February 26, 2013

Went to school at 8:00am because of Sir Andrew's call time. He is Jorenn's coach in today's competition, where contestants are supposed to play their own rendition of Florante's Ako'y Isang Pinoy. After meeting at school, we rode in his super cute (harhar) minivan to Sumacab campus. But we learned there that the instrumental contest proper's supposed to start after the Vocal Solo, Duet, Quartet, and Chorale competitions with 16 contestants each. Nak ng puts, anong oras pa uwian nito?! After an hour of watching contestants sing Ciara Sotto's Dakilang Lahi, Sir Andrew invited us to lunch. Naks, nanglibre si ser. Hahahaha. Nakakahiya nga kasi  hindi ko naubos yung dalawang rice na in-order niya sakin. Hehehe. After that, we parted ways with him and strolled around campus with Kuya Kevin, another representative of our department together with Jorenn. After an hour or so again, we decided to head back to the auditorium to just watch the rest of the contests. Fortunately, the committee decided to held the instrumental contest in a separate venue, in the gym. We saw our old teachers there, from our alumni, Laboratory High School. Then after the folkloric dance contest ended, the instrumental finally started. They draw lots and Jorenn picked the 10th spot, out of 12 contestants.
Eto na. Eto na. Hahahaha. Ako pa ata yung mas kinakabahan kasi hindi ko naman pinakinggan yung piece ni Jorenn. Sabi ko kasi sa kanya, wag niya iparinig sakin para may surprise factor. Tapos merong mga contestants na parang magaling, yung talagang nakaka-intimidate. Tapos yung iba naka-polo, yung iba naka-barong pa. Tapos si Jorenn, naka-tee shirt lang. Hahahahahaha. Tapos nung tumugtog na yung mga akala naming magaling, lalo lang nadadagdagan yung kaba ko. Feel ko ako yung tutugtog. Harhar. Tapos ayun. Tumugtog na si Jorenn.  Tapos...
Wala. Sobrang nagulat ako. Sobrang ganda. Yung mga tao nag-sisigawan kasi yung lahat ng 11 contestants, pare-pareho lang halos ng rendition, tapos yung sa kanya, ibang iba talaga.  Tapos yung sa kanya lang yung may buhay. Tapos yung mga tao nabuhayan, naalis yung boredom. Tapos yung judge, si Kuya Arvin, napa-palakpak. Tapos yung mga teacher namin nung high school, proud na proud. Tapos yung mga ibang high school, sinabayan pa nila ng palakpak si Jorenn kasi sobrang nakakadala talaga. Ako naman maiyak-iyak na sa tuwa. Hahahaha. Yung proud ko lagpas na sa height ko. Hahahahaha. Tapos nung pagtapos ni Jorenn yung mga tao sumisigaw ng "Isa pa! Isa pa!" tapos pagbaba niya ng stage, niloloko siya ng "Kuya, ano number mo!". Hahahahaha. Tapos sabi pa ni Ma'am Jugo,"Dapat pala binagsak muna natin si Jorenn eh!" Para daw di muna grumaduate at ni-represent yung high school. Tapos yung mga teacher talaga namin nung high school eh. Si Ser Ortile, lahat sila. Nakakaiyak sila. Proud na proud sila kay Jorenn. Si Ser Fortunato. Hahahaha. Tapos pagbaba ni Jorenn ng stage, nakatingin yung mga tao talaga. Hahaha.
Syempre alam niyo na kung sino nag-champion base sa kwento ko. Hahaha. Sabi nung emcee, ay etong bata na to yung mahusay eh. Hahaha. Tapos yung nag-aaward, kinukuha na si Jorenn. Hahaha. Sabi ni Ser Andrew, yung coach nga ni Jorenn, kaya daw pala hindi nagpapakita si Jorenn sa kanya may pasabog effect siya. Hahahaha. Ako nga di ko rin alam yun eh.
Ayus lang na na-lowbatt yung camera. Mas masayang napanuod ko ng buo si Jorenn ng hindi sa camera screen.
One proud girlfriend here. Love you baby!
And again, congrats to everyone who won! Lalo na sa LHS and CICT! Apir! :-bd

January and February books.

February books!

Bought for only 35 pesos!

Hardbound copy and bought for only 60 pesos. Super good condition.

A timeless classic bought for only 15 pesos.

Bought for only 30 pesos.

Bought online! :-)

Bought Sabriel online and David Copperfield in National Bookstore. Both for only 60 pesos.

My own set of Tolkien's Lord of the Rings! Too bad I didn't have a movie tie-in copy of the second book.

My January and February books. More to come!

I just had to post this

(Source)

Yung tipong...

bibilin mo na kasi tapos di mo pa binili kasi akala mo di maganda tapos pag-uwi mo nung pag-tingin mo sa Internet maganda pala tapos ang mura pa naman. Dapat binili ko na yung Marley and Me tapos 32 pesos lang. Asdfghjkl

JUST GOT IN: Miller

Today was a very busy and exhausting day for me. I had the day all to myself again but didn't planned to be like this. I learned last night that kuya finally sent us some allowance. But I remembered that I recently lost my school i.d. which is a real bummer because the semester will end three weeks from now and I don't want to pay for a new one since I would have another one come enrollment. Pft. Anyway, I told my mom I would use my i.d. from my high school days.
I went to Cebuana Lhuilier and  presented my i.d. but they declined my transaction and told me that the reason why the "academic year" is stated on the i.d. is because it serves as the "expiration date" of the card. Another bummer. They told me to go to BDO Pacific. I went, and they declined my transaction too. I told them that I have account in Mega and maybe it could serve as identification. The clerk told me that it's possible. So I went to Mega, told the clerk that I lost my i.d. and asked if my account could serves as my i.d. After some persuasion, they relented. I filled up the form and then... boom! Hindi pala yung usual na inuutusan ni Kuya yung sender. Ka-gago. I don't have any choice since banks are usually firm on their rules, so I went home and IMed my Kuya on Facebook. He replied at 1pm and so I went to Mega again. Apparently the clerk was on break so I have to wait until 2:30 pm. I KNOW! Who the hell goes on break for one and a half hours? Pagmamay-ari ang bangko?! Anyway, I finally got the money so I went to Pacific again to run some errands for my mom.
And that explains why I have this book with me right now. Lol. Before I went to the supermarket to buy some grocery, I went to Book Sale (of course) first. I actually wanted to buy Highland Crossings but found out unfortunately that it was gone. Maybe it was bought already. I don't know. That's the frustrating part. Sinong tao ang nakaalam na maganda yon?! Hahahaha. So I went to look for another book to buy. I suddenly missed reading Historical Fiction and Western (which are my comfort zones) and went to that section of the bookstore. My choices are Dakota Born by Debbie Macomber, A Heart Speaks and Small Town Girl by LaVyrle Spencer, and McKettrick's Choice by Linda Lael Miller. I know them and I know that they're famous and good romance authors. Spencer is actually one of my favorite authors. But something told me to go for Miller (30 pesos only!). When I got home, I looked it all up on the Internet and was very happy with my choice! :-)

Tiny's Guide To Buying Secondhand Books

First of all, before you start constructing ideas, I'm not a pro on this. This is me, simply stating my guidelines when I buy secondhand books both online and in book sales, which again, I'm not a pro at. I just started last December, so... yun.
Anyway, in my mind, our local Book Sale is divided into three parts. 1.) The left side, which consists of battered copies of (sometimes) famous works and/or romance 2.) the right side, which consists of almost new copies of semi-famous and sometimes famous authors and 3.) the middle, which consists of children's books, cheap hardbound copies of unknown authors, etc. And now that it's settled, here are my guidelines:

• Never buy a secondhand book that is worth above a hundred pesos. Ever. That is definitely a no-no for me. If you ever buy something a lot more than that, just make sure that it's almost brand new. Almost. No writings inside, no dog-eared pages, no wrinkled covers, and certainly no missing pages.
• Always be aware of the condition of the book. Like I've said, the left side of our Book Sale consisted of battered copies of famous books, and most of them are priced higher than they should be. Mostly a hundred and more. Never buy those books. Just because they're famous, doesn't mean you need to buy them in their battered state. If it's priced more than a hundred, then why not buy a brand new copy instead?
• If possible, establish a goal beforehand on how much you're going to spend. That way, you're choices will go down, and that will help you choose on what to buy. In my case, I always budget my money and prioritize, so I only save a little for books. Sometimes it's fifty pesos to seventy pesos to a hundred. That's my limit. So when I do that, my choices will then be limited so it's easier to look for "mura na, maganda pa" books.
• If you're not sure whether the book is good or not, memorize the title or write it on a piece of paper, or save it in your phone so that when you go home, you can look it up on the Internet afterwards.
• Always check the hardbound copies. Ironic as it may sound, the hardbound copies tend to have the cheapest prices. If the cover is lost, don't worry. The content is more important. And the price will be lower too.
• Browse the children's books section. It's one of my weaknesses actually. I love them and I don't know why. Most of them are famous and written by well-known authors like Roald Dahl, C.S Lewis, Lemony Snicket, Laura Ingalls, etc. They have lower prices,  too.
• Never give up! In a room full of books, more or less a thousand, there will always be one that you'd fall in love with.

That's it. If you're asking if I follow these rules, then yes I do. Happy reading! :-)

JUST GOT IN: Patterson & Defoe

Sorry for the crappy quality. I had to make do with my laptop's  webcam & phone's camera since my kuya brought the iPad with him (hirap ng naghihiram lang hahaha).
I bought these books at our local Book Sale earlier today. I saw Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas yesterday, but I didn't have any interest in buying it until I looked it up on Goodreads. I saw some reviews and the description so I told myself that I'll buy it the next day, which is today.
Since Jorenn is on a trip to Ilocos today, I decided to have the day all to myself. I went to the mall and ate at McDonald's and had coffee alone. I think it's been a long time since I did that. Hahaha. One of the non-benefits (meron bang word na ganito? lol) of having a boyfriend is  that you hardly have time alone with yourself. When I go out, it's either with Jorenn, my best friend, family, or with my friends.
After eating with my awesome date (hello, pagbigyan niyo na ko harhar), I then went to Book Sale to buy the book. Of course, once in a bookstore, I could never leave within five minutes. I have to browse for at least an hour before leaving. I think that's why the clerk's always glaring at me. Lol. I think I must be lucky today since they were restocking the shelves with new arrivals. While I was doing my usual browsing, I saw the second book that I bought today which is Robinson Crusoe. Yes, it's familiar and it's well-known, so I bought it. The reason I thought myself as lucky today is because it only costs 15 pesos. All in all, I only paid 60 pesos (Suzanne's Diary only costs 45 pesos) for my books!

In books and other things in between

I often think about reading as an escape. It helps me get away with the problems I have to deal with my life everyday. What are those problems? Don't bother asking. Anyway, as I've said, reading is a very sacred thing for me. I was not a reader a few years ago and I started reading a lot because of my best friend. I learned from her that reading doesn't have to be expensive or out of reach. I know I read a lot more than an average person does in a month, but I don't acknowledge myself as a bookworm. Part of the reason is because I'm not a fan of labels, another is because I think being a bookworm is so much more than reading one or two books every fucking day of your life.
When I joined the Goodreads community almost two years ago, I learned that there is a vaaaaaast world of books out there, consisting of books, authors, readers, librarians, boookworms, reviewers, and many more. The books vary from romance, the classics, comedy, tragedy, drama, young adult fiction, paranormal, western, historical fiction, non-fiction, manga, picture books, and a lot (emphasis on the lot) more. It's a very very big world.
And that's why I don't call myself a bookworm. For me, bookworms are like Kuya K.D. of Goodreads. I think he's already in his forties or so. The reason I think of him as a bookworm is because just like books, the genre he reads always varies. It doesn't stay in one place. It ranges from books for ages 1-3 to books written centuries ago. And he understands all of it. He pays attention to every detail, how the author conveys a story, how the book was written, the moral and message of the story, everything. He knows everything there is to it in reading. And for me, that's how a bookworm should be.
Again, I don't consider myself as such. I'm more of a... romance reader. Lol. I think I can never call myself as one because I have a huuuge bias on happy endings and I stay away from books that doesn't contain that. Yes, I want to be like Kuya K.D. someday, but I think I have to start on changing my ways first. Since I'm young, I am shallow. I'm not ashamed of it. I don't care if a happy ending or a romantic scene or an "inspirational" message can make me squeal and shout  with glee, I love the way I read and the books I read. But as I've said, when I grow older I hope I can be a versatile reader too. Reading another genre is like traveling to another place, it's very disconcerting at first, but as you spend more time in that place, you'll finally feel more at home. Happy reading! :-)

JUST GOT IN: Cashore

Bought this at Book Sale a few weeks back. I've been seeing the title on Goodreads, some of my friends there have already read it and I know that it's a good & famous book so when I saw the price, I was really surprised. It only costs 60 pesos and is also a hardbound copy so I immediately grabbed it and brought it to the counter to pay for it. Lol. Aaah, the joy of book hunting.
Anyway, I'm sorry for the lack of posts. I really miss blogging. Well, I really miss the past years, and even though 2011 has been hard on me, I kind of miss it too. I miss a lot of things in my life. I also miss my second semester at CLSU (But you can hardly call it "semester" since I only took one subject. I know, lame.), when I have all the time in the world to do anything I want from Mondays to Sundays, trips early in the morning to school, conversations with random people and jeepney drivers, coping with the loss, adjusting, readying myself for the change I brought on myself. Don't get me wrong, I am happy with my life right now. I am happy in school, with my course, with my life, but I can't really help but think of all the "what ifs" and "could have beens". I know, pathetic. I guess it's always like that when you lose someone you love, you know. You'll never stop remembering.
Anyway, belated happy Valentine's everyone!