it: Viggo IS one of the few Renaissance Men of our era. He acts, he sings, he writes, he plays an instrument, he's a polyglot... I wouldn't be surprised to find out that he knows how to cook. But this guy DOES have a point: all of these things might point to a certain need in Viggo to feel NEEDED and praised and supported, etc., etc., yadda-yadda-yadda. Maybe in real life, he'd be a nightmare. Then again, maybe he wouldn't. It all depends on the girl, right? And besides, I only borrow him for fics. Those are just imaginings, after all, and it seems somewhat improbable at the moment that the situations I have concocted in my fics for Viggo and Isis will come true, though I would think it very interesting - as well as somewhat scary - if the situations DID come true. Leaving for Boracay tomorrow, and I am somewhat afraid of putting on that new bathing suit I bought - or rather, that my sister and my dad chose, made me try on, and THEN bought. Mom is currently running around right now like a headless chicken, nagging my sister and I when all we want right now is to relax, and I do have to admit, it's annoying the hell out of me. I'm really considering taking my mother's caffeine and tobacco sources hostage... I won't be able to post a single thing until I get back from the beach, so this place will be quite silent for a time. But I promise that when I get back, I will try to put up as much as I can about how I spent my four-nights-and-three-days in Boracay ^_^. Wind, sun, sand, and gloriously clean water ^_^... I am headed for Paradiso, people... Oh, and one more thing before I go: ~ Harle Dream is Real, and Real is Dream .. 3:00 PM [*] .. Sunday, December 21, 2003
"Come with me, I want to show you something." *blinks at Dad* "Eh?" *follows anyway* *Dad grins, and points to the shop window of a shop called Montage* "Look." *looks, and eyes become as wide as plates, while jaw drops open* "Oh. My. GOD!!!" *starts jumping up and down upon seeing the sculptures and busts of various characters from the LOTR movies* "COOOOOOOOOLLL!!!!" ~ conversation between me and my dad when he showed me the shop window of Montage From henceforth people, follow this simple equation: Me + excellent Spanish food + Powerbooks (the Barnes & Nobles of the Philippines) + a shop selling the busts and full-body sculptures of characters from the LOTR movies + a book featuring the weaponry from all three LOTR movies = ONE SQUEALING, HYPERACTIVE LITTLE GIRL. As a pre-Christmas thing, my aunt on my father's side decided to treat all of us out to some good Spanish food at Casa Armas, which reputedly makes some of the best lengua (ox tongue in gravy sauce, for the people who are unfamiliar with this dish) in the Metro. Aside from the lengua, we also ordered their specialty paella, callos and roast chicken (which I found a little bland). We also ordered a lot of appetizers like gambas al ajillo and calamares. Since the food looked good (and smelled good besides), I just couldn't help myself and had to eat. A LOT. Between me and my cousin Mikko (who's a very hearty eater - it shows in his plumpness), the two of us managed to decimate half the roast chicken, one third of the paella, several slices of lengua and more than our fair share of the appetizers, particularly the calamares and tapa. Before people panic and think I ate rice with all of that, I didn't. I knew that I was going to be eating a lot. Besides, there was paella, which is a rice dish, so I didn't order rice for myself anymore. After we had stuffed ourselves, Mom and I went over to Powerbooks. I took a peek at most of the books there, and was absolutely delighted to find several Sandman comics available, along with illustrated versions of Stardust and hardbound copies of The Dream Hunters. What tempted me the most out of these three was the illustrated version of Stardust. I read the unillustrated version, and while I found the story gorgeous, I always wondered what it would be like to read the illustrated one. Aside from the three mentioned above, I was also sorely tempted to buy the following: 1. An Atlas of Middle-Earth ~ features several full-color maps of various areas in Middle-Earth. Because I am a fan of Tolkien and for fic-writing purposes. 2. The first book of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series ~ because I have ALWAYS wanted to read it. 3. Fastfood Fiction ~ because flash fiction is the ONLY original fiction that I write as of late. I didn't get to buy any since Mom told me that we had to go soon, but then Dad came up and compensated for it by taking me to Montage and showing me the figurines there. Of course, I went bonkers, and started looking for a Gil-galad figurine. Turning nothing up, I started looking for a Nazgul figurine, but nothing there either. The closest I came to Gil-galad and the Witchking (both of whom are portrayed by Mark Ferguson in the movies) was the small bust of an Elf from the Last Alliance, and a bust of one of the Nazgul's horses. At the least, I came out of that store with a book entitled The Lord of the Rings: Weaponry and Warfare by Chris Smith with a foreword by Christopher Lee. Dad bought the book for me as a prize for hauling in good grades at the end of this term. More on the contents of the book some other time ^_~. Hehehe...my dad REALLY knows what his little girl likes... Currently suffering because one of the major water pipes was busted up, thus depriving the entire Paranaque area of water. Still, that isn't enough to dampen my spirits *grins while she leafs through her new book*. While I was typing this, Mac texted me, and we were texting each other left and right. This is the most interesting part of the text convo: After asking me where I lived... MAC: Wala, gusto ko sana kita yayain sa G4 tomorrow eh, have lunch or something... *smiley face* [Nothing, I just wanted to invite you to go to G4 (Glorietta 4) tomorrow, have lunch or something...] ME: Um...I'll see muna sa mom ko. Sino pa kasama kung ganon? [Um...I see first with my mom. Who else is coming, if that's the case?] MAC: No, ok lang. Block lang naman eh. And it's more like a date thingy. Okay lang. Wala ka rin namang pasok tomorrow eh. *smiley face* [No, it's okay. It's just the block. And it's more like a date thingy. It's okay. You don't have classes tomorrow anyway.] ME: You're asking me out on a date? MAC: Er...ammm...yeah... *utters high-pitched squeals of delight, then crosses her fingers in hopes that her mom will allow her to go* ~ Harle Dream is Real, and Real is Dream .. 10:05 PM [*] .. Saturday, December 20, 2003
"What's your grade?" *pauses, peeks at card, and then jumps into the air* YYYYYEEEEEEESSSSS!!! 3.5 BAY-BEH!!! OOOH-YEAH!!! I STAY IN THE PROGRAM!!!" ~ me talking to Mel yesterday during course card distribution It's going to be a great vacation for me and Mel. Doomsday, otherwise known as course card distribution for 2nd. Term 2003-2004, has come and gone, and we both managed to pull through. Mel was worried about her grade in Introduction to Economics, and I was worried about my grade in Introduction to Fiction. I needed to get at LEAST a 2.5 as an average of all my grades in my majors subjects to stay in the program. I wasn't so worried about my grades in Critics, Advanced Writing, and Spanish One, but I was DEFINITELY worried about my grade in Introductions to Fiction. I got only a flat 1.0 for my midterm in that subject, and I didn't think I'd be able to pull it up all the way to a 3.5. I would have been grateful to get a 2.0, hoping that the rest of my subjects would balance out the grade and help me scrape by with a 2.5 average, but I didn't have to worry about that in the end ^_^. Mel, on the other hand, needed to pass her Introduction to Economics subject because if she didn't, her parents would force her to pull out of the hockey team - something she just cannot allow to happen. Fortunately, she got a 1.5 in that subject - slightly above 1, which is passing by the skin of one's teeth. That's enough to allow her to stay on in the team ^_^. So three cheers for you honey ^_^! For those who don't understand the grading system, 4.0 is the highest, and 1.0 is the lowest passing grade in my school. 0.0 is, of course, failing. My grades so far include a 4.0, two 3.5's and one 3.0 for my majors subjects. I got another 4.0 for J.P. Rizal Studies, and a 1.5 for Philosophy of the Person. I have a good excuse for the 1.5: my prof sucked, preferred to let the students do all the reporting instead of actually teaching, and was gone almost half the time anyway. At any rate, I am one happy cat ^_^. I've got something new on the sidebar: what Mel calls her "Daily Two," but what I call...well, whatever. What I do is that I pull two cards from my Tarot deck, and take them as the "daily advice from the cosmos." It's pretty good, actually... With everything in place for me, I am very, very happy. In return for my good grades, my mom has promised me a shopping spree in my favorite store: Tower Records/Powerbooks in Glorietta, or even better, Music One and the adjoining Powerbooks in Greenbelt 3. Speaking of Greenbelt 3, we're going out to lunch there tomorrow. Someplace called Casa Alba. I heard about it from my professor in Spanish One, and he said that it serves some of the best Spanish cuisine in the Makati area - and that's saying something. This is depressing. Almost everyone I know online (with the exception of Blake, whom I know from outside the Net) has already seen ROTK. The thing doesn't show here until January because of the stupid Metro Manila Filmfest. This is annoying. VERY annoying. What's even more annoying is the fact that Mel has the extended version of TTT and she can't bring it out of her house. I'd have loved to go over to HER house just so I can watch it, but I can't because my parents won't allow me. Even if it is Christmas vacation already. First no ROTK, then no extended TTT. *grumbles* Guess I'll just have to content myself with Hero for now... I am in desperate need of a copy of Anito. I don't know where to get it though. According to Do'aho, it's sold out. Now THAT is annoying. ~ Harle Dream is Real, and Real is Dream .. 11:29 AM [*] .. Thursday, December 18, 2003
I need love The kind that makes you wanna live The kind that makes you wanna breathe The kind that makes you feel too much ~ quoted from the chorus of "I Need Love" by Laura Pausini I've changed theme songs. Again. I can't help it, really. I think I've had enough time to recover - sort of - from what happened with me and Mac, so I guess that means a change of theme songs. My new theme song is "I Need Love" by Laura Pausini: I'd cross the desert to be where you are All the things I do to be close to you A million miles wouldn't seem that far I'd go anywhere just to win your heart But wherever this leads There's something I need I need love The kind that makes you wanna live The kind that makes you wanna breath The kind that makes you feel too much And I need you To help me find a better way And I guess you never thought you'd hear me say I need love I need love And when I see you I just lose my mind You're the everything I thought I'd never find Must be an angel watching over me With a little luck we're gonna make you mine Cos I wanna believe (I wanna believe) In all we can be (all we can be) I need love The kind that makes you wanna live The kind that makes you wanna breath The kind that makes you feel too much And I need you To help me find a better way And I guess you never thought to hear me say And oh I will catch you when you fall Be the greatest love of all I promise to be If you give me what I need, I need I need love I need you The kind that makes you feel The one that makes you wanna live The one that makes you wanna breath And I need you To help me find the better way And I guess you never thought you'd hear me say I need love I need love I need love baby I need love I'd cross the desert I'd cross the desert to be where you are And I guess I do need that kind of love. Not that I've had any experience in that department, but it would be nice. Still, as of now there are no takers, so...*scuffs toe on the ground*. I doubt if there ARE any takers at all... ~ Harle Dream is Real, and Real is Dream .. 2:45 PM [*] .. Wednesday, December 17, 2003
"Where do you want me to put this?" "In the fridge, if you can." "There's too much in there. It won't fit." "Fine. Stash it in the pantry somewhere. We'll just chill it on Christmas Eve. Just make sure you don't shake it up too much." ~ conversation between me and my mom over a bottle of champagne purchased for Christmas Eve First, quizzies that I nabbed from the people on Anand's friends page on the LJ:  David Wenham should be the father of your baby. Sexy David is an Aussie dream come true, as will be your new arrival. Look forward to beautiful days down under, and maybe even vacations with the Crocodile Hunter family, the Irwins! Whose BABY from the Lord of the Rings cast should you have? brought to you by Quizilla *chokes and splutters* Mel...you remember that dream I was telling you about before...? Well take a look at that thing up there... And just for kicks...  Your match is Sam! The traditional hobbit. One who will dote upon you and give you everthing you could ever want. A home and many little hobbits to take care of! This wonderfull man will care for you untill the day you die, his devotion is for you and you only. What Hobbit are you destined to marry? brought to you by Quizilla Awww...*grins*... Still, I prefer my mate to be a little taller, if you know what I mean *looks at David with a look that's a cross between horror and interest* With Christmas only a few days away, my mom and I have been busy putting together the food and drinks that will be served on Christmas Eve. Here in the Philippines, people stay up very late on December 24 and on to four or five the following day, the 25th. Most of these people will have attended the last Mass of the Misas de Gallo, which are masses held VERY early in the morning starting on December 16. After the mass, they head home and have the Noche Buena, the Christmas feast. In my family, since we're not all Catholics (my sister and dad are Catholic, my mom and grandmother are Born-Again Christians, and I'm Wiccan - though the rest of the family doesn't know that), we opt not to go to the mass and just stay at home. At around ten or eleven in the evening, we drive over to my other grandmother's (the mother of my mom) condo unit and stay there with the other members of the mother's side of my family. New Year's, on the other hand, is reserved for the father's side of my family. But in preparation for the Noche Buena in my grandma's condo, we have to do our own fair share of cooking and preparing. Which is why yesterday, my mom came back with a whole mountain of groceries, including three bottles of champagne: one was for Christmas Eve, and the other was for New Year's Eve. Aside from that, she also bought large quantities of the following: 1. whipping cream and powdered sugar ~ for making the topping I use for my chocolate mousse - my personal contribution to the Noche Buena 2. baking ingredients and chocolate chips ~ for making the chocolate chip cookies that I will make - more for myself than for anyone else 3. lots of different kinds of cheese and plenty of butter ~ both for cooking and for serving at the table as appetizers 4. olive oil, tomato sauce, and herbs ~ for the extremely delicious spaghetti sauce my mom makes every Christmas 5. five spring chickens ~ two will be marinated in a special sauce on the 22nd, and left to marinate until Christmas Eve, when they will be baked in the oven with plenty of garlic, a dash of soy sauce and a drizzling of olive oil. The other three will be stuffed with garlic, onions, some ginger and a few sprigs of rosemary, drizzled with olive oil and then turbo-roasted. The drippings will be collected and served as is at the table as a sauce. 6. a couple kilos of beef ~ for my mom's Asian-style beef stew - the one that takes eight hours to cook right. 7. several large bangus [milkfish] bellies ~ these will be marinated in a mixture of soy sauce, vinegar, and garlic, and then stewed in the same marinade. 8. bottles of crab aligue [roe/fat] ~ heated in a pan with garlic, it makes a great pasta sauce, or even eaten with rice There are other things too that we didn't get yet because we could only buy them two days prior to the 24th, like: 1. crabs ranging from medium size to tiny crablets ~ the bigger crabs will be stewed in a lovely sauce my grandmother makes out of coconut milk and other good things, while the crablets will be breaded, deep-fried, and served with vinegar dip at the table. 2. tahong [mussels] ~ these are boiled for a while to open them, and then are topped with plenty of butter, cheese and garlic, and then are baked on the half shell. And there was also something that we could only buy on the 24th itself: 1. slabs of tuna steak ~ we cut these up and serve them as sashimi and sushi *eyes list of food* Just looking at all of that makes me hungry already... ~ Harle Dream is Real, and Real is Dream .. 9:20 AM [*] .. Tuesday, December 16, 2003
The tongue: fluent traveller tourist of the seven leagues and seven seas. Brief stopover in Sngapore, then off to Bombay. Where to from there, stockinged conquistador? The manroot points north, now east, now west. Asleep, it points south leaving a silver train of sweet plunder up the steep streets of Machu Picchu down the hanging gardens of Jerusalem. Sandpaper buds bristle with fresh anticipation. What imminent feast now rides the leeward wind? Season of the durian, night of the spices. Parting the seaweeds in the English Channel your hog nose sniffs out the perfumed ruby nestled in a mat of caviar, crown jewel of Egypt red as pomegranate, plump as the pearl of Celebes shining between the pink lips of the scallop shell. Thus, hanging by the thumbs and hair angled knees floating in Arabian air one foot in Manila, the other in Kashmir the carnival world turns and turns in love's merry-go-round straddled upon the rocking axis of the Rock of Gibraltar. ~ "Around the World" by Jaime An Lim, from the collection Eros Pinoy First, quizzes. This one I filched from Mai's LJ: Guys Like That You're CharmingYou're the girl most guys can't get out of their heads Even if they met you on a bad hair day :-) You just seem to "click" with everyone you meet So even if a guy forgets about you for a second... his friends haven't! What Do Guys Like About You? Take This Quiz :-) Find the Love of Your Life (and More Love Quizzes) at Your New Romance. *giggles* Oh, I wish, I wish... This one I nicked off Anand's LJ:  Your confusion. complete and utter bewilderment. what is going on?why?who?How? a few queswtions that plague your life maybe. DOn't worry to much. just try to stay calm and dont THINK to much about everything!! Which pure emotion are you? brought to you by Quizilla *shrugs* The World was born from Chaos, and even within Chaos there is Order. I am currently leafing through my photocopied copy (redundant Harle, VERY redundant) of Eros Pinoy, a collection of erotic poetry and art by the best the Philippines has to offer in those departments. My parents (well, my mom and grandmother, at least) are still quite conservative with regards to what I read, and when I brought home the book (I borrowed the original from a friend and then had the entire thing photocopied, breaking copyright laws along the way) my mom was on my throat in a flash. But I had one of the most wonderful and handiest excuses that comes with being a Lit Major: "It's required reading, Mom. I have to write a report on it." *cackles with glee* And Mom couldn't do a thing about it. Dad had no comment (he's the liberal one around here when it comes to reading material, doesn't really complain about what books I read), and Lola [grandma] couldn't so much as squeak. Ah, "required reading" is such a magical phrase... The book just goes to show that Filipino artists are not dry and frigid at all. Nope, they're simply repressed. In a country where the censors are still controlled by the Catholic Church (let's face it, people: the Philippines is still very much a theocracy and not the democracy we'd like to think it is), it's surprising that the book got through unscathed. Still, it was a very, very happy thing for repressed people like me, who need SOME form of outlet for when hormones run rampant - in an artistic and tasteful way, of course. And what can get more artistic than poetry? The nice thing about erotic poetry is that you have to bend your mind a little, stretch it, so that you can grasp the meaning of the poem. And when you do that, you encompass not just the sex, but the other little details that go beyond it. And sometimes, you have to look REAL hard to see why a poem is even erotic at all. Take "Dinner at the Hei Chin Rou" by Alice M. Sun-Cua, for example: Tonight in this dragon red restaurant our eyes meet over braised pork loins with shallots. Oblivious to the steam around us, we cup bowls of white rice and quietly dip wooden chopsticks into succulent flesh dripping with soy and sesame oil. As we work our way into soft sinews and tendons, burying our teeth into herbed crevices how we wish we could contain long absences in porcelain dishes like these. I raise a trembling cup of fragrant oolong to my lips, knowing very well that nights like these, liquid and silken, do not end. If I had read this outside of the collection, I really wouldn't see anything erotic about it, and it would have taken me quite a while to figure out that it was, indeed, erotica. As you can probably tell, the two poems I mentioned above are among my favorites. Another favorite is "Witch's Dance" by Marra Pl. Lanot: Nothing has happened yet But already you've watched The river in my eyes, Already your hands know The wind in my hair, Every slope and valley On my nape, down my back, Around my breasts The orb encircling my waist and hips As well as the smooth, pink Sand of my thighs Where sea waves froth. Already you know the ocean's Scent in my ears And margarita in my tongue. We are like children playing with fire With all the passion of curiosity, Two innocents in a witch's dance That never end *sighs* I wish I could write as well as these people can... But I'm not really a poet, more of a prose and essay writer... Still, that has never stopped me from admiring the poet's craft ^_~. ~ Harle Dream is Real, and Real is Dream .. 10:31 AM [*] .. Sunday, December 14, 2003
"Ack! Ugh! Urk! Wheeze!" ~ most frequent sounds squeezed out from me while walking through the Christmas bazaar at the World Trade Center This. Is. The last. Time. I am. Going. To. A. Bazaar. During. Christmas. Season. And I have just one thing to say about the whole thing: NEVER AGAIN! I've just gotten back from the Christmas bazaar at the World Trade Center, and I swear that I am NEVER going to set foot in a bazaar like that for the rest of my life unless it's a book bazaar or a bazaar for all things Pagan. Then again, if there were bazaars like that, I don't think there'd be as many people as there were at the bazaar today. With Christmas just a few weeks away (two, if I'm not mistaken...), everyone's rushing to go and make last-minute purchases of Christmas presents. Me, I'm more or less finished with my purchases - I only have to get the boys their Christmas gifts, but I intend to get them from Boracay while I'm there during the last few days of December. The only purchases I made at the bazaar were blouses: two racerback blouses - one white with a stylized lotus design on the front, and a black one with a gray dragon - and one black three-fourths blouse with a silver design on the front. There were, however, several things that I would have just LOVED to buy, but couldn't, like: A dagger with a wood-and-silver sheath and a cobra hilt ~ There was actually a booth at the bazaar that sold stuff like swords and daggers. I was taking a look at the daggers, hoping to get one as an athame. And I nearly bought one too - there was one that had a cobra around the hilt - but I balked at the price: 5,000 smackers just for the dagger. An actual short sword with a scimitar-style blade and a dragon hilt/handle ~ This one I found in the same booth where I spotted the dagger. It was mounted on a frame and hung on the wall. It had a scimitar-style blade - meaning that it was rather wide and curved - and the hilt was a Chinese dragon. Very beautiful, and, I believed, also quite heavy. Just looking at it made me wonder whether I could carry it or not. There was also an actual longsword there, with a brass hilt, but it didn't have the same appeal to me as the dragon-sword did. I didn't ask the price of the swords anymore - if the dagger was already 5,000, then the swords were probably twice or thrice that price. Bracelets made of semi-precious stones ~ I've been trying to find an amber-and-jet bracelet, as well as a pendant of clear quartz. I did find the clear quartz, but I didn't buy because it was too expensive. And while I didn't find the amber-and-jet bracelet that I wanted, there were others that were also very beautiful. But, like the pendant, they were too damn expensive. An actual quartz crystal sphere ~ While I'm not really into scrying, I would really want to try it, and wandered around taking a look at the crystal spheres that were on sale. I managed to find a lovely one that, while rather small, was very, very clear and felt comfortable in my hand. It was going for 250 from an original price of 480, and came with the stand, but I didn't want to risk buying it and have my dad (who was the one accompanying us at the time) asking me why did I buy a crystal ball. I kept a sharp eye out for pentagrams and dragon rings, and armbands, but came up with nothing. There was, however, this stall that was selling lovely Egyptian stuff, and I checked it out in the hopes of finding small statues of Isis and Osiris to put on my desk/altar, but found none. They were, however, selling lovely glass phials used for the smoking of...hashish, I think. Not sure what was smoked, exactly, but my sister did tell me that they were used for smoking some sort of illegal drug. I would have bought the phials if only for holding liquids during rituals, but then my dad would know what I was buying and he'd wonder if I was doing drugs or something. In short: there were things I wanted to buy but couldn't, and the things I did buy weren't all that high on my list of wants. Well, except maybe for the dragon blouse, but I have enough dragon blouses already and I dont' really need another one. To my dear sisters: unless one of you is with me, I am NEVER setting foot in a bazaar ever again! ~ Harle Dream is Real, and Real is Dream .. 6:06 PM [*] .. Saturday, December 13, 2003
"Sis, I'm sorry, but the part about us expecting a breakdown from you isn't quite...nice, coming from you. I'm sorry if I'm a bit sensitive these days, but I kinda don't like being thought of as someone who underestimates people's capabilities. Sorry, sis. I'm just not n the best of moods lately." ~ quoted from Mai's comment on my entry concerning the status with Mac Sorry for that undue comment, sis. I kind of thought you people were expecting me to break down, knowing just how attached I am to the man... On the other hand, thank you (and you too) for showing confidence in my ability to handle myself and the situation. Goddess only knows how little approval I get in THAT department... Anyway, this term has (unofficially) come to an end, even if I still have an oral exam in my Spanish One class next Tuesday, and even if I have to pick up my grades next Friday. Since it IS the Christmas vacation and I have a lot of time to myself before school starts again next year, I have made a list of things to do this Christmas vacation: Go to a spa and get a nice massage ~ Yep, midway through the term, as stress started to build up, I realized that when it was all over, nothing would be nicer than to have all that stress worked out of me while I lay down on a spa table and relaxed. I was going to ask my mom to see if she could arrange it for me (even if I had to pay for it myself from the savings I'd managed to accumulate from my allowance), and out of the blue she simply offered the deal to me. And she said she'd arrange for an appointment at the Suriya Spa, which is one of the best spas in the Makati area. I intend to have it done next Wednesday, so if anyone wants to speak to me on that day, check with me again because I might be in the spa when you call or text ^_~. Finish my current game on Neverwinter Nights ~ Currently, I am in the closing part of the second chapter, in the Arcane Tower, actually, and working my way up to the topmost level. I've been having a very good game, incidentally, and I can't wait to finally bring the whole thing to a close. And then I can contact Do'aho and ask if I can borrow his CD of the expansion for this game and see just how far I can REALLY go. Finish my games in several Playstation RPGs ~ I intend to wrap up my games in Legend of Legaia, Tales of Destiny 2, Grandia, and Suikoden 2. I am at various points in each game, though I think I am further along in Suikoden 2 than in the others. Start new games in several Playstation RPGs ~ I want to start decent games in FF Tactics, Lunar 2, and (if I can get my hands on my cousin's CD) Final Fantasy IV. I know, I might have complained about FF Tactics being so hard, but it's only because I'm unused to the gameplay. Strategy games were never really my cup of tea, as many of my cousins know, though they have noticed my uncanny knack for PC RPGs like Neverwinter Nights and Anito (the latter I played at a cousin's house after a trial run at school). They're annoyed that I can easily pick up on how to maneuver my way through these games, especially in games like Anito. Get myself a copy of Anito ~ I managed to go through the test run of this thing while they were doing the demo at school, and I did like it quite a bit. The learning curve was a touch steep, especially with regards to the controls and attacking. After all, I was bred on Neverwinter Nights, wherein you just click to hack at something. Still, the novelty of a Filipino-based PC RPG holds a lot of appeal for me, and the graphics weren't all that bad, either. Continue work on several fics ~ I know, I've been forced to neglect my fanfics, mostly for school reasons, but now that vacation's started I can get back to work ^_^. My current pet projects at the moment are War of Daenova and The Forgotten Lands of Arda. The latter is just being written down on paper, and I have no intentions of posting it yet. It's supposed to be a fic dedicated to April, one of my dearest friends from high school. War of Daenova, on the other hand, is making slow, painful progress, mostly because I'm stuck in Moria and don't really know how to proceed from there, especially considering what I have planned... Get a henna tattoo at Boracay ~ As most of the Pantheon knows, I am going to Boracay on December 26 - a few days after Christmas itself, and will be staying there until the 28th. In that span of time I will hopefully - HOPEFULLY - get a nice tan and a dragon tattoo on my back. I already have the design that I want, and will be printing it out to take with me to Boracay. I also plan to get the boys' belated Christmas pressies from there, too. *looks at plans* Wow, that's a lot. I hope I'll be able to accomplish most of them, at any rate... It's going to be a busy, busy vacation for me ^_~. ~ Harle Dream is Real, and Real is Dream .. 10:47 AM [*] .. Friday, December 12, 2003
"I'm sorry, but it's really complicated." ~ what Mac told me when I asked him what was going to happen to the two of us That's it. It's officially over. My hopes for Mac have finally been killed, because really, nothing's going to happen. He said so himself. I asked him yesterday what he planned to do about this...thing...that we had going on between the two of us, and he said that he just wasn't prepared for it. He mentioned something about fear, and something else, but that line up there was the one that really got to me. And now I know: nothing is going to happen. Some people expect a breakdown from me, but I won't. I cried enough tears during my birthday; there's nothing left for me to shed. Still doesn't stop it from hurting, though. But I can't force Mac to do anything against his will. If he thinks that we're better off like this, if he thinks that things are better off in limbo - no matter how uncomfortable it might be - then I guess I will have to abide by his decision. I did all I could. That will have to be enough. Sometimes, though, I can't help but wonder whether what we will have from henceforth WILL be enough. There will always be that niggling feeling - both on his part and on mine - that things could have been much better if we just let ourselves go. We'll both wonder if things could have been better in the long run if we just said the words and be done with it. After all, that's all I'm waiting for: the WORDS that will say everything is in its proper place, that god's in his heaven, and all's right in the world. But I guess that will never come to pass... ~ Harle Dream is Real, and Real is Dream .. 9:51 AM [*] .. Monday, December 08, 2003
"We all have our own lessons to learn. Sometimes we're afraid, and we avoid them. But that should not always be the case. If you take small steps at a time, going further and further into the fire at every venture, then you will one day dance amongst the flames as if dancing upon the cold swirls of clouds and mists." ~ quoted from Lord Abelard, one of my guardian dragons, during my initiation I FINALLY HAVE THE CELTIC TAROT DRAGON DECK!!!! And it certainly pleases the heck out of me, since I can now do Tarot readings again, as well as draw more completely on the powers of the dragons who have become a part of my life. A realization: lots of dragons have distinct personalities, and they don't always coincide with their color. I've given descriptions of them before, so I will only mention their names. Khayeseadae (Khaye, as I sometimes call her) has a somewhat serious mien that one does not expect in dragons her age. If anyone wants to know how old she is, I'm sorry but I can't tell you, since I haven't bothered to ask. I don't think I'm THAT close to them yet that I have the right to ask. Sek, on the other hand, has just reached his maturity but he still acts like a dragonet, as Khayeseadae derisively snorts. He's a fun-loving guy, with the tendency to play practical jokes. He says I'm lucky I can escape his pranks because he's too big to be let into the house, and has to stay outside in the open lot behind the house. This is from the convo I heard them having this morning, when Mel asked if Khaye would like to be included in her story Hover By. Mel needed to know personality traits, so I asked the two dragons to describe themselves. This is what I got: Khaye: Don't listen to Sekharion [Sek's full name], he's just a huge bag of hot air, and he doesn't even know how to breathe fire yet! He's an irresponsible oaf, that's what he is. Sek: Listen to yourself talk, Khayeseadae! I can't breathe fire yet, but when I learn, you're the first I'll torch! You're just an uptight pipsqueak! And...who said that dragons are dignified and proper? Of my three guardians, that description only applies to Lord Abelard. ~ Harle Dream is Real, and Real is Dream .. 11:13 AM [*] .. Saturday, December 06, 2003
"You look good." ~ most frequent comment when I dropped by my old high school today First, quizzes:
Quite true, quite true...  *snerks*  Right... 
I'm getting there. I don't suck, but I've got a ways to go. Mmm hmm... I found the Celtic Dragon Tarot deck that I've been wanting for Christmas. It was on the bottom shelf of the Powerbooks branch at Tower Records in Glorietta. I wanted to buy it right there and then, but since it cost a whopping Php 1929 (almost 1930), I certainly had to ask permission before I used my card for the purchace. I really, REALLY want it, but of course since I had to inform my mom that I wanted to buy it, she was a bit wary. But since I had enough money stashed away (most of which I got because I was starving myself at school...), she agreed to let me buy it. I currently have it under reserve, and should be able to get it by Dec. 9. I really, really, REALLY want that deck... *goes all Gollum for a moment* Mmmmmmmmy preeeeeeccccccciousssssssss.... I dropped by Sacred Heart again this afternoon with Mikko. It was Family Day today so I was allowed entrance to the grounds. *sighs* Things have changed a lot since I was last there, both for the better and for the worst. There are more buildings now, and the field has suddenly lost around half it's original area because of the expanded canteen. Which I think is a little unfair that I never had a shot at these new facilities *kicks a pebble despondently*... But what I recall the most are the "horror stories" that my sister tells me about this teacher there - the new adviser of third year section St. Angelo, a woman who goes by the name Ms. Cayosa (someone correct my spelling if I'm wrong). According to my sister, this hag (can't call her a bitch, since that's a compliment where I'm concerned, and can't call her witch, since that's a religious denomination) threatened a student with expulsion because of reading a book entitled Ang Paboritong Libro ni Hudas [Judas' Favorite Book] by Bob Ong. Now most people would assume that this a Satanist manifesto, but the thing is, it isn't. Bob Ong has gained fame for his books that compile his hilarious essays on the Filipino psyche, habits and customs, one of which is Ang Paboritong Libro ni Hudas. It's a very funny book, and very insightful. I have read it, my sister has read it, hell, even my PARENTS have read it, and we ALL know that there's nothing in it about Satanism (or even Wicca or witchcraft, for that matter...). But the hag had the temerity to confiscate the book, and asked the following questions: 1. Why is the cover of the book black? 2. Why is the title of the book not in the center of the cover? If I was the one who had to answer these questions, I would say this: "It's known as a marketing ploy, ma'am. Marketing ploys help people sell things. Why, have you never heard of a marketing ploy before? Do I have to define it for you? Or can't you tell the difference?" All of these questions HAVE NO RELEVANCE TO THE ISSUE AT HAND! And what made this whole thing worse is that the poor girl was threatened with EXPULSION of all things, simply because she was thought of possessing a SUPPOSEDLY Satanic document - which, in truth, it wasn't. The hag merely ASSUMED it was Satanic because of the title. Beat that. If this had happened to my sister - (un)fortunately, it didn't - I would have marched into school and demanded to see the teacher. Not only that, I would have demanded for her immediate resignation. First of all, threatening someone with expulsion for READING something is utterly idiotic. It's already bad enough that the literacy rate of the Philippines is quite low. We don't need people compounding the problem by expelling students who actually READ. Second, the hag hadn't even READ the book yet. Who was she to make assumptions about the contents of the book when she hadn't even READ the thing yet? That, I believe, is a very good display of idiocy. And third, a teacher has no right to threaten a student with expulsion, which is something only the principal and/or directress of the school can do. Threatening a student like that amounts to academic terrorism, if I may use the term, and people who do that have no right to teach. Teachers like that are better off kicked out. My sister shouldn't be forced to study under such people. My sister deserves an infinitely better education than the one she receives at the hands of that dunce. How the hell did she become a teacher in the first place? ~ Harle Dream is Real, and Real is Dream .. 7:29 PM [*] .. Friday, December 05, 2003
"Right now, I have an IQ of about four." ~ clipped from Neil Gaiman's Journal, entry dated Dec. 4, 2003 And I certainly agree with Mr. Gaiman on that. There are times when I feel my IQ has gone down to four...especially lately, what with the pre-finals crunch and all... I have added new links to my sidebar: Loryces, who lives in the States yet is a Pinoy. She wandered to my site from the TPTS (aka The Philippine Tolkien Society) website (am I right?) Aelaisha, whose site I should have added a LONG time ago, but was too busy to add. So sorry Lai *bows repeatedly in apology* Les-chan, whom I've known since I was in high school and whose site, like Lai's, should have been added to my sidebar a LONG time ago, but I've been too busy to add. Like to Lai, so sorry *bows repeatedly in apology*. And for the grand finale: Neil Gaiman's Journal. I discovered it through Lorcyes' sidebar, though Mai was talking about it before. I never had the chance to visit it except now, and I have added it to my list of places to visit when I have the chance. Seeing Neil Gaiman's online journal led to an interesting train of thought: the idea of authors rubbing virtual elbows with their readers. In my opinion, this is a very good thing for authors to do. It brings them closer to the readers, lets them understand "the pulse," so to speak, of those who buy and read their works. It allows authors to see who reads their works, and gives them a chance to get to know and understand why these readers love (or hate, depending on the case) their work so much. This availability of the author is good for readers too. It gives them a chance to understand how the author's mind works, how they tick. It makes them feel...privileged, I guess, that they have access to these people. This is especially true with people as famous as Neil Gaiman (whose works, by the way, have become the basis of many undergraduate theses in universities all over the Philippines) and J.K. Rowling (I don't know if anyone has tried to study her books as part of a thesis). However, Gaiman is more hip than Rowling, since he actually DOES allow people a glimpse into his life via his online journal. Rowling fans, on the other hand, can only speculate. Speaking of Gaiman, I have to say this about American Gods, which I am re-reading as a respite from The God of Small Things: B-R-I-L-L-I-A-N-T!!!! Researching for this book, especially the mythologies, must have been a chore, but he incorporates everything so seamlessly and wondrously that all I can do is sit back and let the tide overwhelm me. An interesting thing I noticed: there was mention of women who turned into white foxes somewhere towards the end of the novel. An echo of The Dream Hunters, perhaps? And I wonder...how about an illustrated version of American Gods, or even Stardust? I can already imagine the illustrations for the latter... ~ Harle Dream is Real, and Real is Dream .. 6:54 PM [*] ..
*stares mournfully at Arundhati Roy's "The God of Small Things" and Eric Gamalinda's "My Sad Republic"* "See what I have to suffer through? Everybody thinks that Lit majors have it easy, but whoever said that is probably hunched behind a computer or a desk counting money. And to think, Lit majors tend to be UNDERPAID for all the hard work they do... ~ me just a few moments ago As of this moment I am sitting in one of La Salle's computer labs, trying to type even if it hurts because of the cold air, which is already cold outside but is made even colder once it passes through the airconditioning system. During summer I would have been mighty thankful for the cold, but right now I sure as hell am NOT grateful for it. *places right hand momentarily under her thigh to thaw it, and then goes on with her typing* It is officially the pre-finals crunch week, and I have made absolutely NO headway at all with regards to my papers. I delayed reading Arundhati Roy's The God of Small Things again because the first time I read it I ended up being thoroughly depressed, and I didn't want a repeat of that. Then again, the last time I read The God of Small Things, I was only fifteen. When you're in high school, you tend to want to maintain that worldview wherein everything is perfect, fine and dandy. The God of Small Things is the type of book that trashes that completely, and when it happens, well... You want to stow the book away in the farthest corner of your bookshelf in the hopes that you never dig it up again. But only recently, I was forced to do so for a paper in my Introduction to Fiction subject. I delayed reading it for two reasons: 1. I was more worried about doing well in my Advanced Writing paper, which is about Eric Gamalinda's novel My Sad Republic 2. I really didn't want to start reading God of Small Things UNLESS I had an adequate supply of chocolate. Yes, J.K. Rowling had it right in PoA: chocolate DOES cure depression. I won't go into the scientific nitty-gritty of it, but even science has proven that already. God of Small Things is, admittedly, a book with beautiful language. You can read it out loud and it'll sound just as nice. But then again, when you DO read it, prepare for a downward slope with regards to emotions. You read it and it takes you lower and lower and lower. The ending is happy (though HOW that came about I won't say, since that'll be a spoiler), but it's not HAPPY enough to pull you from the slump you fell into while reading the book. On the other hand, if you're a woman with feminist leanings and read the book, you will feel a great sense of indignation at how women are treated there. And the worse thing about it is this: IT'S REALLY HAPPENING IN INDIA. The caste system is still implemented, believe it or not, and there is nothing that can REALLY be done about it because it is ingrained into the culture of India since time immemorial. I know that I cannot condemn these people for having that sort of thinking and for implementing it because it's a part of culture (and who can do ANYTHING about culture these days?), it still irks me that women can be treated in such a manner, even today when there is supposedly equality for all. The novel also deals with how people lose their identity because of colonization. And this isn't really all that surprising. It's happened not only in India but also in the Philippines. Filipinos no longer have a sense of identity and history because of the 333 years of Spanish Occupation, followed by several more years of American Occupation. I will not count the two or so years of Japanese Occupation during WW2 because they didn't stay long enough to REALLY leave their mark on the culture of the people. Where does that leave the Filipino people? Stuck with a mindset and way of thinking that isn't really their own, one that does not and quite possibly cannot work for their nation, and with such a short memory for history that they can never learn from their own mistakes. Which is why we currently have FPJ as a presidential candidate. After electing Erap, you'd think the people would have learned, but NOOO. *sighs* If Prof. Hila could see this, he'd probably think I sound very mcuh like an elitista. ...Maybe I do, because I do belong to the class, after all... Eric Gamalinda's My Sad Republic is an entirely different cup of tea from God of Small Things. First of all, it's not as depressing since it's got its own moments of humor. Then again, what I define as humor might not be so funny for other people. I've been told that Filipinos have a very sick sense of humor, since we can laugh at anything (even something as "serious" as a high-school dropout/actor run for president, which we have done already with Erap), and because we can turn anything into an innuendo. Some people might read My Sad Republic and not find it at all funny, but if we think about it humor is culture-bound, as are opinions on beauty and quality. The thing about My Sad Republic - indeed, of many Filipino novels - is that they have that quality of being like Jose Rizal's "double-whammy," as Vicente Groyon put it, entitled Noli Me Tangere (English title is Social Cancer) and El Filibusterismo (English title is The Filibuster). Because of this, a lot of Philippine novels end up with the "Noli/Fili flavor". Even My Sad Republic is not spared this. The couple of Isio and Asuncion echoes Ibarra and Maria Clara from the Noli, while the reasons behind Isio's revolt against Spanish and eventually American rule are just like those of Ibarra/Simoun in the Noli and the Fili. Still, I really like the novel. Written in the magic-realist vein (think Gabriel Garcia Marquez), I found it a lot easier to digest that Marquez' One Hundred Years of Solitude, maybe because Gamalinda used elements and references that are familiar to me, since they are a part of my culture and upbringing. The familiarity with the elements used in the novel made it a very easy read - at least in my opinion. However, there's a difference between "easy" and "hard" read and "light" and "heavy". When I mean that something was easy (or hard) to read, I refer to how quickly I can page through it, meaning how easily I was able to get used to the language used in the book. The quicker I can finish reading a book, the easier it was for me to read. When I say that a novel was a light or heavy read, I refer to the ideas that were presented in the book, and how much they preoccupied me long after I'd closed the book. In that aspect, My Sad Republic is easy to read, but the ideas presented make it a very heavy book (and I don't just mean because of its length). The whole idea of what makes a revolution a successful one, combined with the issues that can easily be tied in with feminism and politics... The moment I closed the book I SWEAR my head was spinning from so many ideas. And then I read the newspapers that day and, well... Let's just say that I was able to see so many parallels between the book and what's going on in the political world at the moment in this country. Pick the book up, when you have the chance. I swear it's fabulous. My fears regarding Mac - the ones I had during my birthday nigh six months ago - have been confirmed. It's never going to become officially "us." The boy's just too contented with what we have. He doesn't want to ruin it. Truth be told, I guess I can't really blame him. If he likes things the way they are, then I guess I have no right to change it. After all, I can't force my will on him - that's wrong. But I promise I won't sink in to the pit I did after my birthday. Been there, done that, and I refuse to do it again. I am happy where I am - for now. Still, that doesn't stop me from looking around now, does it? *starts scoping out other options in and around La Salle* ~ Harle Dream is Real, and Real is Dream .. 10:40 AM [*] .. |