Mistaken Identity – Lisa Scottoline

How would you feel if you met someone who was your complete opposite (in personality and social stature) but who looked exactly like you? Then that person tells you she’s your twin?I would probably freak out and then run to my mom and dad! 

 

 

 

That’s what top notch lawyer Bennie Rosato did when it happened to her. She also took on the reponsibility of being the alleged twin’s defense counsel in a capital murder case.

Mistaken Identity - Lisa Scottoline  

 

 

Mistaken Identity - Lisa Scottoline

The last Scottoline book I read was Legal Tender where Bennie was accused of murder herself. In Mistaken Identity, Bennie has already established the all-girl law firm of Rosato and Associates and is living with her boyfriend Grady (who I thought was the murderer back in Legal Tender, hehe). Mary and Judy were in this book too and the former was shown as having second thoughts about her chosen career. Doubts that were later dispelled.

This case represented a turbulent time in Bennie’s life: she learns that she has a twin, finds her dad, loses her mom, and she is almost killed. It is as if she loses her family – but in the end also learns what family really is all about – just not what she has always thought a family is or should be.

Mistaken Identity somewhat challenges our perceptions of family – is it merely blood and genes or something less tangible? I grew up with a loving family and I have good relationships with cousins, aunts and uncles, and grandparents too. Without a doubt, they are family to me. But I know that my heart also considers family, people who have no blood relation to me. I have lots of kuya’s (elder brother), manangs (an older female), uncles and aunties because I grew up in a very close knit community. When Alfred and I started talking about wedding plans I had to explain to him that for my side, close family and friends is still a lot people.

Because I had read four of even five other Scottoline novels before this, I felt like I already knew Bennie, Mary (and her parents), Judy, Marshall, Grady and even Lou. I was even waiting for Anne until I realized that her story comes much later. This is what’s great about her books, you can feel the familiarity as if you were part of the firm, of Mary’s family, yet you wouldn’t be lost if it was the first book you read.

While preparing for this post, I stumbled upon the author’s website and found that she has a Tote bag promo. She sends you a tote bag if you send her proof that you bought two copies of her latest novel, one to give away to a friend. I have been thinking of giving away/reselling-for much less- books that we have here. Maybe I’ll launch that project by purchasing two copies of Lady Killer. The thing is, I don’t think it’s already available locally. I would love to get that tote though. Hehe.

Oh, more book news… I am getting the Twilight Saga. I finally decided that I do want to read the whole series. I found a book store that still had paperback editions of the first three books and my friend will be picking them up for me this weekend. Breaking Dawn will have to wait – I’m not as hard core a fan to get the hard bound edition. 🙂

I gotta scoot, I promised a friend I’ll look into Scottsdale Real Estate information for her. She has recently migrated to the US and her family’s looking to setup permanent residence in Arizona.

Thursday Thirteen #13 – What’s in my bag?

Wow, it’s been two months since I last did a thirteen! The thirteenth edition shows you what I carry around with me everyday. I didn’t take a shot of my bag because, well, for no reason. I just forgot. I do know that I intentionally did not take a shot of all of these things while they were actually sitting in my bag because you would see how disorganized my stuff was. Haha!

Nah, seriously. The reason why I attempted to fuse plastic was because I wanted to make a bag organizer from that material. I already had one but I could use another of different dimensions; plus the other one is made of thicker material.

Anyway, without further ado, here are thirteen (or more) things found inside my bag (in the order in which I snapped them using my camera phone):

Inside the pill box are my FitRight capsules.

1) Pink pill box - Inside are my FitRight capsules.

2) My purse - with several other things inside.

2) My purse - with several other things inside.

3) Lip gloss - These are my current favorites but there are actually more in there!

3) Lip gloss - These are my current favorites but there are actually more in there!

4) Wipes - wet and dry tissue. You'll never know when you'll need them

4) Wipes - wet and dry tissue. You'll never know when you'll need these.

5) Chocolates and mints  - For your needed sugar fix.

5) Chocolates and mints - For your needed sugar fix.

6) Comb - This is what replaced the ancient but very reliable Hair Doctor I recently broke.

6) Comb - This is what replaced the ancient but very reliable Hair Doctor I recently broke.

7) More kikay stuff - brush, pressed powder, concealer, oil blotter, and 8) some shimmer lotion

7) More kikay stuff - brush, pressed powder, concealer, oil blotter, and 8 ) some shimmer lotion

9) Scent - Nothing like White Musk to lift my spirits!

9) Scent - Nothing like White Musk to lift my spirits!

10) Set of keys

10) Set of keys

11) Pens - Do I really have four of them in there?

11) Pens - Do I really have four of them in there?

12) My Sony-Ericsson earphone to match my phone!

12) My Sony-Ericsson earphone to match my phone!

13) My tiny notepad that I made myself. From scraps of paper left over from the journals I gave away for Christmas; with covers I put together myself from scrap kits.

13) My tiny notepad that I made myself. From scraps of paper left over from the journals I gave away for Christmas; with covers I put together myself from scrap kits.

So there you go, thirteen things found inside my bag. That makes for quite a big bag. Oh!!! I remember what’s missing here – my reusable bag! I had it washed and so it’s not back in my bag at the time of this post. Oh well. 🙂


If you haven’t seen them yet, visit 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. 🙂

Not a good start

I have no business sitting here at home and much less, blogging. I should be on my way to work now. I can’t bring  myself to prep for work though. Halfway through my shift yesterday, I started feeling nauseous. I tried to close my eyes for a bit and take a nap but I couldn’t really. And usually, if you knew that a nap would help, you start feeling better the moment you close your eyes right? Well, I didn’t.

We have a clinic of course and it’s just a few steps from my station so I paid the nurse a visit. She took my blood pressure and it was just normal. She gave me an anti-vertigo pill. Two hours later, I wasn’t any better. To the contrary, I had to run to the ladies room several times because I thought surely, I was going to throw up. It didn’t happen though. Finally, with two hours left in my shift, I had asked my boss if I could just go home early. He let me go.

From the time I got home until a few minutes earlier, I slept. So if it was just about sleep, then I should be feeling better by now. I’m not. It’s not as lousy as last night, but it’s not much better either. I’m thinking of taking my ass to the hospital for a checkup. I’ll sit on it a few more minutes though.

I was pissed off yesterday because it started raining just when we were about to head to work. So we had to stay a bit for it to die down. Well it wasn’t about to stop so we decided to just brave the rain and get on our way. It took a longer time than usual to get a cab.  To make things worse, my pant legs got wet while I was just outside the house! And it took hours to dry off, I tell you! As soon as my legs started to feel cold, I thought about Justin boots and how nice it would be to have been wearing a pair just at that moment.

What really got to me was that the cab driver seemed to be new to the job. I had to give him directions. Now, that’s not so bad but when we found the streets flooded, I had to redirect him again. I mean, other drivers would know what to do, he just didn’t. We had to reroute three times, with each time on my lead. Ugh.

The usual 10 minutes it took for me to get to work became  40 minutes yesterday.

Remind me not to go through Scout Reyes, Mother Ignacia, and Timog Avenue the next time it rains. Those streets were flooded and it doesn’t make sense. I wasn’t surprised about the strip of Mo. Ignacia near Burger King because it’s a slope and there really was a very low part of it. But Scout Reyes and Timog Avenue? ! Calling Quezon City officials! Do something please.

Yesterday was supposed to be my first day at work for the new fiscal month. It wasn’t such a good way to start.

September First – Family

Today, we were up before 6AM to make it to the morning service held in honor of my late Lola, Maggie Somebang.

Though the mass was held at 630 in the morning, there were still quite a number of people in attendance, mostly relatives and close family friends. We served breakfast right after the service, and my aunt made delicious carrot muffins to go with the usual breakfast fare of longganiza, scrambled eggs, and corned beef with potatoes and peas.

September 1st 2008 marks the fourth anniversary of her journey to heaven. It has been four years since our lives were drastically changed. Four years since. Somehow, I can say it is a bit better now, compared to the year after.

After breakfast, Alfred went home while I paid my cousin Ton a visit. She had an operation to remove a myoma and a cyst on her ovary (which is thankfully benign – a chocolate cyst). We stayed there for hours, talking about many things concerning the family. Caring for her was her girlfriend Margie, with me visiting is another cousin, Candy, and our niece Dalnes. I haven’t been hanging out with any of them in a long time. So being there in the hospital was a good time to spend the rest of the morning.

By 1PM, her doctor finally came back and gave clearance for her to finally go home, four days after the operation. She had been worried about the cost of her extended stay there, so she was relieved to be finally able to leave. I didn’t wait until she was actually discharged though, Dal and I left Candy and Margie to assist the patient.

Sometimes I can’t help but think how different times are now. I wonder how things would be different, specially in the lives of some of my nieces/nephews.

Lola, I know you’re up there, preparing the house in which we all would again be spending time with you. Some of us need your support more than others; I know you are there when they need to make crucial life decisions. I hope that when you look down through the clouds, you see us and feel proud, or at least happy with the paths we’ve  taken. You are remembered and loved. Always.


Eraserheads forever!

The band that we so loved since gradeschool is back in the headlines.

When I first heard the buzz about an Eraserheads reunion concert, I was thrilled. It shook the Pinoy Rock scene when front man (and my ultimate crush) Ely Buendia announced that he was leaving the band, many years ago. The remaining three members, Raimund, Marcus, and Buddy, decided to continue and even enlisted a new vocalist – a girl. That was shortlived though, because the Eraserheads would never be the same without Ely.

Then the news died down, I never really knew whether there was going to be one or not. Two days ago, I was shocked to learn that the concert was slated for Saturday, August 30. Shoot. I won’t see them. The most awaited reunion concert, and I was not going to witness it.

So I was sulking last night. And it didn’t help that Alfred couldn’t care less. He’s not a big E-heads fan, you see. He would go see Sandwich play (which former E-head Raimund now fronts) but he couldn’t care less about the band that started it all. He even had the gall to tell me that it was fortunate that I had missed it because the concert was cut short.

My first reaction was, where’s your humanity dude? We’re talking about a person who possibly had a heart attack! And not just some person either – it’s Ely Buendia for pete’s sake! It is alarming news, specially because he had already undergone a heart operation just last year.

When I heard about what happened (that was also the first thing my mom and dad told me when I woke up this morning), I felt all the more that I should have been there with the other 60,000 fans. I don’t care if they didn’t finish the concert, the thought that it could really have been the last time I’d see them play together…

Anyhoo. Ely’s at the Philippine Heart Center, but is already in a stable condition. His fans are all praying for his fast recovery. His mom died on the 28th, but the true rock icon that he is, the show must go on. Imagine the stress that he was under. But the people who were at the concert say that the band still performed well together, and they don’t feel that they were shortchanged. They got 15 songs anyway! That’s not too bad at all.

Hopefully they’d give in to the fans and perform again when Ely is fully recovered. I’d definitely won’t miss it.


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