American Idol 2009

Auditions are the best. Really. They make me laugh so hard... It's worth the struggle of staying up when I so very very much like to doze off.

Anyway, the season looks promising yet. There have been a couple of people so far that I've seen whom I think will make it at least in the Top 24. There were also a lot of surprises a.k.a. golden voices in weird packages.

The new judge: Cara something. She is awesome. She has such a wonderful voice and she absolutely knows what she's talking about. Well, she looks like she does. What do I know. And it's good that Paula finally has a girl with her to fend of Simon with. Lol.

Oh yeah, I just saw Jason Castro's brother audition. He was actually good! Very different from Jason. I think his voice is more versatile. And they have very different looks too. Jason has this very laid back ad kind of "chill" look and his bro has... red and yellow hair. Lol. But he was good. I look forward to his Hollywood auditions.

I really don't know why some of these people actually think they can sing... I can't. I wouldn't dare, especially when it's being shown all over the world. I don't know why they would want to humiliate themselves in front of the whole human race (those who own tvs at least).

Why People Like Books Like Twilight

Taken from Page-turner draws on medieval lore - The Boston Globe:

"The novelist and critic George Orwell once perfectly summed up the appeal of 'good bad books' like 'The Gargoyle': 'The existence of good bad literature - the fact that one can be amused or excited or even moved by a book that one's intellect simply refuses to take seriously - is a reminder that art is not the same thing as cerebration.'"

cerebration

Activity of the mental processes; thinking.

2:20 AM

I don't know what woke me up, but I just suddenly did. As usual, I went to bed early last night since it's a Tuesday (on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I usually sleep at around 9:30-10PM. I don't know why, but it seems that I always am totally sleepy whenever I get back from school. Maybe it's the all-day thing. Maybe it's because I always fail to get proper sleep Monday and Wednesday nights.)

I think I fell asleep at around 9:30. So now I've just had 5 hours of sleep... and nothing to do.

I just joined Facebook. Lol. That will keep me busy for another hour or so.

I think I'll go see House on Haunted Hill now.

Recently finished e-book:

• Wishes by Jude Deveraux

Wishes

There aren't enough stars in the universe to make my lone wish come true.

Nor in the multiverse, for that matter.

Another One Down

Recently finished e-book:

• A Knight In Shining Armor by Jude Deveraux

This one goes up there with the Velvet Series. I guess I read the revised edition, since there's an author's note at the end explaining what all of it has been about. The story was, as usual, love, lust, more professions of undying love that would rival the cheesiness of Edward Cullen's and Bella's, and then sex. But to my surprise, the author actually says that it's about alcoholism!

She aimed to write a piece about alcoholism without mentioning the word itself. She talked about an "alcoholic personality", when one possesses, leads the person to seek out strong people to pull down in order to relieve himself of guilt over his weakness or something.

I really didn't see that explanation coming. Before the explanation, I just found the heroine really stupid and gullible albeit with a warm, generous nature. I liked this one because this time, it's about a female Montgomery who's not so perfect like the male Montgomerys I've read about before. Wait, why did it have to be a female Montgomery to not be perfect? Hmph. Well, come to think of it, she was actually wonderful, but she just didn't know it.

I guess I kind of identify a bit with her low self-esteem, her constant ordeal of having to prove herself worthy and her feeling of being a failure.

As the explanation goes, since this heroine underestimates her worth by a mile, she succumbs to charms of useless men. And then she deluded herself in thinking that the man she was currently living with, a reputable surgeon, loved her, even though he is clearly just using her. Ugh. This is the alcoholic scenario. The surgeon is supposed to be the one with the alcoholic personality, trying to tear another who he views as "high and mighty" down.

In the end, she gets saved by a knight in shining armor, literally. And there's time travel involved. I don't wanna explain everything here, but it was quite an enjoyable read, the best yet after the Velvet series.

It's Gone

The sipon is gone!

Thank goodness.

Now I only need to blow my nose about once or twice a day. It feels so good to be able to breathe freely. Although there's a wee bit of phlegmy feeling in my throat, that hopefully wouldn't turn into another week or so of sipon.

Official tissue count: 4 packs of travel-sized facial tissues, about 2 1/2 rolls of toilet paper, and bits and pieces of restaurant tissues and ones in those little packs (some I asked from my friends) here and there.

Man, this sipon has caused me money. Well, I didn't really spend any, but my mom had to get me medicine and tissue isn't exactly free. I've consumed about 150php worth of tissues during the whole ordeal.

I just wish everybody else who has sipon would get well very very soon.




Recently finished e-book:

• The Awakening by Jude Deveraux

I'm like, putting down one e-book each day or two. I have to stop and turn my attention to required readings pretty soon. Argh. But that would be hard. There are 12 novels in the Montgomery series and I'm only on the 4th right now. I'd probably finish the one I'm reading tonight, and then start another one right after that and finish it I don't know, maybe tomorrow night. But then I gotta read something for Philo. Humph.

Okay, don't worry. Just think that there are only 7 weeks left and then you'd have endless freedom.

Or unemployment.

Yikes!

Absolutely Endless

A few days ago, I thought that I was getting better. I guess I did get better, but this sipon! My gosh. It's endless. I'm almost tempted to say that I will be eternally sipunin, but I plan to get rid of the sniffles by next week. I can't very well sit through an orals singhuting away! Goodness.

Tissue count: 1 1/2 rolls of toilet paper, 3 packs of facial tissues (and these are the travel-sized one, like, 50 pulls each), and bits and pieces of tissues here and there.

My bag is actually filled with little sipunin balls of tissue.

I guess it's because I failed to take my meds this morning. I barely slept because of the Theo midterms cram-a-thon (which I had to do because I just couldn't stop reading an e-book!)

Everybody in school is either only starting to sniffle or are already hacking up phlegm through their nose. At least mine has tamed down into soft fruzzles. Still I need to blow out once every hour or so. Ugh.

It's because of the weather. I think the temperature is sublimely cool. But I guess Filipinos aren't used to this kind of cold. I wish it were always this cold here. I won't have to sweat so much and can even wear a jacket from time to time. And it saved us loads of electricity because we didn't have to turn on air conditioning for like, a week. We just opened the windows and voila! It was better than air condition.

But do we have to pay for this comfort with runny noses? Humph.

My nose is already patchy: skin started peeling off because of constant friction with tissue. Now I've managed to have a sunburned-looking nose without actually having to go out into the sun.

Recently finished e-book:

• The Princess by Jude Deveraux

On to another Montgomery adventure......

E-books addiction and stuff

This was something I was supposed to post two days ago but never got around
to doing it because I was so very very tired and had midterms (and an ebook!)
to finish. And I needed sleep. (typed it with my phone in school while on break)

________________________________________________________________________________________

I just woke up from a much needed nap. I'm currently in the library at
my usual spot waiting for my next class to start. I have my Theo book
open in front of me, a result of my attempt to do some reviewing but I
only got as far as reading the title before I dozed off.

I wasn't able to sleep last night. My body clock hasn't shifted back to
the proper time yet, although I think today has jolted it to accuracy.
I plan on going to bed early tonight: 9pm or 10, right after I finish
the last few pages of the e-book I'm currently reading.

Ah, the e-books. I've started on the romance novels as I mentioned before. I'm
a bit hesitant to read the good books like Stephen King's Salem's Lot
as an e-book because I'd rather have a hard copy but if I don't find a
second hand one soon then I'd start on it (brand new books are too
expensive to buy in bulk). Anyway, I wasn't one fill my book cabinet
with romance novels. I own a total o 3 (unless Kristin Hannah's works
are considered as those, then about 5-6. And if Nicholas Sparks is also of that genre,
then I have more romance novels than I realized. I consider him a drama writer though.)
I knew of these romance authors from high school friends so when I
succumbed to boredom a few days ago and opened my first romance ebook,
I didn't think I'd find them quite entertaining.

But I did.

Not that they add anything to my intellectual value. Maybe they did. Now I
know Viking gods live in Valhalla where time almost stands still. I
never knew that before. But their stories are always the same: guy and
girl meet, fall in lust, have sex, more sex, and even more sex, fall in
love, have more sex, and live happily ever after while having more sex.
Same old framework, virtually no character development, predictable
outcome, yet what draws me in is the kilig factor.

I'm a sucker for kilig stuff (which is why I liked the Twilight book). It's so cute when
they at first hate each other then fall madly in love with each other
then vehemently deny what they're really feeling and then give in to it in the end. It's just
adorable when they fight. Like, aw. Sapakin ko kayo eh, you love each
other naman, deny pa.

So what I'm reading now is The Raider by Jude Deveraux. Her velvet series
is very good. I now want to be a Montgomery bride. Lol. This current
book is one of her other Montgomery series, descendants surely of the
ones in her Velvet series. All I can say is, damn, Montgomery boys are
freakin' perfect. Haha. Well not actually totally perfect but...they're
just all unbelievably hot. Tall, muscular, with beautifully expressive
eyes.

Sigh.

I just realized what attraction Sam Winchester holds
for me. I've never really been able to explain why I like him instead
of Dean who's so obviously the pretty one. It just dawned on me that
Sam is actually kind of a romantic hero figure. He fits the description
of a Montgomery man completely (except that he's probably gonna be evil
and have to face Dean in the end, a subject I will pursue later).

The Shoe Series

It's not a new tv show, although it sounds like something Paris Hilton would star in.

Anyway, last week, a friend of mine and I got to chatting about her shoe collection. She photographed each of her footwear and posted it on her Multiply site. I absolutely love shoes, although I didn't realize that until about two years ago. The down side is my size 10/11 feet. There aren't many stores that cater to people with big feet. Most stores only carry until size 9. Ugh. And the fitting of the shoes still depend upon its style. There are some that are size 10 but still can't fit me. It's the width. I have wide feet, that's why sometimes I need a size 11.

Anyway, this Christmas, my "shoe collection" (I'm not really collecting) suddenly expanded. I've acquired 4 pairs of shoes this break alone. Lol. Two were given to me; the other two I bought.

When I came home last New Year's Eve and had absolutely nothing to do while waiting for midnight, I decided to also take pictures of all my shoes. I was planning on also posting them on my Multiply site, but I got shy. :) So since there's virtually no one who ever goes to this site, I'll post it here. You know, so I'd seem less vain. Hahahaha

First featured shoes:Got these from Schu about two months ago. They had a sale and I so wanted to buy that one high heeled lacey pumps. They were so adorable! But I wanted something I could use in the unpredictable Ateneo terrain. So I opted for these flats. They weren't my first choice 'coz I prefer closed shoes but they sure are cute aren't they? And on sale for less than a thousand pesos. :)

What Do They Mean?

When I was having dinner with my friends the other night, we got to talking about dreams and their interpretations. In ancient times, they believed that dreams are prophetic. I think that's still true these days, but only rarely. My psych prof provided us with a Freudian explanation: that dreams are manifestations of our subconscious. They are a form of issue resolution and/or wish fulfillment.

When my friends and I decided to hang out here at home after dinner, we clicked on a couple of dream interpretation sites to get some idea what the elements of our dreams mean. Some explanations are believable while others are quite medieval in nature that I can actually picture a Professor Trelawney-type figure saying them.

So how do I know what my dreams mean? If they're supposed to be prophetic or mere wish fulfillment? Can dreams actually influence my waking hours? My feelings during my waking hours?

Because I feel like one of them did, and if, maybe, probably, that lone dream has resulted in all these crappy feelings and subsequent confusion... and if that was one of my wish fulfillment dreams... ARGH. Then all this is based on complete sleep BS.

It was said in one of the sites I visited that for dream recall, one must follow several steps: relaxing, sleeping for at least 8 hours, and waking up naturally (without an alarm clock or anyone/anything else to wake you). There might be another step which I forgot but whatever. It's weird because I remember almost every dream I have and I don't even follow these steps. Is there something wrong with my brain then? Or is it like, a superpower?

I'm going with superpower. :)

A Good Night's Sleep

... is all it took to make me feel better.

Not completely better though, but at least I can actually smell and taste things now without having to blow my nose with each bite.

I've finished a whole roll of toilet paper, a pack of facial tissues, and other random pieces of tissues along the way, more or less equal to another pack of facial tissues. Also, about 8 tablets of Neozep and maybe 3-4 antibiotics.

I don't know why my nose can't stop snot production. The rubbish bin is halfway full of used tissues already. That's like, two days worth of snot. Two days and a night's worth, more like.

At least now I could breath through my nose a little bit.

Zombie's Night Out

I was still feeling sick last night, but my friends suddenly sent me an SMS that I've been waiting for: an invitation to go out.

I've been stuck in the house for so long and I've been wanting to go out with friends just for a simple dinner and/or movie and of course, chatter.

So I jumped at the chance even though my head was still ceaselessly throbbing and I couldn't smell a thing.

It was a simple get together. I arrived at GH the earliest so I had a look around Astrovision for some new DVDs. I so want that special collector's edition of the Nightmare Before Christmas. And then I went to The Shops in search for shoes. I'm in a sort of shoe frenzy stage right now. Then I bought yellow nail polish which I have on now. It's really yellow. As in. I wanted to but the bright pink, bright orange, light blue, neon green, and black one but they cost 99php each. Don't need them that much so maybe next time. Then I proceeded to my search for shoes. Sadly, there are only two shoe stores there and they didn't carry anything I wanted. I have to get to Schu or Pretty Fit soon, when I still have money. Lol.

So then, having not bought any shoes, I went to Bayo and checked out the racks. I've grown fatter over the break so I was doubtful that anything would fit me. I really wanted a dress-like top (or a dress indeed) but they were a bit too costly for me (but I didn't try on any of them so maybe if one fits, I'd really get it). A couple of pieces interested me but my "saving" instinct kicked in so I only chose one: a black 3/4 sleeved knitted v-neck top. It's cute, and I've been wanting a nice black top for some time now, although I would much love wearing those bright greens and reds that Bayo offer. Next month, when my credit card refreshes. My dad might as well take it from me if I spend another thousand on clothes. He's been asking me to get my own card (mine is an extension of his and he pays for whatever I swipe so... poor him.)

Anyway, as I mentioned before, I'd be spending a little over a month in Taiwan so I'm trying to save up for shopping money. I just really hope there are clothes there that fit me because as far as I know, Taiwanese women are slight little things. As if the language barrier isn't sucky enough, no shopping prospects would make it hell. Although a really really fast internet connection would make up for it. I'd better get a whole chunk of free memory.

So now I'm going to spend the last night of my Christmas vacation still blowing my nose every 3 seconds. I think feel my brain starting to squeeze through my nostrils. And the sides of my nose feel raw from chafing against tissue. Oh well.

E-books read completely so far:

• Until Forever - Johanna Lindsey
• Highland Velvet - Jude Deveraux

Still working on World War Z. I think I can finish that tonight.

Veggie Zombie

I feel like a zombie.

Maybe I've already turned into one.

For speech, I now only am capable of grunts and moans. My head feels like it's steadily building up to an implosion. My lips and mouth feel dry all the time. My eyes are blurry, my movements stiff and slow.

I'm just waiting for my flesh to rot and everything will be set.

However, I haven't the urge to sink my teeth into human visitors to my room yet, so there's still that stage to tackle.

Or maybe I'm a veggie zombie. If there are "veggie" vampires like Edward, then I might as well be a veggie zombie.

Maybe I'll go attack a vegetable patch later.

Sipon

The hurting in my throat has subsided, but now all the phlegm have turned into SIPON. Goodness. I have a huge head cold now. My eyes are starting to water and balled up tissue now litter the base of my monitor. I hope this goes away soon.

Wow, credits are rolling again. That's officially the third time I watched Men In Black this Christmas break. If they show Transformers again, I'd watch that too, and that'd be, what, the fourth time this break? And also Spiderman 3.

I haven't even done the compulsory movie marathons of breaks. There are a lot of trilogies and movie series to marathon. What I wanted to do was the usual LOTR and Harry Potter (the latter would literally take all day. 2.5 hours x 5 movies plus food and bathroom and nap breaks), but I could also do X-Men and Spiderman and the old Superman movies. What else do we have anyway?

Pfft. Okay. I have two more days. I'm going back to reading through my watery eyes now.

Hello 2009!

Another year has come.

Awesome.

I don't know if I mean that or if I'm being sarcastic. Well, another year's another 365 1/4 days to make my life, myself, into something. And I truly am thankful that I'm still alive, that I'm given the chance to last this long.

It's just that things will happen this year that'll change my life.

They scare the heck outta me.

Of course, the first big thing is graduating. I'd officially be unemployed in three months. I've been a student since I was 3 years old. What will I do now?

The second thing I'm anticipating/dreading is my month-and-a-half in Taiwan. No offense to the country and its inhabitants or whoever loves it, but I have never dreamed of going to Taiwan (not even in the brief months of my F4 fever). It's to take care of my dad while he gets therapy there. I'm not complaining about that. I think it'd be a valuable experience for me to live away from home and do virtually everything myself. I have to do laundry, clean the house, iron maybe, go but food... I'd be okay with cooking, but please, don't expect me to go to a wet market (palengke) over there. I don't even do that here. Supermarket, always. And I'd have a hell of a time bargaining in Mandarin. Ah, the language. I've studied it for almost 15 years; you'd think I'd be uber fluent by now. But no. I think my knowledge of that language has depleted in the course of my spending 4 years without it in my face, 24/7 as it used to. I'd also have to speak with my aunt (whom we're going to live with) in Mandarin and/or Fukkien because she can't speak (nor understand, I think) Tagalog or English. And then I'd have to go entertain myself while my dad is in the therapy place. My aunt tells me there's a mall near the house we're gonna stay in, and I could spend two whole days and not see all of it. That excited me. But this could be a potential letdown. Will I be given shopping money?

Wait, would I have to get a job there?!

Argh. Dad. Why couldn't you have chosen an English-speaking country to have therapy in? I could do so much more there. First of all, I could understand perfectly what everybody would say and not have to mentally translate everything all the time. Sigh. This will be a huge test of my skills.

Third thing that will happen this year is.... ah, well. You know.

I don't wanna think about that yet.

Anyway, there are a couple of days left in this vacation, and the last of them I really really have to spend studying. I wanted to start today, but I'm feeling like shit because of this scratchy sensation at the back of my throat. I can't get it out. I don't know if it's only phlegm or if I'm having tonsillitis again. Doesn't matter. All I wanna do is stay in my comfy bed and read/watch TV all day.

Speaking of reading, I have electronically encoded my READ BOOKS list the other day, but not completely. I got the R.L. Stine part and stopped. I couldn't decide if I'm gonna place it there in the READ list or just settle for the highlighted/not highlighted arrangement in my R.L. Stine list. Whatever. I'll see to that when I get another break. Which will probably already be in March.

I mentioned previously that I was reading two books, Nightmares and Dreamscapes my Stephen King (which I found out yesterday was actually turned into a tv show! Well, a mini-series) and World War Z by Max Brooks (an e-book actually). I have not finished both of them. Instead, I have added more books to my current reading list. Days ago we went to Alabang Town Center (have not been to this place in ages, maybe two years already) and while waiting for my dad, I found a mini booksale type of thing at the center and found books by authors I've wanted to try out. The best I found was Red Dragon and Hannibal by Thomas Harris. Can't wait to start these. But I have this urge to wait until I find Silence of the Lambs and Hannibal Rising, you know, to complete the series, before starting. I have that little OC-ish tendency. But hey, I found e-books of them so... yeah. The other one is Dean Koontz's Dark Rivers of the Heart. Based on my mini research, he's one of the top horror authors out there. There were a lot of Dean Koontz books in that sale. I wanted to grab them all but that would've burned a huge hole in my wallet so I settled for one, just a taste, if you will. Then the other one is Ransom by Danielle Steel. I don't normally read romance novels although in the past I have read a couple. They were okay, an easy read, just to keep me occupied for a couple of hours. Since Steel is a renowned romance novelist, why not give her a try, right? And her books had this common template for the cover, you know, a gold strip about an inch thick at the top and then whatever color the rest of the bottom. They looked so... uniform, so conducive to collecting. :) Heehee.

So right now, what I'm reading all at the same time are as follows:
Nightmares and Dreamscapes
World War Z (I've transferred this into my iPod's Notes section, had to split up the whole text into 170 4kb files because iPod can't handle showing anything bigger. Took me about four hours to do so. Ugh.)
Dark Rivers of the Heart
Ransom
Until Forever (e-book by Johanna Lindsey)

So... that's a whole lot. I'm not even including The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks which I started a week ago, I think. But I put it down after the first page because I decided to read it when I really need a tear-jerker. Oh, and did I mention I managed to acquire truckloads of e-books (if they were solid copies of books, they'd be truckloads. Heehee.)? And now I'm having this mad compulsion to go through as many of them as I can before school starts again because by then I'd have no life whatsoever until graduation. That's why I'm reading Until Forever now (the title makes me cringe). It's also a romance novel but I find it a bit funny. It's about this cursed sword that, when a woman enclosed the hilt in her hand, if she rightfully owns the sword, would summon its really hot Viking owner, Thorn, the brother of Thor. Hahahhahaha. I swear, that story is so ridiculous... Why do I read these things. Lol. I don't know. I have another OC-ish thing: I need to know what happens next. Always. When I start to read something, I have to know what happens next even if the story sucks. That's what got me through the last three books of the Twilight series. But hey, it's not so bad. The compulsion, I mean. Applies to tv shows too, although they're harder to complete. I have yet to know what happened in the past season/s of Lost, Desperate Housewives, House, Smallville, How I Met Your Mother...

Okay, I'm going to finish reading as many books as I can now, even with this headache. :)