holiday greetings

it seems like i am cramming; quite late to be posting this on christmas eve when everyone will be busy and won't probably have time to read this till after all the partying and euphoria of the holidays has died down. i have mailed greetings cards and have made my e-cards since last november but of course had them sent our 2 days ago and have even done sms greetings already but i wasn't able to do my blog greetings till now since i was away for a week. my little sister lei underwent surgery for apendectomy and removal of ovarian cyst. of course i have been de facto hospital caregiver. all i'm thankful for is that she's recovering quite well and we're home just in time for christmas

a must have

i learned about greg behrendt when i first saw him on the oprah winfrey show. yes, i am a big fan of miss winfrey and i don't think that's cheesy. i think the book that he co-wrote with liz tucillo, he's not just that into you, opened so many unanswered questions of women about relationships and ended so many anxieties as well. greg was at oprah's show to promote the book of course. i got a copy of the book at barnes and noble months after that, at the time in my life where i most needed some dose of reality. it quickly became my bible in handling my relationships with men and how to deal with men.

back in 2005 greg behrendt visited the philippines. unknown to me we were in the same flight from san francisco bound to manila. i only noticed that he was a very familiar looking guy right next to me with a very tiny entourage who seemed important. i couldn't pinpoint who he was at that time since philippine airline flights from the united states arrives in manila very early at around 5am. i guess i was still disoriented so i couldn't decide if he was ty pennington or someone else. i shrugged my shoulder unknowingly missing the other half of the writing genius behind my "men bible". later that day i had to find out who he was by being greeted by a huge poster at greenbelt with greg's photo and appearance announcement. so i missed my big chance, but leirs was so nice that she attended the meet and greet and bought another copy and had it signed for me as a late birthday gift.

recently while browsing at powerbooks i found greg's new book and just like the first one it was fascinating. i didn't get a copy for myself yet, but i did skimmed and scanned through the book and i think every girl should have one and well every one. we at some point in our lives will go through a difficult break-up and we all need help in one way or the other. a book can help apart from friends.

the issues after

the headlines today while still pertaining to the manila peninsula standoff last thursday has spawned another issue and is fast becoming more talked about than the real issue of the act that mr. trillanes committed. the unlawful arrest of media personnels that were inside the hotel who refused to leave so that they could get the best footages and at the forefront of unfolding events. while it is unlawful to arrest them as they are just doing their jobs but the truth is they really were in the way of police business. those media people are the biggest cry babies i've seen recently. it is annoying to hear their complaints when the truth is, it all boils down to the ratings war, to the best photo that could sell more papers, to the best interview, to the best footage that could bring more viewers which could translate to money for this big tv networks and newspaper publishers.

while it is alarming that those arrests could signal the start of stiffling press freedom and basically our freedom of speech but in the philippines the press people are just simply put it, monsters out to get every last bit of information they could squeeze. one example of that is what we see everyday news reporters carelessly crossing crime scenes and ignoring boundaries for them to give space to crime scene investigators, no wonder crime is so difficult to solve in this country. just like that the media people have impeded police business at last thursday's stunt of mr. trillanes. it's just annoying to hear them cry foul now when they have surely profited from what they have done and still is by headlining more of their complaints against their arrests.

trillanes, et.al

there was a time that i was in awe of the courage of trillanes and his magdalo band of soldiers. during the time of the oakwood mutiny i felt that what they were expressing was for a genuine cause, but what trillanes did together with his merry band of rebels last thursday, november 29 left such a big distaste to a lot of us filipinos.

by walking out of that makati trial court he showed a big contempt towards our justice system and our country as a whole. he isn't a mere liuetenant anymore but a democratically elected senator and he could have at least showed a little respect for everyone who helped him become a senator by being a good example of a law abiding citizen. mr. trillanes should have quietly dealt with his legal problems instead of stage another stunt that would put the country in a bad light again. it is really 3 steps backward for the whole country. it makes me want to pack my bags again and leave.

i sure didn't vote for mr. trillanes but i am guessing that for those who voted for him last may 2007 elections, he is one big disappointment. he sure seemed promising but he is just showing that he is erratic, arrogant, and impulsive. a very unbecoming officer and statesman out of him. i think this serves as a lesson in voting, the primary one is never to vote for another dumb celebrity on the highest office of the country after erap and never vote someone who has once attempted a coup d' etat, they'll always be in contempt towards our way of life just like trillanes and his predecessor gringo.

The List of My Favorite Books and Authors

I read a lot and through the years of reading I have chosen my favorite books by the criteria of whether it is worth reading over and over again. Of course it has to be well written, astonishing, universal in theme and transcending time in its subject, and the plot has to make me want more. So here is a list of the books that I have read, reread, and plan to reread. In the course of time this list will grow longer and I will take the time to add as I go reading more books.

Fiction:
1. The Hours by Michael Cunningham
2. That Old Ace in the Hole by Annie Proulx
3. Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
4. White Oleander by Janet Fitch
5. What We Keep by Elizabeth Berg
6. Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
7. A Time to Kill and Skipping Christmas by John Grisham
8. Three Junes by Julia Glass
9. We were the Mulvaneys by Joyce Carol Oates
10. Cane River by Lalita Tademy
11. The Bonesetter’s Daughter by Amy Tan
12. The Green Mile by Stephen King
13. While I was Gone by Sue Miller
14. Oxygen by Andrew Miller
Classics:
1. Emma, Sense and Sensibility, and Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
2. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
3. Christmas Carol, Nicholas Nickelby, and Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
4. Winter of our Discontent, East of Eden, Red Pony, and The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
5. A Farewell to Arms and Fiesta: The Sun also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
6. Siddharta by Herman Hesse
7. The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck
8. Washington Square by Henry James
9. The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
10. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
Non-Fiction:
1. Angela’s Ashes and ‘Tis by Frank McCourt
2. Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck
3. Geisha, A Life by Mineko Iwasaki
4. Adrift by Steven Callahan
5. Girl Interrupted by Susana Kaysen
6. To War with Whitaker: The Wartime Diaries of the Countess of Ranfurly 1939-1945
7. A Monk Swimming by Malachy McCourt
8. Black Hawk Down by Mark Bowden
9. Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand
10. The Kennedy Men by Laurence Leamer
11. Stolen Lives by Malika Oufkir
Children’s Literature:
1. The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein
2. Daddy Long Legs by Jean Webster
3. Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney
4. The Watson’s go to Birmingham by Christopher Paul Curtis
5. The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
6. The Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling
7. Anne of Avonlea by L.M. Montgomery
Chick Lit.:
1. In Her Shoes by Jennifer Weiner
2. Le Divorce by Dianne Johnson
3. Bridget Jones’s Diary and Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason by Helen Fielding
4. I don’t know how she does it by Allison Pearson
Self-Help:
1. He’s not just that into You by Greg Behrendt and Liz Tucillo
2. I Kissed Dating Goodbye and Boy meets Girl by Joshua Harris
3. Making Friends by Andrew Matthews
4. The Essential 55 by Ron Clark
5. Life Lessons Learned while Shopping by Amanda Ford

As for Filipino Lit. I love F. Sionil Jose. I haven't read any of his works that I didn't like. So far I have read Po-on, Tree, Mass, The Pretenders, My Brother, My Executioner, Gagamba, Ermita, and Viajero. All of these novels I absolutely was in awe of. There is one book by Nick Joaquin that I was able to read and it was a superb experience. It was a biography of Dr. Jose Rizal that Mr. Joaquin was commissioned to write during the centennial year of Philippine Independence. I was able to borrow a copy from James, a college classmate whose aunt, Laarni Enriquez got a copy from Malacanang Palace as a giveaway. From that book I know one of these days I am supposed to start reading more of Nick Joaquin's works.