Archive Page 2

01
Oct
09

Ondoy

The day started like any other day. I woke up at around lunchtime, put on my computer and checked my facebook and livejournal. It had been raining the whole night so when the electricity started to fluctuate, I wasn’t really surprised. Just a little disappointed because I had planned to spend the day making livejournal icons (my recent obsession). After a while, it seemed like the electricity wasn’t going back so I told my sister we might as well eat.

I had just finished my first plate of spaghetti when I felt that the floor was wet. I commented on it and we looked up to see water rushing through the kitchen floor. Our housekeeper went in saying that she couldn’t stop the canal outside from overflowing. The water now reached the living room. I immediately went to save my CD collection that was on one of the bottom shelves and some important documents also on bottom shelves. The last time it flooded in the house, I was a kid and barely remember it. So I didn’t really think it would be bad. I placed the stuff on the stairs for the meantime. Sometime during, after, before, I forget, the electricity came back. We were joking that Meralco had such bad timing. I spent a couple of minutes unplugging stuff but the water just kept on rising. It was obvious we had to move the stuff from the stairs into higher ground.

We began with the stuff at the bottom. Tisha’s precious rom-com VCD collection, my love stories and romance novel keeper shelf. We started saving electronics, the DVD players, etc… The water was rising to knee-deep. I didn’t think it would get higher and I spent a few moments hovering but my sister told me to start saving my computer stuff so I did. I underestimated the flood that by the time I thought of my original DVD collection they were slightly wet. It was the only second I panicked but I told myself that these things could be bought again, if somewhat expensive. Then it was time to save the books.

For those who’ve seen the house, I have 4 bookshelves filled with books. I told my sister she should save what she could of hers first then help me with mine.  The housekeeper started saving the paintings. By this time, the water was around hip high and the sofas were floating. I knew carrying all the books  so I grabbed one, put as many books as I could on it and pushed the sofa towards the stairs where the housekeeper would help bring them upstairs. Some books still got wet in the journey but as long as I got them to higher ground, I didn’t care. By the time I saved all my books, the water was chest high. I remembered my Neil Gaiman signed  notebook I had in the drawer of the cabinet under the stairs. I managed to pry the drawer away, getting tangled in some wires. I handed the drawer to the housekeeper and untangled myself. I remembered the other piano pieces I had in another drawer which was now under water. I decided to leave it behind. I was really really tempted to play the piano one last time (for cinematic value, you know, haha) but I also really really wanted a bath. I decided on the bath. When I finally went upstairs, it was just 3pm and the house looked like this:

The next few hours were spend praying, wishing that the rain would stop and the flood would stop rising. If it reached the 2nd floor, we’d have nowhere to go. But when God floods the first floor of your house, and traps you on the 2nd floor, he also opens a window. Of course, you’d have to jump out of said window and swim to the roof. I’m not a good swimmer but I knew I could do it if it came to that. We started tying bedsheets together just in case. I kept thinking, if I say that my crisis of faith is over, if I say I truly believed now, would the rain just stop? It didn’t. A friend texted to ask if I could record her score over the weekend. I replied that I planned to but my piano was now underwater and I didn’t know the damage. Could I just survive this day first? I remembered another friend who lived fairly close in an area that always floods. He was still on his way home from Makati. The water was neck deep. He asked if we wanted him to come and help. I told him not to because the water was too high. And still rising.

At around 5pm we started to move the electronics into higher ground. We moved all the junk out of the storage space on top of cabinets and put all the important stuff there instead. I packed the most expensive books into a bag and put it up with my computer. Then I had to decide which other books I would “save.” Graphic novels went first, of course, and then most of my fairy tale collection. Then I thought, whatever, and just stacked whatever books I could.

By nighttime, water was still slowly crawling up the stairs but I was thankful that it started flooding during daylight else we wouldn’t have been able to save much. I was also thankful that our housekeeper saved that bottle of Coke because I really really needed a glass (and thanks Tish for taking a picture while my mouth was full of leftover spaghetti. haha.)

Finally, the water stopped rising. Only 3 steps were left to the 2nd floor. It was still raining though. Worse case would be if the flood water didn’t subside and we’d be trapped upstairs for a while with just Koko Krunch and Reese’s Pieces for food (it was probably the easiest stuff to grab, haha) But there was nothing left to do really but wait and maybe sleep.

It was 2am when I heard people starting their cars outside. I couldn’t go to sleep so I went down to see the damage.

Tisha’s bedroom and the study room were hit the hardest. The doors were wedged closed, I had to squeeze in and move some furniture to get inside.

I spent Sunday afternoon mopping the floor while singing Disney, Broadway, Jazz, whatever I could remember. Which is why I now have a sore throat. But you know what? Things could have been worse and they weren’t.

I’m going to write about the piano now. sniff sniff.

19
Sep
09

Short Update (Yes, I’ll Blog Properly Again Soon)

Sorry, life’s been half busy with work and half busy getting distracted with other stuff like sleep and icon-making in livejournal and trying to finish cataloging my library and sleep. So yes, I’ll continue the list next week. For now, here’s a few thoughts on what I’ve been obsessing over the past few weeks.

On True Blood: duh. haha. Although I’m feeling a bit antsy after the season finale. I mean, I still love it and the crazy things that happen but with all the wonderful characters they’ve given us (Jason/Andy/Jessica/Lafayette/Hoyt/Terry) I feel that they’ve somehow ruined the main triangle that is Bill/Sookie/Eric. And I’m not just saying this because I’m an Eric fangirl. Bill and Sookie did nothing but argue over silly things then make up and have sex. Which is tiring and shallow. I wish Alan Ball would explore the complexities of their relationship more and not just make it into this OMG! IT”S TRUE LOVE! IT’S HAPPILY EVER AFTER [EXCEPT FOR THAT EVIL GUY WHO'S TRYING TO GET IN BETWEEN THEM] thing. And Sookie, Sookie just doesn’t think anymore. She just rushes headlong into danger. It’s irritating because Book!Sookie was not a TSTL damsel in distress. And for goodness sake, stop making Anna Paquin scream unnaturally.

And and and I just hate the proposal scene. Not because he proposed but because the way she *kinda* accepted it. First she was all confused like but I don’t know who I am, what I am blah blah blah and what happens when I get old and ugly blah blah blah. I can forgive that, she has the right to be insecure. But it was when she went to the bathroom and went OOH PRETTY RING!  OOH PRETTY RING LOOKS PRETTY ON MY FINGER! YES! YES! YES! like women lose all their reservations when confronted with pretty jewelry. Whatever, TV!Sookie.

I’m still looking forward to season 3 though. /end rant. haha.

On Music: there are two artists I can’t stop listening to right now because they’re omfg amazing! just listen

Sufjan Stevens, You are the Blood (Dark was the Night)

you are the solitude that goes against me
you are the choir in which I dream
in which I sleep in which I wander

sorry, it’s not the full track.

Dayna Kurtz, Somebody Leave a Light On (Postcards from Downtown)

i know love is everywhere
whatever ground you stand on
i’ll take what sight is offered me
whatever lights you turn on
somebody leave a light on

06
Sep
09

10 Years Ago…

…I was 13, in love for the first time and writing sappy songs and sappy poems and sappy stories [sorry, no link to that]. The books I saved for to buy were Sweet Valley High and Love Stories.  I was still a hopelessly hopeful romantic [obviously]. The celluloid-love-of-my-life was Keanu Reeves [you can't deny he's pretty]. I shipped Joey and Dawson . Britney Spears’s …Baby One More Time was probably the album I constantly listened to. I didn’t call myself a feminist. I had no idea who Neil Gaiman was. And I believed that 23 was the age I would meet the one [apparently not].

If you’re wondering why I’m suddenly nostalgic, this is for Avalon.ph’s 10th anniversary celebration where they’re giving away a SIGNED copy of Neil Gaiman’s Adventures in the Dream Trade, a book I’ve been crushing on their site for years and years now but still can’t afford to buy. If you’re also a fan, head over to their blog and find out how to join.

And just for the sake of contrast…I’m now 23 and currently not in love. My library is more varied and I save up to buy fairy tale/poetry books. I’m a cynical romantic. The celluloid-love-of-my-life is Alain Delon. I ship Joey and Pacey. Florence + The Machine’s Lungs is the album I constantly listen to at the moment. My friends sometimes teasingly call me Gabriela. I will do anything for Neil Gaiman because he rocks. And there’s still around 3 months left for me to meet the one [you never know, but I'm not holding my breath. haha].

neilgaiman 048

[not 10 years ago but <3!]

02
Sep
09

This is one of those days…

…when everything is heavy. My feet drag as I walk. My hands are unsure. My chest is tight and there’s something caught in my throat. It’s funny how one day, death and grief is just a concept and the next, it’s hearbreakingly real. Today, the Filipino film community mourns the tragic loss of one of it’s most passionate supporters. I didn’t know him personally (at least, we were never introduced) but I greatly admire him and his work.  It’s moments like this that make me wish I were a better believer in justice, in God or maybe even in karma. But all I can do is sit here, angry, sad and yes, scared, because right now it feels like every second we’re living is every second we’re dying too. I hope that each of us is inspired to live and love as completely and as passionately as Alexis Tioseco did, that one day the Philippine cinema he wished for is realized and that the senseless tragedy of all of this is not in vain.

01
Sep
09

70 Favorite Albums: 54. Symphony no. 3, Op. 36

Artist: Henryk Górecki
Title: Symphony no. 3, Op. 36 (Symphony of Sorrowful Songs)
Released: composed 1976; released 1992
Genre: 20th Century Music / Minimalist
Download: hxxp://rapidshare.com/files/77990341/Henryk_Gorecki_Symphony_No.3_Op.36.rar.html
Favorite Tracks: No tracks, since this is not really an album but the symphony is divided into 3 movements–Lento: Sostenuto Tranquillo ma Cantabile, Lento e Largo: Tranquillisimo, and Lento: Cantabile Semplice

Lamb’s Gorecki is one of my favorite songs and though none of Lamb’s albums make it to this list (I love many of their songs, Gorecki, B-Line and Heaven to name a few but I’ve just never felt attached to any specific album), the symphony that inspired the song did. Forgive me if I quote Lamb again, but they said it perfectly: Here is true peace, here my heart knows calm, safe in your soul…

Listen: (this is just the 2nd part of the 1st movement which as a whole is 27 minutes)

01
Sep
09

Spike TV’s Scream 2009 Nominees (Vote Now!)

01
Sep
09

Wanna Do Bad Things…

So  in celebration of my True Blood addiction I’m vamping up my blog until the season 2 finale. Or until I get a better idea for a header. (I know, haven’t posted much about TB here but my Facebook is filled with it.) This is after all, one of the two shows I’ve followed since it’s premiere in the States (well more specifically, it’s premiere on the internet the next day. haha. The other show is Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse.)

Anyway, random thoughts on True Blood so far:

~ I love the crazy and TB is filled with really really really hilarious moments but as a whole, the plotting seems off. Too much and too little is happening at the same time. And the mythology is getting confusing. And what’s with all the lazy info dumps on Maryann the Maenad (not that they’re that informative, mind you.) Dear horned gods above, there must have been a better way to explore the Maenad mythology without Daphne the PIIIIIIIIIG (also fondly known as Bacon, rest in peace) hitting us over the head with that long, heavy hammer of exposition.

~ I love the music. King Britt’s New World in My View (ep. 10) has been in my playlist for a week. Keep up the good work, music supervisor!

~ Alan Ball has said so many times that he’s Team Bill so why on earth are you do you insist on making him ugly, True Blood make-up artists? Stephen Moyer is gorgeous in real life (and the reason why I was interested in the show in the first place) so just stop it. On that note,

[SPOILERISH comments below. Do not read if you do not want BOOK SPOILERS. ]

Continue reading ‘Wanna Do Bad Things…’




ah ahm vahmpyrrr!

"Vous m’avez dit “Je t’aime.” Je vous ai it “Attendez.” J’ai Presque dit “Oui.” Vous avez dit “Partez.”" (You told me “I love you.” I told you “Wait.” I almost said “Yes.” You said “Go away.”) ~ from Jules et Jim by Francois Truffaut

Ayn Marie Dimaya: Fangirling since 2003

Bittergrace is derived from the hebrew variants of her first names: hannah loosely meaning "graced" and miriam loosely meaning "sea of bitterness".

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Recent Viewings

Strings
(Anders Rønnow Klarlund, 2004
Mad Men Season 2
(Matthew Weiner, 2008)
G.I. Joe
(Stephen Sommers, 2009)
And I Love You So
(Laurenti Dyogi, 2009)
Bones Season 4
(Hart Hanson, 2008)
How I Met Your Mother Season 4
(Carter Bays & Craig Thomas, 2008)
House Season 5
(David Shore, 2008)

Recent Books

Skylight Confessions
by Alice Hoffman
Echo
by Francesca Lia Block
Verses
by Ani DiFranco
Changeling
by Kristin Cashore
Briar Rose
by Robert Coover
Are You There, Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea
by Chelsea Handler
Fragile Eternity
by Melissa Marr

Recent Songs

Wicked Girls Saving Ourselves
by Seanan McGuire
(2008)

Wendy played fair, and she played by the rules that they gave her;
They say she grew up and grew old -- Peter Pan couldn't save her.
They say she went home, and she never looked back,
Got her feet on the ground, got her life on its track.
She's the patron saint priestess of all the lost girls who got found.
And she once had her head in the clouds, but she died on the ground.

Dorothy just wanted something that she could believe in,
A gray dustbowl girl in a life she was better off leavin'.
She made her escape, went from gray into green,
And she could have got clear, and she could have got clean,
But she chose to be good and go back to the gray Kansas sky
Where color's a fable and freedom's a fairy tale lie.

Dorothy, Alice and Wendy and Jane,
Susan and Lucy, we're calling your names,
All the Lost Girls who came out of the rain
And chose to go back on the shelf.
Tinker Bell says, and I find I agree
You have to break rules if you want to break free.
So do as you like -- we're determined to be
Wicked girls saving ourselves.

Alice got lost, and I guess that we really can't blame her;
They say she got tangled and tied in the lies that became her.
They say she went mad, and she never complained,
For there's peace of a kind in a life unconstrained.
She gives Cheshire kisses, she's easy with white rabbit smiles,
And she'll never be free, but she's won herself safe for a while.

Susan and Lucy were queens, and they ruled well and proudly.
They honored their land and their lord, rang the bells long and loudly.
They never once asked to return to their lives
To be children and chattel and mothers and wives,
But the land cast them out in a lesson that only one learned;
And one queen said 'I am not a toy', and she never returned.

Mandy's a pirate, and Mia weaves silk shrouds for faeries,
And Deborah will pour you red wine pressed from sweet poisoned berries.
Kate poses riddles and Mary plays tricks,
While Kaia builds towers from brambles and sticks,
And the rules that we live by are simple and clear:
Be wicked and lovely and don't live in fear --

For we will be wicked and we will be fair
And they'll call us such names, and we really won't care,
So go, tell your Wendys, your Susans, your Janes,
There's a place they can go if they're tired of chains,
And our roads may be golden, or broken, or lost,
But we'll walk on them willingly, knowing the cost --
We won't take our place on the shelves.
It's better to fly and it's better to die
Say the wicked girls saving ourselves.