What does a sad Pauline do?

I couldn't shake off Toy Story-induced nostalgia/sadness for about 36 hours so I decided it was time to take drastic measures. I trooped to Rustan's , as per my dad's request, and got this:

Yup, two pints of B&J's ice cream--one in Cherry Garcia and another in New York Super Fudge Chunk. I know I'm supposed to be calorie-counting, but I did share them with my dad and my brother so my moment of weakness wasn't all that bad (Fine, Dad only ate two spoonfuls because of his high blood sugar. Still!) . Haha! I was looking for Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough but they ran out. On a normal day, I wouldn't condone consuming that much just to satisfy my craving for ice cream but crying because Andy left Woody with Bonnie isn't everyday fare either.

I remember that time in Ireland about a year and a half ago with Steph C., Shivs P., Ely Z., Berna A. and Gica M. when some or all of us would troop to the Sentra nearest our hotel and buy Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough ice cream almost every day. We'd then hole up in our rooms and gorge on ice cream while watching random shows (I'm not sure but, if I remember correctly, in our room, Shivs and I would always somehow be watching what's on Fox Crime or reruns of The Nanny.). Oh, did I mention we were scarfing down ice cream in the middle of winter? Haha! I was going through a lot then but, somehow, gorging on ice cream while watching Horatio interrogate lowlifes or Fran hitting on her boss made me feel better. It might have been the conversations we had while eating ice cream that brightened me up but, since then, I've thought of ice cream as an antidote to momentary sadness.

So, how did your weekend go?

I spent the entire Saturday morning plowing through the PoS 180.25 readings for the week. I managed to finish Jose Casanova's Secularization, Enlightenment and Modern Religion from Public Religions in the Modern World and Talal Asad's What Might An Anthropology of Secularism Look Like? from Formations of the Secular. I still have the David Herbert selections to read, annotate and reread but it looks like I'll be ready for this week's class. Only about ten students are enrolled in Prof. Raneses' three-hour class (Contemporary Democratic Theory: Interrogating Secularism) so it's impossible to feign knowledge of the readings if you only quickly browsed through them. You will get asked to participate in the discussion at least five times and the length of the class period means a one-liner won't do. He also gives each student a grade per session based on the student's contributions to the discussion and the average of the student's grades per session will constitute 15% of his/her final mark, so you risk a low mark if it becomes painfully clear that , for whatever reason, you didn't carefully go through the readings. I got an A in the last session but I'm really looking forward to the next session because RR devised a cool star-moon-sun-cloud (?) system of grading. Haha!

I went to Gateway a little after lunch to pick up a stick of tea tree concealer from Body Shop then headed back to Katipunan to meet up with Shivs Parmanand at Seattle's Best. I hadn't had SB's chocolate milkshake in a while, so I decided to abandon my 1500 kcal diet (not self-imposed, mind you--my orthopedist says I have to maintain my weight or lose a couple of pounds so that my back stops giving me trouble) and ask for extra ice cream. In SB, the only drink I'm comfortable getting is the chocolate milkshake. I've gotten so used to Starbucks to bother trying anything else. We both lamented the fact that Seattle's and Kenny Rogers now share space (Their counters are only maybe ten meters apart). SB is the go-to of students who need to study or write papers when Starbucks gets too crowded. However, Kenny Rogers is frequented by families from the Xavierville area and rowdy students celebrating after grueling long tests, so the new arrangement makes it impossible to study/have a proper conversation unless you managed to nab a table far from the Kenny Rogers counter. Thankfully, because of the rain, there weren't a lot of people when Shivs and I got there.

I updated Shivs on my weird schedule and she told me about some of the more hilarious things that happened to her in the past week. Important realization: Never think everything's peachy and nothing can faze you--something's bound to surprise you and make you realize you haven't seen it all! Haha! Shivs is leaving for Auckland this week and the run-up to the trip has been quite exhausting for her, I think, so she deserved her coffee.

I had to leave at around 9:30 because my dad called to say he was on his way to Katipunan from the airport and I promised him we could have a late dinner together. On my way to Xanland, something really weird happened--but that's for another entry, and one I'm not going to write anytime in the near future.

Sunday was a bit more hectic. I had lunch with family and family friends who were in town then met up for coffee with Vic Baguilat. Vic Baguilat had a strawberry milkshake while I decided to experiment (gasp) and order a mocha cappuccino. I regretted my choice, though, when I saw how much Vic was enjoying his milkshake. He realized a bit too late, however, that he's lactose-intolerant. Whoops. We had fun catching up and sizing up random people in the vicinity. Haha! I had to leave a little past 6 though because the family decided to have dinner with Tita Rose Napao and her daughter, Yvonne. Oh, before I forget, congratulations to Vic for getting his own place in Taft! Housewarming party? Haha!

All in all, I had a pretty relaxed weekend. I have a bad feeling the next two weekends (at least) won't be as mellow. Oh well.

CotDs

I was running late to meet Dianna Yap and Gio Mauleon in school but stopped in my tracks when I saw Karl Libongco just as I was rushing out of my condominium building's lobby. From afar, he looked like Gio so I briefly wondered if Dianna had anticipated my tardiness and had Gio pass by for me. But, when he turned to wave at me, Karl's posture was so distinct that I could have had my contact lenses off and still be sure it was him.

Karl has a very...relaxed and leisurely way of moving. It's hard to describe Karl's carriage accurately, but he always gives off the vibe that he has all the time in the world--but not in a lazy, I-have-nothing-better-to-do way. Karl has a way of moving that makes you think everything he does is so instinctive that, when he focuses his attention on you, it's as if he deliberately and painstakingly rearranged his body to accommodate you. I noticed that when we first met and, when I voiced out my observation a year later, Faith Sta. Ana et al agreed. When he talks to someone, Karl turns to face the person very slowly, his upper body sort of leans away from the person (giving the impression that he's studying the person) and he has a look of carefree absorption on his face, as if he's weighing your every word but couldn't care less if you get something wrong.

I made that observation during the SOSS Night of our OrSem. I wasn't really into the bands playing and it was so crowded so I spent most of the night with him, Andre Co, Kevin Santiago, Faith S.A., Rootbeer Napiza, Bojie Bartolata and Randhel Laurente on the floor of the covered courts, drowning our sorrows in...mineral water. Haha!

Me, RBeer, Dhel and Karl (June 2006)

See how relaxed Karl seems?

Karl and Andre (June 2006)

I miss hanging out with Andre, Faith and Gina Tumlos. Andre (whose shirt in the picture reads 'Tough Enough to Wear Pink') left after freshman year to become a successful DJ (who has odd fan girls, apparently) and business major at the Entrepreneurial School of Asia. He had weird hair back then and I called him Coco (His family name's Co. He called me Gaga.). I spent most of freshman year (when I wasn't in debate training) with him. He'd drive me and Gina to and from school--even if we could've just walked. I have to schedule dinner with him and the girls soon.

Anyway, Karl and I talked for a bit and I laughed at some of his responses (non-verbatim):

Me: Karl! What are you doing here??

Karl: Bum ako! (shrugs with his signature easy smile)

Karl: Grabe, super proud mo kay Rootbeer!

Me: Of course. I mean, she's really determined to do things her way and I know a lot of people used to think Rootbeer's indecisive. In that way, I kinda thought pareho kami. But, well, now,she's showing them! Self-confidence boost!

Karl: Oo nga eh, picture niya kasama si Robin Padilla, pinost mo sa Wall mo!

Me: We all go through a wild-child phase.

Karl: Kakaiba naman yung wild-child phase mo, eh!

Of course, when I finally met up with them at the library, on our way to the caf, Gio had to have his share of CotDs (Like QotDs but C stands for Conversations. Haha!) too:

Me: (teasingly) Naku, hindi ka na nga nag-gym kasi tamad ka tapos kakain ka pa!

Gio: Iinom na lang ako ng pangpa-buff!

Me: (to Dianna) Para-paraan talaga, noh?

Gio: Once, uminom ako ng pangpa-buff tapos nakalagay bawal to take it with alcohol. Hindi ako naniwala. One week akong nagkasakit!

Me: (incredulous) And you're still going to take them??

Gio: Dati, sobrang buff na nga ako! Tapos pumayat kasi nga nagkasakit ako ng one week!

Me: Grabeng one week naman yun! What were you sick with--dengue??

Me: Hmm, so maybe I should go to the Coheed and Cambria concert na lang, noh?

Gio: Why?? Are you into emo music?? You're going to pay to listen to emo music??

Me: Well, it's open bar.

Gio: Huh. Niiice motivation.

All in all, I had a mellow Friday. My parents didn't want me venturing too far from Katipunan because the rain wouldn't let up so I decided to stay in and watch Friends all night. I've been needing a bit of alone time and I slept like a baby! Today, I'm having lunch with Victor Baguilat then coffee with Shivs Parmanand. My dad's arriving tonight so we're probably going to eat out for dinner and get a bit of shopping done, then I might catch up with Vic et al in Makati. I'm going to lock myself up tomorrow to wade through (a ton of) readings and do my International Eco case study, so I want to just take it easy today and not do anything too taxing.

The Fall of Icarus

In Philosophy today, Prof. JC Uy asked us if we've ever come across Pieter Breughel The Elder's The Fall of Icarus. In high school, after reading William Carlos William's Landscape with The Fall of Icarus, I looked up Breughel's piece and something about it made me feel sad. I couldn't quite articulate why the painting triggered such a feeling of desolation in me (Prior to that, the only other paintings that moved me were Vincent Van Gogh's Wheatfield with Crows and Edgar Degas' Absinthe Drinker--and neither painting made me quite as sad.) . It wasn't because the subject of the painting was inherently sad--there was no depiction of how he had fallen; the painting only showed Icarus' lower legs. I guess it was the fact that such a tragic event seemed to not have been noticed by the others characters in the painting.

Today, Prof. Uy read W.H. Auden's Musee des Beaux Arts, another poem on Breughel's piece, in class. The poem perfectly summed up how I felt the first time I came across the painting:

Landscape with the Fall of Icarus, c. 1558

Pieter Breughel the Elder,

Musee Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, Brussels

Musée des Beaux Arts (W.H. Auden)

About suffering they were never wrong, The Old Masters; how well, they understood Its human position; how it takes place While someone else is eating or opening a window or just walking dully along; How, when the aged are reverently, passionately waiting For the miraculous birth, there always must be Children who did not specially want it to happen, skating On a pond at the edge of the wood: They never forgot That even the dreadful martyrdom must run its course Anyhow in a corner, some untidy spot Where the dogs go on with their doggy life and the torturer's horse Scratches its innocent behind on a tree. In Breughel's Icarus, for instance: how everything turns away Quite leisurely from the disaster; the ploughman may Have heard the splash, the forsaken cry, But for him it was not an important failure; the sun shone As it had to on the white legs disappearing into the green Water; and the expensive delicate ship that must have seen Something amazing, a boy falling out of the sky, had somewhere to get to and sailed calmly on.

Putocopy and Letters to Juliet

After a two hour-long graphing/gabbing session for International Economics in the library, I met up with Thea Guanzon in Eastwood to watch Letters to Juliet. I arrived a little past noon and the next screening was at 3 PM so we had close to three hours to spare. Since she hadn't had lunch yet, we headed to Jack's Loft. Thea had baked potato soup (I expressly advised her against it because, for me at least, baked potato in a form other than, well, baked potato is just too weird. It would be like eating a bowl of sour cream with maybe a few chunks of potato thrown in. But Thei says it was good so I guess my tastes are just too primitive.) and we shared a plate of fried mozarella sticks. As usual, we had the weirdest conversations (Too weird to post here, yes. Haha!). How we managed to finish our food, given how much talking we were doing, is beyond me.

We headed up to the cinema to buy our tickets after lunch (Thank you, Citibank!) and, while waiting in line, sang songs from Glee out loud. It's a wonder they didn't ask us to leave the premises--people were openly staring at us! I sounded like a sick cat singing Rachel's part in Faithfully but I figured noone I know would be watching a movie on an early Tuesday afternoon, so we regaled everyone within a three-kilometer radius with our warbly version of Total Eclipse of the Heart. I think the lady at the counter was seriously considering not selling us tickets. Haha!

While waiting for the cinema doors to open, we checked out an art exhibit beside the concessionaire and I couldn't stop laughing when I saw this:

Yes, I know it's an old joke. That doesn't make it any less hilarious though--especially on a painting. :))

Letters to Juliet was okay. We obviously didn't watch it because we thought it would be a cinematic masterpiece. We needed something easy to digest, preferably one with a cheesy, easy-to-follow plot and predictable characters. Of course, the fact that Chris Egan's in it was a plus. It was just really too funny though when, while Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) was in deep thought, Taylor Swift's Love Story began to play. I know the song's apt, given the allusions to Romeo and Juliet's tragic love affair in the movie; but it just ruined the mood and made us go, "What just happened? She's emotional and contemplating leaving her fiancee--and they decided to play a semi-upbeat Taylor Swift pop song??" . And the 'twist' in the end (if you could even call it that) which involved Charlie (Chris Egan) explaining that the Patricia he had with him at the wedding was, in fact, his cousin, left me laughing even harder.

All in all, it wasn't so bad spending a Tuesday afternoon watching it, especially since, when I got to Eastwood, I had images of graphs and pie charts swimming in my head. Chris Egan in a tailored suit ( and the Puto-Putocopy painting) blew that all away. Haha!

Tarsy and Crabby Adventures, Chapter 1

I went to visit Rootbeer Napiza at the ABSCBN compound last weekend because I've missed her sooo much (We needed gab time!) and we decided to squeeze in lunch before getting caught up in everything we had to do (backlogged editing for her and preparations for the week ahead + an essay for me). We had been intending to meet up for weeks but cancelled our plans twice because she had to deal with some things at work and one of my closest high school friends flew in at the last minute. And, no, RB wasn't in ABSCBN for a Goin' Bulilit (Apparently, that's this generation's equivalent to Ang TV) shooting. Haha! She's all grown-up and a writer now. AND, at the same time, she's in law school. Yes, we're very proud of her and I'm a "stage friend". Haha!

RB took pictures over lunch at Grams! Porkchops + pancakes + vanilla milkshake + weird carrot-mushroom-onion soup + coffee = diner love, baby!

(I'll be writing about my visit in another entry. Hilarious conversations galore.)

I ♥ Grams! I'm a sucker for old diner-themed places. Bright lights, colorful booths, uncomplicated feel-good food--what's not to love? At Grams, I always end up having either pancakes or pork chops. I ordered pork chops this time, with soup and coffee.

RB and her vanilla milkshake! I wanted a milkshake too. :( But I had to restrain myself. RB doesn't need to worry about carbs. She has such a thin, sexy frame that gaining weight is never a problem for her. :|

I think everyone now gets why RB calls me Tarsy. :))

Happy, contented, fulfilled Ms. I-Want-It-All Napiza. ♥

"Parurusahan kita sa ngalan ng buwan!"
"Fighting crime, trying to save the world! Here they come just in time! The Powerpuff Girls! Powerpuff!"

Yeah, we're retarded. :|

Tarsy and Crabby

In the morning, happiness is a good sandwich.

I'd been running low on anti-bacterial wipes so I went to Rustan's Katipunan after lunch to restock. I was in such a hurry that I didn't notice, until I decided to look for wheat bread , that a new section, Gourmet to Go, had just opened. Apparently, Rustan's Katipunan now offers sandwiches and salads for take-out! And they have a wide selection too!

My maid wakes up at 6 AM so, when I have to head out early, I no longer have time to wait for her to prepare breakfast. There aren't a lot of breakfast offerings in Ateneo at 7 AM so I have to make do with cookies from AMPC or hope I have enough coins in my purse to get crackers from the vendo machine. These days, given my schedule, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I have no time to get lunch either so I have to pass by JSEC to pick up a sandwich on my way home if it isn't close to dinnertime yet because I don't want to pass out from hunger. Thanks to Gourmet to Go, I can just walk to Rustan's in the morning, choose from any of their delectable sandwiches and salads before walking to school!

I ordered their smoked salmon sandwich and their apple and walnut salad with curried mayo. I couldn't finish the sandwich because it was too big for me (I must remember to have them slice it in half if I'm bringing it to school so that I don't have to gobble the entire thing up in one sitting) but the salad was really good so it didn't take me long to finish it.

Good job, Rustan's Katips! :D