Favorite Places

(Not in order)

1. The Farm (San Benito, Batangas)- very serene ambiance. I’ll trade it for any Sonya’s garden in the world. They don’t have cable TV in their room (which I thought at first really sucked but after the trip, I really thought the TV will ruin the relaxed mood of the place), they have limited cell sites (no cell phones!) but they have a library with REAL books that the guests can borrow. Plus the place was really quiet in a beautiful way! Very Zen. You can choose to have a pampering massage under the sky…with candles lit. Very romantic if you will go with your partner. It was hard to locate, though. But the trip was worth it. Perfect getaway!

2. Divisoria (Manila). The haven for shopaholics. Perfect therapy! Haggling is sooo allowed! You can go with just P300 in your pocket and you can surely go home with so much goodies in your (plastic) bag!

3. Window of the World (Shenzhen, China). I was really dismayed when the tour guide said that the Window of the World “tour” included in our tour package only includes a picture taking at the ticket booth! That simply wouldn’t do. So the next day, a few hours before our flight back to Manila, we called our tour guide and asked her to buy us tickets so we could get inside the park. Surprised (many tourist were just content with the picture taking) but happy (commission!), she even accompanied us and looked after our bags! We were not disappointed. Inside were miniature replicas of historical and famous places around the globe such as Eiffel Tower, Pyramids of Giza, Leaning Tower of Pisa, Taj Mahal, and more! It was like going around the world in one day. If I wasn’t looking so bloated in our pictures, I would have posted some of our photos. Ha.Ha. Anyway, enjoy their pictures!

4. Gadong Night Market (Brunei). I was BORED in Brunei but surprisingly, Brunei is the place that I miss most. I like the simplicity of life there. Anyway, Gadong Night Market was fun! Food tripping there is so much fun! Although few shops sold clothes and bags, etc, it was fun getting busily acquianted with all the weird food they sold there.  There was a lot of kebabs, ABC, smoked squid and smoke! It’s true, the place was foggy and smoky. Which is good. Kinda like Divisoria. Plus, when I get too suffocated, I can always run to The Mall (same as Ayala malls in prestige but same as Ever Gotesco Grand Central in size) which is only a few meters away from the Night Market.

5. Mushroom Burger House (Tagaytay). Although there is a Mushroom Burger House in West Ave., I don’t really understand why I don’t enjoy eating burgers there as much as I enjoy eating in Tagaytay. Probably the ambiance. Anyway, whenever we would go to Tagaytay, Mushroom Burger house is definitely a pitstop! Not only are the burgers drool-material but they come cheap, too! Love that place!

6. Marcos Island (Hundred Island, Alaminos, Pangasinan). Mixture of awe and dread. The sand is fine and white, the shore isn’t too long, the crowd isn’t too big (about 3 more other fisherman), plus there’s a small hill that you can climb too if you feel like stretching those muscles a bit. On top, you’ll see a dark cave where bats live (eerie). Our tour guide asked us to if we want to go snorkling. He’ll charge us free. He offered to even take us “down there”, he was the expert…accroding to him. Down there? Thanks but no thanks! I’d rather not know what lurks underneathe!

7. Punta Baluarte (Calatagan, Batangas). They said they closed it down now. Too bad because I really liked their rooms. Modern yet far from being urban. Sad

8. “Books for Sale” (University of the Philippines, Diliman). Funny because the store has no name. It only has a dilapidated signage near the Shopping Center that says “Book for Sale” and an arrow pointing to this quaint little shop. Why I like it is because I always find bestselling books there at a price so cheap I always end up buying more than I planned! I found 3 of Fulghum’s books there (I’ve searched Book Sale, Powerbooks, NBS, etc and I’ve never seen a single copy of  his Uh-Oh and It Was On Fire…). I can get lost in that 30sq. m shop!

9. Intramuros (Manila). I’m a sucker for anything ancient so aside from museums, good ‘ol Intramuros is perfect! My college classmates and I would used to go down the barracks (where the sign clearly says NO ENTRY) and hide from the Guardia Civil. We tried not to get caught but it was hard with all the giggling and scrambling we made. Anyway, being in Intramuros is like being transported back to Maria Clara era. Noise pollution as an added attraction! 

10. NAIA Arrival (Pasay City). Need I say more?

 

Stop Them

Christmas is definitely in the air. Literally. I had the guts to wear a halter top to school today. I didn’t know it would become so cold later in the afternoon. Brrr! I bumped with a friend in school..like me, she had the perfect sense to wear sleeveless top. Almost everyone were wearing jackets or at least sleeved top while the two of us were shivering. But we pretended that we didn’t mind the cold..haha. So much for fashion sense.

Anyway, I came across a website featuring the following excerpts from books intended for readers twelve and under:

The Pretty Little Bunny”

Melissa, the pretty little bunny, woke up one morning in May and said, “I think I’ll hop-hop-hop over to the carrot patch. I’m so pretty that all of the carrots will jump right out of the ground to see me.”

“You are very pretty,” said Melissa’s Bunny Mommy. “But your sister is pretty, too, and she doesn’t spend all of her time looking at herself in the mirror.”

“But is she as pretty as me?” asked Melissa. “Just look at my vagina.”

“The Lonely Little Moonbeam”

The lonely little moonbeam would sleep all day, and then wake up and shine all night long, to guide people on their way. But he was lonely, because people never looked up and smiled at him. They were too busy performing fellatio.

“Cornelius Thimbletuck and the Wizard of Trewe

”Every night, Cornelius would pray that his parents would rescue him from the Smudgebury Orphanatorium, and every morning he’d awaken on his hard, wooden cot. And so before eating his meagre ration of watery gruel he would masturbate until his palm bled.

There’s more stories in this website but I didn’t need all that much to point out what I have to say. One doesn’t need a PhD to know that such language is inappropriate to readers twelve and below! Granting that I haven’t read the whole story and does not know the main idea the writers were driving at, I cannot comprehend why the writers felt the need to educate children about sex at that age??? Goodman, Fries and Chall will be horrified to read such language in children’s books!

When I was a kid, I wear fluffy, itchy dresses. I play hide n’ seek. I eat candies. I wanted barbies. Hey, I was a kid! But now, kids wear halter tops, hanging shirts and micro mini skirts. They play grown-up games like that Sims computer games. They go to starbucks. They want cellphones and ipod!! They’re like adults trapped in kids’ body!

And we wonder why so many children are abused? I would see Goin’ Bulilit on TV and get sad why these kids want to grow up so fast. Why do parents dress their little babies as if they are 16-year old teens? Of course, they’re just babies. They look cute in micro minis. But the bad guys don’t see them that way. Some twelve year old boys see malice in 5-year old girls. Especially when that twelve year-old boys read “The Lonely Little Moonbeam” or even watch Marimar on TV.  

I don’t know. I think of myself as somebody liberated. But I see kids as kids. Their job is to giggle and snort and get cute. They’re suppose to play, get terrible and become muddy. Save the sex-talk to the teens. Leave the belly dancing to the Sexbomb. Let’s teach them to dance Mulberry Bush and sing If You’re Happy.  

They’re just kids! My goodness!

Today’s sing along song: Row, row, row your boat 

Working my Way Through Hints

My guy had given me a lot of books in the course of years that we’ve been together. First book he gave me was a disaster It’s still in my shelf though for sentimental reasons. And no I haven’t read it yet. The second one wasn’t so bad. But I really find reading it so hard. That was the 1000-page Ayn Rand’s book I mentioned before.

Not that my guy doesn’t know what to give me. He knows I like to read. But he didn’t know what kind of books I like reading.

But he’s learning now. Most of my favorite books came from him.

 

Well, I have to admit that I give hints whenever we go to bookstores so he’ll have an idea Sweet.

Today’s sing along song: I Love ‘Em All by Shannon Brown

Latest Read

I guess, as a peace offering, J told me to go buy myself a new book–Life Change by Chip Ingram. Even offered to charged it to his account Now, that’s some offer I wouldn’t resist. So, yesterday, I went aisle after aisle of every bookstore available in SM City to look for the Ingram book. And finally, I ended up with this:

                                 

Yup, you’re seeing it right. It isn’t the Ingram book. It’s a non-fiction book by L. Strobel “The Case for Christ: A Journalist’s Personal Investigation of the Evidence of Jesus”.

I saw this book a few years ago when it was still sold hardbound. And knowing how costly hardbound books cost, I can only look at this book longingly from a distance. So, when I saw it was up for sale yesterday, I knew I just have to buy it. Ingram or no Ingram, this book has to go to the cash register.. :-)  

Probably half the Christian population has already read this, but I don’t care. This is one of the most powerful book I’ve read so far. And to think I haven’t read the whole thing yet.

Maybe I’ll come up with a short review of this book one of these days. If you would wanna know, check Musings on Meanings page from time to time.

Ciao!

Today’s sing along song: Red Letters by DC Talk

Confession of An Undercover Addict

     This is just between you and me. I hope you can keep a secret. Next to my closet, in that teeny weeny space beside it, is a pile of Mills&Boons paperbacks…SSSHHH!!! Not so loud!

     Lately, at around 12mn, I can’t resist the urge to get hold of one of them although I’ve already read most of them for like a hundred times. Well, just to set some records straight, I DO have some serious books in my shelf. Like Harper Lee, Fowlers, Fulghum, Sionil Jose, etc. etc. I even have that 1000-plus-pages-Atlas by Ayn Rand (which, by the way, I’m still struggling to read up to now). And I enjoy reading books like this.

     BUT, I don’t know. It’s different when I’m reading those cheesy novels. Its like I become a different person with a different story haha.  Whenever I’m, stressed and burnt out from work, all I have to do is read a few pages and I would feel like I’ve taken a vacation in Grand Caymans (ok….exaggeration).

     Last Saturday, I submitted the draft for my research proposal, which I’ve written for weeks. I also handed over to my prof a paper critique and a write-up for communication disorders. To say the least, the weeks prior last Saturday was one hell of a ride. It was like giving birth. (or so I was told since I’ve never given birth yet although I swear it felt like I was in labor!)

     Anyway, as some sort of celebration, I went to the mall. First stop, a bookshop. My intention? To buy another M&B paperback (the last one I bought was like 3 years ago..I know I don’t need to mention that but I WANT to mention it…OK???). And funny coz I can’t get myself to browse through M&B shelves. Some people were giving me The Look. Like I’m a nitwit or something. As if they would never read such a thing. Like what I was holding was porn material.

     So, as a final act of the sissy me…I ended up buying a paperback that definitely is not M&B but the the story is absolutely M&B-like..hehe. But it was a laugh really. About a jilted bride who’d gone bonkers and went ahead with the lavish wedding without a groom.

     When J found out what I was reading, I can tell he was a bit worried. The other day I told him about a dream that I had. Me preggy with other man’s baby and him finding out a day before our wedding. And now this…a jilted bride.

   So what’s the point of all these? None. The lady’s cracking up..

Today’s sing along song: Instant Pleasure by Rufus Wainwright