***
There Will Be Half-Blood
Last long weekend I finally finished reading Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince. I rushed to read it because the movie is showing weeks from now and I vowed to always read the book first before seeing the movie. I have enough brain cells to read a book and not let someone interpret it for me visually.
I won’t write a full review anymore since half of the world would have read it anyway. It was again a satisfying escape from this forlorn Muggle world into Rowling’s magical realm. Not as exciting as Prisoner of Azkaban or Goblet of Fire but definitely better than Order of The Phoenix (Book 5 was so s...l...o...w in places).
I tend to think of Half-Blood Prince as the transition book...the prequel to the great big ending. Because nothing spectacular happened...only the death of You Know Who (and I am not talking about Voldemort). The book just gave us more facts and loose ends which I expect will be tied-up in The Deathly Hollows.
I gave my Mom some theories about the ending (like Harry being a horcrux) but she just gave me a shrug. But trust my sister to drop two spoilers...she confirmed two deaths in the final book. Grrr...you D.O.H. you!
Speaking of half-blood...has anyone heard of bloodless dinuguan (a pork stew with thick sauce made from pig’s blood)? I saw it on the Kourtyard (a mid-range dining place) menu and I would have tried it had I not been anti-red meat lately. What’s next...sweet sinigang?
***
Me See The Book One Moment
It was one of those days spent away from the quiet hurly-burly of the office. In one day, I had a series of meetings in three different places. Cafes were the usual venues; as coffee is fast becoming the elixir of life.
My mind and eyes sometimes wander away from the meeting and I take in my surroundings and observe the people around. It was then that I realized that I’ve seen the same book being read by three different people in the places I’ve been to that day. Size was standard paperback, cover is minty green and I could barely read the title because it was scrawled in the unassuming penmanship of a child who had just learned to write.
Could this be the new Twilight or Harry Potter and I’ve been again left in the cold on the next literary phenomenon?
Finally my curiosity got the better of me and I stood up, walked near a couple (the guy just dropped the book and took his laptop). I pretended to be calling someone but my eyes were really aimed at reading the title of the mysterious book. It was Me Talk Pretty One Day.
I asked F is she knows the book. She didn’t. And F was a connoisseur of popular books (if ever there is one).
I couldn’t get my mind off that book and vowed to look for it the next time I visit a bookstore.
A few days later it hit me. What I saw was not the next cult bestseller. It was probably one of those books that was required reading in the academe. Classes just started after all.
Stupid me.
***
Higher Learning
So finally...with or without A(H1N1), school started in all levels last June 15.
For me, this meant a lot of things.
More traffic on the roads during rush hour.
That I will again wake up on Monday mornings to sounds of my mother bellowing at my brothers to hurry up or they will be late for school.
That I will have my turn hollering at my brothers to sleep early.
More breakfast items on the supermarket list. Longer lines at the supermarket cashiers during Sunday night.
That I will again see on top of my laptop a torn page from my brothers’ notebook with a hastily scribbled note: Kuya, project ko sa-submit next week.
***
Pandemic! At The School
I am not quite a germ-phobe but I do have my tendencies. Like I smear my desk with alcohol first thing on Monday morning (who knows what crawled there over the weekend). And considering the clutter on my side table, a viral invasion is highly probable.
With this pandemic scare about A(H1N1), my usually indifferent Mom included small vials of sanitizer in the school bags of my brothers. They were at first “ashamed” of using them. I gave them my two cents worth and asked them what was more shameful: (a) having and using a sanitizer or (b) being known as one of the confirmed A(H1N1) cases and part of the statistics. That shut them up.
As for me, I consciously try not touch anything when I’m in a public place. And I tend to disinfect myself with sanitizer every 15 minutes.
***
Jimmy Who?
One time we were in Greenbelt 5 and passed by this luxury shoe salon (that’s what I think it is...I can’t figure out ladies and their bags and shoes).
F exclaimed: “May Jimmy Choo na dito!” (There’s a Jimmy Choo here already)
I said: Wow, really...sa kanta ko lang yan naririnig. (I only hear that in song’s lyrics)
I was referring to (obviously) Shontelle’s song T-shirt. Sing it now: Sick of this dress and this Jimmy Choos...with nothing but your t-shirt on.
F cracked up and said “Lower your voice...lumabas ang pagka-jologs!”
I cracked up.
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