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for August 2008.
A little over a month after I posted this, and after spending so much time looking at the store’s window at work longingly and looking at the prices of this online for the best promo I can find, I did some computations and projection of expenses and I finally gave in and bought this pretty, pretty thing:
Tadaaaa! Meet Ashley, the pink Canon Ixus 80IS that I will pay for with my blogging money. :D Note the future tense in that sentence, that is because I used Lizzie, the HSBC credit card, to pay for this first and I will pay for it in 0% interest plan for the next 12 months (or less, if I suddenly feel like paying for all of it all of a sudden). I know I could get it cheaper for cash, but for one thing I don’t feel like shelling out that much cash in one sitting, and I used my HSBC Mabuhay Miles card, so there’s miles in exchange for my use. Sayang ang miles! So, what I will use to pay for the bill for this one is my blogging money.
This is the first time I spent for myself like this. Sure, I paid for Aslan the MacBook, but this is the first time this bill is under my name, so it’s thrilling and stunning in a way. Thrilling that I actually “paid” for this with my own money and stunning because I’ve never swiped my card so much in one purchase (and don’t ask how much else I spent after that :P).
I’ve been using this camera a lot for the past week and suffice to say, I LOVE IT. I miss being able to take photos anytime I want, capturing moments and sharing the photos to my friends at the end of the day. I love playing with its effects and seeing how the photos would come out. I love how small and handy it is that I don’t have to worry about it as much as I would worry about Chimon, my brother’s 40D. Most of all, I love that it’s PINK. :D Pretty, pretty thing.
I named it Ashley, from the protagonist of Kristin Billerbeck’s Ashley Stockingdale novels. It’s the first girl gadget I have — all others are considered male. :D
Now you see why I seem to be blogging a lot lately, because I’ll be paying for this one. :P I hope my busy schedule next month could still give me time to blog, even if it’s just about book reviews, random stuff and a/c compressors. I must find time, yes?
Anyway, speaking of time, I’ve got to start working on the stuff I need to pass on Monday. Expect more photos to be uploaded in my Multiply and posted here, much thanks to Ashley. :D
Rating: 
Last year, Annabel was “the girl who has everything”—at least that’s the part she played in the television commercial for Kopf’s Department Store.This year, she’s the girl who has nothing: no best friend because mean-but-exciting Sophie dropped her, no peace at home since her older sister became anorexic, and no one to sit with at lunch. Until she meets Owen Armstrong. Tall, dark, and music-obsessed, Owen is a reformed bad boy with a commitment to truth-telling. With Owen’s help,maybe Annabel can face what happened the night she and Sophie stopped being friends.
I picked this book on a random book splurge. I think I wasn’t in a good mood then, so I browsed around National Bookstore and waited a bit before deciding to buy it. It seemed very interesting among all the YA books I saw in the bookstore, plus I remember seeing some of my friends recommending her books…and so I bought it. The last time I bought a YA book (I think it was Private by Kate Brian), I was really disappointed, so I hoped this one won’t disappoint.
And it didn’t.
Just Listen is about Annabel, a seemingly perfect girl on the outside who needs no treatments for acne, but a lot devastated on the inside. The novel talks about her family, her friendships and her growing relationship with Owen, the music lover who always says what’s on his mind. Annabel, on the other hand, prefers to keep things inside her, especially if she thinks it would disrupt the “peace” that other people have. It’s not about keeping a reputation, but just looking out for them in a way that she could and at a cost.
The novel is very realistic, and it deals a lot about eating disorders, complicated friends and being true to yourself. I loved how I can still relate to it even if I’m way above the YA age (or not :P), how I managed to see myself in Annabel as I read the novel. While reading Just Listen, you’ll find yourself rooting for Annabel (and Owen) and hoping that things become okay with her. The flashbacks were seamless, almost like you were really looking into Annabel’s mind as she recalls them all.
This is the kind of fiction I love. It kind of reminds me of those YA/Chicklit books written by Christian authors that I buy, but this one is more mainstream and doesn’t talk of God. However, the lessons that the story has is very valuable, and this is something teens should really read.
Two things I wish that would happen (spoiler alert): I wish to know how Clarke lost her allergies and I kind of wish there’s some kind of resolution for Annabel and Sophie, other than them not talking anymore. Or at least, some kind of encounter. But then I guess that part is left open to interpretation and possible spin offs. :)
If only there were more Dessen books available in Manila! I found one in BookSale, which I will hunt down soon, and then I’ll look for some during the Book Fair. :D If all else fails, I’ll ask my dad to get me her books. I’m definitely a fan. :D
Life’s interesting. And hard all at the same time.
After posting my blog entry last night and while getting ready for bed, my mom and I got to talk about some family issues that she has heard recently, which, when I heard, kind of frustrated me too since the situation is just so wrong. Well, okay, not that wrong, but you know, things could be better. My mom and I agreed with what should be the right thing to do, but at the same time it made me think — is it really the right thing to do?
One of the things I’ve learned to understand as I am growing up is that I must always face the consequences of my actions. It’s quite harsh at times and painful, but I realized that this is the only way to grow. Well, okay, maybe not the only way, but one of the best ways. I’ve learned (and still learning) that one way of maturing is to face whatever is the outcome of what will happen.
For example. A guy gets a girl pregnant and they haven’t finished school yet. They decide to have a baby and the parents agreed for them to live together, under the assumption that they’d be taking care of the kid and take more responsibility, such as getting a job and paying for their share so that their family would survive. Ideally, that’s what should happen, but what if the new parents do not do this and instead, continue to be what they were before they had the kid? Like, instead of helping out in the house, they just sit around and do nothing? What if instead of saving up for the kid, they keep on spending instead on other things that would not help but instead will just satisfy their personal needs (like Las Vegas travel, but that’s a bit expensive)? What if they don’t understand the gravity of what they are, especially with the kid in their midst?
I don’t know, but I find it very frustrating to see people like that, who fall into holes that they have dug for themselves and do nothing to get out of it. Especially when you try to help them but they don’t help themselves.
But then again…who am I to judge? I’m sure I’ve done that myself more than once (not that I’ve ever had a kid, but you know, digging my own hole and falling into it). And not only that — with all my sins and darkness in me, God could’ve just chosen to turn away, leave me where I am. But He didn’t.
That’s grace, I know. And I’m more than undeserving. But God didn’t exactly give me everything I wanted after that; He changed my way of thinking which in turn helped me get out of the hole.
But what if the person’s not willing to do that? What will you do? What will I do?
Ah such heavy thoughts on a Wednesday morning, and I’m not even sure I got them all out right. I just found myself thinking of what I will do in that situation, if I were to be asked for help. Should I help? Or should I exercise “tough love” and let them learn the lesson on their own?
What is tough love anyway?
Today was sort of an extremes day. I was extremely stressed at work (well, okay, not that stressed, but stress levels were high), and what was really annoying was I was stressed at the end of the day, the worst time to be stressed ever. Bah. I’d rather not elaborate on that, but I swear, I am looking forward to my leave on September, and I will not let anyone stop me (hello, flight’s booked and will be paid tomorrow, plus we found an awesome place to stay among all the hotel deals). De-stress! I need it!
On the upside, I had dinner with my family tonight (by family, it now includes my soon to be sister-in-law. Which reminds me, I haven’t blogged about my brother’s engagement heh), and because I was the one who asked for the dinner, I paid for it. After picking up Ashley (more to her in another post!), I treated my family to Pasto and we ate and talked (about ghosts, of all things!), then went to Dairy Queen to eat dessert and finally home. It’s my dad’s last week for his leave and he will be back to Saipan soon, so there’s some kind of separation anxiety going on (at least for me, and probably my mom).
Even if I splurged today (and believe me, I really splurged), and I’m still somehow stunned with all my expenses today (and in the coming weeks), I’m actually happy. :D Maybe it’s retail therapy talking and I’ll regret it soon, but I realized, after missing Sydney and all the other stress I’ve had for the past weeks, I deserve this. And because my Sydney trip was postponed, I also believe I deserve my upcoming trip, yes?
Please just help me not to lose focus on the other important things I need to focus on, not just my personal life. I must strike a balance.
Whew.
Tomorrow’s a looong day at work so I better call it a night (and did you notice how many parenthetical comments I have in this post? Major writing no-no, I know). Good night!
Rating: 
In her early thirties, Elizabeth Gilbert had everything a modern American woman was supposed to want — husband, country home, successful career — but instead of feeling happy and fulfilled, she felt consumed by panic and confusion. This wise and rapturous book is the story of how she left behind all these outward marks of success, and of what she found in their place. Following a divorce and a crushing depression, Gilbert set out to exmine three different aspects of her nature, set against the backdrop of three different cultures: pleasure in Italy, devotion in India and on the Indonesian island of Bali, a balance between worldly enjoyment and divine transcendence.
After almost a month of reading, I’m finally done with this one. To some that might be normal, but to me that’s kind of strange, because I’m a normally fast reader, and I really liked this book, which should have made me read even faster. But there were some distractions that stopped me — like work, and Breaking Dawn — which made me read this slower than usual. But really, I’m not complaining, as this book is probably one of the nicest, most feminine and most honest non-fiction book I’ve read among all that I own (coming very very close to Flashbang and Blue Like Jazz).
I’m not a big big reader of non-fiction, really, and the only ones I’ve read are usually by Christian authors. I picked this one up only because of what a friend posted in her blog, and I’m a sucker for quotable quotes/passages in books (hence, this post). Eat, Pray, Love was like a chicklit non-fiction. It was both light and deep at the same time, often very funny as the author makes fun of herself a lot, and a lot touching as Ms. Gilbert opens up her life and heart and thoughts during her year of traveling (and even going back to her childhood) to the reader.
In a way I think that even if she wrote from her own experience, there’s a general common thread in her experiences and realizations that run through all of us, especially for women. I honestly couldn’t relate to her experiences as being a divorced woman, but I can sort of relate with her feeling lost, feeling sad, needing peace badly, and even being broken hearted (in some sense, that is). Ms. Gilbert managed to touch on what I think are universal themes in a woman’s (and maybe even in a man’s) life.
Each section of the book is a gem in its own. I loved her food adventures in Italy (EAT) and it made me want to really enjoy my food (I even managed to make my own Eat Pray Love meal, haha) and visit Rome and all other places she visited just to see it. I especially loved her reflections and learnings while she was in India (PRAY). I don’t necessarily agree with everything she believed in and talked about in that particular part of her travel, but there were a lot of stuff there that I think are also what Christians need to learn. In fact, there was this part of the book where I learned something really important that helped me make my choice a few weeks back. As for her Bali (LOVE) adventure…it’s probably my least liked one mostly because I really couldn’t relate that much on the last parts, but I have to agree that I loved the people she met there, and it thrills me to know that they really are real people, as shown in the photos here (just look at Tutti!).
The book isn’t preachy, but instead it feels like Ms. Gilbert was actually talking to you and telling you all these stories over a cup of coffee (or a bowl of pasta ;) ). It’s a comforting read — not something that you’d lose sleep over, but definitely something you’d share (or recommend or even buy instead of medical id as a gift) to everyone you know. :)
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