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.

christmas wishlist and gifts giving

recently i have been asked if i have a christmas wish list. while i have made a wishlist and have posted it in this blog some months ago; i have specifically stated that those things weren't exactly what i expect to be opening this christmas or in any other occassion that may require me to open a present. there are two things in my christmas wishlist this year, i want to be surprised by what i will receive and i want to feel that the gift was given some thought before it was given to me. i want gifts that are given to me that either reflect how the giver perceives me or i want the gift to reflect the personality of the person who gave it to me. gifts are meant to amaze and sometimes astound but gifts should never be anticipated. i want that element of suprise, that spirit of amazement, and even the suspense of what i will be opening so please to everyone who is thinking and will be giving me something this christmas, give it some thought as i will also try my best to do the same with what i will be giving.

i know that the holiday gift giving causes a certain exasperation and frenzy. christmas has been so commercialized that we tend to give gifts and forget the meaning of why we do give. the spirit of giving stems from the fact we too have received the gift, the most important of all, the gift of a messiah. so pause and feel the essence of that. sometimes the best gifts are just life saving. it could be that one book that could change one friend's life, that recipe with the ingredients in a basket that will later turn out to be her signature dish, or it could be as mundane as an eraser. it's always the thought that counts not the gift.

the sexiest man alive

finally after years of anticipation, my favorite hollywod guy is the sexiest man alive of 2007 by people magazine. after years of playing runner-up to pals george clooney and brad pitt, matt damon is this year's sexiest man alive. i have been in awe of matt damon eversince i saw him in "good will hunting" and him winning the oscars for best original screenplay together with college friend and fellow actor ben affleck. i will have to grab a copy and save it for the scrapbooks later! hehehe!

josh groban on a linkin park song

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it was rather interesting to see this on youtube.

tagapagtanggol ng kalikasan

i try very hard to temper my opinions in my blogs. i'm quite careful on what i express since web logs are quite public. i don't want what i write in my personal glorification page in the world wide web to haunt me in the future. i think the only other time, except for this blog that i am writing here, that i became quite strong to express my conviction was in a post in my friendster blog about tibet and the railways that china built there. i guess it is just irritating to me and i do feel quite strong about this that i am going to post what i think.

i like manny pacquiao. i watch his fights on tv, i cheer for him, and i am always delighted everytime he wins and gets disappointed for him when he losses. recently though back from his big fight in las vegas, he started being called "tagapagtanggol ng kalikasan". to start with he's no al gore or leonardo dicaprio or even brad pitt that had very strong statements about saving the environment and he's not even close to those scientist who won this year's nobel peace prize who tirelessly worked for global warming awareness. leonardo di caprio produced a documentary about global warming and he lives his life in a very eco friendly way, one example is driving the very cool hybrid prius. brad pitt has a program that created the first 100 houses for katrina victims that are energy efficient and eco friendly. as for mr. al gore who hasn't heard of "an inconvenient truth"? those scientist studied facts, went to study the ice caps and glaciers and even deserts to study ecology and the global warming effects. what did manny pacquiao do plant a few trees for a photo op just after being the so called defender of nature? manny lives a life that creates so much carbon footprint. motorcades to welcome him, a very obvious gas guzzler of a porsche cayenne, a private jet to fly him to general santos city, an entourage of a gazillion escort vehicles, and my list could go on. if only manny pacquiao could adapt his celebrity lifestyle to something that creates a tinier carbon footprint in this planet and maybe when he does start going around in a hybrid i might that believe that he really is more than the "pambansang kamao" and is the "tagapagtanggol ng kalikasan".

kimi raikkonen

while i am very happy that ferrari won the 2007 constructor's championship and kimi raikkonen bagged his very first career championship driving for the ferrari team, i can't help but be a tiny bit disappointed over lewis hamilton's loss in all these. everyone that knows me, knows that i am a big fan of formula one, and everyone who knows me also knows that i have been a ferrari fan for as long as i could remember. then why the disappointment over lewis hamilton who drives for mclaren-mercedes?

i like lewis hamilton, he has had one of the most sensational rookie starts ever. he is phenomenally talented and he lived out the hype that surrounded his very first season in formula one, he proved to be worth all the buzz. he became the first man of color to drive for a formula one team, he's quite young around 21 years old, and for the whole season he was just consistently driving well and finishing in the top three.

while i don't feel like lewis got robbed of this year's driver's championship, i still feel sad and i still wonder how sensational it would have become to have the first ever rookie to bag the driver's championship. it's true that yes he still has next year and a lot more years to get not just one but a lot more wins. i am just thinking what if lewis won in one of the tightest race ever for the much coveted formula one championships, in one of the most controversial and scandalous season of formula ever?

still my glee and delight for kimi, and finally after all these years.