* I missed Scrapbook Saturday. I’ll make it up next week.
* I spent 14 hours at work last night. There was a time when Overtime was the norm for me, averaging 12 hours. But it hasn’t been that way in a long time. Today was not bad though, I stayed just because I wanted too and not necessarily because I had work to do.
* I just finished New Moon and I actually loved it better then Twilight. Haha. I read it in less than eight hours. I’ve a feeling I’ll post about this again one of these days. 😉
* Can’t get over the amount of tax I am paying this government, much less the gross tax payments coming from this household. Sheesh.
* I noticed how big my tummy is. I am fat, not pregnant. But sometimes it’s nice to think about having my own baby and shopping for baby clothes and all the things they need. Years ago, I’d walk in to the department store and the Infant section just beckoned to me. I would walk around, first checking the toys, then the bottles. Next to the teeny tiny clothes that I enjoyed looking through, my next favorite baby items have got to be the beddings, and the strollers. It’s always cute to look at toddlers in their strollers – at the mall, or out on their daily walks. Or infants snug and so comfortably laying there wherever their parents took them. Ahhh…. Wait, I used to browse through infant sections a lot because there was always a baby in the extended family. Just saying. 🙂
* This was a good week at work. Hopefully next week is just as good. Could it be because I’ve actually been sleeping better at home? Maybe.
I have joined yet another of Dette’s clubs – the Online Book and Movie Club or BAM. If you enjoy reading books or watching movies, then you will most probably enjoy being part of this group 🙂
Here’s my belated first ever BAM post and yes, I am posting on a Saturday early morning rather than Friday. But, you don’t mind do you? 😉
First off, I had a friend asking me about James Frey’s first novel that I may have mentioned in my previous post. The novel’s title is A Million Little Pieces and it’s James’ retelling of his experience recovering from his addictions in a drug treatment center. But it isn’t just about drug treatment really, it’s about so much more. It’s a brutal story and well embellished, but worth the read.
Now, on to the book I’ve been wanting to tell you guys about since last week:
Maeve Binchy’s Circle of Friends. I’ve got a very old and worn copy of the book that has Chris O’Donnell and Minnie Driver on the cover. I didn’t see the movie version but I am definitely going to hunt it down one of these days.
This has only been my second Maeve Binchy title, the first being Tara Road, but I’ve decided that I like her as an author. I think I’ll fit in in 1950s/60s Ireland. 😀
I brought this book with me to Bohol thinking that this may be the first book I’ll be giving away or reselling on my blog – but because I liked it so much, I don’t think I’d actually be parting with it anytime soon.
I liked it so much that I was compelled to relay the story to Alfred. I gave him updates as the story progressed. I enjoyed that too.
The story revolves around the friendship and coming of age of two girls Eve and Benny, and the circle of friends that they have built to surround and support them. For years it was just the two of them, until all of a sudden, an accident throws them together with a merry mix of other young people from Dublin.
Oh I remember too my first day at University, even if it wasn’t as eventful as theirs was… 🙂
In a way I related to Benny, being a big girl (though I am plump, and she seems to just be big), and having a family that was always there for her. No, my parents were never too strict and didn’t baby me as a teenage girl. Neither am I an only child. Still, I kinda identified with Benny.
I’ve always thought that I could get any boy/man I like. Growing up, I’ve had my fair share of admirers. But because I gained weight as I grew older, I guess I started thinking that pretty boys won’t look at me and think that they want me. I was resigned to the fact that the only way I could get Mr Popularity was if he really got to know me. I knew I was sexy, but they had to see beyond my body. I don’t resent the Nan Mahons of the world, because I always believed that the Benny Hogans and the Eve Malones could achieve anything they wanted – including getting the men of their dreams. Haha.
Though I grew up in a city, living within the St. Andrew’s Seminary Compound is somehow like growing up in a small town like Knockglen where Benny and Eve were born and raised. I wouldn’t mind going home to Knockglen on weekends and holidays.
So what did Circle of Friends speak of to me?
Women and the different ways we behave.
Friendship, loyalty and betrayal. Family. Relationships, and what really matters.
It’s about dreaming and what people do to make them happen. Embracing change while still staying true to one’s nature.
It’s about growing up. Finding strength within. And conquering the odds.
For this edition of my Thursday Thirteen, I list the books on my current to-read pile.
to-read pile!
There are plenty of other books in the house that I haven’t read and would love to read too. It just so happens that I bought the ones on this pile myself – mostly second-hand.
New Moon – Book 2 of the Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer. I just finished reading Twilight for the second time and I’ll probably start this one in a day or two. I gotta post about the recent two books I finished reading before I start another though.
Eclipse – Book 3 of the Twilight Saga. Okay, it’s obvious that I already own all four books in the series. I figured I’d buy them at once while Fully Booked at Gateway still had paperback stocks. I actually had to reserve these via email. The first three books were picked up for me by my friend Vanette, while Breaking Dawn in paperback was restocked only last weekend. The CS peeps over at Fully Booked were kind enough to inform me that it was already available so I picked it up on Monday.
Breaking Dawn – Book 4. Alfred is interested in reading the saga and I am encouraging him because it is rare that he shows interests in books. I’m not sure how he’d react to the cheesy stuff though.
My Friend Leonard – James Frey. I had read A Million Little Pieces and was moved, sometimes disturbed, by the story. I don’t care if he embellished and if it wasn’t 100% truthful, he had very powerful words and he painted pictures that people should see. I am looking forward to this one, and I am assuming it will revolve around the same Leonard that was part of the first book. While I was at the bookstore, I found out about a third novel that Frey wrote. If I still like this one, I’d most probably be getting that too.
Lirael – by Garth Nix. Book 2 of the Abhorsen series. It’s been years since I read the first of the trilogy: Sabriel. It’s a Young Adult Fantasy and I love it! The main character in the first book is a young girl. Lirael will continue on with what had happened after the events in the first book took place. I’m hoping I can dig out the first book so I could jog my memory a bit before I start on Lirael.
Les Miserables – Victor Hugo. I’ve seen the concert, loved the songs and even sang them, but I’ve never read the book. I must admit it’s thickness is quite intimidating, but I think I can handle it 🙂
Homer’s The Iliad and The Odyssey. You gotta take one when you take the other right? Haha. I wonder if I’ll understand much of what is written in these two books?
Anna Karenin by Leo Tolstoy.
PS I Love You by Cecilia Ahern – Loved the movie, I’m sure I will love the book even more.
The Nanny Diaries by Emma Mclaughlin, Nicola Kraus. Here’s another title whose movie adaptation I enjoyed watching.
The Year of Pleasures by Elizabeth Berg – I had read two or three of her novels before and I truly enjoyed them. So full of heart. I’ve already forgotten what this one is about, but I’m sure I will like it.
The Undomestic Goddess by Sophie Kinsella – I have missed her writing and woulld love to just sitback and enjoy some light reading again 🙂
The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger – Can you believe that I didn’t see the movie? I’ll read this, and then watch.
There are at least two more titles upstairs that should be on this pile, including Scottoline’s Daddy’s Girl. I’d love to skip work and just spend entire days reading and then blogging about them (and maybe even giving them away if I could figure out the logistics for that). Then I’d have visits to the bookshops to look forward to again. I really love walking into bookshops and letting titles draw me in. I have not tried book shopping online because I know I’d be addicted. Maybe it’s a blessing that Amazon books don’t deliver to the Philippines. 😉
Checkout my previous TT’s here and here. Also don’t forget to sign Mr Linky, and leave a comment so I can go visit you too.
Be sure to read parts one and two of our Bohol vacation before proceeding to read this post 😉
Seventh Stop: The Loboc River Cruise
I have been on this cruise twice before but there were some new things on this visit.
1 – The Tourism Complex is new and was constructed, if I remember hearing from Janny correctly, two years ago. The rafts dock on the opposite side of the river and it looks better now too. There are also souvenir shops in the complex, and a children’s center. I didn’t get to see what was in the children’s center/hall though.
2 – We noticed flood lights and lampposts lining the length of the river. Those were definitely not there four years ago. Apparently, there are cruises at night too. Next time I’d love to check that out. It must be beautiful.
3 – There are at least two rafts along the river where locals sing and dance for tourists. They don’t ask for a fee but they do welcome donations. There are a lot of women there, ranging from highschool girls to mothers and even gradmothers. There are some men too. One of the rafts I think showcase the women playing banduria. Those seem to be fundraising projects by their barangays (local government unit).
The river cruise and all-you-can-eat lunch costs 300 pesos per person. I particularly liked the steamed fish that they served. A musician goes on board too, his repertoire includes folk songs, oldies and pop. Towards the end of the cruise, on the way back, a hat would be passed around for the singer.
The water, the color of chocolate during our visit, is normally of a lovely blue green color. It rained hard the night before and it stirred the mud at the bottom of the river, turning it to this color. It was still lovely nonetheless.
The wind blew ever so lightly that day and it was soothing, and calming too.
The photo above is a view of the Loboc Church, the second oldest in the island, from across the dock. The photo next to it is of the same church. Notice the bridge this time? This unfinished bridge has been a fixture in Loboc for some time already. It was a government project foolishly executed because the bridge was constructed where it would hit the church itself. The people refused to have this part of the church taken down to make way for this bridge. It is said that it was constructed as a ruse to have the front of the church excavated to look for the hidden treasure said to be there.
Today there is a much smaller bridge a few meters away that serves the purpose that this big one was supposedly intended for.
There’s a museum in the church but we didn’t visit anymore. We did go inside the church to pray a bit though. Since this is the hometown of the famed Loboc Children’s Choir, I wanted to check if I could get their CD here, but I didn’t get to do that. The Choir performed for us during the conference we had in Tagbilaran four years ago. They were very good.
Here are other shots of the cruise:
The last two photos were of the rafts I mentioned earlier. There’s two of them but we only stopped for this one. There was a boy from our cruise who went down and happily danced with the performers. My camera phone wasn’t powerful enough to capture his happy dance though. Here’s another boy who was generous with his donation, he actually came back to give more:
Oops, I am going to be late for work. Sorry to cut this short. I hope you enjoyed the cruise with us!
Wow. Since coming back from Bohol, I have not spent as much time on the computer lately, as I used too.
Pre-Bohol, my days off work were alternately spent between sleeping and all things related to my blogging. This weekend, I have been sleeping, yes, but I haven’t been on the computer much.
Kids.
Whenever I get the chance, I take a nephew or a niece (or two, or more) with me, or tell stories about them to anyone who would care to listen. It is not at all surprising that the whole extended family is interested in what happens with each child – be it at school or elsewhere.
My 11-year old niece Dal, E’s elder sister, was in a concert yesterday and all hands were on deck to support her. Even my Papa (grandfather) came with us to watch. It was a showcase of sorts and it was more like a school presentation than a concert, but it was fun to watch 🙂
While at the mall a few months ago with my cousin Candy, Dal was approached by a talent scout and was asked to audition for a spot at a kiddie show at some UHF channel. After discussing things with her parents, they decided to give it a go. She was accepted to attend a series of workshops. It went on from some time in May and they had their graduation rights on Sunday before last. I learned last night that she had already been chosen to be one of just 10 new kids to join the show. Yay!
We were all so proud of our girl, and it’s not just because she’s ours. She was so confident up there dancing. I always knew she could dance gracefully but this was the first time I saw her do so quite confidently. She wasn’t conscious at all in front of a full auditorium!
Here’s a video of the kids performing outside, just for me, three years ago. Dal is the one to the very left.
Prayers.
Joy, a friend of mine from Asia ACTs, was with us at the concert too. She had known Dal and the other kids from when I would take them to work or to an event we had.
From the concert and some snacks, we went to see Daddy Abueva at the hospital. He had suffered a stroke (there’s a more technical term to what actually happened) while in Davao with his son and son-in-law checking out wood for his various projects. With the doctor’s approval, and with an actual doctor accompanying them, he was flown back to Manila a few days ago.
We were there for about five hours. Yep, that was a long visit. We didn’t really intend it to be that long, specially knowing that he needed to rest. But only Mommy Abueva was there when we arrived and we actually got around to chatting with her and keeping her company. In my years at Asia ACTs, and the many times she had us over for dinner, I didn’t really get the chance to just chat with Dra. Abueva like that. It was actually very easy. 🙂
There were other visitors too, and then eventually, Kuya Jimmy (Ate Ami’s husband) and son Dino came over; then Kuya Lawin, who was taking night watch. That was our signal to exit, we didn’t realize it was already late!
Daddy Abueva doesn’t seem to be in any danger anymore, in fact, he is raring to get back on his feet. But he still needs to rest, and go through some therapy. Being in bed though has not stopped him from being his funny self. 🙂
The family would appreciate prayers for Daddy Abueva’s fast and full recovery.
Freebie.
No, I am not giving away anything. But Flergs is. I’ve been a fan of Flergs for some time now and I couldn’t pass up the chance to win a kit that she had made.
Growing in Grace Magazine is running a promo to give readers the chance to win the Dusk Mini Kit, or perhaps even the entire Dusk til Dawn set? See the lovely new badge over at my sidebar? Click on it so you can read all about the promo. Before you go though, check this out:
This is my current desktop wallpaper. It’s a freebie desktop from Flergs’ blog and it was made using stuff from the kit in the promo. I just plopped it over one of my photos at the white sand beach of Panglao Island in Bohol 🙂
Go on over and check out the promo and the freebie desktop. You know you want to 😉
Other stuff. Come on, you’ve made it this far in my post, take a few more minutes 🙂 Thank you!
Yesterday, I saw a banner over at the tennis courts about individual lessons. I had asked my mom to check it out further since the court is just right in front of her office building. If I can afford it, I’d give it a shot. It’s been four years since I first tried the sport, with my uncle giving me free lessons.
Tennis would give me the much needed full body workout, and probably the kick in the butt I’ve been needing to get back to losing weight. I’m still not sure if FitRight is helping me out in that department, though I think it is. I’ve also been thinking about dietpills lately. I used to swear never to go near any product like that, but maybe it ain’t so bad?
