A Piece of Heaven

I got 4 books at discounted prices and 1 book free from Fully Booked Boni High Street. Now, I'm fully booked till the next sale :P
I got a free Chai Tea Latte after lunch and a free Double Vanilla Tea Latte after dinner from Coffee Bean.
I hung out with a friend/distant relative at Seattle's after work.

Yey for discounts, freebies, and good conversation. Life is great :D

Grace for free

I was reading my daily dose of reflections from Didache, and it struck a raw nerve so I felt compelled to share it with you.

Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand.
Matthew 13:13

Hugh Hefner, the flamboyant founder of the Playboy porn empire, will never understand what faithfulness in marriage means even after reading 300,000 books on the subject. At the age of 80, he currently has three hot blondes sharing his bed as his stay-in concubines. (He used to have seven but he decided to downsize.)
A Filipino actor-turned-politician who boasts of his record of 86 children from different women, will never understand the Christian Parenting seminar being taught in the church across the street where he lives.
A BIR officer of the country, whose pocket is padded from under the table deals will never understand a sermon on honesty. Why? Not because the ideas are too complex. Even children know how to explain faithfulness, responsibility and honesty. Truth is, understanding brings guilt. Understanding requires repentance as a response. This is the part they dont like. Sin blinds the eyes, plugs the ears and dulls understanding.
Two things can make you understand: Gods mercy or His judgment. Choose His mercy now! You might not like His judgment if its too late. --Jon Escoto

It simply is the truth. Even though God's forgiveness and grace is just within our reach, we choose (subconsciously in most cases) not to receive it because that means acknowledging our worldliness and letting go of the things we enjoy that are not necessarily pleasing to God's eyes.

Something serious to post for a change :D

Science fiction for people who don't like science fiction

So I don't only read about vampires, but I also read about aliens. My coolness meter just went up a few more levels. Hehehe :D

I never understood all the hype about sci fi, so I never read anything related to that.. until Meyer published The Host. I was hesitant at first because it was about alien invasion -- yikes. But after reading the chapters posted on her site, I got the book and read through it in a week. I was half expecting Edward to appear somewhere in the middle of the story :P I officially have a new favorite author. Thank goodness Meyer isn't a one-hit-wonder.

The best thing about the book is probably being able to make sci-fi readable for non sci-fi readers. Aliens, called Souls, that looked like silvery living ribbons invade earth by taking over human bodies, and then turn the world into the ultimate paradise -- all types of cancer are cured, no wars, no theft, no crimes, no bad anything. Not as half-bad as it sounds. But then, the human hosts, once taken over by a soul, no longer have control over their own minds and body and eventually lose their identity. Naturally, the remaining humans hide and fight for their survival. But after one of them gets caught, they realize that it's still possible to co-exist with the parasite and forge deep and meaningful relationships with someone (or something :P) from another race. More so, they realize that being human does not necessarily mean being parasite-free. Being human should be measured instead by the compassion and kindness you show others regardless if they're aliens, humans, or vampires. :P

I probably should give reading fiction a rest and switch back to self-help. My right brain is so worked up these days, don't you think? :P

Rome in 15 HOURS

***taken from my multiply***

Never in my wildest dreams did I actually think that I'll get to visit Rome. Not only is the ticket expensive, it's too far from the Philippines :P The farthest I've been to is our province in Butuan. But the Lord has blessed me and I was able to reach Italy and get back to Sweden alive to write about the trip. So, for those planning to go on a Euro trip and Rome is in your itinerary (and it should be!!), I hope this helps.

Rome is the capital of Italy and is known as the la Citta Eterna (the Eternal City). It's pretty congested (w/ people), almost like Manila.. low-rise apartments, laundry hanging to dry on the balcony and rooftops, vandalism in every corner.. think Ermita or Intramuros and central Rome is just like that. Good thing that the famous architectures, museums, and Piazzas were well worth the trip. If it's your first time in Rome and you only have 15 hours to tour, it's better to take advantage of the hop on-hop off tour buses. I think the standard price is 16EUR for a day-pass. You won't be able to go to all the famous places (Rome wasn't built in a day, and you can't tour it in one day either :P) but you're sure that you'll get to see the top 10 places at least. Read on and I'll bring you (virtually) to the spots we visited :P

Bocca della Verita If you've seen the film Only You (Robert Downey Jr & Marisa Tomei), this monument will be very familiar to you. The Mouth of Truth is the lie detector of Ancient Rome. Legend has it that it will bite off your hand if you're telling a lie while your hand is in the mouth of the sculpture.

Piazza Navona This Piazza is one of the most famous squares in Rome. It houses Bernini's famous Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi (Fountain of the Four Rivers) and Porta's Fontana di Nettuno and Fontana del Moro. When we were there, Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi was under restoration and was protected by glass windows. So.. too bad for us. It reminded me of Eastwood: human statues (like the one here with the moving mermaids) and an open market full of people selling paintings and other artsy fartsy stuff. Take note.. Italians have love handles too. Mabuhay ang love handles!!!

Pantheon While looking for the Pantheon, we passed by a lot of small streets. So you can just imagine our surprise when we turned around the corner and ended up in a square with a majestic building in the center. Small street after small street then Pantheon. huuwaaat?! It was sooo crowded with people all wanting to take pictures of the famous dome. The Pantheon, in ancient times, was a temple for the gods, then converted into a Christian church, then converted into a tomb. Multipurpose :P The hole on the top of the dome is supposed to be symbolic of the sun, and is the only source of light of the whole structure.

Basilica di San Pietro Goodness gracious great balls of fire.This has to be the highlight of my whole visit in Rome. Words can't even describe how spectacular the Basilica is. Everywhere you look, there are sculptures or paintings, or etching or whatever artwork you can think of. And the sculptures!!! They're bigger than life-size!!! Hands down to Bernini. Did you know that the Basilica was built on top of St. Peter's burial site? Yep. Kurek. The popes are also buried here.. but no pictures allowed inside the mausoleum. And here's the thing.. water from the fountains are drinkable... so we had our refills there. To save our pocket money cos water's expensive :P BTW, watch out for the guards.. Not because they're strict but.. because they're drop-dead gorgeous.

Colosseum This doesn't need any intro. You all know what this is. You haven't been to Rome if you don't have a picture with the Colosseum as background. We weren't able to go inside cos it closed early. To those who don't know what the Colosseum is (shame on you), it was used before as venue for gladiatorial shows - like the movie Gladiator (Russell Crowe). While in the area, we also visited the Arch of Constantine and the Roman Forums, but really didn't appreciate it cos it was too dark.

Fontana di Trevi This should've been the last stop of the day because we were already sooo tired from walking. So from the Colosseum, we walked to Fontana di Trevi because there were no more tour buses at this time and we didn't want to waste our precious Euros on public transpo :P I'm telling you.. I've never walked this much in all my life. So finally, we reached the Fountain.. This was already around 11:45PM and the place was jam-packed. We literally had to squeeze in with other tourists to take a picture. It's tradition to throw a coin into the fountain to ensure your return to Rome.. so I threw 2 coins so I'll return to Rome twice. After the long walk and picture galore.. we got gelatos (2.50 euros, 3 flavors)... It looks good and it tastes even better :P Good bye Cold Rock. Because we got recharged after eating ice cream (sugar rush), we decided to check out one last stop...

Piazza de Spagna This place looked really good in the pictures. But unfortunately.. it was not so photogenic when we got there. The Spanish Steps had this big ad at the top, there were no flowers lined up, and it was full of locals. Hang-out place for them. So.. after ONE picture, we got a cab and left. Hehe.

Of course, we needed a place to stay (sleep for 5hrs is more like it) in Rome, and hotels were out of the question. We simply couldn't afford it. Well, we actually can, but we chose to be frugal and spend the allowance on other stuff :P So, we stayed at Domus Diana, a Bed & Breakfast within walking distance from the Colosseum and the Termini Station. Super affordable and it served its purpose -- a place to sleep. Diana was there herself to welcome us and showed us around her place. No air-conditioning, but the weather was great when we were there.

So there. It's as if you've been to Rome as well :P The sad part of the trip is we weren't able to go inside the Vatican or the Colosseum.. that would've made the trip even better. I'll save it for next time, since I'm returning there anyway :P Ciao!!!

Female Rants

Since Sunday, I've been thinking about the pair of black flats in Aldo that were on sale. I should've gotten them when I had the chance. So, being me, I went back for it during lunch break today. A couple of supportive friends were with me. When I got to the store, Christian picked up a pair of shoes on sale for 1K. Too good to pass up for men's shoes. And being surrounded with female friends getting all excited when "shoes" and "sale" are put together in one sentence didn't really help him stand firm on his saving principles. So, he got them.

But my luck was running low today when the sales lady came back from the storage without a pair of the flats in my size. I shouldn't have encouraged Christian to get those shoes. Nobody can be happy if I'm not happy. Hehe. We're still friends. I just can't believe that I'm walking out of the store without a shopping bag for myself. Huhu.

So after work, I went off to Rockwell with another friend, praying that there will be some blessings waiting for me at Aldo. But there were none. The biggest size they had for any pair of flats were too small for me. So I went to Zara. But I neither fit size 8 nor 9. I decided to try to look for some insoles so I could force my feet to fit into size 9. But Rustan's was only selling branded insoles for 179 pesos. Not worth it. And all this time, my friend was tagging along with me. I have great friends, don't you think?

So moral of the story, check out the stores during the first week of their sale so they still have stock.

And when something is not meant for you, the Lord will show you by somehow blocking everything you are trying to do to get that something. Like clearing out all sizes for a pair of shoes that you really really want. Sigh.

So much for the Twilight Hiatus

I'm not really a fan of vampire romance, you know. Really.

Twilight Hiatus

I was trying to go on a break from all this Twilight addiction... until I got a message from a friend that Powerbooks is now accepting pre-orders for the final installment in the series: Breaking Dawn. Of course, I ordered mine right away and had it delivered to my office on August 4, for just PhP 473.00 (shipping included). Yaaaahooo!!! Just a few days left! So what do I do to pass time? Read the series all over again. Haha!

I'm fantasy-based

People whose left brains are dominant are usually good in math and science, uses logic, and reality based. People whose right brains are dominant, on the other hand, are good in philosophy and religion, uses feelings, and fantasy based.

For the longest time, I've been made to believe that right-handed people use their left brains and left-handed people use their right brains. I'm right-handed. So I've always thought that I use my left brain more often than not. Plus the fact that I'm in the IT business, a technical consultant to be exact, it only made more sense to me that I use the logical and anayltical side of my brain.

That's until a friend made me take a test to see what part of my brain I use more often. I'm seeing the silhouette turn clockwise... and that's when I learned my left brain is dead. Ok.. so it's not really dead. I was able to see the dancer turn counter-clockwise for about 5 seconds and that's it (and after some nosebleed for trying to look too hard). So my left brain is.. near-death. I showed the website to other friends and officemates, and it's amazing because they can control the way the silhouette turns. They can make her dance. (Of course, the men notice the bra-less chest before they realize what the point of the test is. :P) Both sides of their brains are used equally, while mine at this point in time is only using the right side. How pitiful.

So this is probably why I'm impulsive, into fictional and romantic stuff, and all that. :D That explains it then :))