New Blog

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http://mollystories.wordpress.com

The Book Buzz!

Lookie! A nifty site, check it out:

thebookbuzz.multiply.com

with a mirror at:

thebookbuzzz.blogspot.com

Kita-kits  

Christian Country Music

I didn't know this existed in OPM, but apparently it does, thanks to Romi Valle Right now I'm listening to his "Akology" album and I actually like it so far! Guitar work is beautiful. Have a listen:

"Mensahero" by Romi Valle

Book Nook

The latest on this blog would be the addition of a shelfari widget. I was very hesitant to join shelfari because I knew I would get (too) hooked to it, and I was right. Within signing up, I just had to scour the archives to add to my shelf. I love looking at books on a shelf, real or virtual! It's like coming home to a place with warm fuzzies. 

Rabbits and Molly

I'm thinking of getting rabbits. I had two white bunnies before, one of them had a broken foreleg and swam more than she jumped across our wood floor.

This time I want to let them lose on our lawn, the entire compound. Lots of grass. But the two bunnies before, we did the same thing to them every once in a while. Each time they managed to escape past us, past our guards, across the jeepney-infested street to get to the other compound and wind up with the neighbor's bunnies. Talk about "impossible is nothing" and "just do it" despite the setbacks, like, well, a limping leg.

But I'm also thinking that Molly might have them for a snack. So far, Molly has proven herself quite the hunter. She's brought home several birds, a cockroach and a rat on occasion. Rabbits would be easy for her. But when it comes to boiled fish in her bowl, the other cats always manage to get to it while she just sits and stares. Maybe she likes food that's more challenging.

Biyahe tayo!

Ang galing nito! Got this from Hannee Subukan niyo rin!

My Lakbayan grade is C+!

 How much of the Philippines have you visited? Find out at Lakbayan!

Created by Eugene Villar.

Rain and Laundry

So it's true. When it's that kind of cloudy like it's about to rain, and the whole day is like that, your laundry will most likely still be damp by the end of the day. I really thought that was some sort of myth, and that clothes left to dry will do their own thing when you're out of sight; you come back after a few hours and just like butterflies out of the cocoon they emerge dry.

The pleasure of discovery

Discovery #1: There is virtually no place among the thousand sari-sari stores at our local hub of commerce and activity where you can buy red cane vinegar — although I have proven that each one will carry a variety of Datu Puti suka packaging. If you need red cane vinegar, go straight to the hole-in-the-wall mini-grocery run by a Chinese family next to the biggest ukay-ukay stall. The bottles will be a bit dusty and some might even have a nibble or two on the label. You might want to watch out for that.

Discovery #2: We have an overwhelming number of drugstores along the street from my house to the main road. But only the big one at the end of the road will carry things like Orahex and Streptuss lozenges. Believe me.

Discovery #3: The store along the road next to ours, beside the small canteen that comes alive every lunch time with videoke songs rendered for our listening pleasure by a seeming group of regulars, has a wall full of pirated DVDs on display, but it does not sell DVDs. Janice, the proprietress, rents it out for P15 (new titles) and P10 (old titles) for two days. Finally! I mean, if you buy the DVD it will cost you P60 or so at Metrowalk, and that's a good price, but sometimes you don't need to own it, you just want to watch it. So I tried renting Fantastic Four (Rise of the Silver Surfer) and it was a clear DVD copy, no jumps or stalls. Janice is a genius!

Compulsion

I seem to have an almost compulsive need to keep checking for updates on AVG (my sweet and free anti-virus) and Ad-Aware (also sweet and free, my adware sweeper). Every time. Every single time.

I also can't seem to resist these little flash-based games. I blame it all on Diner Dash and Fish Tycoon. That's when it all started, and now I'm a different person. I download the free trials and play straight through the 1-hour freebie. I get the Big Fish games e-mail updates and the pictures never fail to enthrall me. I just have to click 'em. Grr.

But after several hours of Monopoly, Scrabble, Boggle, Alice Greenfingers, and all other tycoon games, I just think this has to stop. The clicking has to end!

Long time no post!

I haven't posted anything new in over a month - wow!

Well, as an update, let me just share that I'm now halfway through John Le Carre's "The Constant Gardener," and am also dipping into Alice Munro's collection of short stories, "Runaway" every now and then. On my mp4 player, there's a Focus on the Family radio theater rendition of "Les Miserables" and the usual audiobooks of Sherlock Holmes adventures thanks to one of my favorite links, Project Gutenberg.

My sister and I have finally finished the complete season of Friends, thanks to the friendly people at Metrowalk and the beauty of piracy  6 DVDs and 10 seasons later and many, many nights in front of the TV, it's mind-blowing to realize that no, Ross, Chandler, Joey, Phoebe, Monica, and Rachel are not our next door neighbors. Because by now it really does feel like they come over for dinner all the time!

Another thing: I'd like to have a bird feeder for all the mayas in the neighborhood. I think it will be fun. We used to have love birds, but ended up letting them go. It just seemed so wrong to have them caged. Ask Maya Angelou. 

Libreng Wi-Fi

Gusto ko lang i-share na libre ang wi-fi sa Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, Tomas Morato Yahoo!

Mabait din sila, nagpo-provide pa ng mga extension cords. May I just say na I take back 'yung sinabi ko earlier kay Ida na incompetent ang mga barista nila. Actually, now that I've spent some time here, nakita ko na less pretentious sila kesa sa mga Starbucks people. Mas gusto ko dito, actually. Lamig din ng aircon (at least dito sa first floor… sa second floor, di gumagana ang isang aircon so I don't know). I also like that their pipe-in music isn't too loud. I can play my own and still hear myself think.

Kalinga Coffee

I chanced upon a quaint coffee shop/stall in Tiendesitas, selling local coffee, charcoal roasted, from the mountains of Kalinga, Tagaytay, Benguet, and I forgot what others (there are four types in all). The proprietor knew what he was talking about (always a plus), and I saw stove-top coffee makers, french press coffee makers, as well as drip. Mukhang talagang alam nila ginagawa nila. They sold coffee by the bag, ground or beans. Kalinga coffee (Gold Mountain) was the strongest brew, and next to it was… something else. I didn't really pay any more attention. I was intent on the strong coffee, thinking to myself, this better be good. 

So I get a cup of coffee, P50 a cup, and whew. Masarap nga, and matapang. I think I got myself a bit of a buzz there. Please trust me. Haha Pramis, masarap. These coffee guys knew what they were doing. I like supporting local coffee, especially coffee people who love it not just because it's cool to sip it and be seen at a Starbucks. 

After an enjoyable conversation about coffee and coffee makers with the coffee people at the store, I bought a bag of Kalinga coffee, and when he asked me ground or beans, I said beans, and he looked almost disappointed, and I had to mumble some sad excuse about a broken grinder. 

Transformers

For the first time in a very long time, I saw a movie; and for the first time in an even longer time, I saw it alone! I saw Transformers in our friendly neighborhood SM.

Being a weekday, there was barely anybody in the theater, which was perfect for me. And being alone, it was the perfect time to choose the exact seat that I wanted - close enough to the screen to almost not see the edges. It's supposedly how you should really watch a movie — after all, if you wanted to see the entire thing in a box, then you're really just watching TV. So the best way to see a movie, according to my film introduction teacher (whom everybody feared but is actually a pretty nice person, and I like her, she's very good) is to settle on the row wherein your peripheral vision will practically not glimpse the edges of the silver screen anymore. Think of it as letting yourself be overwhelmed by the movie. Larger than life. Makes sense to me!

So I saw Transformers in just such a way, right smack in the middle of the 6th row. The robots were huge!

There's nothing much I can say about the movie except that it was a good escape from reality (except the whole Sector Seven bit, and especially the Sector Seven guy — very jarring in its uncoolness). I enjoyed it. It was very faithful to the cartoon, especially in the comedy feel.

Very Michael Bay-ish.  Sometimes you begin to think, if a director's movies all look and feel the same, is it because that's their style or they simply don't know another way to do it? 

Sore Throat

After a series of near-fevers, cough and colds, and battling out a dying voice thanks to a sore throat, I now sound like Inday Garutay. The only scratchy sound I have left to form words with is thanks in large part to Betadine and Bactidol gargles. I prefer Betadine; Bactidol burns my tongue and lessens the satisfaction of my coffee.

So drink your vitamin C!

Lil Boy

I had my friends over today for a girls' day, and one had her lil boy with her. Whew! Mahirap pala talaga magka-anak. I asked someone to be baby-sitter for the day, and it took a while before she was able to get through to the lil boy. He was a mommy's boy. But when he saw the playground and the little basketball court, he was taken in. No more mommy. Hehe  

Hindi ata kaya ng powers ko ang magka-anak! I hope I get into the groove someday, though. Not in the future, but, well, just someday  

OMF Lit

We swung by OMF Lit on the way to Market! Market! yesterday. I didn't think I'd actually buy anything since I'm not a big fan of non-fiction. But I got about two dozen Hiyas children's books at P20 each, thanks to a sale. I like the books by Dr. Luis Gatmaitan, he makes anatomy interesting and so everyday. He explains normal mysteries such as your mother being pregnant with your baby brother, or what happens when your eye gets red, or what's all this sneezing all about, or what goes on when you get a wound. Things like that.

I'm very proud of pinoy children's literature, both the writing and the art. I think we're simply world-class.

I've never liked Dr. Seuss and even as an adult, I don't see why I should. The only books for kids from the first world that I like are "Hope for the Flowers" and "The Giving Tree." 

Airframe

Just finished Airframe by Michael Crichton. Stayed up till the wee hours of the morning just to finish it. Crichton hooked me towards the end. He isn't a best-seller for nothing!

At first I thought I was going through information overload, as chapter by chapter explained airplane manufacturing details and airport procedures. Then midway through, I realized I had absorbed everything and was able to convince myself that I was reasonably an expert in the issues raised by the confounded characters in the novel. By the end of it, I couldn't put it down.

And that's why I bought Michael Crichton at Book Sale for P70.

Accomplishment Report

I've been sitting in front of the computer for about two hours now, and I just thought it would be nice to take stock on how much I've accomplished so far… which is nothing at all.

Grr.

Remember how i posted previously about loving the freelance life? Sometimes, like this moment, I take it back. Sa totoo lang, my lack of self-discipline and disregard for deadlines is becoming notorious. I wish I could say my work is always worth the wait, but it might take some time to get there. And come to think of it, nothing is really worth the wait past the deadline. What it is is unusable and ultimately wasted effort

Nokia 3210

Can you believe that this cell phone is still alive and out in the market? This was my first digital cell phone, long gone of course, and now we were able to get the same model in this day and age at Greenhills. (We got the typical grey, unlike this bright happy green one over here.)

The sweetest part of the deal was, aside from all the nostalgic warm fuzzies,  that it only cost P700! It's assembled locally, but it's new, with the chips and all purchased abroad, so they say. They call it "brand new re-con," or reconditioned I think. It's a contradiction in terms, I know. But it all looks safe, not as Nokia Finland safe as you would like, of course. But it has a 2-month warranty and a receipt, a box (that appears fresh out of the heart of Quiapo) and a charger, and it looks like a new-born baby Nokia 3210 the day they came out when we were in high school Ang saya!

Books, books, books

Again, I bought new second-hand books. I dropped by Books for Less and just had to — they had some hardbound books on sale at 2 for P100. So I got Nicholas Evans' The Loop and a short story anthology of 19 murder mysteries set in the arena of sports, edited by Isaac Asimov (with two other people I don't know). 

Before that, I was at Booksale and dug up yet another Mary Higgins Clark, The Cradle will Fall for P35. I've just finished her On the Street Where You Live which I bought at the same store for P90, I think. And then I also got The Constant Gardener by John Le Carre for P95 — I've always wanted to read this book since I started the first few chapters of it at the Esplanade library. I also saw the movie starring Ralph Fiennes — astig na pelikula! Or should I say story?

I really don't have the time to read all of them right now, but it's a big comfort to know that the rainy season is coming, and I'll soon be able to curl up in the midst of a thunderstorm and read the entire afternoon.