Sunday, August 02, 2009

An afternoon at my alma mater

Last Friday, my staff and I went all the way to Chocolate Kiss just to eat. And eat and eat. Chocolate Kiss is a tiny restaurant on the huge campus of the University of the Philippines (UP Diliman). I studied here, finishing a Bachelor of Arts degree in English: Creative Writing. I fought hard against my parents to take that course and now I wish I hadn't. I simply did not learn anything about writing that I already knew. But, hey, I'm a magazine editor now so maybe wasting 4 years of my life wasn't so bad.

I spent all 4 years here at Palma Hall, or
the College of Arts and Letters.

A sculpture of the muses I passed by every day in college

I walked down this tree-lined road on my way home

The trip began when Joanna said she wanted to eat at Chocolate Kiss. Though I studied at UP, I've never eaten there. Joanna wanted to eat there so badly that the entire OK! staff got intrigued. I wanted some barbecue at the famous Beach House--a scraggly place nowhere near any beach. They just sold the best damn pork barbecue ever.

Chocolate Kiss is housed in Bahay ng Alumni.

The sad-looking Beach House

Unfortunately, we weren't able to eat at Beach House because the place was packed. This truly did annoy me--the capitalist part of me would buy more tables and chairs, cement the area so that it won't be muddy, and do something about the huge flies plaguing the place. I haven't eaten there in more than a decade and instead of showing signs of progress, it was just decay all around. So off to Chocolate Kiss we went!

Joanna and Elaine at the jeepney stop

Kristine and Joanna on the UP Ikot jeepney

The Carillon, or the Bell Tower. Its bells used to be
rung by members of my family.


A beautiful inky cat looks at us in boredom.

After a hearty lunch, we all had cake--the sour cream
cheesecake (bottom left)
and quezo chiffon cake (left, center) were the best!

We ate all afternoon--from 1 to 4 PM! We also discussed the October issue of OK!, which called for more food and drink. With our tummies so bloated, we decided to walk to the Sunken Garden so we can burn the calories. Walking under trees is so much better than running on treadmills, so since we're city girls, the walk was a treat.

At the Lagoon

A tree on its side

Looking up at the canopy

The walk tired us out plenty. So we plopped down on the grass and the benches. The day was pretty humid, too. We were all sleepy at this point but we waited patiently for our van to come pick us up. We poked fun at the joggers to while away the time.

Obviously tourists!

Lana and the very wet green grass

Joanna and the jeepney stop

Elaine enjoys the fact she can still pass as a student!

Kristine with a fashion magazine, naturally

Me, battling the humidity and failing

It was a pretty fun food trip. I did find it strange that I felt nothing for the campus--there was no nostalgia at all. I guess that's because I had an abusive boyfriend all of college so the place was just filled with bad memories. And even if I had loved college, I'd never go back. I like where I am now--I'm working, I have money, I have real influence, unlike when you're a kid and everything had to be approved and your fury was mostly impotent.

Sick in bed

Had tons of plans for this weekend but I woke up yesterday morning with a bad cough, a fever and a headache. I'm monitoring my condition and hoping it isn't that dreaded flu. I feel better now--still coughing but my fever's down and I don't have the other symptoms of A(H1N1) so this must just be a respiratory infection.

I did start thinking about death. Well, since Mama died, I've been pretty obsessed with dying. I told my blogger friend Kaith that I'm prepared to die--I've accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, told Vince I love him forever and always, I've bought long-term life insurance, all my debts are paid, and all my undies are washed. Yes, I have a fear of leaving my underwear unwashed. This is my mother's fault--she told me a lady should never let herself get caught with dirty undies. True to what she said, before Mama died, she washed all her undies!

When I die, I want to be in a simple wooden coffin and I'll wear a chic skirt suit--preferably Chanel, in cream or pale pink. And pearls. I want all my mourners to wear black, with big black sunglasses, carrying black umbrellas. Very somber and very stylish! At Mama's funeral, we all wore white (see below)--it's not very fash-yon. I want to be buried but Vince says he prefers cremation so I guess that's his decision to make.

That's me, my sister Jacqui, my cousin Iza and my sister-in-law
Rose hamming it up for the cameras


Since I don't have a Chanel suit yet, I'm not ready to die yet! Besides, I still have a lot of things to do:
  • publish a book or two
  • host my own TV show
  • see Paris, the Scottish Highlands, New York and Tokyo
  • design shoes
  • meet Stephen King
  • see all of Jan Vermeer's paintings
  • grow old with Vince
I do want to say that being prepared to die makes me not afraid of death. I am secure in the knowledge that I'm going to a better place, I'll see Mama again, and I know my loved ones will be taken care of. And finally meeting God is a cool thing to look forward to. I have sooooo many questions to ask Him!

Friday, July 31, 2009

The Velveteen Books

When I talked about my love affair with books, a reader, dear Ranran, asked me this:
Do you keep your books neatly stacked in a shelf, cover them with plastic if it's in paperback, read them them by just opening it slightly so as not to get creases on the bind and lend them ONLY to people who you trust and know that they'll guard it with their life?
Ranran, when I was young, I used to be a lot careful with my books until someone looked at them in their pristine condition and said, "Oh, you collect books as a hobby? When will you read them?"

Since then, I'm the sort who writes on the margins (usually word definitions), underlines favorite passages, dog-ears the pages, punches the paperback covers with my rabbit puncher, reads and rereads them till the covers are curved. I even use the thick books as my pillow on long flights. I also pile them in stacks beside my bed or stash them under the bed when Vince complains of the mess.

I lend books to anyone and everyone. I'm always going around and asking, "Hey, have you read this book? No? Here! Return it when you're done." When I do this, I don't know why people look at me like I'm selling them diet pills. I mean, these are books we're talking about! I want to add that people who read a lot tend to be slim, too, which proves my theory that books are the world's best weight loss product! Oh, and unless the book is a special edition or was a gift, I even give books away! I figure I can always buy a new one.

So, Ranran, I hope I haven't earned your condescension because, yes, my books are tattered. But now they are real.