Pichur!

Posted on August 9, 2008 at 3:47 pm | 12 Comments
Filed under Random Realities • Shameless Shot

Okay, I’m really sorry for not updating this blog for uh, almost a month? I hope you’ll forgive me. I guess, a bug bit me. Well, yeah, I have a writer’s block right now. So yeah. That’s mainly the reason why there are no updates in this blog lately. Another reason is school. Though I have lots of new experiences, I can’t post them here. By the time I get back home, most my energy has already been depleted. Then, there are still other things that I have to worry like endless paperwork, Ms. Irresponsible1, and other things that make me annoyed. Besides, the reason why I’m keeping my identity would be defeated if I published them here.

But if you can’t resist2 me, I suggest that you follow me on Twitter and Plurk. Also add me as your friend, contact, fan or whatever on Last.fm, Facebook, Flickr, Delicious (The new Delicious site is… delicious!), Google Reader, and Digg. But erm, there’s no 100% guarantee that I’ll reciprocate. XD

So, what’s with the title? Well, I dunno if I’ve already introduced you to the word pichur. Haha. Obviously, it’s synonymous to the word picture. Use it in a sentence? Okay, here we go: Have you seen NYTimes’ feature on Angelica Panganiban’s photoshopped pichur? I guess this word was created circa 2005 by my chemistry-teacher-slash-adviser who has pronunciation problems.

Because I’m really out of words, I’ll be using photos to express myself and I’ll try to put a short description. Hopefully, this will work. And uh, I hate to admit it but this post is very random.

Let’s get the film rolling!

Agony in the Garden
Agony in the Garden - March 25, 2005

I’m pretty sure I’ve already posted this photo here. This is one of our heirlooms. My Dad reckons it was sculpted around the last quarter of the 17th century. That makes it more than a century old. Every Holy Week, we go to Dangwa Flower Market (near UST) to buy flowers for the procession. The float is designed with various flowers. Around six in the evening, the procession starts. But lately, I didn’t like how the float was decorated (20063, 2007, 2008). My Grandmother insists on buying white flowers only. It looked too simple to me. Currently, this photo is in Flickr’s Explore. Uh, if you have a Flickr account and you like this photo, please add it to your favorites and leave a comment as well. Well, I’m not coercing you. Haha.

Eat
Eat - December 24, 2006

A little bit of history about this phone: before it landed to me, my younger and sister and mother used it. Well, I’m not really a fan of phones. So even though it came from the Jurassic Era, I really don’t care. Lately, it was malfunctioning which forced me to use the other old phones here at home. But now, it’s working again. The culprit was its bloated battery. On a related subject, I’ve already owned one Smart, one Sun, and four Globe sim cards. Currently, I’m using two Globe sim cards. One is for my offline life, and the other is for my online life (but I don’t regularly use it).

Fully Booked
Fully Booked - April 06, 2008

You know how much I love books. Books are the fuel of my life. WTF?! I really enjoy reading books, that’s why I don’t mind spending hundreds of Pesos on them. Yeah, reading is an expensive hobby. Unless you have other resources like borrowing reads from the library or from your friends, you’ll surely get broke. But owning a copy is still different, eh? Right now, I don’t have anything to read. The books in the local bookstore don’t look interesting to me. Someone suggested a Chuck Palahniuk book to me, but after reading the synopsis on the back of his book, I hesitated. I think I will not like his style, besides, the synopsis kinda scared the hell out of me. I badly want to visit a Fully Booked store!

Bread Talk
Bread Talk - August 08, 2008

I have to say that Bread Talk is officially my favorite bakery. The presentation of their pastries and breads is awesome! I always salivate when I see breads (and not to mention cakes) from Bread Talk. And oh, the structure of their shops is also cool. Simple but amazing. The only downside is that their breads are expensive. Oh, look at that sign! The “NO PHOTOGRAPHING, no smoking, no eating/drinking, no shoplifting4” sign can’t stop me from taking photos of this amazing bakery!
PS: I submitted this photo to the Flickr 888 pool.

Print Cartridges
Print Cartridges - August 09, 2009

I’ve been bragging on Plurk that I’ve used my HP 56 Print Cartridge (as seen on this photo) for a staggering two years. What’s more is that I didn’t have to buy a new cartridge because I used up all of the 19 milliliters of ink but because the cartridge malfunctioned. That’s how tipid I am with ink. Haha. You see, I usually use “fast draft” for Print Quality (for text). Well, the quality is good and the text is still readable. Yesterday, after checking the prices of the print cartridges in four computer shops at SM City Pampanga, I bought the cheapest HP 56/57 print cartridge combo-pack for my old printer-slash-scanner-slash-copier I’ve found. I was able to save more or less PHP 1000.00. In one of the shops I’ve visited, if you bought a HP 56 and HP 57 print cartridges separately, you would have to pay them for PHP 2680.00 (I’m glad I didn’t buy from that store)! Now, that’s an impressive deal! I guess, those are that last print cartridges I would buy until I graduate from college. Haha.

Uh, I guess this worked for me! w00t! I now have my first post for this month. I actually enjoyed doing this. I’m off to visit your blogs, then, I’ll try to catch the Olympics (read this article: 10 Fascinating Facts About the Ancient Olympic Games) later.

  1. That’ll be her name here in my blog from now on. Also, I believe that the whole class now knows how much I hate her. Wait, have I mentioned about her here in my blog? [↩]
  2. LOL. What’s wrong with me? Resist?! Seriously? [↩]
  3. Weird. I can’t find a photo of this in my Flickr account taken back in 2006. [↩]
  4. Uh, I’m not sure if it’s a “no shoplifting” sign. The illustration was so vague. [↩]

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An Expensive Treat

Posted on January 8, 2008 at 9:49 pm | 19 Comments
Filed under Bulky Books • Daily Dose

As what I have written in my previous update, I’m now going to continue recounting our recent trip to Manila. After we had a sumptuous lunch at the very extravagant Sofitel Philippine Plaza Manila and lingered a few minutes at the pool side and take photos (you can read more about it in my entry entitled “So Sofitel“), we went to Trinoma.

I thought that we would go to Mall of Asia instead of Trinoma because MOA is situated near Sofitel. Actually, we have seen it from the pool section of the hotel, erected on the reclamation area. After more than seven months from the day Trinoma was opened, it was my first time to go there. The mall is big and I got lost trying to locate — what else — Power Books because of the confusing structure of the mall. When I decided that it was time to ask somebody, I asked at the concierge BTW, I was at the right floor and Power Books was just a few meters away. My parents and siblings went to SM North Edsa, leaving me there alone.

The branch of Power Books in Trinoma is smaller than the other branches I have been to. It is relatively smaller than the nearest Nation Bookstore branch from our home. But of course, unlike NBS, the majority of the products that they sell at Power Books are books. Lol. I tried to look for a book of Adeline Yen Mah in their biography section. I was not even sure if the books were arranged by title or subject at first. But to no avail and after checking most of the books’ authors and titles, I haven’t seen any book written by her.

I’ve seen good reads but they’re way too expensive. One of which is Michael Chabon’s “The Yiddish Policemen’s Union.” Because the book is hardbound, there is no question why it was priced as Php 1000 plus. I think I’ll just wait for the paperback edition. I’ve also seen “The Emperor’s Children” by Claire Messud. I have expressed in Twitter that I wanted a copy of it. But after reading the synopsis of the book, I was turned off. Time was running out and my father called and told me that he would fetch me and we would go to SM North Edsa. And because I know that it could take months before we’ll go back there I was determined to get something to read. So I decided to take anything that have an appealing cover, without even caring to check the writer’s style1.

The Namesake The first book I have seen appealing to my eyes was Jhumpa Lahiri’s “The Namesake.” I’ve already finished reading it, just today. It’s the second book I have read this year. The story revolves on how Bengalis name their children. The main character named Gogol struggles in the USA with his very weird name. The book can be summarized from the words uttered by Gogol who changed his name into Nikhil later in the book: “There is no such thing as a perfect name. I think that human beings should be allowed to name themselves when they turn eighteen. Until then, pronouns.” When I read that, I burst into laughter. I can’t imagine how people would call somebody who is below eighteen using pronouns all the time. It’s a nice book. Book lovers who are looking for a book written by somebody who has not have American or British blood running in their veins should try it.

Daniel Isn't Talking Just below the shelf where Lahiri’s book was displayed, I’ve seen this book by Marti Leimbach entitled “Daniel Isn’t Talking.” The front cover features a kid with his arms raised. The book looked interesting. And yes, it really is. This is the first book I have read this year, and it’s a very nice book to start with this 2008. I didn’t know that it was about an autistic kid. The last time I read a book with an autistic kid in the story (”The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time” by Mark Haddon) I wasn’t impressed. Maybe, if I knew that autism was involved in the book, I would not have bought it. But this one is really good. What I liked about the book is that behind the drama of the story, some humorous lines were inserted to make the book a lot interesting.

*****

Falling Leaves When I was already in SM North Edsa, I went to another bookstore, this time, Fully Booked. I must say that it’s my favorite bookstore. They have so many books! I went to their biography section, where I have seen an Adeline Yen Mah book (”Chinese Proverbs”). What I wanted was “Falling Leaves” so I asked the salesman if they have other books of Mah. And guess where he brought me? In the children’s section! And her books were under the general fiction. Weird. You see, “Falling Leaves” is a biography and not a product of Mah’s imgainations. “Chinese Cinderella,” which I have already read is also a biography so it was also shelved on the wrong place. Another book that I have seen by Mah was “Chinese Cinderella and the Secret Dragon Society.” It’s fiction, so they got that one correct. Maybe, whoever shelved her books were confused where they would put them because their titles sound fiction-like. In the end, I bought “Falling Leaves” and “Chinese Cinderella and the Secret Dragon Society.” Chinese Cinderella and the Secret Dragon Society

I got these four books for almost Php 2000. But I’m not complaining. I consider this as a treat to myself. Besides, I really like reading, it could take me anywhere around the globe without moving even just a fraction of an inch. So, any titles that you can suggest?

[EDIT] My father saw my passbook, and because I used my ATM to buy these books (the transactions I made are recorded there), he shouted at me, saying that I’ve spent too much money. [/EDIT]

*****

And because of this, we arrived back here in Pampanga around 11PM. I was not able to go to the party of my friend. I can’t believe that I missed it. I believe that most of my high school friends were there at the party. I have missed the chance to mingle, laugh, chat, and laugh even more with them. Maybe, next time, I would be able to see and meet my friends again, that is if there is a next time. Lol. Whatever.

  1. I check the author’s style via the Internet if the books are sealed with plastic. Unluckily, the books were covered so I don’t really have the chance to read even just a few pages of the books. Obviously, they don’t want private reading. [↩]

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