Random Thoughts Part 1

I sat at Starbucks while Dad went to a meeting this afternoon. I brought along my doodle notebook and a Bob Ong book Bakit Baliktad Magbasa ng Libro ang Pilipino?. It's the same book I brought with me during my flight to Singapore but I never got to finish it so I figured this was the day.

I couldn't help but stop and write on my notebook after every few flips of the page. This book is funny, at the same time sends a serious message to all the Filipinos- that we all have to love our country first before other nations love it. You can argue and say 'Love ko naman ang Pinas ah' yeah but how much? To what extent? Do you love it enough to obey traffic rules? To not cross the road, instead use the overpass? To declare you're Filipino when you're in other countries? Like what Sir Jim Lafferty always tells our class "A principle is not a principle until it costs you something." You will never prove your love for this country until you are placed in a sticky situation involving your nationality. This is not a book review so let me just end this paragraph by saying PLEASE READ THIS BOOK.

I'm thinking Noynoy should grab this book too. It's insightful. He doesn't have much insight about the lives of typical Filipinos. Not the poor-who-lives-in-the-slums type of people ok? I'm talking about Broad C class. Those who have 9-5 jobs, blue collar jobs, legal jobs. Not those who live on dole outs. He's been stuck with his mom all his life. He hates traveling (he says he's like a fish out of the water when he's out of the country) and if at all he goes out of the country, he gets VIP treatment so he never had the chance to experience what regular Filipinos have to go through to survive abroad. My point it, he has to see the country's problems through the eyes of regular people. (Not through the eyes of Kris Aquino. Sorry I had to say it.)

BACK TO MY RANDOM THOUGHTS...

Random Thought # 1

I wonder...Do Starbucks security guards get to drink Starbucks coffee too? I know for a fact that baristas are entitled to one drink per day (if I remember it right) but are security guards entitled also? Please let me know and take away the heaviness that I felt in my heart earlier when I drank my frap and ate my cinnamon swirl on the table in front of the guard. This is the same feeling I get when I'm in expensive stores. Like the ONLY time I was at Adora I thought 'DO THESE PEOPLE EVEN WEAR THE BRANDS THEY SELL?'

RT # 2

Grabe my handwriting is so chaka. It's only a liiiitle bit more decent than a doctor's prescription. I realized I haven't written on paper (except my signatures in office documents) for the longest time! My college notes are nicely written. Not this kind of handwriting. I have different kinds of handwriting. There's 'Sinisipag' handwriting. That one when you write your notes and homeworks. There's the 'random scribbles' - legible but obviously written without much caution. And then there's 'hinahabol ang thoughts kasi baka makalimutan bago pa maisulat' kind of handwriting where the end of each word is almost just a wave, a line or a dot-dot-dot. HAHA Do you have different handwritings too?

RT # 3

The girl who was in line behind me ordered her drink with a twang. I thought she was the typical Pinay who grew up in the States kind of girl so I really didn't mind. And then when I sat, she and her girlfriend (yes, you read that right) were just a table away from me. I was able to hear some of their conversation. SUS GINOO, TAGALOG NAMAN PALA. Ang arte arte pa. KAINIS. And because they were talking in audible levels, I found out they're varsities in UP. HAY IMBYERNA.

RT #3.5 Labeled as such because I didn't really write this on my notebook. Related lang sa number 3.

Anyway I was sitting by the window so I could see the people who were sitting at the outdoor seats of Starbucks. There's this girl who kept glancing at me- I caught her twice. But I really didn't mind. It wasn't elevator looks naman. I figured she was trying to see what book I was reading. But later on, you know the feeling na wala naman ginagawa sa iyo pero nayayabangan ka sa aura niya (and madalas tama ka sa kutob mo? Na niyayabangan ka nga niya?) So yeah I kinda felt that toward her but didn't bother and just kept reading. APPARENTLY SHE'S FROM UP. (Over dinner her group passed by the resto where dad and I were eating and she was with some guy who was my classmate in PE before.) Conclusion: MAYABANG PALA ANG TAGA UP WHEN YOU LOOK AT IT FROM AN OUTSIDER'S PERSPECTIVE. I mean at this point I'm not a student anymore so I totally look normal and not so UP-ish. Maybe she thought I'm a call center agent on coffee break at Starbucks Technohub. SORRY YOUNG LADY, NAUNA PA AKONG MAGING TAGA UP SA IYO. DI MO AKO MAIINTIMIDATE. AND I'M SO SURE, HINDI KA TAGA COLLEGE KO. (hahahaha *evil laugh* I love CBA! Best college ever. We're the hope of this country. hahaha)

RT #4 - This thought was brought about by an entry in the book of Bob Ong. Page 136

I would never deny I'm Filipino. Maybe there are times I'm embarrassed like when our politicians do something stupid and gets broadcasted all over the world. But never to deny it. There is so much beauty in this country. So many good memories. Denying I'm Filipino is likr turning your back to the country that molded you. Turning your back to everyone who's part of your life. It's like not having any roots at all. And once one is not rooted to a heritage, he becomes a homeless wanderer with no one to run to. I quote: "...I can say with confidence that no other race around the world could be as generous, dignified and as noble as we are."-Bob Ong

Part 2 pag sinipag ulit ako. ;)

New Wishlist

Yes, I have a new material wishlist hahaha

1. Book: The Tropical House - Cutting edge design in the Philippines

I'm hoping Joop gets me this book but he's hesitant coz it's worth Php1995. haha

2. Book: 100 cities of the World (by Falko Brenner) Php 795 (I think I'll ask this one from Joop instead of the one aforementioned.)

3. Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse and Breaking Dawn books - in original covers (not the movie cover) What better way to feel 'in love' than read and reread the Twilight series? haha

4. Kimmy Dora original DVD - I just loooove Eugene Domingo.

5. Travel with my family (this was in my original list)

SUPER KADUPER LAPIT NA NG PASKO! Merry Christmas everyone!

Binge!

I went on a book binge today at National Bookstore. 

My mom told me they were on sale so I decided to grab a few books on my reading list. I was planning to get Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows because I don't remember reading it. Unfortunately they didn't have it in paperback and the hard bound version wasn't on sale. I decided to get more Coelho books. I have just finished reading Like a Flowing River (haha took me a looong time because I was too tamad).  I love it! I have so many quotable quotes from this book which I shall do in a separate post. 

Anyhoo, I got Brida, The Alchemist (again. Because I think I lost our first copy) and The Valkyries. I was gonna buy only one but decided to get more since I'll buy them in the future anyway. They're at 20% off btw!

I also got this unpopular book The Year of Yes by Maria Headley. I talks about a woman who decided to date every single man who asks her out. I'm excited to read it! hahaha This was an impulse buy because it looked interesting and it's 50% off! Exage. haha

Another impulse buy is the Swatch book! Next to shoes and bags, watches are on my list. So it's no surprise that I couldn't let go of the book. Well, I was gonna let go of it until I saw my first ever Swatch watch included! I'm sooo excited to see which other Swatch watches of mine made it here. YAY! I dunno how much of a bargain I made here (based on the original selling price) but on Amazon it costs $16. I got it for 169 peyzos. 

My last impulse buy was an issue of Ish magazine. It's an art and lifestyle magazine. I had three of this before but I lent it to someone. I've graduated and all and he hasn't return it yet. I need to hunt him down now because I just learned Ish has decided to stop publishing after a decade of existence. So in effect, it's collector's item-ish na. HELLO ROY, PLEASE SHOW UP AND RETURN MY MAG. OR EMAIL ME AND ASSURE ME THEY'RE STILL IN GOOD CONDITION.

Anyhoo, there's my stock for the next few weeks. Gotta read read read to keep the brain active. Keep reading everyone! :) (As in reading books, not facebook updates. hahahahaha)

Hodgepodge of Whatnots

Yesterday was a crazy day for me. I needed sometime to make things sink in so I didn't blog about it. I'm okay now. haha Here's a brief lowdown of my Monday (June 15).

1. Timmy's Birthday- HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

2. Went to the mall to buy my plane ticket and the tote bag I was telling you about in MFG. The ticket system was down so I was requested to come back at a latter time. I went around and dropped by MFG. When I got there, lo and behold the bag was sold out. There was one piece of the white version left but I had my heart on the black one. The only branch with the black tote was in the outskirts of Lucena. GOOD LUCK. I was super sad so I went to National Bookstore to buy a book to keep my mind preoccupied. I got this...

and this...

I officially love Sidetrip Magazine. I plan to subscribe or well, I can just buy in National Bookstore. haha

3. I got a text from (codename) Company A, a huge food company that I bet all of us has tried at least thrice hahaha. They were asking if I'm interested to know about their training program. How can I say no? So yeah, I said yes but waited for their reply. I decided to wait until 5 pm, after office hours for the reply before I buy my ticket just in case I need to move my flight.

4. I decided to kill time by reading Sidetrip at Starbucks. Got my caramel frap and sat in a corner table and began reading. I occasionally looked around just to see what types of people hang out in this branch of Starbucks. Well, this is not the laid back-book reading- laptop toting students that I am used to in the Katipunan branch. These are from all walks of life- nursing people, 'pa-cool' teenagers, med students reviewing, foreigners with their Filipina partners, and  couples having 'coffee' for a date. As a matter of fact there are only two tables with occupants who are reading- that's the two med students on the couch area and myself. It was also a noisy Starbucks. Probably because it was small so the churning of the blenders is audible even from the far corner of the area. The music was loud. In general it was just really far from the Katipunan ambience which I really love.

5. I was very much entertained with my new magazine, straining my eyes and forcing my ears to shut off the buzzes and loud music.  I decided to rest my eyes for a few seconds so I did one of those occasional looking around and there it was. THE BIGGEST HELLO IN MY FACE- A NURSING STUDENT WAS TOTING THE EXACT BAG WHICH WAS SOLD OUT. She even sat on the table in front of me. I was cursing the whole time especially when I saw how pretty the bag is when it's outside the store (you know, eliminate store ambience to see the aesthetics of the bag). Well, I knew I was never gonna the bag so I went back to reading. I left minutes later and decided to go back to MFG.

6. Back in MFG I somehow wished another stock of the bag would appear and forced the sales lady to check again. hahahaha that was how far I'd go. She wouldn't remember me anyway. haha I thought I'd but the white version but it was the last piece and the stitches were worn out- probably a lot of people held it already. So I decided to drop it and forget about the bag.

7. Five pm came and I went to purchase my ticket. After that I bought take home dinner because I was too drained to cook. While waiting for the sisig from Gerry's, I got another text for an interview on Tuesday- that's later this afternoon by the way. hahaha I confirmed anyway even if it meant risking a cut-short vacation. I just said to myself 'Mahaba pa ang week. Bahala na si Lord.'

8. When I got home my brother told me he saw a multo (ghost) outside my room walking toward the sala. He saw it twice taht afternoon daw. The other time was while he was feeding Raffy, the shi tzu. I'M LIKE WTF DON'T SCARE THE HELL OUT OF ME. I was having goosebumps the whole time. My imagination was running wild.

9. Because of the multo, I prayed so hard before I went to sleep. I was curled up in one side of the big bed. I was so scared to spread my limbs (like I usually do) because I was so afraid to feel something. HAHAHA Slept at 1 am. I kept twisting and turning in that side of the bed. By 5 AM my eyes were wide open and I couldn't sleep. Literally gising na gising na ako. It was still dark so I decided to spend my time online in my room. I told myself I'd go out of the room when it's already daylight. I was even able to chat with my brother (who was at the other room lang haha). 

10. Now it's 9:30 AM, I already had breakfast and coffee. I am already sleepy. But I can't coz I have an interview this afternoon. I hope tonight I'll have a better sleep. Nothing happened last night. Maybe my prayers worked. I was busy praying I barely had time to sleep.

Whattaday diba? Just when I decided to take a vacation, these calls happen. Sabi nga ni Cheska 'Parang boys lang yan. You'll never know when the'll call.' hahaha I still consider them as blessings. Sino ba naman ako to not appreciate it diba? I just know things will work the way it has been planned for me. But I am sticking to the decision of pushing thru with my vacation- even if that meant letting opportunities pass. Because I think I really need this time to rethink things, reassess my goals and have some 'me' time first. Maybe it's just not for me. hehe