LBD

I made a dress! Albeit from scraps and not from scratch. This is actually a patchwork of 3 different outfits. Hand-sewn, by the way, since I'm scared of sewing machines. See, on the day of my christening it was foretold that before my 16th birthday I will prick my finger on a spindle in a spinning wheel and fall into a deep slumber -- Oh wait, that's not me.

Birthday Girl

Why do people keep calling me "birthday girl" when I am clearly WOMAN! Kidding! I will never grow old. I refuse to.

I was born on St. Patrick's Day but I never learned to hold my alcohol. In fact, I hate beer and white wine, but Ido love my red wine and pretty, potent cocktails.

Thanks to everyone who makes my birthdays special. I truly had a blessed year. There's still a lot to cross out in my proverbial wishlist but none more important than what I already have.

Light and Shade

I'll be the first to admit my own vanity. Photos of myself have to run an arduous gauntlet of  selection, elimination and approval before I allow it to be published. If you do come across unflattering pictures of me online know that they are unauthorized and that I begged, threatened, bribed and even asked nicely that the culprit take them down to know avail. Some people are just mean. 

These aren't very flattering themselves. Usually I'd insist on some foundation before I let the camera get this close to my face. But, I don't know...I kinda liked them. And several people at DeviantArt did too. So here you go. I will share.    

Tony Loves Me

That’s Tony from West Side Story [played by Christian Bautista]. Not to be confused with the long-suffering and steadfast Toni, the boyfriend, who made the unfortunate, yet completely predictable (if I do say so myself), misstep of losing his heart to me.

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Photo taken by toni at the West Side Story press con  during his pro-photographer days. 

                                                        

Laugh if you must but I’ve long harbored an adolescent crush on Christian Bautista. It began the very first time he appeared on TV for Star in a Million. I don’t usually watch ASAP so my young mind was quick to conclude it was fate and love at first sight, on my part anyway. I was convinced that once he saw me too, he’d return the affection.

Years later, in 2007, we would get to meet at People Asia’s Men Who Matter event in Shangri-La. I looked at him. He looked at me. I waited for a spark of recognition in his eyes. Surely he’ll see that I’m the one he’s been unknowingly singing all his love songs too, and that it didn’t work out between him and Rachelle Anne Go because it was I he was really meant for.

I looked at him. He looked at me. Nothing. He offered his hand and gamely posed to have our picture taken together. There were about five other people in the frame, including my best friend, I cropped them all out before uploading the photo in Friendster.

Sigh. He broke my heart that night. All my thoroughly fleshed out fantasies decomposed right before my eyes. But don’t worry too much about me. I reached for a flute of champagne and some hors d’oeuvres and bounced right back.

My one-woman book club, February edition

I enjoyed this month's selection immensely. The thing with reading is you don't know what you got until you've finished reading it. Feb's a good month. :D

 1. Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

See this post

2. Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

This was absolutely brilliant! It's my new favorite. But I say that about all the good ones right after reading them. This one had me sitting in the bathroom, crying, for 10 minutes when I finished it. The ending wasn't particularly sad, it was more of poignant than anything. But I was sad that it was over and there weren't any more pages to read!

3. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

I've read Remains of the Day, but I think I like this one better. His prose is wrought with so much pent up emotion that it hurts to breathe! I think restraint is the defining trait of all the characters in his novels. Obviously, that's something I know very little about, which makes his works even more interesting a read. I'm all for suspending the imagination!

I can't wait for the movie. I love you, Keira Knightley.

4. Long Way Down by Nick Hornby

How ironic for a book that is essentially about suicide to provide me all the good vibes I will be needing for at least month. Hornby is a genius. I imagine if Philip Roth had a pop culture geek of a brother who's funnier and less, err.., less Jewish and more middle class British he'd be exactly like Hornby.