HNY!!!!!!!!!

pullman sway

finding the end of the golden compass gripping, i quickly followed it with the second book from the trilogy, ‘the subtle knife’. quite off the first book’s plot during the initial course of the book, it introduced a new character will (which later on will play an important role). unlike the first book, some parts of the story happened in our own world, the earth. soon after, it also introduced other worlds which can be reached from portal openings and proclaimed that there are millions and millions of other worlds, similar to the earth, sustaining its own civilization.

sparsity. it’s what all about this second book. every character from the first book has its own mission to do, some without any bond whatsoever with what other characters are doing. lee scoresby, witches serafina pekkala and queen ruta skadi, and mrs coulter have their own businesses, and the book will jump from one scene to the next almost instantaneously. but still, it’s a nice read and of course, the ending is something that would want you to read it’s finale, ‘the amber spyglass’.

having said that, i would still stick with my point from the first book that pullman’s his dark materials is an entangling complex novel that should be aimed at at least young adults to enjoy.

but at least for pullman's sake, when he was asked if he wrote the trilogy aiming at a specific age group, he answered:

No. I don’t think about the readers at all. If I think about the audience I’d like to have, I don’t think about a particular age group, or a particular gender, or a particular class or ethnic group or anything specific at all. I’d like the largest audience possible, please. When you say, “This book is for children”, what you’re understood as saying is “This book is NOT for adults.” I don’t want that. I’d like to think that I’m telling the sort of story that holdeth children from play and old men from the chimney corner, in the old phrase of Sir Philip Sidney. Everyone is welcome, and no one is shut out, and I hope each reader will find a tale worth spending time with.

so to finish the point, i guess it's all about wrong categorization (being a children's book, and winning awards under children's categories), advertisement, and lack of public awareness. reading after all is about sensible reading and realizing what is fiction and not. For parents, it's being a responsible guardian and making sure you can answer your child once he asked if Lyra and Eve (of Eden Garden) are one and the same.

byaheng bus (bigkas ‘bus’ hindi ‘bas’)

sa araw-araw na pagpasok ko sa trabaho, sumasakay ako sa bus. byaheng cubao ang bus, pero dahil wala nito sa bayan ng binan, kinakailangan ko pang tumungo sa may pacita (san pedro) tuwing umaga. tapos, bababa ako sa may ayala station at tutungo sa global city. kulang kulang dalawang oras din ang byahe patungo sa trabaho, medyo mas mabilis sa umaga kumpara papauwi. bukod sa malayo, ginatungan pa ng ginagawang slex na naging dahilan ng mabigat na daloy ng trapiko.

samu't-saring kombinasyon na din ang nasubukan ko papapunta at pauwi mula sa trabaho. merong cubao bus sa may pavilion binan pero lumalakad ito ng mga alas-sais y media, isang byahe lang ito at sadyang maaga para sa akin kaya't kadalasan ay sa pacita pa talaga ako napunta. madami din akong naging kombinasyong ruta pauwi. sa ngayon, nahimpil na ako sa rutang taguig-ayala-alabang-binan. ito ang pinakamabilis sa aking pagsusuri. minsan lang, maiipit sa toll plaza paakyat ng sky way, at palabas sa may bicutan. bababa ako sa may alabang at lilipat sa dyip tungong binan.

bumalik tayo sa bus. palibhasa malaki ang bus at mas matagal ang byahe ko dito kaya marami akong napagmamataan ng pansin. sa bus sa pacita, marami akong nakakasabay ng mga manggagawa din sa bahaging maynila kaya't hindi ito mahirap bago mapuno at umalis. 

ang aircon kung hindi sobrang malamig eh sobrang init. kung sumasakay ka ng bus alam mo ito. hindi ko alam kung bakit lahat ata ng bus eh kung hindi sira ang aircon ay sobrang ibang lebel naman ang palamig nito. lalo na sa umaga, palagi kong nagagamit ang jaket pang opisina dahil talagang malamig ang aircon, nakapaninigas ng  laman. hindi mo din naman sila puedeng patayin o hinaan. dahil dito, mayroong mga iba't ibang paraan para maiwasan ang lamig:

una. itabing ang aircon sa ibang bahagi para hindi ikaw ang tamaan. marami ang napapaaway dito. minsan sa isang bus kong nasakyan, may nag-away dahil sa tinatapat daw sa kanya ang aircon, nagugulo daw ang hair ng tao. dapat din tandaan na natural na katangian ng mga aircon vent ang pektus! oo, hindi ang nakikita mong tinatapatan ng vent ang laging lalabasan ng hangin! minsan, naliko ang malamig na hangin! ito'y isang napakagandang halimbawa na hindi ng lahat ng nakikita mo ay iyong nakukuha! (er…WYSINWYG)

pangalawa. ang kurtina ay iyong kakampi. ito'y isang istratehiyang madalas nating masaksihan sa bus. sa pamamaraang ito, itataas ang kurtina at isasabit sa cabin ng bus para harangan nito ang malamig na hangin. kumpara sa una, mas palakaibigan ang gawaing ito sa kadahilanang maiiwasan mong maitapat ng hindi sinasadya sa ibang tao ang air con. mas mapapaiwas ka din sa away. ang tanging problema lang sa solusyon na ito ay minsan pag mabilis ang takbo ni manong at bigla-bigla ang hinto, natatanggal ang munting buhol ni kurtina and here comes cold air again.

ikatlo. tumayo ka sa bus. hindi kasaganahan ang bulusok ng malamig na hangin sa yo pero masakit sa paa.

…………………………………. 

the holiday is over.

so, vacation is over and will have to work tomorrow. normally, i take vacation leaves this time of the year (from the previous company so that i have to return not until the next year), but now that i'm still under probation and don't have paid leaves, no show = no pay. hence, i'm going to office tomorrow. hehe

the 4-day break is just right, i guess. i got to meet some lb friends for lunch last saturday, and meet my very first inaanak yael!!! he's so adorable that he looks like a she!!! not until he changed and i saw his willie that i was conviced he's a he! just kidding kat…

apart from that, most of the time i stayed at home and had long afternoon naps, or read pullman's, and clean my room, or do some 3K on the tread mill. we also went out late today, and stopped by tita sony's (mama's older sister) place for dinner. of course, mother cooked morcon for christmas season.

and btw, i almost forgot about my multiply account! 'recently updated it, and planning to make use of it for posting pictures from now on. to start, last saturday's lb pip meet uploaded here   –> http://yossarian22.multiply.com/

cheers. 

push my lak

came in the office a few minutes before 8am today so that allows me to leave at 5pm. i also decided to try a different route back home. ever since i started working in global city last month i’ve been blending various combinations of getting home. when ‘binan’ bus route was removed from landmark-park square terminal, they didn’t bother of having replacement! instead, middle-class workers from binan, me include, have to resort to some other ways. i’ve tried the mini-van to binan from sm parking lot, bus to pacita (via susana heights), and bus to pacita (via southwoods exit) with varying results. and now i tried the ayala-alabang-binan route. seems to be a little bit faster i guess…was home a little past 7pm.

from the bus, i was annoyed by this loud tv program called ‘whammy’. they have 3 contestants competing against each other to get the prize, and they keep on shouting ‘whammy push my laaaakkk…., stop!’ and then the digital whammy will decide what they get or if their money will be reset to zero. this is the dumbest game show i’ve ever seen. first, they don’t even have trivia questions like most tv games shows. all they have to do is to shout ‘whammmyy….stop!’. there is no second reason. hehe

my gulay, is this an impending quality of public broadcast television?! if you know what i’m saying…other than that for example, why did they make a dead person the cause of comedy from a local movie ‘apat dapat, dapat apat’ when you’re not suppose to make fun of dead people? and how they imitate and typecast chinese as ruthless employers to domestic helpers? for those who’ve seen the movie, probably you know what i’m saying. from the exit after watching that comedy film, i even pretended that i haven’t seen the movie yet and asked several people randomly if the movie was any good. all but none said it was good. one even said ‘sobra’.

and why do you have to make a certain stolen chicken recipe the heart of a telenovela series? and why do they even bother to recreate a mexican telenovela, complete with the espanola outfit and the tarayness of contrabida? susmariosep,… i’ve also taken note that terrence and jericho rosales are the same person not because he changed his name, but rather because he portrayed a character called ‘terrence’ and now people can call him as terrence even outside the tv show.

now going back to the bus route, there are 2 more ways of going home that i’ve yet to try. one is by the bus terminal in market! market! and the other is via the pala-pala carmona exit bus along ayala. i wish i’ll soon find the finest way of getting home, better yet ‘i’ve gotta push my lak’…

i just don’t understand. enlighten me.

today is second first sweldo day!

Did it ever happen to you that you have to wait like 30 minutes in an ATM machine that has 3 or 4 people ahead of you so that’s give or take around 10 minutes per person and you only have to use the machine very swiftly like less than a minute?

As a matter of fact, I really use the cash machine very quick that my fingers are pointing at the corresponding buttons right before the screen shows the menu! if you know what i'm saying like 'english' 'taglish' buttons, 'no receipt' 'with receipt' buttons…

Oh well, that's why i hate to have a pay day like everybody else! (15th and 30th)

lomo totoo

dito -> 120CFN

the golden compass

i finished recently this book by pullman. his dark materials was the last book i bought in hong kong, and didn’t read it until i’m back in the philippines. when i was looking for this trilogy, i had to inquire the store attendant as i can’t find it. then found out that it’s in the children’s section.

i have a massive book backlog, and have other books lined up to read, but i immediately resorted to this pullman fantasy first for two reasons. first, it’s going to be shown in theaters very soon and i want to read it first in case i’ll be watching the film. second, the intrigue going on emails not to support pullman as he is an atheist.

so here goes, there might be spoilers ahead so those who haven’t read the book yet or will be watching the film soon, stop.

the 351-page first installment of the supposedly ‘children’s trilogy’ is entitled ‘the golden compass’ (which is the american english version). book is divided into 3 parts, and a total of 23 chapters. it’s about a child, a young orphan girl and her struggles, her curiosity of their world, and her attempt to save her friend roger (captured by the gobblers, an organization that hunts children) and her exiled uncle asriel (which later on she learned that he’s not her uncle but some other sort of relative).

the book is full of thrilling adventures, and the narrating was impeccably done. would surely make a young mind’s hooked up very very easily, i say.

it’s really a children’s book. in fact, i even commented out when i was in my last chapters that there’s nothing evil on it any more than i’ve read in harry potters. that’s the truth save for the last 3 chapters or so of the book. i’m neither a theology expert nor a walking bible, but there’s really something going on at the ending of the book. mockery. hatred of the protagonist’s to her own parents. allow me to quote some part of the book.

and with anger, too; she could have killed her father, if she could have torn out his heart, she would have done so there and then…

now, that’s a very obvious strong expression of a child’s hatred.

apart from that, it even attempts to equate Dust to the original sin, and create it’s very own version of genesis chapter 3!!! (complete with eve, adam, and the snake!)

i understand it’s a fantasy book. there’s even a clear label on the side of the book saying it’s a fantasy. truth is, it even won carnegie medal for children's fiction, and was selected by judges of the carnegie medal as one of the ten most important children's novels of the past 70 years! (wiki) i just have a doubt if this should really be categorized as children’s book because imho, the way it ends is far convoluted for a child to comprehend.

strange as it is that I even thought the possibility that some other writer must have finished the last part of the book for it’s really way off the original plot.

loma lomo loma lomo

i have the 120CFN now (borrowed from ollie)! 'trying outdoor shots as the battery for flash is drained…so will use the next roll of film with fresh battery. just a trivia, in 120CFN, once the battery is drained you can't change it when you still have unexposed film. you need to finish it, preferably outdoors then change it with new batteries and another roll of medium-format film. :-)

and i passed loma 301 and loma 356!!!!!! (not outstanding marks though, but still alrighty!!) heavenly creatures!!!!!!!!!!