I got my free Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows last Saturday. (Thanks Powerbooks!)
Unlike the past years when the books were launched, this time I went shopping with Vince first (for a washing machine), then researched for and wrote my article for Seventeen magazine, then I dashed off to the grocers for some fresh food and then prepared dinner for my darling husband (who quietly did all the chores--mine included--without asking for my help because he knew it was Harry Potter weekend, God bless Vince!). I guess I put off reading because I didn't really want my days with Harry to end. But end they must.
Finally at 10 PM, I settled into bed and opened the very last book of Harry Potter's adventures. I did not put it down till I finished it at 6:15 AM.
Okay, I won't put any spoilers here but since I don't know anybody who's finished the book and wants to talk about it, I am going to vent my frustration at not being able to discuss it with anybody here.
I liked Deathly Hallows even though it certainly isn't the best book in the series. It lacks the rich and almost obsessive details of the other books, and the range of emotions, too. It feels very rushed towards the end (you can almost hear J.K. Rowling's brain go, "Oh dear, must meet the deadline..."). I accept how Rowling ended the story even though there are still a lot of loose ends hanging about annoyingly. But the whole series is a feat, amazing and spectacular in its scope. I am reading the first book again (yes, I am a nerd) and I am struck time and again about how she truly planned everything from the very beginning. With your knowledge of the ending, tiny telling important details now jump out at you practically in every chapter. Which makes me more excited to read the whole series again.
Ah, but I have so many books on my shelf. In the last two months, I've read The Diana Chronicles by Tina Brown, Diana: The Last Word by Simone Simmons, America's Queen: The Life of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis by Sarah Bradford, Stolen Lives by Malika Oufkir, Carrie by Stephen King, and Beowulf: A Retelling by Robert Nye. Then there's Deathly Hallows of course. I am still in the middle of Six Wives: The Queens of Henry VIII by David Starkey, Lisey's Story by Stephen King, and Once Upon A Time: Behind the Fairy Tale of Princess Grace and Prince Rainier by J.R. Taraborrelli. Oh, and I am also still going through Sorcerer's Stone again.
As you can see, I love biographies, history, royalty, fantasy, and horror! Gee, that's 11 books in eight weeks. But that's not enough. Stephen King said in his memoir On Writing that writing is a full-time job so spend four hours of each day reading and four hours writing. King, I adore you but I have a magazine to make, a husband to please, a home to keep, a family to attend, and a blog to update!
But I try. I really really try...
Friday, July 27, 2007
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Hello from Topaz Horizon!
Well, this is a surprise! Most of my readers are from the U.S. of A.! Hi y'all! How's it like in the land of milk and honey? Greetings from the pearl of the orient! I guess I should start using just English in this blog, and not insert Tagalog expressions here and there.
Well, thanks for stopping by, international readers! Drop me a note!
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Hey there, Delilah! Give this a listen.
Awwww...
Long distance relationship na, unrequited love pa!
It's such a sweet, sad and hopeful song nevertheless. And I love the story behind it. Delilah DiCrescenzo is a real girl (the kilig story in next week's People magazine) who inspired Plain White T's Tom Higgenson to write this song. They met and he was so smitten, he blurted out that he'd write her a song. Thing is, he's never done anything like that. So every time they'd chat online (they didn't go out since she was already with someone else), she'd tease him about the so-called song. So finally, Tom just sat down and wrote the damn thing. Now, the song is #3 in Billboard's Hot 100 and #1 on iTunes. Not bad, not bad at all!
Woody Allen once said 90% of success is showing up. Just show up with the song, dammit, and you'll be a roaring success!
But did the song work the way it was supposed to? Nah! Delilah says the song was "the most romantic gesture" but hey, "we'll just remain friends."
Ouch!
This song just makes me cry every time I listen to it. Strange, as I've never been in a long-distance relationship. But it speaks volumes of loneliness and faith, and the cheerful determination not to succumb to the desperation and the sadness of being far away from the one you love--it just really breaks my heart!
Okay, in case you want to sing along, here are the sad and lovely lyrics that are just full of longing and hope:
Hey there, Delilah, what's it like in New York City?
I'm a thousand miles away but, girl, tonight you look so pretty
Yes, you do. Times Square can't shine as bright as you
I swear it's true
Hey there, Delilah, don't you worry about the distance
I'm right there if you get lonely, give this song another listen,
Close your eyes, listen to my voice--it's my disguise
I'm by your side
Oh, it's what you do to me
Oh, it's what you do to me
Oh, it's what you do to me
Oh, it's what you do to me
What you do to me
Hey there, Delilah, I know times are getting hard
But just believe me, girl, someday I'll pay the bills with this guitar
We'll have it good, we'll have the life we knew we would
My word is good
Hey there, Delilah, I've got so much left to say
If every simple song I wrote to you would take your breath away
I'd write it all, even more in love with me you'd fall
We'd have it all.
Oh, it's what you do to me
Oh, it's what you do to me
Oh, it's what you do to me
Oh, it's what you do to me
A thousand miles seems pretty far
But they've got planes and trains and cars
I'd walk to you if I had no other way
Our friends will all make fun of us
And we'll just laugh along because
We know that none of them have felt this way
Delilah, I can promise you
That by the time we get through
The world will never ever be the same
And you're to blame
Hey there, Delilah, you be good and don't you miss me
Two more years and you'll be done with school
And I'll be making history like I do
You'll know it's all because of you
We can do whatever we want to
Hey there, Delilah, here's to you
This one's for you
Oh, it's what you do to me
Oh, it's what you do to me
Oh, it's what you do to me
Oh, it's what you do to me
What you do to me
This song is for Mariel and Alvin. Be strong, be strong.
Friday, June 22, 2007
My engagement proposal in Marie Claire!
Lest I forget...To my Filipino readers, please pick up a copy of the June issue of Marie Claire. The funny story of my proposal to Vince is there in titillating detail! With photos!
Yes, see the cover on the left? That pink blurb by Heart Evangelista's neck is MINE! Oh, and Tessa Valdes', too. We were both featured as the gutsy gals who took matters into their own hands.
So make sure you grab a copy before the newsstands run out of issues... or replenish them with the July ones!
Misunderstood
Just came back from a lovely dinner with my Assumption Antipolo friends, Kristine and Pinky. I love them to death. Though we see each other once or twice a year, we always pick up where we left off. These are two of the very few people in the world who know me (the others would be Vince, Aida, and AJ. That's it!) Strangely, considering how very rarely we see and talk to each other, I am amazed that they have no judgments or misconceptions about who I am.
I am in this mood because Kristine had mentioned that in college, some of her classmates from Manila Science High (my high school) had wondered why she was friends with me. Kristine is very smart and funny and ambitious and bossy and morally upright and all the good things a person can be. Pinky's the same way, too. And so am I (though I am less bossy than Kristine, and less funny than Pinky!). So I assume her classmates could not understand why someone like her could be friends with someone like me.
In high school, for some reason, I had gained quite a terrible reputation. My friends told me that behind my back, people whispered that I was a cheap slut, I slept around, I was stupid but got good grades through shady ways... and other nasty things like that. I never understood how I got this rep. A few of my friends guessed the rumors probably came from envious girls. But why? Why that degree of evil from fellow children like myself?
I was 13 when I started hearing these things. At that age, and straight out of a convent, I didn't even know how babies were made!
Back then and until I left my parents' house six years ago, I had a 6 PM curfew, which I obeyed to the second. I knew better than to go home at 6:01. I may be headstrong but I never broke any of my grandparents' rules. I enjoyed going to church and reading my Bible. I may not have had the highest grades in school but that's because I didn't like studying--yet when college exams rolled around (and I didn't review for those!), I still easily passed, unlike the other snooty kids from the star sections who religiously went to review classes and still failed miserably (there is a God!).
Sure, I had friends, in school and in church. Yet sometimes I know they wonder about me. They spent a lot of time with me to know that I can't possibly be the terrible person I was rumored to be. And yet I knew, and I know till now, they wonder about me. I also know that my family, my own parents and sister and brothers, they wonder about me.
Which brings me back to Kristine who was telling me at dinner, "I knew who you were in grade school so though they asked me how I could be friends with you, I knew you possibly can't be who they say you were. I know you."
I am overwhelmed at that complete trust.
I have always felt that the truth is more important. I know who I am. I am not the girl described by those people who claimed to have known me. I am a good person. That is all I need to know. My God is my only judge, and He is the only one I need answer to. I am strong in my firm belief that my heart, my mind, my conscience, and my body are clean and pure and holy.
Yet when I hear a few kind words thrown my way, I weep, my defensive walls swept away by the force of so much love and faith.
The real me is real to somebody else after all.
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