It only took me thirty-seven pages to fall in love. It also took only four hours of overnight reading for me to have my heart broken yet again by a fictional character. True, I was grief-stricken when he passed away. But his parting words brought me comfort.
"You don't get to choose if you get hurt in this world..but you do have some say in who hurts you."
And know this, Augustus Waters. I like my choices.
"Sometimes, you read a book and it fills you with this weird
evangelical zeal and you become convinced that the shattered
world will never be put back together unless and until
all living humans read the book." ~TFIOS
I'm not sure if it's normal, but I like crying. Of course I like laughing too, but next to laughing, I find that crying also feels so good. I can easily give Judy Ann Santos a run for her money when it comes to the speed at which my tears could fall on queue. It doesn't take much to make me cry. Cry in front of me and I will join you in a heartbeat. I cry over TV shows (even sitcoms like Modern Family and How I Met your Mother!), movies, TV commercials, radio programs, YouTube videos, my friends' personal problems, love letters, and even observing strangers' candid moments in public. I'm a sucker for drama.
I was delighted when I went to see the movie Les Miserables yesterday with two of my dearest girlfriends and cry buddies. Oh yeah, I cried my eyes out throughout the movie. If not for the other people inside the cinema, I would have wailed loudly! I was just afraid that I might get asked to leave so I stifled my sobs inside my hankie and let the glorious tears flow freely.
It was a great movie. All the actors and actresses did a splendid job. Bravo!
And today, I'm constantly catching myself spontaneously bursting into song to Eponine's On my Own. With feelings..with super duper feelings.
As one who was born and raised in a city within a forest, I grew up believing that the eleventh commandment is Thou Shall Not Litter. You can just imagine my horror when I started living in Manila and witnessed some people just throwing trash everywhere. From where I came from, we had no excuse to litter because you cannot walk ten to fifteen steps without encountering a trash bin. Hence, my birthplace was consistently the Cleanest and Greenest City in the country when I was growing up.
I count myself lucky to have grown up in such an environment, where aside from knowing where to properly put our trash, people just innately have a sense of accountability towards the conservation and protection of our natural resources. Personally, I feel that it's the least I can do in return for the chance to live in such a beautiful place. Maybe it's just provincial pride or something, but I really think that Palawan is a paradise on earth. But of course it won't stay that way if we don't keep pushing for awareness of environmental issues.
Last night I attended an art exhibit/music fest fundraiser dubbed EndDanger, by Artists for Nature which is this group of wonderful individuals who lent their artistic talents towards a noble cause--environmental conservation and protection. Works of various artists were on display, showcasing different species of Philippine wildlife that are on the verge of extinction if we don't take immediate steps to protect them now.
Pawikan (A Race to Life) by Mike Garcia
Visayan Wrinkled Hornbill by Henri Peneyra
Philippine Tarsier by Henri Peneyra
Palawan Peacock by Marky Alvarado
Golden Crowned Flying Fox by Ray Anthony Jauculan
The exhibit will run until Feb. 08 at
Conspiracy Garden Cafe in Quezon City
Aside from the wake up call for action and drive for awareness that these paintings provided to the exhibit-goers, all the proceeds of the event would actually fund a Pawikan Watchers training program launched by the Save Philippine Seas movement, which benefits a group of volunteers whose mission is to spread the word and lead by example, that hey, it's not cool to harm the turtles, okay? The Philippine turtle is actually one the most threatened species of marine life in our country. Not convinced by my mere words alone? Watch the video below to see how these critters struggle against all odds.
Instead of being on a 2-night camping trip at a nice cove in Zambales this weekend, we were stuck at home this afternoon due to the nasty weather. The four-year-old kid from the unit downstairs ventured into our third floor apartment so we let her inside to play around the house.
Within an hour, she managed to break a picture frame and a pair of my sunglasses. She also ate five of our bananas, drank three glasses of iced tea, and then announced that she's going to throw up.
Our cutie neighbor with a Jabbawockeez mask
and my neck pillows.
After four trips to the bathroom (Wee-wee ako, Ate Lel!), she decided to turn our bed into a trampoline. The jumping only ended when she fell from the bed and I had a mini heart attack. Thankfully, she didn't break her neck or any bones. But she did leave a trail of Stick-O crumbs on the bed, the floor, and the carpet.
We had to pause the movie we were watching because she wanted to show us Barbie and the Nutcracker on YouTube. When it was finally time for her to go, she wailed loudly as we called her yaya to get her. Charming.
The wait was worth it! I loved the movie as much as I loved the book, maybe even better! When the big screen lit up with that first frame of the zoo where Pi grew up in Pondicherry, I had to stifle a gasp. It was exactly how it looked like in my mind's eye when I was reading the book! Excellent!
