Books and Magazines on Sale

Dear Reader, This year, I am offering some of my books and magazines at insanely low prices. Pls. YM me (cyrenz18) if you're interested in what I have and for other concerns that you might have. Thanks! Magazines (Back Issues)
Fashion	Cosmopolitan, Harper's Bazaar, Preview, Seventeen, Mega and other Fashion Magazines				Php 15 each
Business	Entrepreneur				Php 15 each
Mainstream Fiction	Book			Author
Humor	I Feel Bad About My Neck			Nora Ephron	Php 120
	And Other Thoughts on Being a Woman
	(No. 1 New York Times Best Seller)
Humor	Then We Came to the End			Joshua Ferris	Php 120
	Captures the Fishbowl Quality of Contemporary Office Life
	(International Best Seller; National Book Award Finalist)
Chick Lit	Shopaholic Takes Manhattan			Sophie Kinsella	Php 120
	Because there just aren't enough shops in London
Modernist Philosophy/Love Story	The Unbearable Lightness of Being			Milan Kundera	Php 120
	A Young Woman in Love with a Man Torn between his love
	for her and his incorrigible womanizing
	(International Best Seller)
Adventure	The Valkyries			Paolo Coelho	Php 120
	A Powerful Exploration of One Man's Battle with Self Doubt
	and Fear
Thriller	The Darkest Evening of the Year			Dean Koontz	Php 120
	For Canine Lovers (New York Times Best Seller)
Religion (Juvenile Fiction)	Eat My Martian Dust			Michael Caroll and Robert Elmer	Php 120
	Finding God Amid Aliens, Droids and Mega Moons
Love Story	Hotel Du Lac			Anita Brookner	Php 120
	Winner of the Booker Prize
Politics	The God of Small Things			Arundhati Roy	Php 90
	The Devil is in the Details
Adventure/Politics/Love	Eating Fire and Drinking Water			Arlene J. Chai	Php 70
	A Powerful and Pulsing Novel of Politics, Commitment,
	Loyalty and Love, and the Poignant Search for Truth
Classic Fiction
Adventure	The Swiss Family Robinson			Johan Rudolf Wyss	Php 50
Non-Fiction
Psychology - Body, Mind & Spirit	Sacred Contracts			Caroline Myss	Php 300
	Awakening Your Divine Potential
	(New York Times Best Seller)
Philosophy	The Destiny of Man			Nicholas Berdyaev	Php 70
Sales	Sales Essentials			Stephan Schiffman	Php 250
	"Using Steve's proven techniques will get you to the top of
	the sales leader board… guaranteed." -Stephen C. Muller
Autobiography	Through the Narrow Gate			Karen Armstrong	Php 120
	A Nun's Story

Insights from Something as Mundane as Eating Chicken

Was eating dinner awhile ago, and was thinking of whether or not I should take the rump or the leg (which have been my favorites for as long as I can remember. It was a strange feeling when I actually chose the chicken wing. Somehow, it was what I wanted awhile ago. It felt particularly strange because it was actually the first time I chose the chicken wing when my all-time favorite chicken parts were available. So I got the chicken wing because I didn't want something as big as a rump that time and the leg was too soft for my taste. It was funny that after I finally chose the chicken wing, my yaya suddenly came out of nowhere to tell me, "Hey. The chicken wing is my favorite part, too." I was surprised to hear this because I never knew anyone who actually liked chicken wings; but awhile ago, there were 2 instant chicken wing lovers- my yaya and me. This made me arrive at the conclusion that the norm or the mainstream doesn't necessarily suit all tastes.

Another case in point for this is that even though everybody listens to the hot new songs from the latest artists, I still prefer to listen to old songs. I'm actually listening to 96.3 (light rock) right now. Though I don't call myself particularly fanatical about oldies, I find myself actually preferring them over... well, I was going to cite some names of new artists but each one of them seems to be as forgettable as the next. One quality that I like about old songs is that their message strikes me as more honest (meaning from the heart). These days, I feel that the lyrics of the new songs lack creativity, uniqueness and I dunno, mystique (that's the word- or perhaps "etherealness" (?)- that I feel is closest to what I like from old songs)? To each his own; maybe it's the "poet" in me that responds to these old songs.

The Shadow with No Master

I treaded the plains again, and with every step I took, it seemed as if the backdrop of parched land stretched itself to no end. After taking exactly 100 steps forward, as I was so accustomed to do, the sight of two hulking trees greeted me. My eyes must’ve been playing tricks on me because I thought I glimpsed a shadow that was framed between the two trees. So I took another 20 steps, as I was again accustomed to do, toward the only 2 life forms (apart from the grass and me of course), which I knew existed in this realm.Upon finally reaching the trees, I realized that my eyes couldn’t have been playing tricks on me because even though I haven’t slept for days, I didn’t feel tired- so I was quite certain that my faculties were functioning accordingly. I saw that the shadow was so dark that I couldn’t even see past through it, which made me wonder if it was a shadow in the first place. I tried passing through it, just to make sure, but just the moment I was in contact of the “shadow-thing”, I felt the dark force stringing vibrations in my mind.It said, “Greetings, avatar. What brings you to these lost plains of old?” And instead of screaming out of my wits, I replied with the unabashed tone that only a child can invoke, “On the contrary ‘shadow-thing’, or whatever blasted thing the universe had borne you as, what are you doing here? Don’t you know that this is my dream? And that I conjured this desolate place to be alone with my thoughts? You have no right to be in my imaginary place. Can I not have any privacy even in my dream?”Then a kind of ringing commenced again in my head, which my consciousness interpreted as, “My dear. Even in your own dreams, you are lost. I’ve been here for as long as time existed. I will show you how ignorant you are about this place you have claimed to conjure. Have you seen the yellow fringes in the corner of the sky?” I said, “No. This dream is in black and white.” And the “shadow-thing” that held me in place “said”, “It’s because you’ve only been looking forward. What sort of pleasure do you get from ceaselessly walking forward? Why don’t you look upward for a change so you can see the other myriad entities in this forgotten realm?”So I guided my eyes upward and saw what looked like a spectrum of yellow and brown encasing the sky. The corners of the sky looked as if they were that of ancient scrolls, which have yellowed through the years.

Back to School as a Junior

Random Stuff that Happened Today ('La Lang *Reminisce*) After a year of hiatus, I feel like blogging again. Need to exercise my fingers. It's a good thing that I only have one class today. My Philo teacher seems funny because he kept cracking jokes. He also seems like an agreeable teacher since he even told us to report him if he would be late or absent. Teachers aren't usually like that. Sanndra said he looked like David, although I disagreed. Still, he did look Xaverian to me because he was laidback. And from my experience, I figured that Xaverians are probably the most laidback (in a positive way imho 'coz looking at them destresses me) students in this country. Also had fun trying to complete Adrian's crossword puzzle. So far, the first day of school was cool- no stress yet, but I really miss lazing around the house all day with nothing to worry about. I can't believe that I'm already in my third year in college. Time really does go by fast. *** Pilosopo Vix When I saw the newly constructed MVP building awhile ago, I was somewhat amazed to see how grand it looked compared to the old building. It made me remember my first year in college where I applied in four organizations (due to a friend's recommendation to join a lot of organizations in your first year to discover which one you really liked). Among the four organizations I joined, the only org I actually liked was Celadon. I guess I miss the old building because it becomes harder to bring back the memories I have of that place and the activities that went on there. I bet that if my parents would read this, they'd say, "God. You're only 20 and you're this nostalgic already?" That's why it's hard to be an artist, when you find beauty in most everything you see- even the ugly things (because the concept of beauty cannot exist without the ugliness which makes it stand out). It is hard to accept that you cannot completely preserve a moment, no matter how much you write. You cannot completely relive a perfect event ever again... except in your mind. That's why there is solace in dreaming. This reminds me of what Achilles said when he was talking with Briseis in the movie Troy. It went something like... "There's something clergymen don't teach you in Church- The Gods envy us because you will never be this lonely or happy again. That's why each moment becomes more beautiful, because at anytime, you can die." Wow. All I have to say is, that hit the nail on the head. If you can describe yourself in one word, what will it be? Dreamy.

What is your sign? Pisces.

(Figures.)

Random Thought: Shucks. Ayoko na maging deep. Hindi cool. Huwag na lang kayang mag-isip?

TV Vs. Internet

"You see, I hate watching TV. Ever since the internet, television has stopped becoming a source of entertainment. It's stopped becoming a source of anything. It's too slow. It's too unwieldy. It's too choosy. I have to wade through advertisement hell to watch what I want, and believe me, there's not really that much I want to see out there. I mean, I don't want soaps, or sitcoms, and I don't like Darna so I guess that pretty much leaves me with those stupid candid camera shows." <- I shared this guy's sentiment so I wrote this entry.

I find myself cruising the internet more frequently than watching the television. I think it’s because there aren’t a lot of good television shows recently. The only shows that I find worthwhile to watch are comedy shows like Friends, Will and Grace, the Simpsons and Seinfeld. Notice that the shows I enumerated all have one thing in common (asides from being comedy shows of course)- they’re all old. The series of shows I just mentioned had long ended more than a year ago, stopped producing new episodes and are currently, just being replayed. And no matter how much I chuckle watching Homer say “Dope!”, it can likewise get tediously repetitive.

Aside from comedy shows, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy and Fear Factor also makes it to my extremely short roster of “can-watch” (note that they didn’t even reach my “must-watch”) list of television shows, “can-watch” meaning that I watch these shows when I’m bored. Incidentally, American Idol is the only show that I look forward to watching these days.

You can skip this part if you detest watching American Idol...
I’m rooting for any of these people to win the illustrious title of American Idol. This is in order of preference, 1 having the highest preference: 1) Constantine, because he gets better onstage- vocal and presentation wise, unlike Bo (who he is usually compared with, perhaps because of the similar length of their locks) who seems to be getting more sabog, especially in the musicals genre; of the lot, he may not have the best vocals, but it seems like he has the “x-factor” that can be attributed to his incessant “pacute” pouting, 2) Carrie- Her voice is amazing! I’ve never heard her offbeat. Plus, she appears the most proper and decent out of all the other contestants (this is just out of intuition, I maybe wrong); I guess these traits can be viewed as pluses for her, but not requisite, because there is still the undeniable presence of notorious artists who still make good music, and 3) Anwar- I get good vibes when he’s onstage and he reminds me of Stevie Wonder.

When my parents got home awhile ago, they even discovered that the cable wasn’t working before I did. I was home the whole day while my parents just got back from Pampanga at 5:00 P.M. So this means that these days, I shun the TV for my computer; because with the advent of new programs for communication (messengers, e-mail, blogging, etc.), information dissemination (search engines, online booknotes, etc.) and entertainment (mp3, games, movie players, IQ tests, crazy LJ quizzes, etc.), there’s just no limit to what you can surf, download and express. It’s amazing how pliable the internet has evolved into. And I haven’t even touched online business, trading and banking yet.