Thursday, April 22, 2004It's A Small World After All! I went to Dilimall the other day. It’s that place in UP where you can buy almost anything. I don’t think there ever was a time when I went there looking something which I didn’t eventually find. If you go there, though, looking for a sign that says “Dilimall,” chances are you won’t find it. That is if you haven’t been there before. You might end up circling the whole UP campus, which will take quite a while. My father says, “It never really had name. We just called it Dilimall.” What’s odd here is not its name but the fact that it doesn’t have a name; however, the price tags on items I buy from Miranda school supplies shop say that it’s actually called UP Shopping Center… …Anyway, I was supposed to go to Books-For-Less, but the traffic along Commonwealth discouraged us to do so. We ended up in Dilimall. We first went to Booksale, but I didn’t really find anything (except an SAT Math review book). I decided to go to this other shop. They sell, among other things, boa constrictor shoelaces; hiking sandals; posters of The Beatles, Bob Marley, Lenin, and Van Gogh; hippie stuff; pins/buttons; and of course, books. What can I say? Sometimes, people just run into stores they can call their home. I always knew they sold good second hand titles there. I have the strangest feeling that the owner of this shop buys these books from other second hand bookstores. The owner sort of pre-selects or filters the books from these other bookstores, and since he/she took the effort of picking out the best titles for us, he/she doubles the price. Not that bad. The prices aren't second-hand prices, but I guess it's okay because, boy, are the titles good! They had The World According to Garp (several editions, including mine), Lord of the Flies, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, 1984, The Joy Luck Club, plays by Sophocles, Tennessee Williams, and William Shakespeare, a couple my favorite classics, and even everyone's favorite American novel: To Kill A Mockingbird, which happens to remain as Top 92 bestseller in Amazon.com. It doesn't end there. The collection is amazing. I never knew Garp's John Irving wrote The Cider House Rules, and they have that. I had such a hard time picking out which book to buy. Since I already read Angela's Ashes in PDF, I crossed that out. What I did was close my eyes and randomly point at a book. That didn't actually work, but I eventually left the store with Gabriel Garcia Marquez's Chronicle of a Death Foretold. I remember Mickey sharing this book last year in Literature class. In 1982, Marquez (the author of One Hundred Years of Solitude) won the Nobel Prize for Literature. It was during that same year when Chronicle was released. A review from Amazon.com says that, although Solitude made him famous and may arguably be his best work, Chronicle is still the book that won him the Nobel. Another funny anecdote: I was watching the now defunct game show Game K N B? hosted by the not-so-defunct Kris Aquino. She was reading out the next question, which went something like this: "Sino ang co-star ni Diego Luna sa pelikulang Y Tu Mama Tambien? A. Gabriel Garcia Marquez, B. Gael Garcia Bernal, or C. Benicio del Torro..." Of course, I got the question right! Ahaha! That's because Marga/Trent Lloyd/St. Bernard has this huge crush on Gael, which is funny now that I think about it because not only did Mickey share Marquez's book in class but Manna, who plays Trent Lloyd's boss and idol Dr. Drake Remoray, M.D., is Manna MARQUEZ. The following day, I made a fortunate discovery. I was sitting in the classroom during lunch break (review classes). I sat on someone else's seat because I was talking to a new friend who happens to be from Assumption Antipolo. After babbling about how I found the SanLo campus kawawoe compared to Antipolo, a noticed that the owner of the chair I was sitting on had doodled stuff on her table. I took a closer look. "Across the Universe...Here Comes The Sun..." Aha! A Beatlefan! Yes! Finally! She must own a copy of Abbey Road (1969) because these tracks are from that album. The moment she arrived back from lunch, I told her that I knew she was a fan, and I told her I was a big fan, too. Yeah...ok, I bragged that I had all the Beatles albums and all the songs they ever recorded, and that I can play "Blackbird," etc. in the guitar. Well, even if I have all the albums she wants, she still happens to study in the school I used to dream of attending. Ever since I was a little girl, I always wanted to study in Pisay, but I was short on six points (more on that later). I later on found out that her favorite author is...Gabriel Garcia Marquez! What an amazingly small world! And as if to make the World According to Ana even smaller, Pisay is my father's and Manna Marquez's mother's alma mater, and not only that. My friend from AA knows Jm, and my seatmate happens to have an artwork by my late grandfather in her house. (As it turns out, my other friend from Miriam is also a Beatlefan and may have an artwork by lolo in her house.) Anyway, my fellow Beatlefan requested that I lend her any of my Beatles CDs. I didn't just lend her. I made her a copy of my MP3. This MP3 isn't just a simple MP3. It's sort of like the Holy Grail of Beatle-lot! It's a program that contains all of the 26 Beatles albums! It contains all the songs The Beatles ever recorded before John's death, and to make things even better for her, I added Anthology 1's "Free As A Bird" and Anthology 2's "Real Love." ---- I've been reviewing for a week already, and I've always had my eyes set on this sort-of-hidden Indian-Arabian restaurant located in the same building where I review. I'm reviewing for the UPCAT and ACET through Expert Guides. Hehe. I don't know if they're really "expert guides," but they seem to have an affiliation with AC. Not only do they encourage Assumption students to review through Expert Guides, but they even hold review sessions in our wittle campus every May. Just last year, they "produced" one of Assumption's few Oblation Scholars: Mela Aquino. Well, the way I see it, she could have easily been an Oblation Scholar even without the help of Expert Guides. She's an exceptional human being; so exceptional that she'll never be aware that I once mentioned her in my blog. She might find the World According to Ana boring. Anyhoo, someone in Expert Guides claims that AC consistently manages to have around 80% of its students pass the UPCAT. That's good news for me, bad news for my mother; however, I still feel that the odds are against me. I feel that how much I want to get into UP is equal to how much I might NOT get into UP. So back to the Indian-Arabian restaurant: As my friend quipped, "It's like a hole in the wall!" Dumb and near-illiterate Ana thought that that was a compliment for the place. Now I know that it either means "(Brit.) an automatic cash dispenser installed in an outside wall," which it was not, "or a small dingy place," which to some people it may be. Of course, low-vocabulary Ana, who insanely thinks she'll get into a dream college with her awful rate of vocabulary, doesn't know what "dingy" means. It means "gloomy and drab." To make sure, Ana checks what "drab" really means. Well, she guessed its meaning right, and hopefully, she will too in the entrance exams. Now that I know what it means, I guess the place wasn't a "hole in the wall" at all. I liked the place. It's called Tajma. It's in Alvero Building which is behind Shakey's Katipunan (Katipunan, for me, is review class Mecca). I thought, from the outside, that it was a normal restaurant. I always wanted to try out Indian-Arabian food because I always knew I'd love it, but sadly, due to an unfortunate incident, my mother now loathes Indian food, especially curry. The first time I saw the place, I thought, "This is my chance!" Luckily, my friend also wanted to try it out. When we went in, I discovered that the place had a sitting area. They laid out carpets, pillows, and short tables for you to eat on. You'd be eating like a real sheik! It was so cool! They even had authentic sheeshas, which I immediately recognized as something from The Sims, and you can actually try them out. A sheesha is a smoking machine wherein the tobacco you use comes in different flavors. Of course, the menu said, "Smoking is dangerous for your Health. Minors are not allowed to smoke." I found out later on that using the sheesha is like smoking 18 cigarette sticks. Ugh! The place is like a novelty. It's so cool! The faucets for washing are stuck right smack in the middle of a tiled wall. Your waiters aren't the average twenty-something, part-time job kind of guys but are, instead, 9 yr.-old boys. I took advantage of the moment and ordered something that would make my mother cringe upon hearing: Chicken Curry Tandoori. With it, I ordered Arabian pita bread, which (for Kulture Klubbers) resembles Gregorian unleavened bread. I forgot what it was called, but it's flat and I think starts with a "k". Probably the only bad thing about the place is that once it gets full during lunch hours, the service gets quite slow. Once you get your food served by these little kids though, you figure it's quite worth the wait. When my order finally came, it was placed on a flat wicker basket. There was also a piece of cloth placed under my plate. I wouldn't have noticed it if my friend hadn't told me that my bread was wrapped with the cloth. It was so cool! The customers are mostly yuppies, and one of them happened to be an AC girl who graduated two years ago. Well...so much for all that. As I promised, here's our second Friends quote. ******************** Rachel: Hey Ross! Any word on the apartment yet? Ross: Well, I called over there and it turns out Ugly Naked Guy is subletting it himself and he's already had like a hundred applicants. Rachel: Oh. Ross: No-no, I got the edge. I know it's not exactly ethical but I sent him a little bribe to tip the scales in my direction. Check it out, you can probably see it from the window. (They all head to the window.) Monica: Oh, is it that pinball machine with the big bow on it? Ross: No. Chandler: That new mountain bike? Ross: No. Monica: Well, what did you send? Ross: A basket of mini-muffins. Phoebe: But there's a whole table of mini-muffin baskets. Which one did you send? Ross: The small one. Rachel: What?! You-you actually thought that basket was gonna get you the apartment? Ross: Well yeah! Someone sent us a basket at work once and people went crazy over those little muffins. It was the best day! Chandler: Your work makes me sad. ******************** Ad astra per aspera posted by Ana (sgtpepper72687@yahoo.com) on 23:05 Friends Till The End... After ten years with the Central Perk gang, fans around the globe are now facing the inevitable final farewell.... ...but before Central Perk sells its last latte, let's take a fond look back into the past decade; into our favorite Friends moments. Every entry from now until May 6 will contain a quote from some of the show's best and most hilarious scenes... ...so get up from the recliner, stop playing foosball, come over to Monica's, and listen as Phoebe sings... ******************** Smelly Cat Chorus: Smelly cat, smelly cat What are they feeding you? Smelly cat, smelly cat It's not you fault They won't take you to the vet You're obviously not their fav'rite pet You may not be a bed of roses And you're no friend to those with noses (Chorus) ******************* Ad astra per aspera posted by Ana (sgtpepper72687@yahoo.com) on 20:00 -------------------- Sunday, April 18, 2004Friends, Bruce Willis, and Six Degrees My Friends and I got addicted into playing a little game called 6 Degrees. We play this during recess, lunch, dismissal, and all the other breaks in between. What started out as a boredom ritual has turned into mammoth obsession for a lot of us. Even young Aurea Gallardo, whom most of you may know as Acon, has fallen into the hands of this powerful, mind-bending game. (A funny anecdote: During the first days of school, a teacher of ours, whom I shall call Kitty lest I get into trouble, accidentally called Acon "Acorn." I'm sorry Acon, but that was just so funny. I guess she found it funny, too, because it evident when she unsuccessfully tried to suppress her laughter.) Okay, so it isn't that mind-bending, but surely, it is something that has negatively affected our grades. Somehow, you just have finish that one round you've started, and once you're done with that, you want to start a new one all over again. Yes, we often lost concentration during class lectures because of this. Anyway, 6 Degrees is a fairly well-known game. You try to correlate, connect, or establish a connection between two people, by only six degrees. We usually bend the rules a little and take out the six-degree criterion, so the game is now really supposed to be called "Degrees." I think we do that because it's easier and because no one knows how many people there should be in between. Should there be six people in between or four? Unlike the original game, we only connect celebrities. Through movies and co-stars, we are able to connect, say, Adrien Brody to Jodie Foster. For example: Let's have Robert De Niro and Johnny Depp (here's to you, Acon). De Niro starred with Ben Stiller in Meet the Parents. Stiller starred with Winona Ryder in Zoolander. Ryder starred with Angelina Jolie in Girl, Interrupted. Jolie will star with Brad Pitt in Mr. & Mrs. Smith, while Brad Pitt and Orlando Bloom will be seen in Troy. Finally, Bloom starred with Johnny Depp in The Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. It's an absolutely fun and addicting game. You can connect them through their movies, TV shows, husbands and wives, girlfriends and boyfriends, parents, etc. However, we've gotten so good at it that we've made restrictions to further challenge into this otherwise useless field. Through the years, we have come to realize that there is one celebrity who makes this game so easy. He seems to be connected with everyone. His name is Bruce Willis. Try it and you'll see. Also, we have restricted ourselves from using Friends. This TV show is so popular, almost all of Hollywood biggest names have guest starred in this sitcom. Julia Roberts, Winona Ryder, Sean Penn...even Bruce Willis! LOL! So, enjoy the game and remember, Brosey Whoallis isn't your Friend. ...*snort* Ana Ad astra per aspera posted by Ana (sgtpepper72687@yahoo.com) on 19:35 -------------------- |
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