2007 in 7 Lists of 7

Posted on December 30, 2007 at 9:16 pm | 10 Comments
Filed under Boggling Blogs • Bulky Books • Daily Dose • Internet Insanity • News Central • Random Realities • Site Stuff

It’s been my tradition here in my blog to post a yearend entry (2005, 2006). I usually post the most memorable things that happened to me from the very first day of January until December in my year ender specials, and in 2006, I’ve also included a list of my favorite entries for the whole year. But this year, I decided to make seven lists of seven. The lists talk about the best of 2007 except for the news category. I’ve also added notes here and there, and some are potential spoilers so be warned!

Most of the things that I have listed below are in either chronological or alphabetical order.

Books

This year, I was able to read 15 books, almost twice than last year. I really had fun reading this year.

  • Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — JK Rowling: The ending of Harry Potter’s epic tale was really fantastic. JK ended it with a fitting finale. How I wish there is a sequel to this book, but then, the time has come to end this very fascinating story.
  • The Kite Runner — Khaled Hosseini: I like this book very much. Furthermore, this is the best book I have read in my entire life. Unlike other fiction reads, this book is realistic. I recommend this to all, but most especially to those people who are not hooked into books and to Afghan refugees.
  • A Thousand Splendid Suns — Khaled Hosseini
  • The Chinese Cinderella — Adeline Yen Mah: [My Review]
  • Youngblood3 edited by Artura, et al: If you’re into Filipino literature, this is the book that you should buy. Very entertaining. And this is not fiction, by the way. [My Review]
  • The Dogs of Babel — Carolyn Parkhurst: The weirdest book I have ever read. It’s about Paul, a linguist, who tries to teach his dog how to speak. No, not because he’s out of his mind but because he wanted to know the real cause of his wife’s death. The words Parkhurst used in the ending of the story were really strong. [My Review]
  • For One More Day — Mitch Albom: Another tale about death. Yes, it’s a good book, but how I wish Albom would explore other topics. [My Review]

If you have read these books, you would notice that most of them are sad stories, but yeah, the characters lived happily ever after.

Songs

Entries

  • Faulty Schedule: My craziest misadventure this year. In this entry, I wrote how I spent almost 12 hours… in the mall.
  • The Perfect Duo: Chemistry and Zoology: You would fail these two subject if you don’t know how to memorize. And would you believe me that I enjoyed them? Haha.
  • The Divine Subjects: A review of my subjects back in first year, second semester. I used Dante’s concept in his Divine Comedy to give the final verdict for each of my subjects.
  • Stinks and Sells: I particularly enjoyed writing this. It’s my own version of what’s in and what’s out.
  • Big Surprises: The story how I acquired my notebook.
  • Let’s Talk About Grades (Part 2): What I realized in these posts was that grades aren’t everything.
  • Signs and Symptoms of Stress: The title says it all. I had a good time writing this and rereading it makes me laugh. XD

I know that the title of this entry says that for every list, there are seven items. But I have to break that because I reckon I have more interesting entries this year. And so we continue…

Web Apps

  • Last.fm: A cool way to discover music.
  • Google Reader: This one is a bit old, it’s been out since like two years ago. But it deserves a spot here.
  • Twitter: Who doesn’t love Twittering, eh? It’s enjoyable even though there is a maximum of 140 characters per tweet.
  • Sxipper: This one is actually a Firefox plugin. It can automatically input your information in every single form. It can also remember and generate passwords for you. A similar service is Clipperz.com.
  • del.icio.us
  • Flickr
  • Google Apps: Sign up and get your @yourdomain.com mail. All of the essential features of GMail are included. There are also other available applications that you can use.

News

Unlike the other categories, this one does not talk about the bests of 2007. These are the breaking news here in the Philippines. Majority of these are bad news.

  • Bus Hostage
  • The Glorietta 2 Blast: What’s the latest developement? Have they solved this?
  • Mariannete Ampere’s Suicide: A very very sad story
  • Erap’s Pardon: No way!
  • House of Representatives Bombing
  • The Peninsula Hotel Siege: Trillanes, please spare the hotels. Lol.
  • Peso’s Increasing Value: How come we cannot feel it?

Bloggers

I had fun reading your blogs! Keep on writing interesting blog entries!

WordPress Plugins

Yes, I know, most of things/persons that I have listed above (Especially in books, songs, web apps, and bloggers) were not published/released or didn’t start blogging this year. But then, this is my blog. Haha.

Well, I suppose, this is my last entry for this year. May everyone have a prosperous 2008! Rock on!

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My Latest Baguio Adventure

Posted on September 30, 2007 at 3:58 pm | 13 Comments
Filed under Daily Dose

Last week, I was in Baguio with my family. We went there because of my uncle and aunt who came back here in the Philippines after six or seven long years stay at USA1. We stayed there for exactly 24 hours. Hmm… did I enjoy the trip? No, why? It was raining there last week. That was why we can’t go to Burnham Park or even Camp John Hay.

The place where we stayed for the night was big, it was a nice place. Since we can’t go to a park we decided to eat in the place we stayed in.

BBQ

In the afternoon of Saturday, we went to — um, I’ve already forget how you call that place — somewhere in Baguio to buy pasalubong2. There, I saw the unusual taho vendors3. They also have the strawberry flavored taho but I still haven’t tried it yet.

Then, we went to Baguio Cathedral to hear mass.

Baguio Cathedral

And we also went to the air-con-less SM City Baguio.

SM City Baguio

I tried to look for a good book at National Book Store there, but I haven’t seen any interesting fiction. Actually, I was disappointed, they have fewer titles available there. But I have seen a copy of “Water For Elephants”. So if you live in Baguio and you are looking for a good book, I suggest you buy it. And speaking of books, I have finished “A Long Way Down” by Nick Hornby last Tuesday. I didn’t enjoy the book. Now, I’m reading Khaled Hosseini’s latest book, “A Thousand Splendid Suns.”

The next day, Sunday, I didn’t join my parents to go to the market. I only told them to buy me strawberries. And look at this:

Strawberry

That’s the biggest strawberry that I have ever seen… and ate! And then, we ate lunch in the villa because it was still raining. And that’s all.

It’s not an interesting trip. Oh, I have heard that we’ll be going there again this coming October. I just hope when we will go there again, it will not rain.

*****

I’ve recently updated my WordPress installation to 2.3. There might be some bugs lurking around. If you have seen one, please report them. By next week, I’ll sit my final exams. Wish me luck. Ah, I can’t wait for the sem-break!

  1. But they’re now back in Texas [↩]
  2. gift [↩]
  3. Here in Pampanga, you will only see taho vendors during the morning, and not in the afternoon. [↩]

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Another Story About Books

Posted on September 19, 2007 at 8:17 pm | 12 Comments
Filed under Amazing Adventures • Bulky Books

Every time I bring a new book in school, my blockmates would always ask me what I am doing. Can’t they see? I’m reading? Isn’t obvious? And then, they would ask me what is the title of the book that I am reading. Finally, they would comment that they’re not fond of reading (as if I care). I’ve heard those lines for the nth time! Seriously, I’m getting tired of hearing those lines all over again and again.

I want to ask them if they would mind if they will mind their own business, but that will sound very rude so I don’t ask them.

What I want to point out is that you don’t disturb someone who is reading, just to say that you don’t like reading or anything for this matter. Well, unless there is a life threatening situation. Okay, I’m exaggerating, but you get the point, ‘ayt? I don’t like being disturbed especially if I’m so engrossed with the book; my concentration is being lost. And mind you, it is rude.

*****

I’m already on the fourth book my uncle gave me. The first one “Water for Elephants” by Sara Gruen was good, I like it. I’ve already wrote a draft of my review of the book but I still have to type it (now, I’m wondering where I put my draft), The second was Mark Haddon’s “A Spot of Bother”. I did not like it much but nevertheless, the story of George was still somehow captivating. Like Haddon’s first book — “The Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime” — the protagonist has mental problems. I’ve also finished “The Kite Runner” by Khaled Hosseini. It is really a good book (and I encourage you to read it also) and I think it is the best book I have read this year so far. The reviews of the book don’t lie! It’s indeed a haunting book!

When I was choosing which book I wanted my uncle to buy me, I was not really considering “The Kite Runner” because of the author being an Afghan1. But I was in short of one title, and I can’t find something interesting else so I chose it. And now, I found out that Amir and Hassan’s story was really captivating and riveting.

And because of Hosseini’s style in writing, I bough his latest book, “A Thousand Splendid Suns” last Friday2. I’m now reading “A Long Way Down” by Nick Hornby. It’s about four people who wanted to end their life and they all met in the building where they were supposed to jump.

*****

Last Sunday, we went to Subic to visit the beach. There were only few people swimming that day and the sun was behind the dancing clouds. After we ate lunch, I decided not to swim anymore, the sea was very salty that you can even smell how salty the sea is! I looked for a secluded place near the shoreline where you can hear the waves smashing. There, I continued reading “The Kite Runner,” I was on page 110 when suddenly, tears started to flow from my eyes. I was glad that no one saw me crying.

Okay, I should stop talking about that. But before I’ll end this entry, I want to tell you all that after two years, we are going to Baguio once again this Saturday! Yahoo!

  1. I’m not being a racist, okay? It’s just that most of the authors of the books that I’ve already read are either American or British. [↩]
  2. Which cost me almost 500 pesos. [↩]

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