Archive for May, 2008

  • 19 May

    Posted by
    Joni


    Category

    The “Rebound” Book

    27

    Influenced by the book reviews I read over the last few weeks, I bought a copy and began reading the novel Twilight by Stephenie Meyer exactly a week ago. Six days later, I finished reading it and its sequel called New Moon. And because the story does leave you thirsting for more (pun intended), I searched far and wide for the third book in the series called Eclipse. By “far and wide” I mean all the bookstores in Glorietta, Greenbelt, SM Megamall, Robinson’s Galleria, Bonifacio High Street, and Eastwood City. I swear my heart breaks a little every time they tell me, “Sold out na po yung Eclipse.” Boohoo.

    Twilight is only the second novel I’ve read about vampires. The first one was The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova, a fiction that delved deep into the world of vampires and Dracula. Obviously, I didn’t think I would find vampire stories interesting until I read those two. I’ve never read any of Anne Rice’s works, except Christ The Lord which clearly isn’t anything vampiric. Heh. Between the two, my fascination with Twilight (the series) is a lot more intense!

    After DarkSo what’s this “rebound” book that I’m referring to in the title of this post? At the end of my Quest, when I finally gave up and told the Customer Service at Powerbooks to just reserve me a copy of Eclipse once they have it, I decided to get another book — After Dark by Haruki Murakami — just so I don’t disrupt my current reading streak. The last time I broke this kind of momentum, it took me 5 months to finish a single book! Lol. Truth is, I’ve actually been waiting for the cheaper edition of After Dark to be released. I find the original edition too expensive (probably around P800), while the one I bought sells for only P299. I haven’t read it, so I’ve got nothing to say about it yet.

    While it’s true that I’ve also been wanting to read After Dark since last year (and that I’m really a fan of Haruki Murakami’s works), I still consider it a “rebound” book because the deeper truth is right now I, without-a-doubt, want to read Eclipse instead. :(

    Check out the updates of the Twilight movie that’s coming in December! Edward Cullen is going to be played by Robert Pattinson (the guy who played Cedric Diggory in Harry Potter) and Bella Swan by Kristen Stewart (the two playful boys’ elder sister in Zathura).

    Pardon me for writing this very trivial post. This is what my “over-fascination” with something usually compels me to do.

  • 09 May

    Posted by
    Joni


    Category

    I Heart My Mom

    24

    Let’s play tag! Mother’s Day is 2 days from now (May 11, 2008), and I want to start a meme that, hopefully, would get everyone to join (well, not everyone). Are you ready?

    The rules are simple: (1) Post a photo of you and your mom together (recent or old) and write the words “I heart my mom” across it (or type the text below the photo if you don’t feel like opening your image-editing software). (2) Tag your friends!

    Note: I’m not after backlinks. I just thought doing this meme would be fun. No need to link back to me, guys! » Read the rest of the entry..

  • 08 May

    Posted by
    Joni


    Category

    Missing a good friend

    12

    In the morning of May 1, 2007, I was surprised to receive a phone call from a college friend of mine. I found it weird because she rarely calls me, and what’s even weirder was that it was so early in the morning. Before I answered the phone, I kind of had a feeling something terrible has happened. She told me that one of our college classmates just died. I can’t even begin to describe how shocked I was to hear the news.

    Our friend, Remus, was only 23 years old when he passed away. His mother told us that he had just gotten home that day they rushed him to the hospital. The nurses and doctors at the hospital in San Pedro, Laguna told them that he urgently needed to undergo kidney dialysis and surgery because there was water in his lungs. They waited hours for the surgeon to arrive, but he never did, so they had to contact another doctor. His mother wanted to move him to another hospital but the hospital people told her that Remus, at that point, was already in a critical condition, so moving him would only cause more complications.

    When the other doctor finally came, it was already too late. Remus was at the peak of his suffering, he couldn’t breathe due to the water in his lungs and his heart couldn’t take it anymore. He died of cardiac arrest while in surgery.

    Remus’ mom told us that before he was taken to the OR, he was crying and was already saying goodbye to her. He already knew he wouldn’t make it. Her story made the rest of us well up.

    Remus was one of my closest guy friends in college. He was kind, generous and thoughtful. As a working student, he was very focused that he managed to graduate and pay for his school expenses on his own. But the thing I remember most about him was after college, when we both got jobs in the same call center company in Ortigas. Whenever our schedules would meet, we would take our breaks together and just talk about college life and our friends back in Bacolod. Two months later, I left that job (because I didn’t think I would survive another day as a call center agent) while Remus stayed for another year. I saw him a few times after that with the rest of our blockmates. A week before he died, he texted one of our friends to say that he wanted to see all of us again on May 5, a Saturday. He said it’s been an awful long time since our last reunion.

    That Saturday, we got together to see him at his wake.

    remus (This is the only photo I could find of him online. Someone deleted his Friendster account. Hmm.)

    May 1, 2008 marks Remus’ first death anniversary. Every once in a while he would come to mind and I would think about how his life would have been if he hadn’t died. I miss my friend. The rest of us in our batch would grow old and fulfill our dreams while he will forever be a 23-year old. :(