Tata is an 18 year-old college sophomore at the UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES. This blog is just something to FORCE her to write. :)
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Tuesday, October 11, 2005
Ex Libris UP and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Ex Libris UP
presents a special screening of
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
November 16, 2005, 6:30 pm, Cinema Two, Rockwell Powerplant Cinema
Tickets at Php 300.00 each. Please contact Tata (09183216136), Gabi (09192735418) or any Ex Libris UP member you know.
All proceeds will go to Ex Libris UP, which is a recently-established organization for booklovers. Since we are new, we are raising funds to finance our various projects, which include the following:
- the establishment of scholarships for deserving UP students
- the acquisition of literature that is already out of print in the Philippines
- the construction of our own small headquarters in the UP campus
- the organization of lectures on reading and literature
- and other various noteworthy literary causes (i.e. book launchings, etc.)
More on Ex Libris UP:
Ex Libris.
Defn. Latin: “from the books”; “from the bookshelf of”…
label identifying the owner of a book in which it is pasted
Ex Libris UP
Ex Libris is an organization of UP students who are the most diverse group of people you can find anywhere on campus, bound by one passion: books. J
Do you consider yourself an insatiable reader? Do you consider being trapped inside a bookstore overnight as your idea of Heaven? Ever lusted for a book but couldn’t afford it? Ever wished that you could trade some of your old books for the chance to read a certain book out on the market? Ever looked through the Main Lib’s books and wished that they had a more updated and extensive collection? Ever wanted to be part of an org where people are as crazy about books as you?
UP Ex Libris hopes to be the answer to all your book-related problems.
***
We noticed that among the organizations in UP, there is none geared to promoting the appreciation of literature, especially in the generation of cyberspace and computers. We believe that books are treasures, and that their value to students, as well as to the Filipino youth at large, should not be unacknowledged. Thus, we created Ex Libris UP.
We would like not only to share our love for literature among ourselves, but to those who have not the leisure or the means to do so for themselves. These are the majority of the UP students who cannot afford to buy books, or have access to the books they want because of the limited resources of the campus libraries, etc. We have an organized system of booklending that enables each and every member to have access to many other books through the other members’ collections, encouraging them to read more, broaden their literary horizons, or simply bask in the companionship of fellow booklovers.
We hold meetings in which we foster good fellowship and good reading. In these gatherings we share opinions, views, critiques and real life lessons from books; explore other genres, share our favorite books and personal literary experiences with each other, and pool resources together to buy much-desired books.
Help us bring books back to students. Help us keep Ex Libris UP alive!! For the price of 2 large frappuccinos, or a single lipstick, or several hours worth of DOTA, Counterstrike or Warcraft, you can help us this endeavor.
Posted at 05:32 pm by tatatwin
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Thursday, June 23, 2005
goodbye blogdrive, hello LJ
I figured that the 3 minutes I waste everytime I'm waiting for my blogdrive account to load will eventually pile up to amount to something big in the not-so-far future. :( So it's bye bye blogdrive for me right now. Wasn't able to figure out why it's taking so *@#$%! long to load. I give up.
Back to LJ for me. www.livejournal.com/~tatatwin
See you guys. *sniff*
WAAAAA no more tagboard!!! :(
Posted at 06:40 pm by tatatwin
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Friday, May 27, 2005
I'm in LOVE!! I'm in love!!! With four men!! AAAHHHH!!! :)
Question: What do you get when you put the voices of Josh Groban, Mario Frangoulis, Alessandro Safina and Luciano Pavarotti together???
Answer: Il Vido!!!
Just look at 'em!! *drool*
From left: Carlos (baritone - Spaniard), Sebastien (vox populi - Frenchman), David (tenor - American), Urs (tenor -Swiss)
They're not only gorgeous; they're FANTASTIC singers as well!! They're UNBELIEVABLE. They can sing ANYTHING. Gotta love opera singers for that. From the softest crooning to the most powerful, blow-you-out-your-seat bel canto roar, these guys can SING it!!!
Gabi and I are currently fighting over who gets to listen to their CD. I predict that pretty soon we're going to come to blows. Literally. It's gotten to a point that Ogot was telling us to 'take our fighting outside' (read: sparring). "Tara na, ako mag-re-referee. O ano? Red armor, blue armor ha??"
Haha. So much for twinhood, yes?
Unfortunately, we're also attracted to the same singer: Carlo. It's his distinctive baritone voice. So SOLID!!! It soars above the rest's. But if I'm going by looks alone, I'll go for Sebastien. In his case I'll make an exception to my thou-shalt-not-have-crushes-on-Frenchmen rule (long story on that one). :) Sebastien's so cute!!! :) And of all of them, he's the only singer who's self-taught. Gak. Genius!!
Urs and David are cuties too. :)
I want to watch them perform so I can match their voices to their faces. So far the only voice/face we're sure of is Carlo's, because he's the baritone. But Urs and David are both tenors, so we can't be sure who's voice profile A and who's voice profile B. I'm guessing Sebastian, as 'the voice of the people', is the most versatile...I think he's the one with the smoothest, most-suited-for-broadway chest tone. But I can't be sure. DARN!! Must see them perform!! Even if its online! hehe!!
It's unfair. HOw come all the great singers I know are gorgeous to boot? WHere is GOd's sense of justice??! haha. :)
It's amazing. I feel so alive, music-wise. THe last time I felt this rejuvenated was when Denden introduced us to Sarah Brightman. And when Gabi discovered Charlotte Church (the young Charlotte, not the current nagpipipilit Charlotte).
Oh, the joy of discovering new music to fall in love with!!
Posted at 11:09 pm by tatatwin
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Thursday, May 26, 2005
the end of summer classes, of star wars and american idol
Summer's over!! Goodbye math and soc sci!! :)
Celebrated the summer by having Kady sleep over last Friday night, then we met with Kannika and Vilma on Saturday. It was great having the Befuddled Belles to talk to...we talked for hours at Figaro's until the waiters started giving us dirty looks and we had to leave. haha. Then it was on to Fully Booked, the best bookstore in the country. Too bad the prices weren't student-friendly. In fairness, 80% of the books in Fully Booked are books that can't be found anyplace else. Like the whole bookshelf of Chinese books, ranging from Confucius comics to myths and legends. :) And the entire collection of Neil Gaiman's SANDMAN comics; even SANDMAN bookmarks and cards, exquisitely illustrated by Japanese and American artists. *drool* And the Fantasy section had everything from Ackroyd to Zelazny!! Darn, we could have stayed in Fully Booked forever.
The outing would have been PERFECT if only Kady's phone hadn't been stolen. From literally right under our noses! We were too busy ogling the phenomenal Young Adults section; we hardly noticed the middle-aged woman who kept sticking her derriere in between us. Someone should have lectured her on the politics of one's PERSONAL SPACE. She spoke so loudly too. Something about a library and a collection, yada-yada...
In retrospect we should have been suspicious; what was a middle-aged woman doing in the Y.A. section?? And she was too close for comfort all the while. At one point, we were practically kissing over Tamora Pierce and C.S. Lewis. But still, how could we expect that she would steal kady's phone??! Argh!!! We all should have taken a closer look at her. Because she suddenly disappeared, and Kady's phone along with her. :( :( :(
Kady's phone was in the back pocket of her jeans. It was not easy to filch that without Kady noticing. But Kady didn't feel a thing!!
Later we tried re-enacting it. We put a phone in Kady's back pocket and tried getting it from her, and Kady felt everything. God! These thieves are good. But then, they'd have to be, I guess. ARGH ARGH ARGH!!!
GrrrRRRRRRR!! May the person who stole her phone get the bad karma she deserves!!! Sayang, Vilma's given up her MANGKUKULAM ways and we can't jinx the thief. grrrr.
MOving on. Away from painful topic and onto another painful topic: Star Wars, Revenge of the Sith.
I can't BELIEVE that I spent two years of my high school life raving over... nothing. OOhh, George Lucas really let me down on this one. And I thought nothing could beat the inanity of episodes one and two. Well. Episode three did. :(
It's sad because I grew up loving Star Wars (clarification: Episodes 4, 5 and 6). My father loved the philosophy of it, the concept of the Force---the Light and the Dark---and Yoda, because Yoda came up with the coolest (and truest!) lines. My childhood memories are rife with moments wherein our dad would thunder out Yoda lines like, "There is no try. Do or do not". And dammit, he was serious.
My techie brother Ogot loved the technical aspect of Star Wars, the ships and the gadgets and the droids; and for a while he infected me with his obsession. Watching the dogfight scenes in the Star Wars films (yes, including Episodes one, two and three), we could identify the ships and the models; the prototypes and the classics. That's why while we were watching Episode 3, when Mama whispered, "Pssst! How do you know which ships are the good guys and which ones are the bad guys??", Ogot and I sat up and stared at her in utter disbelief.
I took it upon myself to lecture mama on the 'good guy' ships and the 'bad guy' ships. I started explaining to her the intricacies of the Naboo fighter, the Jedi starfighter, the X-Wing, the A-Wing, the B-Wing, the Y-wing. Those were the good guys, I said. "How about those big ones??" Mama asked. So I continued extrapolating on the Corellian corvette, the Calamari cruiser, the Nebulon B Frigate...blah-blah-blah. All this while Anakin was showing that all he was good for was showing his impressive abs and Amidala was sleeping in her pearly-debutante gown and poofy hair-do (and Lucas expects us to believe she actually slept in that thing??!! graarrr!!!).
But Mama still couldn't understand the essential difference between 'evil' ships and 'good' ships. A Geonosian fighter was the same as an E-wing starfighter. And Luke's puny X-wing was the same size as the Death Star. Yeah right.
Defeated, I slumped in my seat. And my genius brother Ogot solved Mama's problem with a simple, "Mama. Ganito lang yon. Kapag X, A, B, E o mukhang letter yung ship, good guys yun. Kapag mukhang sobrang kakaiba (read: alien, spider-y o sobrang hi-tech), e di bad guys yun. Iba rin sound effects nila."
Oh-kay. I turned back to the screen to watch Threepio attempting to console Padme, who burst into tears without any reason I could think of (of course she cried ever so prettily, without smearing her makeup. Chalk it up to another reason why I detest Amidala. hehe).
Argh argh argh. Sayang talaga. Episode three was soooo disapointing.
Top "WINNER" scene would have to be Darth Vader (newly-created) asking the Emperor in his James Earl Jones voice: "Where is Padme? Is she safe? Is she alright?" (We couldn't believe what we were hearing. I mean, the guy just tried to strangle her!!?). And then the Emperor replies gravely, "I'm afraid she died. ... it seems in your anger, you killed her." (NO DUH).
Darth Vader goes on: "I couldn't have! She was alive! I felt her! She was alive! It's impossible!" (LOSER LOSER LOSER). And then he raises his arms and yells, ala ICE AGE, "NooooOOOOOO!!!"
Gak. Someone in the back burst out laughing.
It seems that we have a new word for Loser: Hayden Christiansen. Ack. His acting was horrible. But the script itself was cheesy. Whatever happened to George Lucas' previous genius? I mean, this was the man who came up with, "Get this big walking carpet out of my way!", right??
HOw the mighty have fallen.
And it didn't help any that all the characters seemed to have said, "I have a bad feeling about this" at least twice. Betcha even Artoo's beeps and whistles constituted something to that effect. Wouldn't a simple, "Oh no" have sufficed? NOOOO. I have a bad feeling about this. A bad feeling about this, I have. GAAAK!!!
Sorry. Just so disappointed. :(
Ok. I'm spent. But wait, on to American Idol!
Carrie won. Bo lost. Boo-hoo. :( :( :(
Constantine and Anthony forever!!!
Ok. Dinner time's coming up soon. :) Gotta go!!
Posted at 08:24 pm by tatatwin
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Wednesday, May 04, 2005
WARNING: <<MAY CONTAIN "kingdom of heaven" SPOILERS>>
I was in a daze the whole day, hardly able to keep my mind on soc sci one or math. In my head the trailer for Kingdom of Heaven kept on replaying. Liam Neeson's raspy voice kept muttering in my ear, drowning out the profs' lectures on mathematicians who drove themselves mad trying to gauge infinity, blah blah blah. I heard none of it. Promise. Si Liam lang...
" A new world...a better world... One that the world has never seen before... ... A kingdom of conscience...of peace, not war...of love, not hatred....THAT is what lies at the end of the Crusades..."
*kilig*
Grabe. Naging clockwatcher na talaga ako during the last hour of math class. Countdown talaga. And I got my SW done as fast as I can so that we could be oFF and watch it AT LAST!!!
And so here I am! Home at 8, with a soc sci exam in barely 13 hours (which I haven't studied for yet, God help me!!), eyes still glazed over from Kingdom of Heaven-hangover.
*falls down and worships Ridley Scott*
Such vision! Such scope and magnitude!
Also, there were magnificent perfomances by the cast. Kudos to Jeremy Irons (he's DA VOICE), newcomer Eva Green (her eyes! her EYES!!! OOohhh) and Liam Neeson (despite the fact that he died on me in...oh, the fifth scene pa lang ata...the guy just LOVES getting roles that require his DYING), and there was even a suprisingly-good performance by Orlando Bloom (he's come a long way from the pussy-whipped L-O-S-E-R character of Paris he played in TROY). He wasn't such a pretty boy in this film. ALmost no trace of the pristine Elf Legolas remained. Orlando was beaten, bashed, mauled, dragged, skewered, sliced, burned, arrested, dropped onto a pile of sand, kicked, shipwrecked....Goodness, what WASN'T done to the poor guy as Balian??
As I was leaving the women's CR, I overheard someone say, "Ay sa wakas, natuto nang umarte si Orlando BLoom!!"
BWAHAHAHAHAHA!!! =-) No comment!
Watta film. It was epic, but it also realistic. Too realistic, i heard some people complain on the way out of the cinema. But I can't help but feel that its message (that Jerusalem should not belong to any one religion, religious-tolerance, etc.) is so TIMELY, so fitting for the struggle still going on over there today.
Ridley Scott is a brave, brave man.
MOving on>>>>>Sean Connery who??? :)
It's official. Sean Connery has been replaced. Gabi and I are going TO WAR over James Stewart. Kapal nga ni gabi e. Pa- "Jimmy" STewart Jimmy Stewart pa sya. Feeling chummy-chummy sya ha!! Grrr!! :)
AAAAhhh I'm in LOOOVE with a DEAD MAN!!! AAAAHhh!!!
Posted at 04:32 pm by tatatwin
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Monday, May 02, 2005
WARNING: THIS ENTRY WILL BE DELIBERATELY VAGUE
This is it. I'm actually experiencing it. The cliche, the 'unexpected things happen at the most unexpected times' bit about Life. Oh, I knew it had to come sometime. But not like this. And not with him/her.
And I end up feeling like the rug has been pulled from under me, and I stand, and look around, and wonder why everything still looks the same when I know everything's changed. Things that seemed SO important to me in my life suddenly pale in comparison to THIS. I can only hope and pray that God will grant me strength to see this parting through. After all, s/he will be embarking on his/her GREAT JOURNEY. The ultimate adventure, the glorious, life-changing Quest. And I feel like Eowyn, standing in her father's hall while those she loved galloped off into the horizon, to glory and honor and new lands she'll never see. Left behind. Alone.
So this is how it feels.
So this how one says goodbye.
Not that s/he is leaving yet, but soon...all too soon, s/he will be. And I don't know if s/he'll ever come back.
What was that line from a movie? We are grateful for the time we have been given.
And I am. Believe me, I am. But...is this all we'll have?
Posted at 03:37 pm by tatatwin
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Saturday, April 30, 2005
now i know why i want to teach
In two weeks I'll have to turn in an AUTOBIOGRAPHY for soc sci one. It'll be worth 20 percent of my FINAL grade.
The elderly prof gave us an outline, explaining to us all the juicy details that we would have to include in our autobiographies. And boy oh boy...she was asking for all the INTIMATE, GORY DETAILS our young lives had to offer.
"Don't worry, class," she said, "Everything you put in your autobiographies will remain strictly confidential. For my eyes only."
Oh yeah? :) Everytime someone says that, an alarm bell goes off in my head. Not that I've anything to hide. But oooh...who knows what my classmates have done? What if....? What if...? :)
I've never been tempted to pilfer any prof's files, but in this case.... Hehe. Just kidding. :) Oh, to be a fly on Ma'am's desk while she's reading our works!!
Gosh. Now I know my real calling. I'm going to be an English teacher, and every class under me will be forced to turn in juicy autobiographies for my own reading pleasure. :)
We were told to be CREATIVE. But I don't feel like writing mine on burnt-around-the-edges-for-artistic-effect parchment paper, or putting it in a cute glass bottle. Or making a a pop-up card, or putting my autobiography in a "time capsule" and burying it beneath a flower pot (and submit it to the prof, complete with flowering plant!! :))...
So. How to make it creative. Any tips? :) Tips, comments, suggestions are welcome!!
I don't want to (and I can't :)) go all angsty like Holden Caufield in The Catcher in the Rye (peace, Kannika!). I don't think I can pull off Louisa May Alcott's semi-autobiographical sentiment-ridden LITTLE WOMEN style either. I can't imitate Anne Rice's rich, evocative prose that just seems to suck people in, and I can't write like Steven Pressfield ("Tell the Spartans, stranger passing by, that here, obedient to their laws, we lie..."). If only I can write like my favorite authors and the other delightful authors I've encountered in class...But I can't. And my own limitations frustrate me.
I'm reminded of what Sir M said when I consulted with him privately for our finals in CW 100. We were supposed to come up with a final portfolio piece that would 'showcase' our writing strengths in either the personal essay, the poem, or the short story. He asked me the question that stumped me completely. "What do YOU want to write?"
Ho-ho-ho.
I'm still stumped, really. :)
I had only one definite answer ready for him: Definitely NOT poetry. Or plays.
But at least I know now that I really REALLY REALLY want to teach. ;-)
Now I need to FIND MY VOICE. Drama drama!!
Nonsensical Insert: Speaking of voices... WAAA!!! Constantine got eliminated in American Idol!! What, are most Americans DEAF as well as FAT (the reason why they're all gunning for that fat loser Scott)??! Grrar!!
Posted at 06:51 pm by tatatwin
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Tuesday, April 26, 2005
yeah!! Mabuhay ang Pinoy!! :)
Got this from an email. So inspiring! haha! :) Wala talagang tatalo sa Pinoy!!
A Filipino Applies for a Job at Wal-Mart
An office manager at Wal-Mart was given the task of hiring an
individual to fill a job opening. After sorting through a stack of
resumes he found four people who were equally qualified. .. An
American, a Russian, an Australian and a Filipino. He decided to call
the four in and ask them only one question. Their answer would
determine which of them would get the job.
The day came and as the four sat around the conference room table,
the interviewer asked, "What is the fastest thing you know of?"
Acknowledging Dave, the American on his right, the man replied, "A
THOUGHT". It just pops into your head. There's no warning that it's on
the way; it's just there. A thought is the fastest thing I know of."
"That's very good!" replied the interviewer.
"And now you sir?" he asked Vladimir, the Russian."Hmm.... let me
see. A BLINK! It comes and goes and you don't know that it ever
happened. A BLINK is the fastest thing I know of."
"Excellent!" said the interviewer. "The blink of an eye, that's a
very popular cliche for speed."
He then turned to George, the Australian who was contemplating his reply.
"Well, out at my dad's ranch, you step out of the house and on the
wall there's a light switch. When you flip that switch, way out across
the pasture the light in the barn comes on. Yep, TURNING ON A LIGHT is
the fastest thing I can think of."
The interviewer was very impressed with the third answer and thought
he had found his man.
"It's hard to beat the speed of light" he said.
Turning to Eleuterio, the Filipino, the fourth and final man, the
interviewer posed the same question.
Eleuterio replied, "Apter herring da 3 frevyos ansers sirrr, et's
obyus to me dat da pastest ting known is Diarrhea."
"WHAT!?" said the interviewer, stunned by the response.
"O I can expleyn serrr ." said Eleuterio . "You see serr, da odder
day I wasn't peeeling so good and I run soo past to da CR or batroom.
But, before I could THINK, BLINK, or TURN ON DA LIGHT, ay 'tang ina, I
already had a poo-poo in my pants."
Eleuterio is now the new "Greeter" at Wal-Mart.A Filipino Applies for a Job at Wal-Mart
Posted at 06:45 pm by tatatwin
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Tuesday, April 19, 2005
move over LORD OF THE RINGS!!
Posted at 03:13 pm by tatatwin
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Monday, April 18, 2005
first day of summer class
Classes nanaman. My summer vacation's over---if you can call it a vacation. Two weeks just passed by like *that*!
I've got mixed feelings about summer classes. On one hand, I'll have things to occupy myself with (gosh. dami palang readings sa soc sci one, hehe, pero syempre jaded na ako after CL 111 and CW 100 noh! naks *feeling*!), on the other hand, it's goodbye! to late mornings, slow waking-up sessions, lazy-daisy days doing nothing but watching TV, doodling in my sketch pad and surfing the net...goodbye also to seemingly-ceaseless "gimmicking" and cavorting in the mall with the family (goodbye Tekken Tag, Quake, CS, sige na, even Medal of Honor)....Goodbye, goodbye!!
Hello schoolwork. Hello...new classmates (new friends?! we'll see!), new profs, new readings (hello, highlighting!!), new notes (my hand is actually quivering with excitement at the prospect of filling out 2 new notebooks), new AIRCONDITIONED CLASSROOMS (onga pala, aircon ang classrooms ko sa math 1 at soc sci 1!! O diba?! SAYA NG SUMMER KO!!)...
mixed feelings nga talaga. Oh, and I'm so excited because finally...FINALLY...Papa will let us train again. :) Whopee! Gosh. *feels flab* Me so fat. Must lose weight. Must lose weight. Must lose weight...
(If I keep saying that to myself, my subconscious will eventually have to internalize it, diba? :p)
Concerning Math 1, I was told by the college sec that my Math 11 and Math 14 could not be counted as part of my MST requirements because they were required courses for back when I was still in architecture. :( So bale wala yung pinaghirapan ko dun sa math 11 at math 14. oh well. C'est la vie.
math 1 here i come! On the bright side, Gabi and I are classmates! Whoopee! :)
Here's to a summer of Math 1 and Soc Sci 1, of jogging and training and losing at least four pounds, of THE RING OF THE NIBELUNGS and KINGDOM OF HEAVEN (shameless parinig to all you peeps out there!!), of avoiding rice in all meals save for lunch...
Dami ko nanamang good intentions. Tama na. May homework pa akong tatapusin. Lupet noh? First day, trabaho agad! :)
Posted at 05:18 pm by tatatwin
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