And away we go!

Talk about getting what you wished for.

Early this year, I had been moping around and generally feeling sorry for myself for missing out on travelling. Everyone I knew seemed to be bound for one trip or another. But me, I was stuck in my city! To be honest, though, it wasn't as bad as that because B and I would often be visiting his parents 5 cities away. Actually, I rarely spent an entire weekend at our house for several weeks early this year because of school.

On with my narrative. I had just realized that as of last week, I had officially become a jetsetter of sorts. Two projects had me visit in quick succession Cebu, Bicol, Baguio, Bataan, Batangas, Tagaytay, Cavite, Pampanga, Iloilo and Davao. B even managed to come to Iloilo with me. That's another story.

Ok, since pining was so effective, next time I do it, I'll pine for my very own beautiful mountain house with a large garden full of gorgeous flowers and fruit-laden shrubs and trees and tons of money so that I could afford to maintain it and pay for real estate taxes.

I had been hopping in and out of planes so much recently that B thought I was off to some remote location again when I reminded him that he was fetching me tomorrow.

I have to admit: I LOVE travelling.

Finally!

What a week this was! First, Mockingjay, then Linger.

I'm in withdrawal now, though, because I inhaled both and am now without any books to read.

I'll be writing longer reviews soon but for now I'd like to share my two newest babies :-)

Mockingly, mockingly/ August is TOO far away

I re-read HUNGER GAMES, and now I can't wait to get my hands on MOCKINGJAY which is due for release on August 2010.

And to add to the unbearable waiting, I stumbled on the cover design which offers very little in the way of what's going to happen.
Still, I know what to look for know when I head out to the bookstores in August.

Back into the Labyrinth

Way back in high school, I fell in love with Jareth. I would stare at the moon and imagine a snowy white owl swooping onto my window ledge, transforming into this mysterious, gorgeously garbed and breathtakingly handsome king who would offer me the world if only I loved him. *Swoon*

What girl could resist? Of course, he was the Goblin King with frightful looking minions, but that was just a trifling matter to me then.

Needless to say, Jim Henson' LABYRINTH became the pixie dust that transformed my mundane life into something so much more exciting. My friends and I obsessed about getting the Sarah look: long straight hair with the bangs clipped to the side, a long flowing shirt, vest, slim jeans, flat brown shoes, and a fancy charm bracelet. A trip to the National Library near Intramuros became a make-believe trek through the labyrinth facing "dangers unknown and hardships unnumbered". Did I mention that we memorized the movie lines and song lyrics? We also became die-hard David Bowie fans because to us he was and will forever be Jareth.

LABYRINTH really meant --mean-- so much to me that when I found the manga, BACK INTO THE LABYRINTH, continuing the story, I had no compunctions at all (maybe a little; I am, after all, an OC person) about buying it, budget be damned.

However, it was a purchase that I am now regretting. The storyline is too derivative, and too obviously that. It was liberally laced with Harry Potter devices; the main character, Toby -- the baby in the movie -- is now inexplicably the Goblin King's heir in the story. He is weakly written and so unlikeable. I also just absolutely hated it that they worked certain scenes and narrative devices from the movie into it. I didn't need to be reminded every page or so that this was the sequel to the movie! For instance, they showed the statue of Hoggle taking a leak at the entrance of the labyrinth, echoing the movie. There are also repeated lines of "through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered, etc." Thing is, this isn't Sarah' story anymore. I wish it were.

The beauty of LABYRINTH for me was its imagination and the world of what-ifs it opened. This manga showed me nothing but been-there, done-that scenes instead.

One saving grace, though, is that it reminded me of why Howl's character (Howl's Moving Castle) completely enchanted me. Howl could have been a younger Jareth, or his younger brother.

It just occured to me, though, right now that they have turned Jareth in the manga into a flamboyant, and unscrupulous version of Howl in this manga. Grrr.

I wish that this could've been written better if only to do justice to Jim Henson's vision and genius.

Lazy Day-sies

As the title implies, I'm somewhat at a loss at what to do. Make that, too lethargic to do anything. Plus, a slight migraine has completely ruined any appetite to gallivant outside.

It's a holiday today, a welcome treat following so closely on the heels of the Holy Week. I've been looking forward to this day for some R&R, but you know what they say about all the best-laid plans, and all that.

Howl's Moving Castle (Dianna Wynne Jones) beckons but I'm adamantly searching online for re-upholsters in the neighborhood. We are woefully out of chairs. B has managed to maul all but 2 of our dining chairs (further proof of a need to diet :-) ). The one he didn't wreck, my cousin C took the honor of doing it in on his first visit to the house. I'm using the remaining chair in my study area.

I had wanted to have two storage benches customized for the dining area, but the price quotation of the furniture maker we asked last week had me gaping in incredulity. So right now I'm weighing the relative merits of just having my poor dining chairs re-upholstered.

Later, maybe I'll have time to travel with Sophie in her adventures with Howl. Much later, I'll go back to reading Fruits Basket online, the first manga I will ever read. I was tempted to read the Inuyasha manga, but then the anime is so much fun. I'm in withdrawal though because the series ended just last week.

I'll be having a book fair at the office come Monday and I can't wait to get my hands on Hunger Games and Catching Fire (Suzanne Collins). I've read both in B's iPod but I am a confessed book fetishist: I'd rather be holding a book than reading the story from an eBook gadget. B said, though, that our local bookstore has an ongoing promotion, and why not just check it out if all I wanted were discounts? Speaking of Hunger Games, both of us are doing a countdown to the release date of Mockingjay, which is coming out this August. Proof of our excitement: B was insisting last week that the books were in the local warehouses already because how then could our bookstore have a price for it already when it's just April?

Might try to read Maggie Stiefvater's Shiver next. I'm dragging my feet though because I've had my fill already of werewolves and vampires. But Shiver's list of awards is making me curious about it.

That's it for now.

My two favorite Kats

By some stroke of luck, I made the happy acquaintance of two literary heroines (whom I would heartily recommend to fantasy/ sci-fi/ young adult fiction female readers) within weeks of each other.

First is Katniss Everdeen of Hunger Games and Catching Fire (Suzanne Collins; Mockingjay,the concluding book will be published in August 2010). Katniss lives in a post-Apocalyptic world called Panem, in what is supposed to be North America, subjugated by the power of a corrupt and evil central government called Capitol. The Hunger Games is an annual TV show, akin to today's reality shows, with the difference that the contestants have to fight to the death. Contestants or tributes are picked from each of a the 12 districts -- one boy and one girl between the ages of 12 to 18 -- by lottery. Katniss volunteers herself when her younger sister was picked. It is thanks to her unusual skills in archery and hunting, as well as strength, courage, honor, level-headedness and daring that she overcomes the kinks thrown her way. Well, almost all of them, because she still has to resolve her feelings for her fellow Tribute, Peeta Mellarck.

My other Kat is Katsa of The Graceling (Kristin Cashore). Katsa is a Graceling, one of those people born with an extrordinary skill. In Katsa's case, her Grace makes her an invincible fighter. However, since in their kingdom in the Middluns, all gracelings automatically become property of the King, and Katsa has the added disadvantage of being the King's niece, she was raised to become his strongarm. Or as his thug, as far as she's concerned. Katsa is ferocious in her skills and protecting her sense of her self. However, being the king's main tool for bullying other people has given her precious few things to control in her life. Which is why when she crosses the path of Prince Po, an extremely skilled fighter and a mind reader who is searching for his kidnapped grandfather , Katsa must re-evaluate her perceptions of her world and of her identity.

I am so pleased that these characters were written as they were. I've had enough of vapid, one-dimensional, self-centered heroines whose love for the hero is the only thing that they have going for them.

A nomad speaks

I have always been fond of traveling, which is fortunate since I often seem to be going from one place to another. For the most part, this traveling had to do with my moving from one home to another. And no, this has nothing to do with separated parents, but rather because of the practicalities in life that dictate that one must live with one's grandmother because this puts one nearer to one's school. And later, one's place of work. (Although, to be honest about it, I stayed with her long after I needed to because by then she had become my mother. )

As a traveler-at-heart, I think it's good that I never get motion sickness when in a car, a bus, a boat, or a plane. On my first boat ride, I was scared that I'd be sick inside of a few minutes and moan my way throughout the cruise. Luckily, I had more to fear from indigestion because the staff seemed bent on stuffing us to the gills. We were all happy to oblige, of course.

I just wish, though, that unflappable gumption had also been one of my gifts. That way, I wouldn't hesitate too much in deciding where to go, and thereby save precious time, and spare myself any jitters.