Sunday Morning

I finally got around to using my GCs.

On Christmas, I received National Bookstore and Starbucks Gift Certificates. Since then, I’ve been excited to indulge on my favorite stuff without having to shell out any cash. Thanks to Diane for the generous amount of GCs, and to my monito for being faithful to my Kris Kringle wish list. I love GCs. I love picking out my own gifts! Haha.

After work yesterday, I headed to Starbucks and got myself an Iced Mocha. Sarap talaga pag libre. Heehee. I attended the 10:00AM mass at the Saint Pio of Pietrelcina chapel in Libis, and then went back to Cybermall to grab new books as soon as NBS opened.

The last book I got for myself was The Secret. Yesterday, I decided to get two Mitch Alboms - The Five People You Meet In Heaven and For One More Day. I loved Tuesdays With Morrie, and these two books have been on my lit wish list for some time now. I just get sidetracked very often and have difficulty sticking to my list. My NBS GCs were worth six hundred. If the amount were any bigger I would have snagged something out of my list. That's just me.

So now I have two new bathroom books. Lovely.

On G.C.s, Savings And Silly Goals

I’m excited to spend the next two days (my rest days) at home. I’ve just been to NBS to use my GC and this is what I got - Memories of My Melancholy Whores by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

I honestly wanted to stick with my list, but NBS Robinson’s Galleria had a poor collection. I did find a copy of Kafka On The Shore, but it was hard bound and worth over P900. My GC was only worth P300 and I’m not prepared to shell out my own cash for Kafka. Maybe more like can’t really afford it.

Anyway, the book is really thin so I should be able to finish this quickly.

Oh, and I just found out that NBS doesn’t give you change if you don’t consume the full GC amount. I thought that these things are as good as cash. Starbucks gave me my ten peso change when I bought drinks using GCs. I’m not sure if this is a stupid policy or if I just dealt with a stupid cashier.

I’m thinking about what I want to save up for this month (month, hopefully, but I just may not be able to fulfill it in a month’s time).

Microwave oven roughly P3000
Kitchen Rack worth P1500

Adidas Badminton Shoes, proposed budget P2500, stretched budget P3200
Happy Feet Limited Edition for only P1400

It may not look like a lot to some people, but P8400 to P9100 is not a small amount for me. I really hope to be better with my finances this 2007.

My goals:
Zero-out my credit card (just one - BPI)
Finish paying off my salary loans (Standard Chartered, HSBC and SSS)
Get life insurance and be able to maintain payment
Have more than just the maintaining balance in my bank account
Afford to pamper myself more this year

Hmm… The last one seems to be in conflict with all my other goals. Doesn’t matter. I’m up for this challenge.

Through A Protagonist's Senses

I just bought Bachelor Brothers’ Bed and Breakfast as a Christmas gift for myself. I started reading it yesterday, and so far it hasn’t bored me yet.

I’m not a serious reader. I just happen to enjoy light reading. I was into classics when I was in college, but now I prefer contemporary lit. Don’t mistake me for a bibliophile or a bookworm. I am not even familiar with most famous authors. My idea of a serious reader is someone who is into all genres, and poetry is something that I still find difficult to concentrate on. I don’t enjoy it, period.

There are only a few books that I want to own. I would rather borrow them if I only knew of someone who had all the books I wanted.

I received National Bookstore Gift Certificates worth P300 from our Program Kris Kringle last Sunday, and I can’t wait to get my next book. I wish P300 could cover more than just one book from my latest list:


Haruki Murakami
1. Kafka On The Shore
2. Sputnik Sweetheart
3. Norwegian Wood










Banana Yoshimoto
1. Asleep
2. Goodbye Tsugumi
3. NP
4. Lizard
5. Amrita

Amy Tan
1. The Hundred Secret Senses
2. The Bonesetter’s Daughter

My list keeps getting longer because I seem to have a problem prioritizing the items. I was supposed to finally get The Hundred Secret Senses when I purchased BBB and B. Last week, I ended up going home with Bookends when I was also supposed to get The Hundred Secret Senses. Okay, so Libras are really indecisive.

Anyway, it’s my day off tomorrow and I hope to finish BBB and B. I’m really trying to take it easy right now. I’ve been so stressed and confused, I finally realized its time to slow down and relax. What better way to do that than by escaping reality and rediscovering the world through a protagonist’s senses?

Thank God for books. They take my mind off everything else I need to forget for a while.