A Bit Ready for Tomorrow

So precious holiday season in 2015 was spent in the office instead of at home. It's okay, as a family we hardly travel together and we see each other every weekends except when I have out-of-town trips. I see it as some sort of distraction to keep me from missing the Light too much. It was the first Christmas, first New Year that she was not with us.

Yesterday browsing through photos in my external HD, I found not a few pictures of her. And luckily she was, for the most part, my subject when I first got hold of my Sony camera in 2011. It's comforting to know that I have saved the videos which still make me laugh because of the silly things she does when on cam, knowing I am behind the camera.

Makes me thankful that at the very least these gadgets are attainable by ordinary people like me. In the 90s only the rich can afford camcorders.

Good news is that I finally was able to tick off five items on my holiday to-do list:

1. Write an article for an online newspaper about the ugly side of the holiday season. I focused more on the huge amount of trash and on illegal street vendors who block pedestrian pathways. The 24th and the 25th were days I finally took courage to bring my camera and do fieldwork in the metro, something I would always shy away from for fear of having my cam stolen.

2. Send photos of artifacts requested by an ex-professor. I have sent the same zipped file for her countless times before. I hope this is the last time. Digging through my files just eats up time for me thanks to my unfocused mind and my tendency to reminisce while looking up photos and videos.

3. Complete tasks for a new project.

4. Finish checking the articles for our little project which ended last November. It's a one-girl team doing all the checking of more than 700 articles!

5. Complete registrations to events. Fingers crossed with hopeful heart.

Now only a few more left:

1. Work on blog backlogs. But sometimes I question myself if it's still relevant. On the other hand, for memories' sake, I'll still do it.

-SG (with focus on my first day spent at Palau Ubin)

-South Korea

-Oriental Mindoro (done with the excavation part, will write about mapping)

-Cavinti falls + visita iglesia part 2 in Laguna

-Laguna part 1 continuation

-farm visit in Sta. Maria, Laguna (my 2015 weekends seem to be spent mostly either in Pangasinan or in Laguna).

-HK wetland park (this I really have to write about)

-Pangasinan part 1

-MX (Teotihuacan, National Museum of Anthropology, Vasconcelos Library)

-Theaters (Rak of Aegis, Mga Buhay na Apoy, Haring Lear)

-Movies (Oro Plata Mata, Stand By Me, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, +plane movies during my MX trip)

2. Transfer my Math noted to index cards. The materials are ready but I just found it hard to sneak this into my schedule.

3. Finish the books I started to read in 2015. Too many to mention. Classic drifter here, yo!

4. Work on my academic papers for publication based on my drafts. At least I was able to present these already. Worked in reverse of what happened in 2014 when I first had my full paper for presentation.

5. Finish the series I started from 2014. (Not really a priority... But I'm itching to share my thoughts on some cool anime series I stumbled upon.)

6. Play music. This I do occasionally to calm my overactive mind.

So there. I'm sure I will have another busy year this year. Bring it on, 2016!

2015 Christmas Wishlist

It's October and I have yet to clear my backlogs. Anyhow, at this very moment I am taking a break from playing cheesy Air Supply songs on violin and thinking about how much I would want a new violin, I decided to blog a bit.

None in my wishlist has been realized so far except for the art materials which I wanted a few years ago and which I also put in my wishlist in the office secret Santa gift-giving activity. As if people would go to great lengths to get what I really want. Thinking about what to want for Christmas is very hard for me.

Since lately I have been more focused on music, I would very much want to have music-related stuffs for Christmas. Those and going to theaters, museums, and maybe a long travel to think things through before the year ends.

1. Tickets to concerts and musicals

 Next year, Les Misérables will be staged here in Manila. I'm saving up for that but it would be really reaaly cool to have my ticket for free.

2. Movie dates

  While I am the type who prefers to go solo when watching movies, it would be nice to have someone to watch Le Petit Prince with. It just so happens that it will be in theaters within my birthday week this year. 

3. Food trips

  My sisters and close friends know fully well how much I love food and how adventurous I am when it comes to food. Going on an all expense paid good trip is an excellent way to make a girl happy. Whoever said that diamonds are a girl's best friend is a liar. The best way to a girl's heart is through the stomach. Always.

4. Long walks

  It's a real pity we do not have that many parks here so this poor hyperactive girl finds it hard to release extra energy. While I do walk on roads, I couldn't enjoy as much because of the pollution. Ugh!

And no, walking in malls is not my cup of tea. I easily get bored seeing all the merchandise on sale which we humans really do not have a need for anyay. [*curses consumerism]

5. The Mind Museum

I've been wanting to go. I did get to visit one time in August but only at the lobby to attend a talk on the origins of the universe. However, I can't seem to afford the ticket.

6. CDs

  Of musical giants. For the longest time I have been listening to sax, mostly by Kenny G. It's hard to find violin music so I might as well put that on my list.

7. Musical instruments

  I'd like something to add to my winds collection. Probably a harmonica or a clarinet. Or maybe a sax? But saxophones are way too expensive. Sigh!

8. Travels

  This girl is itching to travel but is on hiatus for now. I'm saving up for sometjing important so I'm holding my money tight. So it would be lovely to get a free trip again before the year ends. Wanna go to the beach to contemplate about life, love, loss, death, and redemption. Or about the origins of the universe. Or how we can achieve world peace...

9. Books

  Ah this girl's best friend. I'd like some intelligent books on history. I like books focused on lesser known heroes and/or intellectuals. Or books on music. Or perhaps books on crazy ideas. Would appreciate books on dating, too. I am seeing the wisdom in a friend's suggestion to read up on dating only now... because that's where I fare poorly.

10. The wisdom to guide me every step of the way, the courage to enable me to do the things I should do, and the strength to carry on doing what I need to do.

Last but not the least, a chance to throw it all to the winds again--- my dreams, my frustrations, my sorrows, my joys. I want to empty myself and start anew.

Christmas Wishlist 2014

The second BER month is about to end so I might as well list down what I want for Christmas. Not that I am expecting anyone to give me anything on my list but let's see if the universe will conspire to grant some on it.

Christmas is never for me. I get depressed during the holidays. Must be SAD (seasonal affective disorder). The festive atmosphere is supposed to cheer one up, right? But no, the warm lights on the Christmas tree, the Christmas songs one hears almost everywhere at this time of the year, the sights of mall sale, the sudden increase of people in Metro Manila, the advertisements, they all make me pensive.

And I would always wish I were somewhere quiet, where I can bask in blissful solitude. The mountains would be a most welcome retreat, but who would join me when families are supposed to be together for Christmas?

Also, I dread getting useless stuffs, mostly recycled gifts. I dread the organized exchange gifts in the workplace, though I participate for the sake of pakikisama. And who knows maybe somewhere out there somebody might just pack one awesomely unique gift for me, or something I can use, not something I'll just dump somewhere in our already messy room (thanks to me).

Contrary to what many think, I am actually quite easy to please. I don't want cheap things which you can buy anywhere. I have no need for cute things which I can't even use. I dislike things people give just so they can say they have given gifts. Just imagine how many tons of useless stuff factories produce everyday worldwide and just imagine the the amount of resources used to produce these useless things which usually just end up in the dumpsite. No wonder this world is so sick, it is so drowned in consumerism it forgets life's simple pleasures.

What I want is something more personal, something that truly comes from the heart, something that is exclusively meant for me. And the best part is that you don't have to spend that much when considering a gift for me. Life is simple and simplicity has always been associated with me for as long as I can remember.

Write me a poem and I'd keep it and treasure it as if it were some piece of jewelry. Create a card for me showing your artsy side and it will easily be one of my prized possessions. Write me a long letter, and I'd keep it somewhere safe but easily accessible for when I would miss you, I would just take it out and read it and then my heart shall smile at the sweet memory of you.

The best gifts I have received are not the most expensive nor the most beautiful. But they are the best gifts because the givers really considered what I like and they made sure these gifts are things that I will simply put on the shelves to gather dust. Friends who have given me books know my thirst for literature. Friends who wrote me letters are the best; I think they know me as a sentimental person who takes pleasure in walking down memory lane. Friends who invite me to go someplace new know my love for adventure, the same for those who bring me to restos be they expensive or dirt cheap. In the end, it's always the thought that counts.

I guess that must be one reason why I find it hard to give gifts. I tend to project my tastes unto the recipients and they must be disappointed whenever I end up giving them small cards or colorful letters or whatnot. Still I am happy to have found friends who truly appreciated the small things I give. I was even surprised when two of my male friends told me they keep all the letters I have given them in their wallets. I guess that's what you call friendship.

Anyway, the material things I want for this year:

1. Boxes of dark chocolates (preferably with mint or orange)

2. Old and rare books

3. Yacht cruise (Mediterranean or Caribbean.... Or both)

4. Free movie passes or tickets to concerts and theatrical performances

5. Ride in a helicopter

6. International and domestic trips

7. Europe trip! (perhaps two months will do but I wonder if I could have such long leave)

8. Notebooks and pens

9. Dinner in unusual restaurants

Last and the most important are two things which always go hand in hand. I always wish to have courage to do the things I have to do and to have strength to continue doing what I have to do.

Reminders

It's been a looooong time since I wrote something here in my blog. Just that for the last couple of months I had been too busy with a lot of things. Not that I am complaining; we all know getting busy is the best cure to a single heart. But because I was suddenly flooded with chores and there were just too many events I could not say no to (thus most times I would just end up in bed as soon as I arrive home), I have unfortunately neglected writing altogether. In fact even my non-digital diary is suffering from blank pages so I guess I'll have to find a way to spend time alone to rethink the recent past and to put them on paper.

Just why the obsession to accumulate records, you might ask. This is actually a project I have taken, a personal project supposedly, but which I don't mind sharing with strangers on the net. The reason being there is a huge chance that I'll end up a single woman and I hope that if that happens I can look back and see what I've done here on earth. It's just to somehow cushion the harsh blows of reality and see in my old age that at the very least, I tried to live a fruitful life despite the immanent chaos and the lack of meaning. It's a record of struggles and happy times, of different experiences which helped make life bearable, which somehow pushes me to live again tomorrow, and the day after....

In short, this blog is a reminder of things done and of things yet to be done.

For instance, some of the things I should have written about are:
1. My first ever time to join a group of strangers in a trek to a waterfalls in Laguna. At first, I was scared alright but before the day ended, I felt as if I have known some of them for a long time already.

2. My trip to HK where I got to hang out with my cousins whom I haven't seen for soooo long. I think it's been almost 20 years! And I got to know our other relatives there. Big plus includes getting to hike twice in that place known for shopping and Disneyland. And how can I forget the four museums that I visited??? Never mind the fact that my itinerary was ruined because of visits to relatives but oh well, we never see each other that often. I just wished I was able to prepare something really uniquely Filipino like for example cloth from Ilocos and the like as gifts for them.

View of Hong Kong from the Museum of Art in Tsim Sha Tsui
Tsui

3. Chino's violin recital last month where I was left utterly impressed. There just is something in him now that is sooo attractive. Well it helps that he decided to do away with the moustache hehe. I also discovered that he's soft-spoken. (I wonder if he'll be annoyed at me if he were to know me better since I'm too boyish and too well, too unladylike, in a word.)

4. The books I have finished reading but which I did not have time to write reviews. Oh well, it's not as if I was able to read many books these days given my ultra hectic schedule.

5. The conference I attended last month where I presented my paper. On second thought I might not write about it since there really wasn't much to say except that I was extra happy to have received free books for being a presentor. The books are in Filipino and are composed of essays on Philippine literature. Welcome addition to my already gigantic book collection. (reminder to suggest to the parents that I NEED big bookshelves in our room. I hope the sisters do not mind.)

6. The advanced Christmas wishlist. Doesn't matter if year after year I do not get the things I truly wish for but what the heck, making one is fun JUST BECAUSE. (never mind that nobody reads it or takes note of it. LOL!)

So there. Backlogs again so I'm not writing about my recent food trips except of course Ganeeza in Fisher Mall since I think I knew what 'love at first sight'... I mean, BITE. I now know where I can find some comfort when depression kicks in. And oh yeah, I prefer to shop there than say SM. SM is just too damn crowded I'm always eager to get out the moment I enter.

So anyway, this post just ended up with a few reminders (or things my readers can expect in the days to come).

Note: I can't believe I just blogged using my tablet. Maybe I ought to do this more often so I can blog anytime anywhere.

December Plans and Christmas Wishlist

We're now in December and only a few days to go before 2013 ends. Sound scary since I just turned 25. Suddenly feeling like a lost kid again. People tell me I've been getting addicted to Math. It's not that. Id like to think that Math is that thing that keeps me struggling in this mundane world. Most friends warn me that too much nerdiness will keep the guys away more. To which I retort, let them! I care not for insecure people and I do not subscribe to the idea of dumbing myself down just to get a boyfriend. @.@

Because I've been very busy these past few days, I'd like to somehow create plans for the last few days of 2013.
1. read at least 2 books
2. do more math exercises and read up on difficult topics
3. find more applications of calculus (relate to archaeology, business, life???)
4. clean our bedroom
5. watch some episodes of One Piece
6. start learning Vietnamese phrases and commonly used sentences
7. another out-of-town trip would be VERY NICE

And I just realized I haven't made any wishlist yet so here goes:
1. more kind people, more warmth (no to global warming though!!!)
2. free hotel accommodations
3. more time to learn something new and to do the things I want to do
4. travel buddies who can match my zeal and energy
5. books on history and science (I would love to have books by Richard Feynman...)
6. love, courage, and hope... and strength
7. salary increase

From Multiply 097: List of Anime to Watch

Last night the monkey turned the channel to Hero and it was showing Hunter X Hunter Greed Island Arc. I suddenly missed anime. Lately, all I have been watching are movies, mostly Western, following my conversion to a movie buff. Yes, before I regarded movies shallow and uninteresting but last year, I realized that there is more to look out for in film than the plot. One has to judge the cinematic effects, the animation style and HOW the story is narrated. I have a lot to learn in the film discipline, having watched few movies in my life, but what the heck, I'm learning.

The only anime I watch from time to time is "House of Five Leaves" about a very shy and timid samurai who can fight only when people are not watching. He's regarded as a shame to the ronin class because of this. He was unthinkingly included as a member in the Five Leaves group which kidnaps people for ransom. The group is not all that bad. There's Ume for example, who acts as the group's carrier and who runs a sake house in order to go legit and raise his daughter.

There are more anime I would like to watch. I especially would like to check out new titles since I don't know anything new about the anime world now... except for "Blood C" which is a CLAMP retelling of the hit anime "Blood +". I've seen the first episode and the art and animation was good, except I might have a hard time liking the super clumsy heroine. (And yes, I rarely like a CLAMP heroine.) There's also "Chaos; Head" which is about a male student who is so addicted to video games that he becomes paranoid as he cannot seem to distinguish between illusions and reality. In the end, it was not clear if everything was just in his head or indeed there was a serial killer out to get him.

Alongside the desire to check new anime series, I also have this urge to rewatch old titles. Here is my list of anime to wwatch after I free myself from bondage called ACADS.

1. Hunter X Hunter
Yes, I miss the whole system thought of by Yoshihiro Togashi. This anime is more complex than Yuyu Hakusho in that it is more than tournaments. The concept of Greed Island is nice, with everything revolving around cards for survival. Another thing I like is the second arc which involves the Gineiryodan and Kurapika's thirst for revenge.

2. Shaman King
This is one anime series which I've watched twice but NEVER got to watch the last 20 episodes or so either due to change of schedule or lack of time or whatever. I like the concept of shamans here. I think the anime is well-researched and it mostly derived from the American Indian cosmology. The humor never fails to make me laugh out loud.

3. One Piece
Hands down one of the greatest fantasy-adventure anime series ever. Eichiro Oda has effectively and wonderfully created a world where being a pirate is everything. The major reason why i like this is because of the dynamism of characters. Oda has certainly a profound understanding of humans.

4. Naruto
Yes I gave up on this anime even before Shippuden came out. But nowadays with Naruto merchandise all over the city, I have a longing to watch this from the start. I especially like the different ninja abilities. I like the fight scenes. I like the combination of weapons and special jutsu in fighting.

5. Cat's Eye
Not many people know about this anime. So far none has talked to me about this in UP. A friend in HS was hooked to it, I was not. Later on I realized this might be a good anime to familiarize one with works of art.

6. Getbackers
I was not able to watch the entire series, just the first 20 episodes or so. Simple as that.

7. Kekkaishi
I've been meaning to watch this ever since I saw it on Hero but I never got the chance to buy a DVD copy.

8. Air
This is one slow-paced anime that had me crying in the final episode. Yes the final episode is a surprise and it is really unexpected. It is simply amazing. I don't mean the death of the girl.

9. Futari no Spica
This is also another anime that has me crying in almost all episodes. It inspires viewers to follow their dreams despite the odds. Also whenever I hear Mr. Lion playing the harmonica, I just have to reach for the tissue paper. SNIFF.

10. Jester the Adventurer
The main hero is an anti-hero. He's greedy, has no manners, and really selfish. But he's funny.

11. Magic Knight Rayearth
Probably the first CLAMP series I liked and just one of the few. Yes I am biased AGAINST CLAMP hehe. Cute girls manning robots and fighting to save an alternate world is well, cute.

12. BT'X
All I remember is that people in this anime ride robot horses. And there's Teepee and Karen and the twins. Yes, I need to refresh my memory.

13. Yaiba
Who doesn't like a high pitched young samurai? I do. The English dub was lousy. I'm planning to watch the entire series again in Japanese.

14. Now and Then Here and There
Dystopia, child exploitation and such. Really a dark series.

15. Strange Dawn
Strange indeed with all the chibi characters and the males turn out bald. Stranger still is when what they consider as nude is a shoeless foot.

16. NieA under 7
That energetic, always hungry alien is just lovable. And you always guess what will happen to Mayu as she goes to cram school, work, and think of other problems... like how to wrestle piece of meat from a freeloader alien.

17. Angel Sanctuary
I was asking for more after watching the OAV. I guess they don't have plans of doing a series for the manga. (Yes I had to read the manga to know what came next.)

18. Gundam saga
Need to watch again Gundam Wing, Gundam X After War, and Turn a Gundam. And am looking forward to exploring other Gundam worlds in different time settings.

19. Macross
A classic which I never got to watch.

20. Fairy Tail
From the creator of Rave (speaking of the devil, whatever happened to Rave?) and equally humorous, though I like this one better. It reminds me a lot of One Piece. Luffy and Natsu have a lot in common.

That's about it. A message to myself: Finish that site report, paper and permatraces!!!

Oct 30, '11 9:15 AM
for Miracle's friends and Miracle's family

From Multiply 081: The Carlos Aureus Reading List

Got this list from http://aiscracker.com/?p=1485

I was searching the net for information concerning my beloved Prof. Aureus and I found this. It seems his taste tends to difficult reads, seeing here many historical, philosophical and scientific books, as well as novels that require an encyclopedic knowledge. I wonder if he has read any of Umberto Eco's books. (I am a big Eco fan and I'm surprised no work of his is included in the list.) I also notice that he missed out some of my fave writers like Dickens, Twain, Alcott, Soseki and Mishima. As usual, the dominant elements are Anglo-American with a few Filipino novels included though the absence of F. Sionil Jose is somewhat of a shock. (I haven't read any of his works but I know a European who has done so and he's pretty much impressed, even telling me that he can be considered for the Nobel Prize for Literature.)

I also question the inclusion of Hemingway. Really! With his boring realism and dull, oh-so-common prose??? He did reinvent the way a novel should be, something that can be read by everybody, but I just find that so boring.

Going through the list, I lament that the only Jew I find is Einstein. (Okay, I'm obsessed with the Jews, just that they're so admirable in their forbearance.) And why is it that there are no Muslim writers? Basho's haiku and the Tang Dynasty poets are nowhere in the list. Not even Rig Veda nor the Kama Sutra. (And I'm so tempted to add "The Perfumed Garden".) And no Japanese writer! What happens to the four GREAT literary works of China, one of which is "The Dream of Red Mansions", a great favorite of mine???

Still, it's interesting to know his literary tastes. I really should start reading "Canterbury Tales", "Divine Comedy" (I'll see if I can find a nice translated version), "Paradise Lost" and "Paradise Regained", the Dostoevsky novels (I hear they're great reads) and "In Search of Lost Time" (aka Remembrance of Things Past of which, after leafing through a few pages, I have the impression it can cure me of my insomnia LOL! But his prose is very beautiful, at times even lyrical.)

Highlighted works are what I've finished reading. Just note the difference in our taste. (I tend to go for extremely tragic and/or erotic novels. XD )

1. The King James Bible (or the Holy Koran)

2. The Complete Works of William Shakespeare

3. The Surangama Sutra of Buddhism

4. Homer: The Iliad and The Odyssey

5. Virgil: The Aeneid

6. Cervantes: Don Quixote

7. Dante: The Divine Comedy (Three Parts)

8. Sophocles: The Oedipus Trilogy

9. The Bhagavad Gita (also read the Mahabharata and the Ramayana)

10. Goethe: Faust (Parts One and Two)

11. Plato: The Republic

12. Aristotle: Poetics

13. Lao Tse: Tao Te Ching

14. Saint Augustine: Confessions (also read The City of God)

15. Saint Thomas Aquinas: Summa Theologica

16. Chaucer: Canterbury Tales

17. John Milton: Paradise Lost

18. Malory: Le Morte D’Arthur

19. John Bunyan: Pilgrim’s Progress

20. Jonathan Swift: Gulliver’s Travels

21. Herman Melville: Moby Dick

22. James Joyce: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

23. James Joyce: Dubliners

24. James Joyce: Ulysses

25. William Faulkner: The Sound and the Fury (also read As I Lay Dying)

26. Ernest Hemingway: For Whom the Bell Tolls (also read The Sun Also Rises)

27. Saint Thomas More: Utopia

28. Henry David Thoreau: Walden (also read Civil Disobedience)

29. Walt Whitman: Leaves of Grass

30. T.S. Eliot: The Waste Land (also read Tradition and the Individual Talent)

31. John Henry Cardinal Newman: Apologia Pro Vita Sua (also read The Idea of a University)

32. Joseph Conrad: Heart of Darkness (also read Lord Jim)

33. Beowulf

34. Pearl: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

35. The Venerable Bede: The Ecclesiastical History of the English People

36. Karl Marx: Das Kapital

37. W. B. Yeats: A Vision

38. W. B. Yeats: Collected Poems

39. George Bernard Shaw: Pygmalion

40. Bernard Lonergan: Insights

41. Nietzsche: Thus Spake Zarathustra

42. Manu: The Laws of Manu

43. Stephen Hawking: A Brief History of Time

44. Joseph Campbell: The Power of Myth

45. Harold Bloom: The Western Canon

46. James Hilton: Goodbye, Mr. Chips

47. James Hilton: Lost Horizon

48. Oswald Spengler: The Decline of the West

49. Thomas Hobbes: Leviathan

50. T. H. White: The Once and Future King

51. Jean Jacques Rosseau: Confessions (also read The Social Contract)

52. Flaubert: Madame Bovary

53. Victor Hugo: Les Miserables

54. James Frazer: The Golden Bough

55. Ovid: Metamorphosis

56. Dostoevsky: The Brothers Karamazov

57. Dostoevsky: Crime and Punishment

58. Thomas Mann: The Magic Mountain

59. Jose Rizal: Noli Me Tangere

60. Jose Rizal: El Filibusterismo

61. Albert Camus: The Plague

62. Jean Paul Sartre: Being and Nothingness (also read In Camera)

63. Franz Kafka: The Trial

64. Boetius: The Consolation of Philosophy

65. Honore de Balzac: The Human Comedy

66. Proust: Remembrance of Things Past

67. Jacques Derrida: Of Grammatology

68. Teilhard de Chardin: The Phenomenon of Man

69. Teilhard de Chardin: The Future of Man

70. Sir Isaac Newton: Principia Mathematica

71. Gilbert Highet: The Classical Tradition

72. Gibbon: The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

73. Marquez: One Hundred Years of Solitude

74. Ferdinand de Saussure: Course in General Linguistics

75. Foucault: Discipline and Punishment

76. Roland Barthes: Image Music Text

77. Walter Benjamin: Illuminations

78. Anton Chekhov: The Duel

79. Nick Joaquin: Prose and Poems

80. Gregorio Brillantes: The Distance to Andromeda and Other Stories

81. Confucius: The Analects

82. B. F. Skinner: Small Is Beautiful

83. The Tibetan Book of the Dead

84. Sigmund Freud: The Interpretation of Dreams

85. John Fowles: The Magus

86. Susan Brownmiller: Against Our Will

87. J. D. Salinger: The Catcher in the Rye

88. B. F. Skinner: Beyond Freedom and Dignity

89. Ezra Pound: Cantos

90. William Golding: Lord of the Flies

91. Will and Ariel Durant: The Story of Philosophy

92. Marshall McLuhan: The Medium is the Message

93. Edith Hamilton: Mythology (also read The Roman Way)

94. Albert Einstein: Relativity, the Special and General Theories

95. Nicolaus Copernicus: De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium

96. Charles Darwin: Origin of Species

97. Documents of Vatican 11

98. Thomas Malthus: Essay on the Principle of Population

99. Rachel Carson: Silent Spring

100.Martin Heidegger: Being and Time

Dec 27, '09 10:38 AM

for Miracle's friends, Miracle's family and Miracle's online buddies

From Multiply 073: Before Graduation

Lately, all I've ever been thinking about is graduation. I am excited, nervous and anxious all at the same time. Thoughts of those old dusty books stacked away inside the lonely archives in the library fill me with sadness. It's such a pity I only discovered it last semester. Had I done so earlier, I could have read many old books. If there's one thing I'll miss, it'll definitely be the libraries--- CAL and the Main lib, most especially.

The biggest thing, though, that bothers me now, is how i shall fare after graduation. These past few days, I've been pondering on many matters, like how mediocre I am, how wild and reckless and oh so boring.

Here's a list I made---things I should/ must do before graduation.

Before I graduate, I must...

1. learn how to write well.
   Coz really, everything I've written so far just sucks. I didn't know how I was able to win in essay-writing contests when I was in HS. In college, I bluffed my way when writing supposedly scholarly papers. Mayhaps I rested on my laurels for long. It's my fault, for getting too intoxicated after winning that Quintin Yuyitung Journalism Award. Now, it doesn't at all mean anything to me, seeing how sloppy and slipshod my writings turned out to be after HS. Obviously, I lack cadence, I lack a style that I can proudly call my own.

2. learn how to argue well.
    I've often saw myself as the living paradox. But in arguments, my being highly paradoxical certainly doesn't offer much help. It only gives way to confusion and many people actually think I'm some sort of retard. And going with this, I must learn how to express my ideas in a coherent manner.

3. learn to control my mannerisms
    People who know me can attest to my having a plethora of weird mannerisms especially when confronted by nerve-wracking situations. Sometimes, those are just unnecessary gestures. I must, at all cost, put a stop to all those. Surely, I must build my confidence.

4. learn good manners
    People often find me ill-mannered. It's just that I reject all sorts of formality. It's not a valid excuse, I know, but it's so hard for me to enter a world of rigidity and stiffness, being much more accustomed to be wild and free. I might as well call myself a noble savage haha! Having refined tastes certainly doesn't translate to having refined manners. I might as well learn how to be more lady-like so that, together with my refined tastes, people will soon look up to me as a model.

(But really, who cares for such stupidities???? Damn it, it's not a agreeable place, this world of ours!)

5. go on a food trip in UPD
    I have always been a miserly person, I admit. I very seldom buy food in the cafeterias because I am of the opinion that food there are overpriced. I bring my own food, and so I don't have any idea what the food is like  in the cafes. There are instances, of course, wherein I am forced to purchase food in school. (Like when a terrible hunger conquers my stomach....) And so, I MUST have a taste of ALL the eateries in UPD!!!

6. establish friendly rapports with profs
    And I do not mean here ALL profs. Only those who share the same values as I do. I'm afraid, I'm too shy and too easily intimidated to approach profs though. T.T

7. buy a book written by a UP prof and have it signed by him or her
    In my almost four years of stay in UP, I only have one book with an autograph of the author. And that one book was a required reading in a class. I can't say that I enjoyed it thoroughly. But it did inspire me a bit.

That's all for now. And one more thing, I MUST START PAYING ATTENTION TO MY THESIS. I'm in a hiatus now, I haven't even discussed anything with my thesis adviser!!!!


Nov 30, '09 10:13 AM
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From Multiply 058: Sem Break Agenda

This semester's gonna end and I can't wait. (Okay, goodbye STS crush, I had the ultimate pleasure of sitting behind you in class and gazing at you from behind.)

Because all I ever did this semester was read, research and write, I feel like a robot who has to meet the needs and demands of his master. While I have no qualms about the reading part, I do complain that for months, most of what I'm reading is about antisemitism, myth and ritual studies, phenomenology, existentialism and other class-related books. And when I get to sneak in a book or two which are not for school, I already feel like in heaven. It's already a luxury to be able to read a good novel.

And so once sembreak comes, I'm so gonna:

1. go back to watching anime (Blood +, One Piece, etc.)
2. clean our room coz lately my stuffs are everywhere and my sisters   reprimand me almost every time we see each other.
3. read at least 15 books in my collection. And here's the list:
     Tales from the Annex
     House of Mirth
     Tess of D'Urbervilles
     The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
     Watership Down
     The Legend of Luke
     The Pearls of Lutra
     Marlfox
     Pay Attention to Daniel's Prophecy
     The Spear of Destiny
      Abel Sanchez
      Una historia de amor
      L'etranger
     Ivanhoe
     Shosha
     Myths to Live by
      La multitud errante
4. visit Lanzhou Ramen house and eat a bowl of hot noodles coz I miss it badly.
5. SLEEP!!! (Oh sweet sleep, that you accompany me for at least 10 hours a day...)

Sep 29, '09 12:20 PM
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From Multiply 019: Another New Leaf

I have an addiction of making lists of things like for example, the things I’ll be doing for this period of time, the things I will buy, the books I will read, the anime I will watch, the places I will visit, etc. But I always have the habit of vainly making them, as I never follow them because I still prefer a life of spontaneity. And of course, being such a list maker, I’m one of the many people who write their New Year’s Resolutions but never bother to live up to them. I’m posting here my list of resolutions for the year 2009 but I don’t guarantee that there be any changes in my life.

1.    For years, I’ve been telling myself to be serious in my studies and not to get distracted by anime and books so totally outside my courses. People would mistake me for a student of English Literature because my bag’s always full of English novels and I sometimes forget to bring the required textbooks for my classes. It has always been pleasure over obligations for me. In my whole college life, it was only in my Latin class where I became a diligent student coz it was the only course where I really studied for exams, although quite hurriedly towards the end due to lack of time. The reason? It’s because I like our prof and I have always wanted to learn Latin anyway so why not be serious for once? And it’s a very difficult language. No wonder it died haha!!! So anyway, again, I’m telling myself to take my studies seriously. (sob)

2.    These past few years saw me changing from a cheerful girl to a very indifferent one. I admit that I have become a cynic and a misanthropist, partly because I was enlightened of the cruelties of the world. Humans eating one another in a race to superiority does not appeal to me. The world’s been devoured by a great evil which is already quite impossible to remedy. And I want to escape it all, being a great romanticist that I am. Perhaps I should give the world another chance.

3.    Despite my innocent looks and babyish visage, I actually am self-centered and proud. I know that pride is the starting point of sin, which caused Lucifer to rebel against God and to result in his fall. I don’t let people mistreat me, especially not when I know where I stand, and also because I’m not a martyr. I fight back with the truth I believe in.  And I think, that’s why a lot of people don’t like me. I’m too gutsy for them. Or maybe they’re scared of me? I don’t know. Maybe I should try to be calm more often? But why should it matter to me if people like me or not? The most important thing is to be honest with one’s feelings.

4.    I will pursue my interests with a newfound fervor. I’ve left a lot of things unfinished because of my hectic schedule. After this semester, I’ll go back to studying Latin and Japanese, and probably review the things I will have learned by the end of this semester. I’ll start writing my novel so I can get it published before I turn 24. I’ll continue my top secret research. I’ll visit museums, art galleries and churches. I’ll start painting. I’ll reinforce my faith through reading the Bible. I’ll participate more actively in forums to gain more insight and to be more aware of the different opinions from different perspectives.

5.    I won’t make another list like this, knowing full well that it’s altogether useless, anyway.

Jan 13, '09 1:19 AM
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From Multiply 018: 2009 Reading List

It’s not in my character to plan ahead the things I do, being the spontaneous type of person that I am, but here are books which I plan or would like to read. I seldom follow the lists I make. When I’m inside the library, I would have a book in mind but come out later with another. And some of the books included here are stocked away at home, especially those by Brian Jacques. Either way, here they are:
1.    Memnoch the Devil
2.    The Vampire Armand
3.    Merrick
4.    Blood and Gold
5.    Blackwood Farm
6.    Blood Canticle
7.    Pandora
8.    Vittorio the Vampire
9.    The Feast of All Saints
10.    Cry to Heaven
11.    The Mummy
12.    Servant of the Bones
13.    Violin
The first 13 are all by Anne Rice. I’ve borrowed the first four books of the vampire Chronicles from Claire and I wish she now has a good collection of Rice’s novels coz they’re something I don’t wanna buy for religious reasons.
14.    Redwall (I’ve read this before, w hen I was in HS, but I wanna read it again to refresh my memory and also to write a review of it.)
15.    Mossflower
16.    Mattimeo
17.    Mariel of Redwall
18.    Salamandastron
19.    Martin the Warrior
20.    Lord Brocktree (I’ve read this once before and I want to refresh my memory to write a review of this book.)
I already have these 7 precious books by Brian Jacques. I wish to be able to buy the remaining books which I still don’t have.
21.    The Diary of Don Juan
22.    Como agua para chocolate (I started reading it last year but I misplaced the book so I’m reading it again.)
23.    Le petit prince (On loan so I’ll read it during the summer vacation.)
24.    Vanity Fair
25.    The Prince (by Machiavelli)


Aside from the aforementioned books, I would like to try authors who I’ve never read before. My list includes:

1.    Doris Lessing
2.    Ezra Pound
3.    Miguel de Unamuno (pretty much because it’s required in my course)
4.    Philippa Gregory
5.    Lian Hearn
6.    Amy Tan (I’ve been hearing a lot about her works but I still haven’t tried reading her works.)
7.    Kazuo Ishiguro
8.    Murakami Haruki (I’ve always wanted to read him but never got the chance.)
9.    Emile Zola
I would also like to delve into African, Thai, Russian, Indian and Korean literature. I’m always browsing through shelves containing Japanese, Chinese, American, French and English literature and I feel like I’m missing a lot. (I’m taking up Spanish literature this semester and I will be forced to read so I don’t have problems when it comes to approaching Spain’s literary aspects.)  I believe that to be a true lover of literature, one must be a voracious reader of any country’s literature. I hope that by the end of 2009, my knowledge and appreciation for world literature will have been broadened.

Jan 13, '09 1:17 AM
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