I made a friend last night. Her name is Stargirl. She was the perfect antidote to my predicament. She was the right person to have at that moment. I was feeling disgusted with myself for being such a brat and treating other people like planets that should revolved around me..the sun. I was doing some thinking on how to sort out this planetary deluision. To be un-selfish and think more of others feeling before myself. And there she was. She fell from the stars and right into my lap. She’s a lot different than me more so because she was the very essence of me. The me that I should become. She has no sense of self, no ego but she was the most whole person I’ve known. She taught me a lot of things. She taught me the power of random acts of kindness. She taught me how individuality could bring people closer. She taught me a lot of things that I can’t recall all of them. Our conversation was more of feeling than words. She spoke right through my heart in a language that sounded more like drum beats. We only spent a couple of hours together but the glow she emanated remained with me until now. I’m afraid that a few of her star dusts rubbed on me and I know I’ll never be the same.
*******************
In a cookie cutter world, an imperfectly shaped gingerbread man looks like a star.
June 26, 2008
Stargirl
June 24, 2008
Mooched!
Hi I’m Raine and I’m an Addict.
Ok so this post will be about books again! But don’t tag me as a book blog…not yet. In time I know this obsession will fade but then again it might not. Anyway, I got my first book from bookmooch yesterday. I mooched this from Elizabeth in Australia. I think the shipping fee she paid was more expensive than the book but still she sent it. Thank you!! My dad sent me an sms that the package has arrived. It felt like Christmas morning! Weeee! I was so excited to get home but I have work so I told my dad to open the package for me and check the condition. He texted me that the book was in excellent condition. When I got home my eyes zoomed in on this sight, Salman Rushdie’s Midnight Children!
Anyways, I wanted to announce that I am accepting book donations. Books of any kind and at any condition. Fiction books of course and not Textbooks or Encyclopedias or Porn Mags. I am trying to collect books to trade so I could read all the books in the “1001 must read books before you die” Please help an addict out.
Ok so this post will be about books again! But don’t tag me as a book blog…not yet. In time I know this obsession will fade but then again it might not. Anyway, I got my first book from bookmooch yesterday. I mooched this from Elizabeth in Australia. I think the shipping fee she paid was more expensive than the book but still she sent it. Thank you!! My dad sent me an sms that the package has arrived. It felt like Christmas morning! Weeee! I was so excited to get home but I have work so I told my dad to open the package for me and check the condition. He texted me that the book was in excellent condition. When I got home my eyes zoomed in on this sight, Salman Rushdie’s Midnight Children!
Anyways, I wanted to announce that I am accepting book donations. Books of any kind and at any condition. Fiction books of course and not Textbooks or Encyclopedias or Porn Mags. I am trying to collect books to trade so I could read all the books in the “1001 must read books before you die” Please help an addict out.
To donate, leave comments or email me at florainea[at]gmail[dot]com ;)
June 18, 2008
Bloggers and Grammar
I attended the Davao Bloggers Party last Saturday and it was a blast! It was so nice to meet those lovely people esp. Ted who offered to buy books for us and Lany who was my former neighbor... I was happy that she still recognized me. Ok I’m not gonna go into details about the event coz I’m sure you’ll probably read about it in 20 other blogs. Also I have no photos to boast of so there.
A friend asked me if the bloggers activity includes a crash course in grammar because she noticed that some of the bloggers can’t even string proper words together. Ouch! Her words actually hit a nerve. I am guilty of this because I still struggle with my grammar and spellings and I’m afraid that everytime I hit the publish button the grammar police would pop out off my screen. I told her that some bloggers might not be that mindful of correct and proper grammar because most of them write in free flowing fashion. Blogging is thinking out loud in printed words and others like me type the words even while the brain hasn’t finished processing the whole thought yet. Sometimes I still edit after I plublish the post…oftentimes I don’t.. which is clearly shown in my posts. I guess it’s no longer an excuse that English is not our first language because why chose to write in English in the first place right? Anyways after what she told me I tried to be more mindful of my grammar and spelling and punctuations….ahmm maybe in the next post :)
A friend asked me if the bloggers activity includes a crash course in grammar because she noticed that some of the bloggers can’t even string proper words together. Ouch! Her words actually hit a nerve. I am guilty of this because I still struggle with my grammar and spellings and I’m afraid that everytime I hit the publish button the grammar police would pop out off my screen. I told her that some bloggers might not be that mindful of correct and proper grammar because most of them write in free flowing fashion. Blogging is thinking out loud in printed words and others like me type the words even while the brain hasn’t finished processing the whole thought yet. Sometimes I still edit after I plublish the post…oftentimes I don’t.. which is clearly shown in my posts. I guess it’s no longer an excuse that English is not our first language because why chose to write in English in the first place right? Anyways after what she told me I tried to be more mindful of my grammar and spelling and punctuations….ahmm maybe in the next post :)
June 14, 2008
on karma and Bookmooch
A friend told me that the oracles have foretold that the year 2008 will be a karmic year. Meaning we will be reaping what we have sown this year. If you’ve been killing people for the past few years then you will be killed…or something like that. She asked me if I agree with this, I told her that I haven’t had any particulary bad or good experiences lately and everything is pretty normal or average just like every year. She told me perhaps that I have good karma. I didn’t give this karma thingy much thought until this morning. I realized that books seem to be pouring from every direction. Just before lunch I am a proud owner of Love in the Time of Cholera and 100 years of Solitude by Gabriel Marquez and what did it cost me? Almost nothing…so ok I have to trade The Devil Wears Prada and a Sheldon book but compared to a Gabriel Marquez? It is to me, almost nothing. Thanks to a friend who's selling second hand books.Plus a Salman Rushdie book is coming my way and a couple of others absolutely free, Thanks to Bookmooch. I believe that these books are replacements for those that I have lost. There were sooo many books that were borrowed and not returned to me*sigh* I won't go into details because it will only depress me.
Back to bookmooch, it is such a great site to trade books because it is international. You can trade books with anyone across the globe. You just have to shoulder the shipping fee for the books that you will be sending. I have problems with book storage and wanted to relieve myself of old books that I have outgrown like Sidney Sheldon, Patricia Cornwell and a couple of historical romances (which features Fabio). I didn’t know that someone somwehere is willing to trade foe this books. Bookmooch is such a treasure trove for book lovers so be sure to check their site. This is not a sponsored post , I just love bookmooch :)
Back to bookmooch, it is such a great site to trade books because it is international. You can trade books with anyone across the globe. You just have to shoulder the shipping fee for the books that you will be sending. I have problems with book storage and wanted to relieve myself of old books that I have outgrown like Sidney Sheldon, Patricia Cornwell and a couple of historical romances (which features Fabio). I didn’t know that someone somwehere is willing to trade foe this books. Bookmooch is such a treasure trove for book lovers so be sure to check their site. This is not a sponsored post , I just love bookmooch :)
June 13, 2008
Davao Reader's Circle Update
The Davao Reader's Circle (DRC) is officially alive online! Please check out our site at http://www.davaoreaderscircle.kom.ph/ .The site was made possible by Dom our most active member on and offline(and future club president *hint*). You can check out the books swapped, book reviews, announcements and updates there. Our next meet up is scheduled on June 21 at Kangaroo Coffeeshop, Hope to see you there :)
May 28, 2008
Help-less
What would you do if you see your friend get physically hurt by someone? Would you sprint to the nearest phone booth and change to the S costume? Or would you forget about the custome and just help your friend? I did neither. I actually did nothing. I just stood there frozen in place and stared in shock at the scene unfolding before me.
The friend was an officemate and the “someone” was her husband. They had an argument and the hubby slapped my officemate, called her names and pushed her to the ground and striked her again and again. I wanted to interfere so badly but Blow stopped me because we might just complicate things and we don’t want to intrude in their marital problems. We wanted to report the hubby to the authorities but we were in an isolated island and there was nobody to report the altercation to. The couple left in the middle of the night which left us all to speculate about what happened to her. The next day I talked to her and she told me she was okay and they were able to patch things up between him and her husband. She told me that it was the first time that he mistreated her and that she threatened to leave her husband if it will happen again. I offered her help and words of advice. She assured me though that she’s fine and that she’s really okay. So, I let her be.
I just hope that she won’t end up dead though because I’ve seen so many frightening cases of domestic violence on TV and read about it on books and on the papers. The victim oftentimes feels that he or she doesn’t have any choice or gets blinded by their “love” for their partner that they just accept the abuse in silence.
This whole thing will probably haunt me for life. Until now I keep going through the scenes in my head wondering what I could have done to help her. But sadly I realized that as much as I want to help her even want to fight her battles for her or make choices for her I can’t because it is after all her life. As much as we want to help there are just people who doesn’t want to accept it or maybe they need to go through their problems on their own.
May 26, 2008
Reader's Circle
Yesterday I attended a Reader's Circle at the KopiRoti coffee shop along with fellow book worms. The activity was a brainchild of Aicha who got inspired by the comfy reader’s lounge of the newly opened coffee shop, Kangaroo. She thought of reading good books for free so she thought of creating a readers circle where book lovers could swap books. So she told her friends to bring three books that they want others to read and meet up. One of her friends, Chi, told me about it and I brought Rhea along. We were supposed to meet at Kangaroo but it was closed so we went to KopiRoti instead. So there we were, Aiha, Jesh, Chi, Rhea and Me. We talked about books of course and even if it was the first time for some of us to meet there was an instant camarederie and we were comfortable enough to confess our obsession or rather passion for books. It’s really nice to meet up with people who share your passion..oh wait! i think I’ve said that before about my first blog EB.
There was a very good and varied selection of books there from Isabel Allende to Jerry Spinelli and much much more. I envy the others for knowing that many authors and good books. I am a bit prudent when it comes to exploring books and authors. Oftentimes if I read a good book then I would read all the books of that author before exploring other authors. And I would only read new authors if it comes highly recommended from a trusted source. I’m looking forward to reading the book I borrowed, Balzac and the Little Chinese seamstress by Dai Sijie.
Also, it was comforting to know that I am not crazy after all because sometimes when I go to second hand book shops like BookShop or BookSale, I get this feeling that I’m gonna find a book that I’ve been looking for. That a book is waiting just for me to find it. That the book and I were meant to be.It feels like magic LOLS I thought it was weird to feel that way but when I told the others about it they assured me that I’m not alone. So I’m not crazy after all or even if I am, atleast I’m not alone :)
We’re planning to meet every other Sunday so leave me a comment if you’re interested to join us. The next meet up is scheduled on June 8.
There was a very good and varied selection of books there from Isabel Allende to Jerry Spinelli and much much more. I envy the others for knowing that many authors and good books. I am a bit prudent when it comes to exploring books and authors. Oftentimes if I read a good book then I would read all the books of that author before exploring other authors. And I would only read new authors if it comes highly recommended from a trusted source. I’m looking forward to reading the book I borrowed, Balzac and the Little Chinese seamstress by Dai Sijie.
Also, it was comforting to know that I am not crazy after all because sometimes when I go to second hand book shops like BookShop or BookSale, I get this feeling that I’m gonna find a book that I’ve been looking for. That a book is waiting just for me to find it. That the book and I were meant to be.It feels like magic LOLS I thought it was weird to feel that way but when I told the others about it they assured me that I’m not alone. So I’m not crazy after all or even if I am, atleast I’m not alone :)
We’re planning to meet every other Sunday so leave me a comment if you’re interested to join us. The next meet up is scheduled on June 8.
P.S. Please join our yahoogroup, Davaoreaderscircle
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