Test, The Fountainhead

Today two things happened.

I passed a dustbin on my way to class, and it was yellow.

Oh no, they weren't the things that I'd like to say here. I thought that was a good build-up? Okay, sorry.

As you know, I had my first chinese test last Friday. Everyone's supposed to take the test when they have been in the school for a month, and I guess I fit in to that particular category. The day before, one of my classmate approached me during break.

“Look. Here's what you got to study,” she began, flipping my book. “Here, here. Here. Oh, and here too. You'll be given pictures and you should know the chinese words and the right quantifier for each object.”

I quickly took notes, a rise of panic started building up. I thought it's gonna be all written? All multiple choice questions? My voice was nothing more than a silent muffle in defeat.

“Of course not. There are listening and speaking test also,” she said. I thought I noticed a pleasure in her voice, but I must have been imagining it. When I looked at her again, she almost looked radiant. Gloating.

“Oh, don't forget to learn these and these too. Memorize all the words. You also should know how to ask for price and bargain in conversation.”

I jotted everything down helplessly, there was so much to learn in just a day. It's official, I suck at this. I should just stick to what I know best, like posing or something. Chinese? What was I thinking?

After class, I took my baby sister to Holland Village for dinner so it was safe to say that I didn't do any studying at all that day. The exam was less in 6 hours away when I woke up on Friday morning. Scrambling, I just tried to memorize everything I could, to not much avail. I guess I just had to bullshit my way to the test again, like any other tests I've ever done before. It gave me a little comfort.

Of course, I was in denial.

Anyway, to make long story short, the exam turned out to be all so very easy. Even at the rate that I studied (if you could call it studying at all), I felt like I've overstudied!

So today I got the result, and I got a perfect score. “Very good!” my teacher wrote it at the front page of my paper, she was grinning broadly, expecting me to scream, shriek, cry, laugh, and possibly faint. Well, of course I was delighted, but I almost felt as if I cheated. As if someone's gonna come out from under the desk and yell, “GOTCHA! That was a fake paper! Now HERE is your real exam! You don't think for a second that the exam's gonna be THAT easy, do you?! DO YOU!”

The other thing is this: this afternoon I finally finished The Fountainhead. I was on the bus, and I wish I were at home, because then I could probably let out a big, loud, happy sigh. The fact is, I'm utterly satisfied by this book. It's an experience in itself. The part when I simply couldn't stop reading it during the first chapter, how I was almost scared to continue because I knew something big was gonna happen in the story, how I consciously slowing the speed at which I was reading because I didn't want it to end, and that it was just like everything I wished it would be during the climax. Overall, it's been more than enjoyable, engrossing, and stimulating.

Was I just being a complete nerd for 3 seconds there? I'm serious, don't you just love it when a book can make you feel that much emotions?

The next book that I'm gonna read is so gonna fall short in comparison. I don't like it, but at the same time, I hope nothing else would come remotely close. I realize the irony in that. But we don't have to be logical all the time, do we?

Pictures

Some random pictures just to keep this page colorful!

So I was telling you about my barbie-like nails...

The attendants at the mani/pedi place kept telling me I had super dry nails. She insisted I put on this special coat for brittle nails + whitening for another extra $3. What a marketing gimmick. Of course I fell right in.

Afterall, I have a solid duty towards my nails to keep it moisturized and healthy. *puke*

They tried to charge it to my sister also, although she had said 'No, I'm not gonna pay another $3.' The fact that the person still applied the special coat to her wasn't her fault, so after we explained, they waived the charge. Sometimes it's frustrating to talk to people who barely speak english!

Since Meli is here, we've been getting even crazier for the camera.

That's because her phone has a front-side camera! Or as my cousin would refer to it as, narcissist camera.

The people who are always there for me. That's because there's no escaping them, I live with them! =)

Anyway, I just wanna share a really good photo website if you're interested in landscape photos: citylines, houses, places, bridges in most US states. As you know, I'm a big fan of this type of photography, so this is a fun site for me to browse around.

http://www.ronsaari.com/stockImages/

On another note, I just changed my dekstop background a while back because I just started watching Fringe, and Joshua Jackson has been my favorite ever since his days in Dawson's Creek! He's maturing so well over the years.

I'm curious what's on YOUR desktop background? My older sister has a picture of Natalie Portman because she's a huge fan, and my baby sister has some game-related cartoon on her computer (naturally....she's such a gamer), and I either have picture of movie posters, actors, or city's skyline.

What's on yours?

Flu, nails and goatmilk soap

Hey world!

(Or rather hello to me, since I'm probably the only person who's gonna read this)

I'm now in a better position to write, compared to last night, or rather, this morning, so to speak. Last night I was as better to write as a giant penguin if you ever try to give it a pen. Why, you ask?

Okay, let's retrace the steps. The whole day yesterday I was out, having a good time, being perfectly normal and healthy as the Hulk. I even did sit-ups and a little bit of rope-jumping at home. (Okay, I made that up.) I had my greens (technically, there were lots of veggie in my noodles I had for lunch, but then I gave them all away to Cous, because I'm nice that way.) At night, in yet another act of kindness and selflessness, I cooked everyone spaghetti for dinner. (which everyone praised, not that I'm boasting or anything.)

Everyone knows I'm the master chef in the family. (But just because I'm the only one who ever cooks. Quite a deluded, undomestic bunch we are.)

I didn't have enough sleep the night before because I only went to bed at almost 5 am. (I don't know whether this would affect the story, but thought I'd just put it out there.)

I probably went to sleep at 1 am last night, which is normal. I had to stop reading my book (“The Fountainhead”, I can't stress it well enough, that it's the single most brilliant story I have ever come across.) because I was afraid I would finish it. Weird logic? Well, not really. (I had to stop myself from reading it too fast, I would very much like to prolong the pleasure.)

So everything was good up until this point. But then suddenly, at 4 am, I got abruptly woken up. Not by the rain, lightning, or loud noises in the house, in fact, it hadn't rained then, and the only voice I heard, was just a quiet hum of the air con. But I snapped because my nose was running and I kept sneezing.

I stood up to grab a tissue, and blew my nose. In my half-asleepness, I threw the tissue to the trash, and crashed back to bed. A few seconds passed, and I sneezed again, my nose still running. Now, imagine this happened for about, a hundred times. Okay, fifty times. All in a matter of seconds. By this point, I was wide awake, loudly cursing at nobody in particular. Just right after I blew my nose, I already had to grab another tissue because it just wouldn't stop.

I turned off my air con (although it wasn't cold), and sat silently with my puffy nose. I looked around, but it was freaking 4.30 am, what could I possibly do? I simply couldn't go back to sleep so I logged in online, and tweeted about it. I talked to my friend, another nocturnal creature who was still awake at such hour, god bless him. We talked for half an hour, and decided I should try to lay down again.

You have to know that I have quite a good resistance to cold, at least probably compared to most people. This works the opposite way too though; I have little resistance towards heat. I sweat a lot easier too. I have to have my air con to sleep (although I know I shouldn't, especially with my condition.) I turned it back on, but set the temperature to solid 25 degrees, and gave another attempt to sleep.

It took me probably another half to an hour to do so, because my nose would still be running and I would still sneeze but I have ran out of curse words to mutter at this point. I was just, tired, for goodness' sake.

I'd like to think that this is just a series of unfortunate, unlucky situation, that I'm just having a terrible flu, and that in no time I will be as good as new. Of course that's the case, but I don't know why I would suddenly catch this flu at 4 am without no sign and warning whatsoever.

Maybe this is just a sign. The really rare occasion of me trying to be domestic, and I got slammed with a massive flu! I have a feeling this is the universe's way of telling me that I should just stick to slacking. Oh, excuse me, I simply have to blow my nose again.

Okay, end of story! No more nose-blowing talk any more! Now, it's time for the bimbotic portion of the program, if you don't mind.

Yesterday I had a great time with the family, and us girls had mani + pedi at JP! (oh the perks of having sisters!) I didn't know we would be getting those when I went out of the house, though, and I was wearing an closed-toe wedges. (A disaster for the newly pedicured toes!)

The attendants all looked at me sympathetically, asking me if I brought another sandal! Why would I go around in the malls wearing shoes and bringing another shoes?! I'm not that busy nor famous. I almost cried when I saw the colour on one toe was starting to smear when I just started trying to wear my shoes!

My sister bought me a cheap flip flops, in the end! So my toes were saved!

I wasn't so crazy about my fingernails colour yesterday, but it definitely grew on me since! So barbielike! I'd post the picture later on, since Blogger is messing about again. Ggrr.

Also! Just a random question, why has nobody ever told me about goat milk soap before? It smells absolutely amazing! (I warned you about this being random) But yeah, it smells very milky, a bit like Dove, just cheaper! I was bathing in it with my shower puffs and I still smell like milk! Wouldn't it be great if we all smell like milk? Hahaha.

So yeah. What else should I mention? Hmm, I'll post more pictures on the next post! (As if it needs more) But for the time being, have a great Sunday, you.

rant

Blogger has been annoying me lately. Seriously, why the heck does the posting page keep messing about!?!

It's 5.22 freaking AM, I'm grumpy, tired, and in a serious need for sleep.

BLEH.

Okay, I know this is not a proper post. But didn't you just hear what I said?!

It's 5.26 bloody AM!!!!!

BOREDOM

This is what I do when I'm bored. Not sleep (because I'm bored, not sleepy), not read (because I'm bored, not intellectually stimulated), not eat (because I'm bored, not starving), not watch (because I'm bored, not visually deprived),...shall we go on? Okay, better stop.

Yes, so you get the drift. Me. Bored. Home. Webcam. DISASTER!




And with the single most brilliant book I've ever read! I'm currently hooked on this! All 700 pages of it!

So preoccupied with other things, I should really WRITE again! Distractions distractions... excuses excuses!

Home, away from home

Things have been....craaaazzzyyyyy!!!

Not mental, senile-kinda crazy, but the insanely good kinda crazy! (How vague can I be?)

Well, I'm sure I've mentioned this piece of information excessively often before, and even if not, you've probably seen the valid evidence on facebook! (yes, the fact that suddenly there are way too many unimportant self-taken pictures of myself and a cuter littler version of me.)

Who, you ask?

Eh, I don't know. I found her on the street, she looked exactly like me, just cuter and more innocent-looking, so I decided to adopt her. She lives with me now.

(I have to apologize profusely about the pictures, we took those from her phone camera, and the action itself was surprisingly addictive. Before I knew it, we have taken probably 30 pictures of the same people, doing the same thing, smiling the same smile, posing the same pose. I thought she could just choose one or two good ones to put up on the site, but she uploaded them all! I was fully at blame too. I could have untagged myself, or stopped her from doing so, but well, shame on me.)

Speaking candidly, yeah, my dad and baby sister have been here since last week, and we got our hands full! Home was louder, more crowded, more festive, and more home than ever. I love it! During dinner out together, or even just a simple time spent together at home, I felt very blessed to have them as my family. I couldn't ask for better. We aren't perfect, but it's the most familiar kind of imperfection. Things about them I've grown up with, I'm accustomed to, I've understood without even trying, I've memorized by heart. It's very oddly comforting.

Dad has left yesterday evening, so it's all just us girls here. And Cous, of course, who surprisingly fit right in despite the high level of estrogen. He didn't complain even once. =p

So thus, it's been a great week and sorry for the absence! I'll be updating it more regularly again. I do have lots of other lame rants to spill!

webcam, rediscovered

This is the result of rediscovering my long-lost webcam this afternoon.

My glasses is a sign of my most plainness.

Saturday, Songs

I saw G.I Joe today. I have to admit I wasn't particularly interested about this movie when it first came out. I thought it would just be like one of those sci-fi action movies we've all seen before, far too many times than necessary. Products of relatively unknown group of people who tried too hard. I expected lousy story with mediocre action scenes.

On all accounts, now that I've seen the movie, it wasn't so bad at all, if you see it as just a movie, and not compare it to Transformers, which some of you may do so. In comparison, this film would fall short, but then again, in terms of CG and special effects, most movies would definitely fall short to Optimus Prime.

This aside, I found G.I Joe to be highly entertaining. It's action-packed right from the start to finish, kudos for that. So, go see it if you're a fan of sci-fi, action, or wait, Sienna Miller.

Week's Playlist

>Lady Gaga - Eh, Eh (Nothing Else I Can Say)
Her music never fails to get me in good mood instantly! Most of her songs are very catchy and easy on the ear. I always find myself sway from side to side whenever I hear this song, such an embarrassing scenario when I'm in public places. Must not sway, must not sway, I mentally bang my head.

>Kelly Clarkson - Already Gone
Don't you think she just gets raunchier and raunchier by time? Long gone were her days of 'Before Your Love'. I think that's just her appeal, having a slight hint of angst and rebeliousness in all her lyrics ever since 'Since U Been Gone.' This song is the newest and I love it, because it's a tune more vulnerable, yet strong and so very characteristically her.

>Kat DeLuna ft Elephant Man - Whine Up
This song's played so often at Attica, it totally grew on me. I like listening to it whenever I'm in the midst of getting ready because it pumps me for the night.

Yeah, that pretty much sums tonight, I had a great time! Hope you guys have a great weekend too. See you pretty soon.

smitten

I don't know how you did it, but everytime you just make me happy.

Cheesy as it may sound, it's true. We can't be more different, yet most of time it feels like we're no different at all. We always seem to talk on the same wavelength, you steal my words every so often, catching me off guard when you say exactly the things I have in mind.

How you can read my thoughts, I've no idea. It used to annoy me, now it's just plain endearing.

How do you do that? And can you please not stop?

Escapism

The weekend we stripped off our gadgets and troubles to just, be.

Which is not too hard, really. With that ocean?

Quote of the day

"It seems to me now that the plain state of being human is dramatic enough for anyone; you don't need to be a heroin addict or a performance poet to experience extremity. You just have to love someone."

Acquainted With The Night

I have been one acquainted with the night.
I have walked out in rain -- and back in rain.
I have outwalked the furthest city light.

I have looked down the saddest city lane.
I have passed by the watchman on his beat
And dropped my eyes, unwilling to explain.

I have stood still and stopped the sound of feet
When far away an interrupted cry
Came over houses from another street,

But not to call me back or say good-bye;
And further still at an unearthly height,
One luminary clock against the sky

Proclaimed the time was neither wrong nor right.
I have been one acquainted with the night.
And miles to go before I sleep.

- Robert Frost

Stuck and A Plan in Motion

Just as you go through phrases in life, sometimes I find myself 'stuck'. No, I'm not talking about anything heavy here. Please, I'm having too much of a blonde moment right now to be worrying about my uncertain and bleak future, blah blah blah.

I'm referring to my absence in writing. Hey, there's a thing called 'writer's block' for a reason, isn't there? My creativity is scarce like a drop of water in the desert. Let alone composing a barely readable post, I can't even make a decent structured sentence without hurting my head. Something is obviously wrong, but I think to myself that I might easily just be having one of those rough patches in one's unprofessional credential.

Gimme a break.

Is it possible to suddenly run out of ideas? It is, right? Afterall, I've spent so much time in the past writing bollocks out of nothing. There's a chance I simply have just exhausted all my life's worth of words and opinion. Well, at least for the time being that seems to be the case. (Because otherwise, it's too grim of a reality to imagine. My look is just what I have left after I win people over with my personality.)

I'm fairly certain it will eventually come back to me, out of the blue and unexpectedly. There's a phrase about that, right? That, um, things work out in the most unexpected ways?

Ah, well, I'm just trying to console myself, I guess. And apparently, failing miserably too.

But, I'm taking preventive steps! Well, not necessarily 'preventive', perhaps 'recovery' is a better word. Yes, I'm taking recovery steps to regain my inspiration back. My creativity juice, my chi, my center in life!

I thought, if I could do something out of the ordinary, perhaps that would make a difference. Maybe to avoid being stuck, I should just go in a completely different direction, so I'll always venturing out to new territories. No way I can get stuck there, right?

After I proudly came up with this game plan, I started thinking about, well, the new things I should try doing. Only then did I realize that this idea only works well in theory, and once again, well, remember the blonde moment I was talking about earlier? Yeah, having a major one at the moment.

I was intending to take drastic measures. But within reason, I certainly can't help to find the cure for cancer, or lead the blind, can I?

Left out with nothing much after crossing those two off my list, I realized too that I probably won't be able to learn korean, make pottery, or do rock climbing in foreseeable future.

Anyway, maybe I should start with baby steps. Aim high, shoot low. (Heck, I don't even know what that means to this day.) Make a change within myself, I mean. And what's one thing I've always wanted to change about myself, but never been able to? (due to serious lack of motivation, determination. In short, pure and simply laziness.)

Exercising!

(Not 'stop talking', 'stop writing gibberish' or 'stop partying'. Sorry.)

Yes, working out. 'Working out' and I haven't exactly been friends. We were introduced one time, and we didn't hit it off at all. We had nothing in common, and we didn't talk for the rest of the semester.

Maybe it's time to make amends with this fella. See if we can be good acquaintances at the very least.

Thus, with this new plan in motion, I just came back from a swim, which in itself is a pretty unlikely of me to do at 8 o'clock at night when I normally would have been laying in the couch, munching potato chips.

And also, that's why I went back and forth to the video store a few days ago on foot, which is unlikely too, and I actually enjoyed it. Although, I had a big dinner afterwards. Not that it's the point.

That's also why I planned to do a little hiking this weekend, which is yet to happen, I know, so there's a chance I might back out of it. But fingers crossed I won't! See, I'm taking steps to recovery.

I'm speaking as if I'm a mental patient in a clinic who needs to ehm, recover in quotation mark. No! All I want is to get my inspiration back. (I don't know what's the connection between those two, but let's just say there is one. I'm forcing it.) Afterall, if yoga is indeed relaxing and can help you to reduce stress, then why wouldn't it work in any other ways, right?

Swim and you'll be inspired! Jog and voila! You study better! Etc, etc, etc.

The things I do to be able to write again...Now that's the spirit, my friend! See, even writing about wanting to work out just so I could write again, already helped me to write this entry about that very topic, eh, now I'm confused.

Ah! Better end this now.

I should start working out before I turn completely into someone with no opinion and absolutely nothing interesting to say.

Back from Sea!

I'm back from a super awesome short trip during this long weekend at Sibu Island!

Amongst many other things I love (which I'm actually currently making a list of...yes, really), I realized just how much wonderful it is being near the ocean.

I guess being a city girl all my life, I don't really indulge myself in that environment. Yes, I've been to beaches, but I've never quite experienced them.

I liked the sea, but merely as a spectator, not a participant.

I think for the first time I stopped being scared, because the place was simply too beautiful to pass up. To just see it would be a loss. So even though I was secretly afraid at first, I wanted to go on and try.

I enjoyed this trip thoroughly. The snorkeling, the kayaking, the swimming, the strolling by the beach, the volleyball, the ocean, the waves, the boardgames, the energy of the people, I loved every minute of it.

It was such a great change of scenery from the everyday bustling life. I'd love to come back there again anytime! =)

extremity

Maybe we all live life at too high a pitch, those of us who absorb emotional things all day, and as mere consequence we can never feel merely content: we have to be unhappy, or ecstatically, head-over-heels happy, and those states are difficult to achieve within a stable, solid relationship.

Frisco

Hey peaches!

Do you guys still faithfully check up on our beautiful Frisco?

http://hd-sf.com/index.html

I can't copy a picture from that website because the size is too large! But you simply must check it out.

Personally I just love seeing images of city skyline!

Memories

You can erase someone from your mind. Getting them out of your heart is another story.

I just saw Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind tonight. Actually, I had just finished it, probably 10 minutes ago. Didn't plan on seeing it but I was recently intrigued by the topic of memory.

It started when I was having a conversation with a friend and we were reminiscing our past trip together. "I'm so gonna remember that trip for the rest of my life," he said. I concurred, randomly adding that we should make a memoir out of it just for a kick, so we definitely won't ever forget it. "I mean, you write it based on your memory, and I write based on mine. Who knows, maybe we remember things differently, it'll be interesting to find out," I said.

"So true. Don't you know," he launched into a serious mode," that according to scientists, remembering itself is an unreliable process. There's no such thing as real memories, because true memories can easily be obliterated and false ones added."

"In short, the more vividly you remember things, the more likely it's actually further away from the truth."

For some reason, this really irks my curiosity. I listened to Radiolab broadcast on this very topic, memory and forgetting. It says, when we're remembering something, we're actually recreating it. What we really remember is just recollection of the experience in the light of today.

Anyway, I was out to the video store this evening, just returning Departures and Little Miss Sunshine. Yes, I'm on a roll here, people. And yes, I had interest on this movie because of my little fascination about the subject, even though my sister admitted of seeing the first 15 minutes of the film and not understanding a single thing. "It's weird," she said. Still, I wanted to give it a try.

It's about a guy who found out that his girlfriend went to a doctor to have her memory of him erased, and so out of anger he decided to do the same and erase her. As we go along though, as he revisited his memories as it's being erased, he realized that these memories are precious, that he still loved her.

It ended on a hopeful note, and personally I really like it. If you happened to have seen it, let me know what you think.

Memory is a personal thing. I think it's one of a very few things that we can truly call our own, and that makes it precious. That means, noone can take that away. And maybe, the act of remembering, or the memory itself, says a lot more about you, than what actually happened.

Shall we just take comfort in that?

Own

It's funny how you can love something, anything, when you know it is yours.

"Accent"

I get very shy and uncomfortable everytime people compliment me for my accent.

I don't think I have an accent, and thus, I tend to not know how to react or respond to these compliments simply because they don't feel right.

Obviously if let's say, I'm warm and friendly in real life and you say, "You're so cold like an ice queen!" I'd know how to reply back because it's clear that you're mocking me. Or, I can gracefully say thank you if people ackowledge this fact as a positive thing.

But, when it comes to the way I speak, it's neither good nor bad, because it's really not actually an anything. And so, getting comments about it makes me feel awkward, I never know how to take it.

Of course, the subject itself is really not a big deal, so why even think about it? Because of a few reasons.

I met a couple of new friends the other day, I didn't even get the chance to really talk much with each of them because it was a big group. At one point, one of them exclaimed, "Hey! I really like your accent!" Another friend replied in agreement and my friend said, "Yes! I like it too!" They smiled their wide grins at me and the only thing I could say was, "eh..thank you" shyly. I suddenly was at loss of words.

I only met these girls maybe, one time before that night. Later, another friend joined in. I've never known her before, and just as we were about to depart and call it a night, she said so about my accent too. Correction, my so-called accent, because I don't even know I have one.

They continued to discuss it as if I wasn't there, saying I sound white. "Her english is totally white-english. Like hearing a white person talk!"

It got me thinking whether it's that obvious that I sound a certain way. My supervisor in the company I worked in before thought I studied in America after just 5 minutes of brief conversation in the pantry. Random strangers, taxi drivers, people in clubs said so a lot too.

I don't agree that I do speak like white, because another time some people thought I sound Philipino, a mix between Indian and Philipino, and other random countries you can think of. It's weird.

My english teacher for many years taught me british english because she had british accent. I watched a lot of american television and movies. My sister has a crisp, clear, sophisticated american accent. My dad has indonesian-english all the way, but he spoke fluent japanese when he was young. I wonder, when exactly did I develop a certain habit of pronouncing words, of sounding a certain way, or having what we call accent.

In this age, can we still change the way we speak? Can we still be influenced by our surroundings and people around us? Or have we become the finished product in our designs that nothing else can really change our dispositions? At least, not much?

Yes, we can learn new words and develop new habits (like, now I call people 'dude' and say 'you know' an awful lot, and I don't remember doing that years ago), but I never paid that much attention to the way I speak that I don't really know if we can teach ourselves to sound another way, especially when we're already adults.

I guess I should just take it as a thing, anyway I can't really change it, so if people acknowledge it, well, then let it just be an acknowledgement. Like, having a small nose, and chubby cheek. It's just the way it is.

What about you? Have people ever commented on your accent? If so, what do they think about it?

From "Be With You"

" An apricot-colored dress. Long hair bound in a barrette. A mohair sweater. Fingers meeting fingers in my pocket.

And a knitted headband.

Fantastic.

Who could ever need more than this?

Life is over before you know it, so there is no need for a whole pile of memories to relive.

Just one love. Just one lover. Memories from three dates.

That was plenty. "

- Takuya Ichikawa

Friends are what will matter in the end.

Give me one friend, just one, who meets the needs of all my varying moods.

xoxo

Real 300. Oops, sorry.

Apparently, I made a mistake.

THIS is the 300th post. Okay, now I've totally spoiled the moment so I'm not even gonna mention this subject again. Ever. Well, yeah. I'll try my best.

Anyway, just a quick post today. The first day of August, as we speak! It's 1:28 am here and I just finished seeing The Knowing on DVD. Have you seen the film? It's the one with Nicolas Cage about the number and prediction thing? Okay, let me just say that it's a really ambitious movie. Not necessarily in a bad way. I actually thoroughly enjoyed it; by the middle of it I was so eager to find out how the story would end. So I gave it a cookie point for being gripping and engaging enough! My sister, cousin and I don't make an easy audience. We had hopes, and expectations. HOPE!

I've seen many movies with similar ideas: catastrophic events, natural disasters, alien invasion, that may very well lead to the end of the world . Look at The Independence Day, The Day After Tomorrow, War of The Worlds, The Happening, just to mention a few. But I can safely say that I don't think I've seen one with this kind of ending. Where everything sorts of just...end. And although Nicolas Cage is still the heroic character (sometimes, a little too cheesily so), not even he could make it in the end.

And I don't know. Does that make the movie more beliveable, or not? Yes, and no. Well, I take it most of you have seen the flick so you'd know what I mean. The alien thing is so out of this world, but at the same time it's a change to see that not everything ends happily for the main character.

I'll try to write more tomorrow, but it's late and I wanna get some reading done before bed. I've started reading John Irving again, and the font is so small you have to practically use a magnifying glass. Okay, maybe not, but it's still a lot smaller than average. Have you ever seen 'The Fountainhead'? Probably that small. Yes. It took me months to finish 'The Prayer of Owen Meany' (although it was a highly rewarding experience, the ending blew me away), still I'd like to not drag it and be lazy. So far, I only got to page...47.

Okay, a loooooong way to go. So, good night for the time being.