:: Tears of the Moon ::

:: Monday, May 30, 2005 ::

Snagged from Jen and May (Shouldn't there by a music version of this survey?)

1) Total number of books owned: A lot. Maybe.. three hundred-?

2) The last book I bought: All at the same time:
* Crossing the Tiber
* World of the Cup (John Dickinson)
* Chasing Vermeer
* Tombs of Atuan (Ursula LeGuin)
* Twisted Flicks (Jessica Zafra)

3) The last book I read: World of the Cup (which isn't anything soccer-related, lol)

4) 5 books that mean a lot to me:

1. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
2. The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy
3. Preludes and Nocturnes by Neil Gaiman
4. Heir to the Empire by Timothy Zahn
5. Tears of the Moon by Nora Roberts

Monday training
Went to the office and did morning halfday. Which was, again, weird. Was sort of disappointed with the trainer, coz the topic was a bit tough. Went to Megamall to look for some costume stuff for the Filipiniana theme we've got for tonight's lunch thing. Got a pair of sandals for the costume (I was also overdue for a new one-haha)

Faye got in from Iowa last Saturday. She had a (huge) bag of Jolly Ranger lollipops for everyone. Took a lot of cherry and watermelon flavored ones. Damn, those things are sour. *rolleyes*

LOTR Monopoly!
Had a good time playing LOTR Monopoly with my brother. I rarely play Monopoly myself- I have Jan to thank for, for sending it to me for Christmas (loveya!). Had dinner, got sleepy, and we've had to postpone the game.

Of Italian food
Over the weekend I've been having nothing but pizza and pasta. Insane craving, for some reason. And Mom has been making her Fantastic Spaghetti recently, yeah!

:: D said @ 4:47 PM [+] ::
...

Went to Gateway mall yesterday with the sibs (as I expected, the moment I texted the C, he asked if I wanted to meet up - to which I said no can do, it's a sibling thing today). Went a bit crazy with Fully Booked and Chi had to stop me from buying every intriguing book that came into my line of sight (later on she said I looked like a Woman on a Mission - lol). I ended up buying five books: almost all of them young adult sci-fi fantasy, except for one apologetics book (Crossing the Tiber).

Walked around post-book buying binge and ate at Burgoos, where we proceeded to demolish a meal for a family of five (there were only three of us). I ate five out of eight slices of a pizza Margherita that I ordered (I couldn't believe how good it tasted!).

Also jumped into National Bookstore - Main to buy Bryan's notebooks supplies. In all the excitement, we bought everything we needed except the most critical one for start of year: plastic book wrap. LOL!

I wanted to play LOTR Monopoly with Bry or at least his new game: Game of the Generals but I took a nap and didn't resurface until dinner time. Promised him we'll play this afternoon.

Still have a couple of errands to run - I'm at the office at 8am Philippine time, which is unheard of - and then I'm heading home. As I was riding the shuttle to work, I said to myself: Wow, so this is what the other side feels like, meaning, waking up in the morning and commuting with the morning rush hour. All my working life, I've worked at night, and only found reason to commute during the day (ie morning) when I have the day off, or it's the weekend. Almost never on the morning rush hour to get to work, unless I'm applying for a job, and that was two years ago.

Bought myself coffee with an extra shot of espresso to keep me awake, too. Lol.

Anyway, I have training in two hours, and I'll post next time.

:: D said @ 4:48 PM [+] ::
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Star Wars and Being Awake at Five AM

So now I've gone and done it; posted on Fanfiction.Net. Sigh. I'm setting myself up for a fall. *rolls eyes*

On other news, I watched STAR WARS!!!
I got to see the midnight premiere with Chi, Bry, and Potch. Took a leave from work, and wore the shirt I made for the thing.

Summary (and, don't read if you don't want to be spoiled):


- George Lucas can't write romantic parts for shit. I mean, his lightsaber duels and the space fights rocked, but the moment Padme and Anakin are in a scene together, prepare yourself for a Cringing Moment. Ew.
- The lightsaber duels just freaking rocked.
- The ships! Whoa, the ships! Bry and I had a great time checking out the eye candy that were the ships in the prequels. We saw the percursor to the X-Wing, the Lambda-class fighter, the A-wing, the TIE fighter and the Star Destroyers. But of all of the ships so far, my second favorite would be the ship that Obi-wan uses: the one where he has an orbiter ring around the ship he detaches when he gets to a planet. Either he uses it as a satellite communication device for orbit, or he uses it as a hyperdrive booster for when he travels in light speed. Or maybe both. It's like a portable loading dock.
- It ties in more closely with the latter movies in this series. For obvious reasons, you get to see Anakin transformed into Vader. You see characters that you'll meet again in Ep 4 onwards (ie Moff Tarkin in a non-speaking, walkthrough role; Captain Antilles, who would most probably be Wedge Antilles' father, Beru and Owen Lars).
- Chewbacca worked with Yoda!
- The volcano scene was great. Being a fan of the series, I knew that Anakin and Kenobi would have a major lightsaber duel in a place where there's volcanoes erupting.. but I don't recall how that became a consensus among the fans. I must've heard or read it from Lucas somewhere in an interview or what have you, because of all the spinoffs that he authorized, I don't recall reading an SW novel actually stating that they fought in a volcanic planet.
- Yoda rocks. 'Nuff said. I like the part where Palpatine was throwing Senate seats at Yoda. Very symbolic.
- Was it just me, or was Anakin sort of looking like he was losing it? I mean, at some points there he does look like he was going insane.
- Wow. Quadriplegic (sp?) Anakin Skywalker being rescued. I didn't know if Lucas wanted to show that - or if he would at all - but he did. Shows the extremeness of what went on with Anakin: he was burned, almost died, and the person who came to 'rescue' him was Palpatine.
- Padme dying at childbirth. I wonder how they would resolve the part in the latter movies where Luke asked Leia if she remembered their mother. She said "Yes. She was very beautiful, but also very sad." If it was childbirth, how would she remember? Does it have something to do with the core Jedi powers that she inherited from Anakin?
- Bail Organa and the planet Alderaan! Bail Organa being one of the key (if not THE) heads of the Alliance!
- Kashyyk! WOO!! Timothy Zahn is totally justified! Although in my mind, I thought Kashyyk would've been more heavily forested; like a forest/jungle version of Coruscant.
- The Rebel Alliance seal came from the Old Republic!
- Holy crap the Jedi Massacre! I've heard and read about it in the books and the backstory, but it doesn't seem as scandalous if you don't see it happening right in front of you. And I really hate Anakin Skywalker for massacring the younglings. Must've been too deep into the Dark Side to actually cut down CHILDREN! Anakin, what the hell were you thinking??!
- Mace Windu dying. Damn you, Palpatine! And lol, Samuel L Jackson loves being a Jedi! Each time he is captured in a scene with a walk-and-talk, he just positively swaggers
- Jedi Twins! I am amazed that Anakin wasn't able to tell that he had twins. And with such advanced technology in the SW universe, it's an appalling oversight that everyone was surprised that Padme had twins. Were the children so powerful that they themselves were hidden from Jedi insight? Was one of the twins so powerful that he (Luke)/she (Leia) was able to cloak themselves in the womb?
- The fans! Clapping in all the appropriate parts.


I had two coffees in preparation for the premiere. It's already 5am where I am and I'm nowhere near winding down.

Saw Magbu prior to the premiere. Much oinking re The Wedding (the real one, not the fic). Idiot guy kept on teasing me, asking if I was okay. Of course I'm okay. He looks good. I missed his company.

:: D said @ 2:04 PM [+] ::
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Happy birthday to three of my best buds:

May - May 12
Mickey - May 13
Emil - May 15

Happy birthday, guys. It's been a gift knowing all three of you.

May, I wish we could meet up before the month ends.

We might have an Israelite reunion next weekend (something that has nothing to do with the Jews - long story): Kim, Mickey, Emil and me. We're still trying to get Eidge to come, but I think Mickey's working on that.

Saw Emil yesterday in Galleria while Chi, Bry and I bought the Star Wars premiere tickets. Nice. We'll be watching the SW midnight premiere this Wednesday.

Hey, and the wedding happened last Saturday! I slept through most of the day, so I woke up that evening and it was all over. 'Twas sweet of Stephen to text me asking if I was okay (I was, although a bit oddly melancholic). I wanted to meet up Monday morning, but I'd just rather stay at home and watch movies for the rest of the day before I get back to sleep and go to work.

I'm a bit calmer now re work. Talking it over with Emil was refreshing, because he's both a college friend, and a co-worker. It's a different perspective because he knew me then and now. It's hard to talk about stuff like this with May or other people because I wind up needing to tell both sides and sometimes I wonder if I'm being too biased in favor of myself. Emil and I have the advantage of knowing each other on both levels.

I miss seeing my friends. The FFellowship met up yesterday for Kingdom of Heaven in Megamall. I wonder how that went, because I went to Galleria with the siblings in search of a lightsaber. There was no lightsaber, so what we did instead was to buy plain shirts and decorate them with the Imperial insignia for the Star Wars premiere.

Kamiseta was also on sale, so I got to buy two shirts at an outrageously low price - I normally don't go to Kamiseta unless my sister drags me inside (my sister the shopaholic), and never on my own if they're not on sale.

:: D said @ 4:07 PM [+] ::
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Damn, I'm getting old

So Aikah got married. The first of my group of college friends who ever really took the plunge. Also the first in my recollection of having been knocked up before getting married. I know it sounds both crude and prudish to say it; but it is. For some reason, my group of friends were- are- the 'boring' type: still single (or long-term coupled up), working, no plans of getting married. We each of us are in our offices, part of the working wounded. Unlike Chi, whose classmates are now procreating, inviting each other to baby showers and bridal parties with the bride already pregnant or gaving given birth.
Why does this disturb me, I'm still trying to figure out. I think maybe it's because I can no longer deny that I have crossed over to the realm of the adult, and my circle of friends are now engaging in life situations and making decisions I've always designated to my parents, and their friends. It's still a bit of a shock that, yes, it is now happening to my circle of friends. On the contrary, I've been living in a rarefied world, because everyone else's group of friends are already parents and/or have spouses. And these people are from my age group. Looking at my group of friends, sometimes I think I might have been the endangered species, belonging to a group of like-minded people who don't have plans of getting married or having children anytime soon- not because they're having too much fun, but instead that they know the incredible weight and responsibility of taking such a step in life.

:: D said @ 5:46 PM [+] ::
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The fic is like a monster snarling at my neck. Its a living, breathing thing. It demands my attention like a child that's been ignored too long. It eats me up, makes me worry. It sits at my shoulder, watching over everything else that I do, making sure that I am fucking working on it. She is a jealous habit, wanting to consume my spare time like a suspicious lover. Food is ignored. Work is deferred. She constantly yells at me to get a move on.
But I am bone dry. I am working on two other non related fics to get the gas for IMR going. I am afraid to voice it out, but I had hit a dead end with IMR. I think I got the groove back. Shh. Don't jinx it.

:: D said @ 5:43 PM [+] ::
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Idiots galore

So now I'm glad that - in hindsight- no one ever really knew about Number One. Because in the end he was a disappointment. I lost to a 36-24-36 girl. In fairness, she was truly nice as she was insanely sexy. But given his intellectual capacity.. I guess he still wanted to have the upper hand in the relationship. And there's the truly sad fact that I'm just not his type. He wants girls he can mold, and have sex with. Basically, not me. I don't feel the loss so much as I feel disappointment in what I thought he was. But then he was, after all, a disappointment.
And I am, still, 'pihikan'. I have no problem having crushes. But I am held back by my gender- and now my rank- not to move forward.
And there's the other side of me that thinks- knows- that if two people click, they click, no matter what happens. I clicked with someone else, and later on he found me attractive, so I know I'm not a complete loss. I'm being funny, by the way.
So why am I writing this entry? Because mostly I'm disappointed. He held on to an almost decades-old relationship for This. I truly hope he feels sincere love towards her, and not the surge of hormones normally associated with looking at her. Because yes, she's insanely sexy. The kind of girl guys would like to have on his arm as a subliminal yardstick for his dick: I have this girl, can you just imagine how lucky I am in bed? A trophy.
In my smallest, stupidest moments, I wish I were trophy material. Sometimes. But then my mind rebels: what I might have 'lacked' in physical beauty, I made up for in spades in intellectual prowess. So much so that I have automatic disdain for the Pretty. And, on men, I am instantly wary of the Handsome.
Yes, nature has her way of propagating the species. The most beautiful, the most showy of creatures have more chances of propagating their race. But then there is the survival of the wily; where beauty is a liability instead of an asset. I would hate to think the human race got along so far because of beauty. On the other hand, it is the hardier, smarter human who make up bulk of the species.
Why then, do men go for the Beautiful? Why do they keep on flocking to the bitch when statistically, they would have better chances with a smaller audience? Why do I fucking care?
Okay, take out the disappointment, I am pissed to have been bested by SexyPuff Girl. Maybe this year's theme song still holds true. Try humming along to New Deep by John Mayer and you'll see what I mean. This was the year of the New Deep Experiment. I think I ought to put more effort into it.ü

:: D said @ 5:37 PM [+] ::
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