Life is Full of Twists and Turns

May mga pangyayaring hindi inaasahan. 
May mga pangyayaring inaasahan pero hindi nangyayari. 
May biglaang mawawala, may biglaang darating. 
May sorpresa bukas, sa susunod na araw naman, boring. 
Isang araw gigising kang masaya pero sa gabi matutulog ka palang malungkot.
Akala mo tama, mali pala. Akala mo mali, tama pala.
May mga bagay na hindi mo pinagplanuhan pero biglang natatapos nang matiwasay.
May mga pagdapa, pagtamo ng sugat.
Gabahang pag-iyak at sandamakmak na pagtawa.

Pero over all masaya naman, hindi ba? :) 

Ang buhay kasi, palaging nagbibigay ng pag-asa. Kapag gumigising ka pa kinabukasan, hanggat may sunrise, hanggat naniniwala ka sa pagpapala ng Diyos. :)

House Trap by Mike Mauthor

House Trap by Mike Mauthor

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Rachel Evans is a sixteen year old overachiever who would take nothing less than to achieve her goal of getting into Dartmouth College. But Rachel’s life would never be the same once she stepped into the house of Alicia Hausefalle, the most popular girl in Wedds High School. Rachel was there to tutor her. She never expected to meet two strangers who were ready to end her life.


Background.

At first I was unsure of what I would reply to his email (which accounts for my delayed response, sorry v^^) because I really don’t know how to make proper book reviews. Eventually, I took the offer and told him that I can only say everything that I think and feel about the book. Fortunately, he told me that he actually liked it that way. =)

I am so happy that I accepted the author’s offer to give me a copy of this book so that I might make a review for it. I got no time wasted. And the book got me hooked by its first line.

So Here Goes.

The prologue has a gripping quality to it. Plus I can clearly see in my mind the setting and everything that’s happening from the peaceful-Christmassy-mood-of-the-neighborhood beginning to the traumatic-Halloweeny-aura-in-the-house ending. The scenes were playing in my mind much like a trailer of a suspense movie - the feeling that I’m not reading but watching as the story unfolds. I got so immersed that I had to remind myself that I might get late to work if I don’t stop reading.


The mood immediately changed to a lighter one as the beginning chapters introduce the characters. I met Rachel, who became a grade conscious student ever since her friends, dubbed as her closest, mocked her that she would never succeed in life because of her bad grades. I felt bad about this because my closest friends never discouraged me. Fortunately, there was Kristen, a friendly schoolmate and an active member of a church organization, who is always ready to lighten up a grumpy Rachel whenever Rachel thinks that she did badly in an exam. Of course, there’s this mean girl named Alicia, into whose house all the suspense, thrill, and a lot of breath-holding happened to me.

Suddenly,

I Won A Book Giveaway! :)

Yay! I won a book giveaway!

After hopping around to many book giveaway sites, Nocturnal Book Reviews finally picked my name as one of its lucky 100 Followers Giveaway winners. :)
I never knew that such panic and excitement can be felt at the same time while I was browsing for books at bookdepository.com. Before long, I had a lot of tabs open in my browser for each book that is on my wishlist. Haha.

The top three on my list at that time were Tales of Beedle and the Bard, Quidditch Through the Ages, and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. At first, I chose Tales of Beedle and the Bard. But after so much careful thinking, I changed my choice of book to Fantastic Beasts because I thought that among the three, it is the most difficult to find in bookstores here in the Philippines. I have seen copies of Tales everywhere, and Quidditch was reportedly seen by my friend at a bookstore.

(Much to my surprise, the other winner is also a Harry Potter fanatic. Haha. :D)

To The Boy Who Held My Hand

It was the first and the only time

That you held my hand

In just a span of a moment

You made me feel that there is something between us

But somehow destiny never allowed

We were then seatmates.  Freshmen and looking for friends.

Different courses we were taking. Only one class we shared.

Funny how we saved each other’s seat.

Whenever one wasn’t yet around.

When we barely knew each other

And we could sit anywhere we want on.

You were always better than me.

Understanding everything immediately.

At night we shared thoughts.

We asked about each other's day.

How we think about things.

How is it to be a big brother

And how is it to be an only child and a daughter.

How is it to feel love when we were much younger.

Came junior and senior years,

We barely see each other and speak.

And at crossroads when we meet,

We say hi like we were just ordinary former classmates in the last semesters.

Until that commencement day.

Was it just a longer-than-normal congratulatory shake?

It was the first and the only time

That you held my hand

In just a span of a moment

You made me feel that there was something between us

But somehow destiny never allowed.

SCANDAL Band ❤: Taiyou to Kimi Ga Egaku Story

~The Story Drawn By The Sun And You~

My Cousin's 21st at La Mesa Ecopark

Last October 18, 2011 we celebrated my cousin Erlie's 21st birthday at La Mesa Ecopark. :)
It was a Tuesday, which coincided with her day off but not with mine so she forced me into filing a vacation leave. :p I figured that my presence could be the best gift that I could give her so I didn't really think twice about it. :)


Preparation. And because it has been our greatest frustration to document everything that we do together, I finally bought a Canon PowerShot A2200 14.1 MP digital camera. :) Hooray! :) Thanks to Alyssa's credit card I didn't have to pay for it right away.

Since we planned to prepare things early, I decided to shop for groceries and sleep with them the night before. And in my haste, it felt like I brought too much - swimming attire, super large towel, three shirts, toiletries - but I was only able to bring one pair of shorts. >.<


The Big Day. We rode a taxi from Marikina to Ecopark for 200Php.

We were lucky because the taxi driver allowed the six of us to fit ourselves inside his car. Haha.

Things To Do

1. Study Android game development.
2. Finish my Introduction to Databases online class lecture videos and assignments at Stanford.
3. Make poems, poems, poems for submission to different online/print magazines/books/collections.
4. Try to make another super short story.
5. Finish reading Nightmares and Dreamscapes, The Dark Tower IV, and Septimus Heap I.
6. Blog about my cousin's birthday celebration at La Mesa Ecopark.
7. Finish watching Dae Mul.
8. Update my planner.

Vampire Sestina by Neil Gaiman

I wait here at the boundaries of dream,
All shadow-wrapped.  The dark air tastes of night,
So cold and crisp, and I wait for my love.
The moon has bleached the color from her stone.
She'll come, and then we'll stalk this pretty world
Alive to darkness and the tang of blood.

It is a lonely game, the quest for blood.
But still, a body's got the right to dream
And I'd not give it up for all the world.
The moon has leeched the darkness from the night.
I stand in the shadows, staring at her stone:
Undead, my lover... O, undead my love?

I dreamt you while I slept today and love
Meant more to me than life - meant more than blood.
The sunlight sought me, deep beneath my stone,
More dead than my corpse but still a-dream
Until I woke as vapor into the night
And sunset forced me out into the world.

For many centuries I've walked the world
Dispensing something that resembled love - 
A stolen kiss, then back into the night
Contented by the life and by the blood.
And come the morning I was just a dream,
Cold body chilling underneath a stone.

I said I would not hurt you. Am I stone
To leave you prey to time and to the world?
I offered you a truth beyond your dreams
While all you had to offer was your love.
I told you not to worry and that blood
Tastes sweeter on the wing and late at night.

Sometimes my lovers rise to walk the night...
Sometimes they lie, cold corpse beneath the stone,
And never know the joys of bed and blood,
Of walking through the shadows of the world;
Instead they rot to maggots. O my love
They whispered you had risen, in my dream.

I've waited by your stone for half the night
But you won't leave your dream to hunt for blood.
Good night, my love. I offered you the world.

I thought I lost my copy of this poem. This is my first look of Neil Gaiman's world - dark, magical, mysterious, twisted, out-of-the-box, yet full of life and heavy with emotions that sure pierce the readers' hearts. :)

If you guys didn't notice, the poem is actually composed of six six-line stanzas that ends with six words found at the end of each line - dream, night, love, stone, world, blood - and a three-line last stanza (tercet) that groups those six words into three.  Also, the first six stanzas kinda form a loop with the last word of the last line being the last word of the first line of the next stanza. Get it? :) I've highlighted the words in red font color to easily understand what I mean. For more information regarding a sestina poem, click here. :)

I got to know him from my Literature tutor from my last summer classes at ADMU. He was then teaching us some poetry writing styles, I think. Since I read Gaiman's Snow, Glass, Apples I wanted to read more of his works. Unfortunately, I haven't started collecting his works yet. XD

>:(

THIEF

We are supposed to be unique.

So please do not copy MY style.

You are not my super bestest mega BFF so that I could feel all giddy and excited whenever we have the same dress, same shoes, same cellphone accessory,

same ultimate crush.

And hey,

I believe that even the super bestest mega BFFs of all time do not share the same toothbrush.

EEEEEEEWWWWWWWWW.

Don't make me want to have the power to kill you by just thinking about it.

SCANDAL Band ❤: Haruka

‎

~Namida nante nagasanai yo

"Owari" ja nai "hajimari" sa

Yakusoku nante iranai yo ne zutto omotteru kara

Itsu no hi ka kanaerareru ai wa kimi no soba ni aru

Kitto kanarazu mata deaeru haruka hanarete ite mo

(I won't spill any tears

It's not the end; it's the beginning

I don't need promises, because I'll always think of you

Someday it'll come true; love is by your side

Surely we can meet again, even though we're far apart)~

Currently Watching: Kaleido Star OVA

Korean Film Festival 2011: 7 Different Colors of Love

Last September 24, Au and I went to SM North for the Korean Film Festival 2011 with 7 Different Colors of Love as its theme. We were able to watch two Korean films for free! Thanks for the invite, Au! <3


The films were both heartwarming. They tackled life's struggles of losing family members, friends, and jobs as well as life's winning moments when one reunites with loved ones, finds a sense of purpose, expresses his thoughts freely, and achieves simple yet grand dreams.

"SECRET REUNION” – (Starring: Kang Dong Won, Song Kang Ho). Song Kang-ho, an ex-agent of the National Intelligence Service who is very  careful about his actions, is paired with Kang Dong-won, a former spy from the North. 

Song’s character was released from the NIS six years after the gunfight which happened in the heart of Seoul; however, both men keep their identities hidden from each other.


This one is a little disturbing with all the bloodbath~ around. But went quite funny in some scenes especially when the main characters started living in the same house. :) 
For me, the movie spelled betrayal, trust, friendship, longings, freedom, stand.



“THE HAPPY LIFE” – (Starring: Jang Geun Suk, Kim Yun Seok, Kim Sang Ho, Jung Jin Young) - The plot revolves around three former members of college rock band, Volcano, who were reunited by the death of their leader. At the funeral, a young, jobless lead guitarist Gi-Young (Jang Geun Suk) suggested that they reform the band with him as the new front man.

Totally funny but also inspiring. :D The actors were so natural you'd think the characters they portrayed were all shaped according to their personalities. :D
For me, the movie spelled friendship, dreams, hope, and smiles. :D