Eating, Praying, Loving

I love bookstores but since I realized my eyes do not enjoy reading fine print, hesitations on buying a book were bigger than ever. Thus, I haven’t read as obsessively as I used to.

(There is the obvious question of why don’t I get myself a pair of glasses. I had experiences with glasses. At least three pairs have been sacrificed to my clumsy hands. In two weeks or less, I’ll get tired of wearing them and I will eventually lose them without enough sympathy to find them. They cost a fortune and it figures I am not worthy of another one. I have opened my mind to getting contact lenses but my mother thinks they are killing machines disguised as calibrated sheets of transparencies. She said my eyes will completely give out if I use contacts. Lasik, on the other hand, is very interesting but seeing something on TV outside the capital of the Philippines rarely means its readily available.)

So now I’m in Jakarta (No, I’m not getting a Lasik.) and my sister owns the book by Elizabeth Gilbert called Eat Pray Love. I saw this already on a bookstore in the Philippines and in Singapore and every time I do, I would feel my hand digging down for bills in my pants. Hesitation kicks in and I decide that reading something this thick would probably draw my eyeballs out.  Holding that book now feels amazing because I saved a few bucks for patience, a virtue I sorely lack. I started reading it yesterday and I’m barely half-way through. My reading is of approximately thirty minutes of reading, then a millennium of contemplation.

 

The pauses are not only brought by the aching eyes. Eat Pray Love is a memoir of a woman’s travel to three countries – Italy, India and Indonesia – in an effort to find contentment. I got triple excited when I read the introduction and knew that the book was actually a journal of the author on her journey last 2006, simply put: its all real. The book is slow paced and she has wrote, in detail, all the life lessons and tidbits of thought she accumulated in every part of the world she is in. I pause because I need time to digest the magnitude of reality she shares in every few chapters. The book is amazing and is just perfect for school breaks.

Last August, a movie version was released starring Julia Roberts. I did not watch it because I lacked reason to do so. Tomorrow, me and my sister (who already read the book in full) are going to watch the movie.

Fieldtrips to the past

Yesterday, I grabbed myself the Eraserheads Box Set and apart from a majestic, silver-design adorned "The Heads" shirt, a metal box that brings back memories of school with bring-your-own-lunch policies, and a tearjerky photobook of the band (Eraserheads and their music in visual art) is a gigantic collection of 11 CDs.

I also bought Youngblood 2.0 from Inquirer Books. Its a collection of the 70 best essays from the youth of 1976-1977, published in the groundbreaking Youngblood coloumn of the Inquirer. I've been eyeing the book for so long and getting the box set, it was a sign that today was scheduled to fulfill material desires.

Reading assignment: Stardust

If you have read this post, you will know that I have purchased a Neil Gaiman book with my new school supplies. So for today, my goal is to detach from computers, television or any other media aside from the book. My goal is to finish reading the book in 5 hours which is very possible because it is fun and captivating. Afterwards, I'll be writing a review for those who want to get themselves a copy.

Goodbye Facebook and Face to Face in TV5. Let me intoxicate with Gaiman and Stardust.

When Luck Loves You

I just bought a double cover back issue of Myx Mag Phils. I was so lucky, given I bought a magazine feauturing 3 of my favorite artists. Pupil, Sandwich and Lady Gaga (in no particular order). Judging by the facts, I could have won a lottery that day.

To top it all up, I only had to pay 30 Pesos for the package.

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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Chill Wind by Janet McDonald

This is a story about Aisha, a 19-year old black girl with welfare running out, 2 kids and no high school diploma. Her story is both a typical novel and an inspiring one. McDonald writes complicated ideas in a way the reader understands and she successfully creates specific personalities for each character inside your imagination. This book targets 50% or 100% mature people.

I got my copy from home, dug up from archeological degree. I bet you you are not going to find this book anywhere in the Philippines easily. Because of my kindness, I'm selling my copy for a measly 3 Dollars via PayPal Request. It has minor folds and is obviously used. The price includes the shipping fee. E-mail me at wingspan300@yahoo.com for more info.