You Need A Bookmark

My new bookmark. Don't try too hard to read it,

you'll hurt your eyes.

Everyday, millions of book lovers around the world keep quiet as they wage war versus themselves.

"Should I buy a bookmark?", they ask their brains. Neurons fire up as they try to calculate the worthiness of spending some Pesos on a piece of board which can easily be replaced by some folded scratch paper.

Who saves you from the task of remembering page numbers, folding pages, and ,worst of all, scanning through pages of books you need to finish reading? Who welcomes you every time you continue a reading a bestseller? Its the bookmark. Come on. Its less than 5 Pesos. Buy yourself a decent bookmark. I promise it would be worth it.

For the past years, I have tagged the act of buying bookmarks as stupid and financially depressing. Because of this, I have wasted a forest. I have folded tons of paper to make them look like bookmarks but I loose them after 2 or 3 uses. I really didn't care. Their just pieces of paper BUT after several more years, it should have been the whole greenery at Mount Makiling.

When I was looking for a good bookmark, I saw a lot of Hannah Montana and Dora bookmarks. Were they advertising or promoting reading books to active children and teenagers? Also, there was a lot of bookmarks that provide inspiration, most of them from the Bible. It took me about 5 minutes to find something neutral. Something without God written in it because I will be soon reading books about evolution so starting it out with a passage from the Bible will be mockery. All the other bookmarks which were not religious had inspirational messages with them with pictures of feathers, flowers and everything you will see in a woman's designer perfume commercial. That would be a problem too if I would be reading books about tragedy. So I settled with the bookmark in the photo above. It says:

The Tale of Two Friends

Once upon a time there was a world.

In this world there were two friends. They went through lots of stuff together. Some of it was good. Some of it wasn't. But through thick and thin, they stayed close, and they were sure they always would. So it seems safe to say they'd live pretty much happily ever after.

The end.

I loved this bookmark because the only thing unparalleled with sadness is the strong bond between their friendship (in the photo, star and moon). Its a very long message so its unlikely I would read it or remember what it says word for word every time I open a book.

Anyways, I'm wishing myself happy reading with my new 4.50 Peso bookmark.

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Feast of The Black Nazarene

Do not fear a stampede because its stampede itself. The only difference is death is rairer and people are very happy despite the fact that they are pushed around by the combined forces of people. If you want to get some of this religious fun for yourself, buy a ticket to Manila before January 9. Read more about it here.

People actually die in this religious procession. But nobody can really tell what happiness contact to the Black Nazarene gives. Aren't those thousands of people enough reason that it is worth all the risks?

Starting A Diet

Yes, my dear friends. I'm trimming down the contents of my plate to the minimum.

I'm going on a diet.

I spent last year's summer working for Silliman University in Dumaguete City. It was a school requirement and at the same time, a perfect chance to take on dieting. Together with 3 of the 7 people I was living with there, I vowed my life to deprivation of unnecessary nutrients. Of course, I failed. If I succeeded, I should have not started this loser blog because I would be so happy about how the earth carried on around me. But this failure could not bring me down. I was just too used to it.

You might brand me as vain, stupid, too self-conscius or anything negative that could also be used to describe Ana Wintour. But here is a reason that can change your mind: Everything is expensive. Yes, that's right. My dieting is all about economy.

If I ride a plane now rather than after a succesful diet, I will be burning more fuel. If I keep on growing and growing, my clothes will be bursting into scrap fabric. If I eat and eat, I take more from the food table which will tip the balance and cause international food scarcity leading to deaths of a million others.

Now you understand me and all the pressure pressed upon my face by Physics and CNN coverage on African children. The TV is programmed to trim you down, I tell you.

For my diet, I'll eat minimum rice, more protein viands. Nobody needs to know MY minumum. If I die dieting at least I'll rot in a smaller coffin (although I'm still trying to figure out the benefits of being in a smaller coffin).

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So Sad Filipinos Do This

If you have read this, you're going to understand this entry more.

Yes, I lost my phone last Tuesday. While everyone was raising their eyebrows on me, I asked for divine reappearance of my lost phone until about 10 PM where I got tired and swallowed a cup of water. It was very hard praying while fixing a video project for Physics. After several tries of Bon to contact my phone, somebody finally answered the other line (which was my phone).

It was the trisikad driver who brought me from point A to point B earlier that day so the location of my phone couldn't be far away. He said the phone fell off of my pocket and he took it from whatever surface it landed on. Wow. I was so happy hearing the news. I thought he was kind for giving the background story. But I was wrong. He told Bon that I must go to their house and claim my phone for a yet undisclosed amount of money. It was 10 PM and I was basically asked to submit myself to a selfish thief or else he would sell my phone (which was like killing in a kidnap situation). Of course I didn't go.

The negotiation over the phone continued until I heard Bon talking about family ties. The trisikad driver knew almost all the friends my family has and he immediately suggested we go claim my phone at the gate, with him on the other side. He was so scared and ashamed of himself when he heard the names Bon shared.

Of course, we were happy. But still, we have to pay for a compensation. We put out P50o and stuck it into the man's drunk body and we were off to sleep. Too much hostage drama for a cellular phone.

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