some updates...late and earlyÜ

I am now officially out of new books to read. /sob/

I bought 4 books (at a really good price) to read this past 2 weeks. Yes, you heard that from me...4 books? 2 weeks? and I am only at my 12th book when I decided that! darn. I. AM. DOOMED. haha.. Infuriatingly exaggerated: Yep, that's me. Ü

Anyway, passing over that (and coming back to my point) I managed to read them all (thankfully!) and now, without any prospect of buying 4 more books ( I am broke) and without anything left in the house that I have not read, I am now stuck.

Hmm..

Oh, and the 16th book's done!

Hmm.. what else? Oh yeah, the housing results would be posted today. Kalayaan, tanggapin mo ako! Parang awa mo na! hehe. I somehow wish that I would be accepted!!!!

And today's the end of the summer classes! (Not yesterday, the instructor had someting to do in Manila.)

wee. Giveaways!

Christine from She Reads Books... is giving out books! I just 'joined'. Find out how by clicking here (her post).

The end of classes!

I am so excited for tomorrow! It would be the last of my summer classes. Yes, I told everyone that I was bored...but it's not because of the actual lessons (they're pretty good; I learned loads) but merely, it is the fact that I do not have anyone to talk to. haha. I am not a snob, just shy and quiet with new people.

Hmm. Today, I was taught how to fix some 'minor' problems of cellphones. I now know how to openline, to upgrade and update. I still need to have some more tries to get the hang of it. I managed to upgrades some cellphones of some of my classmates, though.

I believe mom would be disappointed when she learns that I might not be going back to my classes after tomorrow. What should I say to her? haha. I really dont know.

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Will I ever make the 100th book? /sigh/ Ü

Reading challenge update: 15th book just finished. 16th book on progress.

The Chocolate War

Got the image here.

Every young adult should read this! Reading the book is looking at our real world...and learning and growing from it.

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What I like most in this is the way I got to know the boys (the characters) as if they are from my own neighborhood. It was as if I grew up watching the bullies (in the book) taunting other kids (those who were bullied in the story). The cruelty, the occasional guilt, the refusal and the tumult it caused were told in a superb manner.

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The story is marvelously structured and the ideas were conveyed masterfully. The suspense and the overwhelming reality of The Chocolate War got me excited for Beyond the Chocolate War (is it a sequel? haha I dont know, but I'll still be looking forward to it...or to any work of Robert Cormier.Ü). I really hope I will be able to read it soon!

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All in all: Impressive. A must read.

Five Mile House

Got the image here.

(I really dont know how to write a proper review as anyone who read the other ones already knows.Ü I just write what I think about the whole book, nothing too formal or too studied or anything. Have patience please. Ü)

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Five Mile House contains everything that I look forward to in a book. The mysteries, the suspense, the secrets, the passion, wicca and the events that would really really lead you into thinking. It has just enough of these good bits that I consider this as one of my best reads this year.

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The book started with Eleanor and in my perception, it ended with her as well. The prologue was a bomb and the last part was to die for. Yes, I sound exaggerated, but i do feel that way.

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As for the whole story, I found myself reading something totally different from what I expected (a disappointment at first) but it was something that turned out to be far better than what I anticipated. It was filled with twists and turns that I seriously felt the need to go and get a break only to discover that I can't! I am rooted to the book.

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The suddenness of some of the revelations and the slow but deliberate way some secrets were unraveled got me gripping the book tighter...for at times I was blown away, and at times, I was too impatient to get it over with. haha.

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I loved the way it was told by a character in an omniscient view of all the others in the story. It showed how every little thing is connected to another detail that is all in all important in the book. The chapters ended like they were goading me to read on and find out what's gonna be next.

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As I've already told, I was overwhelmed with the different subplots that are intertwined and got the book to a really good ending. There was the House (apparently), the ghost, the detective, the children, the wicca (witchcraft), the passion the women showed, the obsession, the thing compared to the Holy Grail...there were so many that I am still in a state of marvel at how Karen Novak gathered all this together and created such a beautiful beautiful story. She is really good. Ü

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All in all: Impressive. (already in my TBR list!)

blunders

haha. it turns out that this is my 40th post and not the last one. Anyway, the links are already posted. Ü

first month and 40th post

hmm...it just occured to me that I have not celebrated my first month here in blogger. Actually, ever since I posted "Newbie", I was already planning to do something special for my first month.

And tada! I forgot it. My bad.

Anyway, since this is my 40th post (is that a notable thing? /sigh/), I think I could do that celebration here. It's just that, I dont know how to do it. haha.

I am saving that "100 things 'bout me" article for my 100th post, so I cant do a '40 thing about me' today.

Oh, I know. Now this is not a really good thing but it is new nonetheless. Ü I am marking this day with the links of my other pages, my other blogs. haha. I said I'd do that a while ago and now, I will. Ü

The links would be on the sidebar.Ü

Friendster, Multiply and LiveJournal accounts. Ü Anyone here uses them, too? Please add me (now that's a fat chance! haha.. I still have no blog friends here. haha). That sounded bitter, haha. Well, I am not, in case you're wondering. Ü

Slacking off

Wow. It's almost the end of May and I have just finished my 13th book (review later). How slow is that? Wow. hehe. yeah, well, I am reading my 14th. Ü

With this record, I really doubt if I can ever, I mean, ever get to my 100th mark.

Hmm. I've been busy lately. The classes are actually a drag...a major drag. Yep, I am just heaving myself every morning. Pep talking myself so that I can get off the bed and so that I can keep myself from just sitting on the bus till it takes me to where I really want to go to.

*sigh*

At least, tomorrow is my last day for this week. After it, I can relax, till sunday that is. Ü And maybe do more reading. Ü

Summer School Part 2 (not a rantÜ)

So, I continued attending the classes. The last three days of my life looked like a giant pendelum...swinging to and fro.

Remember me telling you that I'm not comfortable about it? Well, my faith in my better judgment prevailed. I know that I'll need the classes, so I returned yesterda. My official first day could have been a lot worse. I learned things though I can't say that I enjoyed it. I have no one to actually talk to. Yes, my classmates are all kind and all but they have been together for so long, bonded for so long that it is so hard to break through and be included in the bond.

Then, my second day is far better than yesterday. The instructor was absent. haha. But it's not that. It's the fact that i learned again...this time, I had fun, too. I am actuall looking forward to going there tomorrow.

Darn. If it's not just for the early alarm....Ü

The House on Belle Isle and other stories - Book Review

Got the image from bookcloseouts.com

Contents: Friend to Women, Miniature Man, The Correspondent, Wings, Father Judge Run, Postman, The House on Belle Isle

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Carrie Brown has written seven beautiful stories that I have felt eager to turn page after page and to start the next one as the previous ended.

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My first impression of the book was it's like a sedative. Reading it made me feel calm. It seemed that the words are like the gentle breeze that plays with one's hair in the late afternoons. Then, I began to notice some eccentric points, then felt the longing in ALL of the stories, then got attached to the characters, as if they were old friends and I stumbled in their blogs...all of which just made the book better.

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The abrupt endings got me a bit disconcerted...specially in the first story. Ü I wondered if I am to conclude it myself and that I can make someone read it and he will have a different perception of things. But as I go along, I saw that that is not the case. They are real endings. They are not suppose to leave the readers hanging, speculating on what might have really happened or something.

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And, for the best bit of it (as I see it) is that all of the seven stories looked like they were taken from poems. I don't know how to put it but maybe it's the images that are so vivid and striking they seem to leap from the words.

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I just noticed that many of the stories in the book started in the present then some flashback of memories then would revert to the present. It's just that when I am on the last story and I saw that it would have another dose of the past, I felt that I should go and get a rest from reading the book for a while. Oh, well...it heightened the melancholy tone and I felt the last story the most.

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All in all: Impressive.

...and it turns out that I dont have to go back.

Yay!

Maybe I'll start along with the second batch.Ü /sigh/ Talk about a very great relief!!!!!!

Summer School...

...and why i dont want to come back for the second day.

So it started this morning. I had to get off the bed by 6:00 AM. yyyaaaawwwnnn. I am feeling apprehensive about all of it...a feeling heightened when I found out that they packed a lunch for me. Darn! What am I? A first grader? They said that it's not certain if there's a cafeteria or something nearby. They were all saying they have old friends at the place where I will be studying...then why did they not text them a day before and asked if there's a place to buy food. I am embarassed for I am certain that there will be some place to eat lunch...it is a training center! Though I am really touched with the concern, I was impatient...it's bad enough that I'll start when all the others are already half-way...but with a packed lunch? How can I ever fit in?

Then, my studying involves nothing but sitting down and looking wistfully at the things that the other students are fiddling with, wishing that I could be with them...blended with them...not to be called when the staff, the instructors and the director of the place are going to have a snack so I can join them. I hate to be singled out that way. I actually did not understand a thing of what was going on in the room earlier. I just sat there, listened hard and wished that I can relate.

After that, a lot of things went wrong, too. I had such a bad day I did not care that I got home early and had time to relax and sleep. I brooded on the things that happened and everything about today just make me wish that I am not going back tomorrow...

- - - - - >>>>

I believe I am turning to be more and more ungrateful as days pass.

Kindertransport - Book Review

Got the image from target.com

The book tells of another side of the Holocaust that few of us know about. It revolved not on the camps, not on trying to survive day-by-day in Germany...in fact, more of the story occured in foreign lands. It is about a brave decision of a mom to send her eleven-year old girl away so as to escape the growing dangers in their own country. It narrates how the girl tried to cope with the new surroundings, new people, new language. It tells of how she strived to be accepted in a world totally new and different from where she came from. It shows how she acted in an ungrateful way to everyone...with everyone (even herself) not knowing that all she needs is genuine love and affection, the two things that are so difficult to give to a child not your own. It is Ollie's story.

Kindertransport was written in a way that you can feel Ollie's own longing tugging at your heart. It was as if she kept a diary all along...one can still see the purity of the eleven-year old girl who waved at her Mama and Oma until they can no longer be seen. Though, one will also "feel" that she matures as she grows...

It's not so much 'dark' so the kids can read it and relate to it but it nonetheless conveyed all the fears and horror and pain troubled times (like in wars) can cause us. It is a perfect example that life goes on, no matter what...and that one just has to keep on holding on to the things that keep one alive.

It is a beautiful read.

And I only wanted to write a book review...

I can't believe I actually spent 2 hours on trying to compose a good review then end up with nothing for I can't give justice to the book!

It was a really really good one...told a very moving story...was written in a way that one can feel the pages bleeding with emotions the author herself felt (it was an autobiographical story). And my review looked flat, looks as if there are no feelings behind it and all.

Maybe I'll post one tomorrow...after I have more time to think and when people around the house are not trying to look at what I am writing. Yeah, well, this might not happen for I'll be having summer classes in preparation for my college days. I think I mentioned it already (have patience please!). My parents signed me up for this...and I feebly agreed, not knowing that is from 8 AM to 5 PM. It's practically as bad as school...well, to be fair, almost as bad as school. School is from 7 to 5..yeah yeah..

I can't believe I actually spent 2 hours on trying to compose a good book review then end up with nothing for I kept thinking of my summer days that are now slipping through my fingers. fast. even though I hold on to them. hard.

I can't believe I actually spent 2 hours on trying to compose a good book review then end up with nothing but a rant.

And I can't believe that this post actually made me feel even worse than I was about my summer and my bad review...

update, reading challenge.Ü

Contrary to the my post regarding the 100+ Reading Challenge, I wont edit that particular one anymore but instead, I put another page element and list down the books that I've read since last week.

I am 10% done with the challenge. Ü hehe...I can't wait to lay my hands on another book..hehe..my mom actually told me that I thrive on books...what am I? A termite? tsk tsk..(shakes head)..hehe..though with the things are going, it might probably be true.

wee..third post.Ü

I am back to my writing flare (?). This is my 3rd post for the day. hehe..yeah, well...this just say one thing...my brother's not at home. He is away fot his on-the-job-training. I am not saying that I am glad that he is away. It's just that this way, I have the computer for myself, for the whole day at most. Ü

But I do wonder if my blogs would ever be updated once I started college. I expect I would be busy and all the Internet cafes would be jampacked. But i will definitely find the time to do so. Ü

Oh, and the list of my other blogs would most probably be posted some time this week.Ü

I just joined the 100+ Reading Challenge that I found here in blogger. Ü I can't start the list yet, for I don't know if I can include the books that I just reread. Anyway, i will be editing this post as soon as I am certain of the rules.Ü

P.S.
Click the pic to go to the 100+ reading challenge site.Ü

Enrolled and oriented...exhaustion eats me!

Finally enrolled last monday! Got my Form 5A staped "Registered" and my tuition and fees for the first semester paid. Whew. I dont know if mom and dad still have money in the bank...hehe (nervous laugh.Ü).

It started with a College briefing. The Dean spoke to us and i was overwhelmed with her words. Apparently, it was hardest to stay in my department. Only about 50% of the of the students get to graduate. And yet, she said that if we manage to finish the course, it is guaranteed that we will land good jobs even though we have not yet taken the board exams. She said that it takes only one look in our credentials, that we graduated from the University of the Philippines, College of Engineering. hehe (again, nervously).

Then, we were advised about our subjects. My pre-enlisted subjects are okay, though I am still underloaded. I have to take Engineering Drawing 1 (ES 1) to comply with the required number of units for the first sem. Unfortunately, all of the schedules for ES 1 were in conflict with my other subjects. It meant that they have to re-arrange them. I am not too happy with the way my official schedule looks like. I have to really really run for it...If I dont, I wont make it to my next class. 7-10 AM, then 10-11:30 AM, then 11:30 AM to 12:45 PM...oh well, i just have to make the best out of it, I guess.

And I attended the Freshaman orientation Program yesterday. It was okay, though it would have been better if I do not live 4 hours away from the school. hehe. I have to board a bus and travel for 16 hours in the last 48 hours. Anyway, the emcees were good, the venue was good and program went well.

I was exhausted from all of thr bus and jeepney rides, but at least, now, I am enrolled and oriented...I am bound to start college soon! Pray for me, though...please? Two days of college doings and I am already travel-worn.

cleaning pics..Ü

The area got so cramped, so dirty that it was relief when I stretched for a couple of seconds and took this pictures. Anyway, it's done. It's all spic-and-span now. Ü

of the title of the last post...

its another update.Ü the campus map of my future university.Ügo check it out.Ü

And I've spent an hour poring over the campus map they posted on the web...

I have not been able to keep up with my postings lately...as everyone can see.

So, updates!!

I finally downloaded the images ot one of my cleaning fits..hehe..the only question now is when do i get the urge to upload them..hehe.Ü

I had my hair done by one of the most expensive salons here in our place...and I don't like the looks of it. *sobs*

My enrolment is on monday! (I have probably mention it some posts ago.Ü bear wth me please.Ü) Mom and Dad are going with me...Mom to help me with my registration process and Dad to, I think, look for an alternative residence since the dorm has no results yet. Then on the 6th, I will go, yet again, to the University to attend the Freshman Orientation Program...on the 6th I have to go alone. Weee...I am so excited and anxious and nervous about it that I feel my tummy churning as I type away...but then again it might just be the lateness of the hour (11:50 PM of the 3rd) and all of my supper must have been digested already.hehe..Ü

Oh, and i finally got that ringtone that has been in my fantasies for so long..hhe..again, this is something behind the trends but still....hre it isÜ

"tut tut tut...paging the driver of the black BMW, please proceed to the lobby now...tut tut tut"

I'm in Cloud 9!