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Sick and Stones

Published by Justine

My throat started feeling really itchy last Wednesday, and come Thursday it became a full-blown dry cough. I’m still reaping the fruits of the virus until now because I really didn’t give myself rest until Saturday. I was contemplating on going to work on Friday but I knew I had to because I was meeting friends for drinks later that night after work and that itself was a pretty good motivation already. Got home at 4 in the morning on Saturday and that’s when the whole sickness thing took a great toll. I was completely bedridden the whole Saturday up to Sunday afternoon when I decided to get my ass up and spend the rest of the Sunday out with family. It’s Tuesday now and I’m feeling a bit better save for a bit of coughing here and there. Hope this is gone by tomorrow.

Lately I’ve been finding myself getting worked up and concerned about what people think about me. Of course as a human being that’s a general trait, why wouldn’t you want people to like you? It’s just that it’s been bothering me more than it should and the thing is, I hardly used to care. If you liked me, great! If you didn’t, well, there’s that. My point is (this should double as a mental note), I need to stop thinking about it too much because it will affect me. It probably won’t matter in the long run because the people who choose to stay will and that’s all that matters. If “they” genuinely cared about me, I wouldn’t be feeling like this in the first place, it wouldn’t make me feel like this in the first place.

I’m not really sure where I’m going with this, just wanted to entertain a brain fart by putting them into paper (or a WP entry post).

Perks and Much More

Published by Justine

I got off work early today because of an earlier shift so I figured I’d finally write something in here. I know it’s been a while.. so many things have happened since the last time I wrote here more than a month ago. If I started where I left off, yes my best friend(s) came to town to visit me and it was the one of the best weekends ever, or if not, then the best weekend of this year. Even if it meant I had to trade sleep and my zombie eyes had to work overtime. We went island hopping, partied like there’s no tomorrow, I became a tourist in my own city because I got to go to places I had never been and of course the most important things: my best friends, and a piece of Jakarta life in my not-so-new life back home here in Cebu.

Over the weekend I watched Perks of Being a Wallflower with my sister Jana. Perfect is quite an understatement. I read the book not too long ago and the depiction was absolutely spot on. From the characters (THE CHARACTERS!!) to the flow of the story, to the music and just the whole vibe, you couldn’t ask for a much better book-to-screen adaptation of a book. I wouldn’t mind watching it again. I just might.

Sometimes I wonder if I’ve ever really made and self-developments over the past year. It’s the first week of October already and just about a year ago I was thinking about how I could make better choices and live the life I actually want for myself instead of just recycling all the what-ifs in my head. Obviously I have many more things to work on personally but I’ve come pretty far haven’t I? I figured I’ve got to give myself some credit for making choices I never would have thought of making a year ago. I deserve a small pat on the back.

Weekend Before THE Weekend

Published by Justine

January 2011

I had never imagined that my best friend and I would come to a point where we had to book flights just to see each other. It’s crazy! I only saw her during the 1st half of 2011 and the first 2 months of this year. That was something I was not used to at all, but such is life, and life goes on. In about a week we will be finally seeing each other and I AM SO excited. Which reminds me, I need to set up a plan for what we’re going to do because 6 days is such a short time. Aaaahhhhh! Ever since I got back here I’ve only been immersing myself in work and a little bit of social life so I really need to come up with a plan on where to take her, what to do and have fun all at the same time. Plus two good friends from Jakarta are also joining us, so the excitement (and pressure to show Cebu) is definitely multiplying!

I just got home from work and sort of encountered some bad vibes towards the end of my shift, this is all part of the job you signed up for but on a lighter note.. my MacBook Pro is finally back back back back to me!!! I was so surprised when I got the call two days ago. Yay for Apple and iCenter!

Fifty Shades of Me No Likey

Published by Justine

I think it’s about time I address this book and write about it. I haven’t really encountered a “bad book” until this one and I consider myself quite the pop culture bandwagonner and read most of the mainstream books so I decided to give the Fifty Shades series a chance, mostly because of the movie buzz that surrounded it. I did the same with Twilight a few years ago and ended up quite enjoying the series. It didn’t turn me into a Twihard, but I didn’t close myself off to the succeeding books and eventually the movie franchise (which I’m quite indifferent about actually, so to speak).

Now about Fifty Shades, well it hurt my brain. It was such a struggle to read! I read on even though I knew it already was an awful book to start with from the first few chapters because I wanted to give it the benefit of the doubt. It was popular for a reason right? I loved Harry Potter, Twilight wasn’t so bad and The Hunger Games was very compelling. With Fifty Shades, it took me a few weeks to get through the first book. I stalled when it came to starting the 2nd book because I knew I was going to put myself through the same predicament again–forcing myself to glorify something so serious and sensitive at the same time. I ended up not finishing the 2nd book, and decided to just ditch the series altogether. I couldn’t read it anymore. Maybe at a later time, but definitely not now.

This is funny because it doesn’t take much to please me when it comes to books. I mean, come on, I am a (quality) chick-lit fan.. and would almost always prefer a light read as opposed to word and stories that have the tendency to hurt my brain. But with this one, I could not bring myself to like it at all. What started as a curiosity for the movie franchise cast made me read the books, and now I’m not even excited for the movie anymore.

Here are some reasons why I dislike the book, and rather than me overanalyzing everything with long and boring sentences.. here’s the gist:

  • The writing isn’t very good.
  • There were so many inconsistencies.
  • A British writer writing about American characters living in America should be able to stay away from so many British conversations and references, yes?
  • Excessive use of the phrase “Oh my.”
  • Excessive references of the main character’s inner goddess. I remember reading and thinking, “Holy fuck when will this inner goddess shit end?” LOL
  • Lack of research on technology. Some of the stuff written about it were almost laughable.
  • I knew it was a Twilight fanfic to begin with, but Stephenie Meyer can almost sue the author for plagiarism.
  • Don’t even get me started on the lack of plot and character development.
  • The erotic parts really weren’t very erotic.
  • The fact that it glorifies violence, sadism and masochism? Look I know it exists in the real world, but I’m sure there are better ways to write about it.
  • Quantity over quality. So many sex scenes, so little substance.

That’s pretty much what I can think about right now, I’m sure there are a lot of things I can still say but I just choose to stop here.

The State of Things

Published by Justine

So… My MacBook Pro is finally gone for repair. The lady said it will probably take 7 to 14 days to a month tops. I wasn’t all that shocked because I anticipated about a month or so, I just hope it won’t take longer than that.

I made the decision today as fast as I could and decided to just bring it before I change my mind or else the warranty period is going to end and I’m going to have to pay a huge amount for it and regret, I have no time for that nor the personal expenses to get myself an Apple Care Protection Program. Gone are the days where I could still ask Mom and Dad to get me the things I need. On the rough road to financial independence. Yay me? LOL.

So anyway here I am typing this blog post from my iPhone. I’m going to become a laptop scavenger at home, beware fambam!