Books I've Read in 2009

In 2008 I made a new years resolution to read 24 books that year – that’s two books a month, one book every other week. I ended up reading 26 by November. I’m a proud man. Sadly, I had nine other resolutions and only accomplished two.

Here are the book I’ve read in no particular order. Title in bold are book I loved. Titles in italics are books I tend to recommend to other people. Titles in asterisk* are short stories that I consider to be books. Titles in double asterisks** are books I reread.

· Lost in a Good Book by Jasper Fforde

· Something Rotten by Jasper Fforde

· The Well of Lost Plots Jasper Fforde

· First Among Sequels by Jasper Fforde

· The Yiddish Policemen's Union** by Michael Chabon

· Desperaux** by Kate Dicamillo

· Dreams from my Father by Barack Obama

· The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

· The Shack** by William P. Young

· Rumors of Another World: What on Earth are we Missing? by Philip Yancey

· Angels and Demons by Dan Brown

· The 7 Habits of Effective People by Stephen R. Covey

· The Tender Bar** by J. R. Moehringer

· May Day* by F. Scott Fitzgerald

· The Great Gatsby** by F. Scott Fitzgerald

· The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri

· The Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri

· The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

· Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman

· Fireseeds from Korea to the World by Nils Witmer Becker

· Twilight by you-know-who (Stephanie Meyer)

· New Moon by Stephanie Meyer

· All The Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy

· The Road by Cormac McCarthy

· Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

· Griffin and Sabine (book 2 and 3) by Nick Bantock

books i've started but never finished

· The Appeal

· On the Road

· One Hundred Years of Solitude

· The Brief but Wonderous Life of Oscar

· The Last Tycoon

Thicker than Water

I spent the previous evening with relatives whom I have never met before.

Apart from the awkward moments where I was lost in translation (Fukien), I had a lot of fun. The night started when my cousin sent me a message on facebook letting me know that, “Hey, I’m in Manila. Give me call. I’m on Sun, here’s my number.” (Not verbatim) The next day we meet at a relative’s house in Torre Lorenzo where I’m introduced to 2^nd cousins D. and V., also students of DLSU. D. then calls L., our 3^rd cousin to come and join us for dinner. So we take the Ford Lynx to the Korean Village where we dine on ox tongue and Korean delicacies (I separated the two because they’re not the same).

This is when we finally settle how we’re related. We drew a family tree on the back of a placemat and apparently, my tai-tai-ma (great great grandmother) had five or seven sons during the Chinese revolutions (K., correct me if I’m wrong), but two moved to the Philippines and attempted to start a shipping business in Catbalogan. My great grandfather’s brother had his family which is how I’m related to L. Then my great grandfather begot 14 children, 7 sons and 7 daughters. My grandfather was the eldest of these sons, and begot 4 sons, my father being the eldest while my cousins, W., is the son of the 2^nd son. Thus that’s how we’re related. My second cousins are part of the 14 children, and that’s how I’m related to them.

You’ll have to read that five times or more to comprehend it, but that’s exactly how I felt that evening. It was like a whole other world opened up revealing a long lost, estranged brother. But in my case, it wasn’t a brother but a whole clan. I knew of the existence of distant relatives, but the fact that everyone seems to know everyone else makes me feel like I’m missing out. It gives perspective to who I am and where I came from.

I’ve been to family reunions before (not the huge ones consisting of 200+ people) and I’ve been introduced to different relatives with a short explanation telling me how I’m related to them, but those are easily forgotten. So I didn’t think twice about it. But after meeting people my age who are so well networked with our family, I feel ashamed.

My cousin W. came back to visit relatives and to vacation. He ended up going to different provinces in the Philippines just to say hi to this relatives or that one. Me, I find it hard just to visit a relative who lives in the same city.

Maybe this is part of growing up.

On the other hand, my mother’s side of the family . . .

Insults

At a proclamation rally of Villar in Tondo, Senator Miriam-Defensor Santiago officially endorses the presidential candidate Manny Villar.

"Santiago spent most of her speech criticizing the rich, whom she said were not actually good in English.
'Hindi marunong mag-English [They don't know how to speak english]...Their IQ's are very low,' she said." --Inquirer

I would challenge her remark, but my IQ is very low.

Smile!

I have four pictures of myself next to my laptop.

1) 1x1 ID photo

2) photocopy of my soon-to-expire license

3) renewed license

4) expired alien's resident certificate.

I'm a handsome dude.

[This is what happens when someone forces me to blog.]

T-Shirts

Because everyone deserves to have a t-shirt with THE LAO's face on it.

I'm aware that:
1) I'm awfully vain
2) That picture is not very flattering
3) I have the coolest ideas in the world

Kryptonite

Today I woke up, switched on the telly, and flipped back and forth between the American Idol Finale and the Magic/Cavaliers game. And I'm pretty sure I jinxed the two sides I was rooting for. My morning was spoiled when I received a text from Mark To with the news that the Cavaliers lost by 1 point (I shouldn't have worn my Lebron James shirt today), then June told me about the American Idol upset.

I'm glad I didn't place any bets or today would be rather lousy. The only consolation I got was that the Yankees won their 8th straight game.

In other news, I now have the coolest guitar ever (apparently, its named Pilate... not Bertha) I've been thinking about drawing on my guitar since I duct taped it, but my brain juice dried out. Fortunately, I was inspired by my brother's Comic Book collection; I just finished reading Hush, Kingdom Come, A Long Halloween, and The Dark Knight Returns, so the obvious thing to stick on my guitar was a super hero (very obvious to my high school friends). But who do I want on the face of my guitar? Batman? Superman? Captain America? I chose Superman because he's the ultimate "good guy" (though in some of his stories, being absolutely good can be a fault). So after much deliberation, I coaxed a kind soul into vandalizing my guitar. And dude, it turned out better than I expected. Here's a free taste.

[Click on the image to see notes.]

So, thanks you Eandra Po for the artwork. Its a master piece that'll be stuck on my guitar for eternity.

Grace Youth Camp: Supersize Me

[People pictures can be found on my multiply.]

I really don't feel like typing anything now. Here are some pictures from Tayabas, Quezon.

Erratic

This summer I finally finished reading a book I started last December. When I first picked up Rumors (of another world) by Philip Yancey, I failed to appreciate his style of writing. I kept looking out the plane window as I anticipated my arrival in Taiwan. Consequently, I didn't get pass page 24 -- for five months. (I actually left my copy in Taiwan thinking I'd never see it again -- but miraculously it found its way back into my hands by means of loving parents)

But right now I don't feel like critiquing Rumors of another world. My initial intention of blogging was to rant about how the ink on receipts fade over time -- so after six months how can you prove you paid for the bigmac you ate when your proof-of-purchase faded into a clean white sheet of paper?

But I couldn't jump right into that. So I wrote about my love for books (I attempted to start this blog by writing "I read and occasionaly abanbon books," but I couldn't get pass the first sentence.) And from my love of books, I jumped to something else like . . .

Quirky, flat things I use as bookmarks (which include, but are not limited to, the falling:)

-receipts from fast food restaurants
-cash (dalawampung piso)
-starbucks business cards
-short stories about selfish puppies
-loose paper containing words I need to look up next time I'm near a dictionary (or quotes)
-cebu pacific boarding passes
-la salle gate passes
-mcdonald coupons

But I couldn't organize my thoughts into something understandable and follow-able. So that's why you're reading what you're reading right now. I'm guessing that right now, you are scratching your head, confused and annoyed that I just wasted 5 minutes of your time because of my inability to organize my thoughts into something comprehendable.

Conclusion: Irregular blogging will throw you off your game.

After four years I'm back on the ice (and I didn't fall!!!)

[Taken from my high school blog. Dated January 1, 2005, entitled: ]

stitches...

where i got them: went up to taipei on thursday (for fun) with joe cothran, vix, and luke foley. and if i may skip the boring waiting parts, the story will be a lot shorter. okay, so i'm in taipei with gardner mitsu ray travis vix luke joe cothran. vix wanted to go ice skating so we go. we get there we go skating for 40 minutes. then something happened (but i don't remember anything). a few seconds later i find myself with a banging headache on the specator area with some person telling me to put a gauze on my bleeding head. if only i had gotten a picture. so everyone was all panicky and there i am sitting with the biggest migrain that i've ever had in my entire life. they take me to the hospital and i wait half an hour before the doctor actually comes (we made the wrong turn to the emergency room.. haha.. not really). gave me a shot to numb my head. and gave me four stitches. you can count them if you want but that's what i heard. so i'm all stitched up and we leave. vix joe cothran gardner and i go to gardner's house and i rest on his couch while joe cothran and gardner play it out on the nintendo 64. eat dinner then we leave. there's more to the story but i'm not in the writing mood right now. but for now....

here are some fun scenarios of where i got 'em stitches

1. yeah, so we get to taipei early in the morning and i was getting a little "too close" to vicky. dont know how, but gardner suspects something's happening between me and vix (but nothing will... ever) so he tries to pick a fight with me at the mrt station. i agreed cause you all know i'm not a wuss plus i'd never turn down a fight with a big guy. so he slaps me like a girl. i smack him in the stomach. we start going at it then out of no where he takes out his brass knuckles and takes me out. yeah, good thing they were flat ones. but he just had to hit me in the right temple. so i was out and they took me to the hospital. yup, so gardner won the girl. she was impressed with his masculinity. HA

2. a bullet fell out of the sky and it hit me on the head.

3. i fell walking down fifth avenue and hit my head on a misplaced rock.

4. vix smacked me with her knitting needles and accidentally scratched me with the end.

5. joe cothran used his long finger nails and tried flicking off a mosquitoe that was on my right temple.

6. i went to the doctor in taipei. he wanted to make some money, cut me open and stitched me back up. woohoo, money!

7. i was thinking too hard and something popped in my head. blood started pouring down the side of my head. and i passed out and woke up with stitches on the side of my head.

8. china invaded. some guy shot a... forget the term. but he shot and missed. i was collateral damage.

9. i wanted stitches cause they're cool.

10. luke said facial scars impress girls.

[So my grammar sucks -- sue me]

I'm Fine

On Tuesday I took my second and third final exam. On Tuesday my brain felt like an inflated balloon. On Tuesday I started getting minor headaches. On Tuesday I lost my appetite. On Tuesday I got all feverish. On Tuesday I slept through 3/4 of the day. I contracted Dengue on a Tuesday.

Okay, I didn't, but that entire day felt like mush. I returned home at 6pm and hit the mattresses, putting off desperately needed studying for my next exam. I didn't care.

Then. I woke up at the lovely hour of 2am with the wonderful realization that my fever had subsided. And, which is more, I was functioning properly, meaning in the 2 precious hours I was awake that morning, I was able to get my stuff together. I went back to sleep and at 6:30am I walked out the door and headed for school.

My plan was simple: take the exam and run back home. Well, I only finished half of my plan. Midway to school I got light-headed. And this light-headedness turned into nausea. And this nausea led to my almost passing out on the train. What I really needed to do was vomit -- but you can't really do that on the train. So the whole 2 minutes between stations I was praying to God to at least let me get off the train before I embarrassed myself in public. Fortunately, I have a good God who granted me that one request. I jumped off the train and with what little, blurred vision I had, I stumbled my way into the restroom.

And after that little episode I knew I couldn't take my exam. So I skipped to Part B of my plan and ran back home.

I took a quick nap and after an hours rest I called my guardian who came back to the house and drove me to St. Luke's hospital. At the hospital they took the usually tests.

My temperature was normal (fever gone). My blood pressure was 70/100. My blood sugar was 80mg (normal is 70-100). I had no viral bacteria or whatever in my blood. My sodium and potassium levels are insignificant (which just means to say I'm properly hydrated). My platelet count - which helps indicates whether or not you've got Dengue - was 152,000. Which is still normal, but low. The safe range is 150,000-400,000. And just to be sure, they wanted me to return and get another CBC to make sure my platelet count rises.

So why did I blog about this? Well, for one it makes for a nice story -- but I've have like, 3 things I want to say about this whole experience.

1) Hospital fees suck if you don't have insurance. Here are the fees that were written on my Statement of Account.

Pathology Institute

• complete blood count: 455.00
• sodium & potassium: 780.00

Emergency Room

• CBG/Blood Monitoring: 550.00
• Disposable Cap/Pc: 8.00
• Genius Disp. Probe Covers: 22.00
• E.R. Fee: 910.00
• Arcoxia 120mg Tab: 129.00

For a grand total of P2,284.00.

Honestly, I don't think St. Lukes really helped. Fortunately, they were nice enough to give me a discount -- though I have no idea what it's attributed to (0006108 less: 20% discount). So I paid P2,283.00.

I took another CBC test this morning and it cost a whopping P150.00 pesos. Maybe it was the air-conditioning I paid for. Anyway, I feel ripped off.

2) Solutions
It's funny how people try to solve the problem of Dengue (if a mild case of dengue was what I had): vaccines, herbs, hydration techniques, rest. What ever happened to attacking the problem at its core? Namely, MOSQUITOES! I think that's the real threat to mankind: bloodsuckers.

That night I went home and turned on my Baygon liquid mosquito killer (which smells like flowers) and waited for the mosquitoes to drop and die like they do in the commercials. Well, the mosquitoes don't die. I had to do it myself. Out of the dark corners of my room mosquitoes started popping out, one-by-one. I think my big hands are a blessing from God, because I was able to slap SEVEN mosquitoes out of the air. Well, my point is Baygon products don't work -- so don't buy anything made by them.

If the government wanted to solve the Dengue, they should invest in lazer-gun technology that will, quite literally, zap the mosquitoes out of the sky. That kind of technology would solve a lot more problems than a pill ever could.

3) Once you have a baby you officially become a mothering mother... to everyone.

Grace Christian Church Fam-Con: Ilocos

The conference took place at Fort Ilocania Resort. They say they built this resort for one of Marco's daughter's wedding. Everything about it is beautiful.

After an 8 hour bus ride, we had breakfast at the Java Hotel. Some of the young professionals who joined the conference.

FIR had a mini zoo.

Saw a Helmeted Guinea Fowl Benggala. These guys actually came from Africa. I remember last last Christmas when Paul tried running over one of these in his Jeep -- it's impossible.

Took my DSLR into the pool. Bad move -- everyone started chasing me.

Windmills. They say one of those things cost One-Eight-Oh Million Pesos!

One of the games we played at night. Image a cross between Charades and Picture Perfect.

My three little friends.

Flower pic for all my flowery peeps.

Shoot, I forget what cathedral this is called. But an architect major was able to explain to me the butt-rests on building's sides. (hahaha, kidding!)

Went to a real zoo.

Didn't see any "do not feed the animal" signs.

Nor were there any "do not touch the animals" signs.

But watch out, these things bite!

Went to a pot factory. heehee

And visited a street with old fashioned houses. If you've been to Macau, it's like their Portuguese streets.

Bell Tower

Night shot.

Benson hya. Official Photographer.

Thank you Kat for the zoom lens. Can you see the bunny on the moon?

Rob and Jen's Wedding!

Here are a few photos from Ahia Rob and Achi Jen's wedding. It was Spectacular! Gorgeous! Lovely! hahaha.

Congratulation Ahia Rob and Achi Jen!!!

Doulos

That aint the Doulos. That's the Melville, the shipped parked behind the Doulos. But it makes for a great picture.

Ahia Spencer, achi Catherine, achi Eleanor, and I went to the Doulas at 4pm, Sunday afternoon. Big mistake. The line went all the way down the pier, and zig zagged like a scribble at the end of the picture. It was insane -- sooo many people.

You know there are too many people when you recognize people in the sea of faces. Saw Divine's gang and Cathleen's family. Cat's family left because there were too many people. Fortunately for me, Spencer and Eleanor knew people on the boat, so we got to cut (which I feel guilty about.) It was like one of those club scenes where the bouncer only let's in the VIPs. We were special.

Think that was the fire station.

Notice how they're going up the main entrance and the place I where I'm standing is on a different level.

Welcome home who-ever-you-are. (Anna with an H.)

Forget his name, but he was the Bouncer. He's from the Netherlands and he makes funny faces. And he's 18.

TAIWAN! TAIWAN!!! TAIWAN!!!!

The Engine Room. Bam Bam!

This guy looks like Samuel Tan, Rev. Stephen's brother. Ya think?

The gang minus Spencer. Left to right: Me, Ellie, Jina, Cat, Ilona, Benjamin, and Joshua. We rock.

They've got a trampoline in their cabin!

After the tour, 830pm. Cat's not feeling too well.. Sea sick?

From the outside -- without the long line of people.

Good bye Doulos. See you again in two years.