adventures in neverland

when i am out for coffee or beer alone, which is most of the time, whether on weekends or after work, i always bring along a book. not because i want to catch everyone's attention (as if being alone in a crowded coffee shop, beach, or bar isn't enough to make everyone look at you and remark: "what a loser!"), but just to keep myself from overly staring at people. yes, i have a tendency to do that. stare at people, which is a bad habit. and bad manners (can i use the singular form?) too. it makes people whom you are staring at uncomfortable (i also hate it when people stare at me as if i am from venus. good thing i turned down every opportunity to be in the movies and on television!), and at the same time it's so embarrassing when people catch you staring at them. so to stop this beastly habit, i decided it's better to read a book. (and magazines too, mostly about fashion, architecture, business, politics and tourist destinations). anyway, i have been bring...

been reading about john cheever, the brilliant writer who lived the life inside a closet, got married, had children, but remained lonely, depressed and found solace in alcohol and younger men. "The journals contain some of the best sentences Cheever ever wrote, but, my God, they are horrifying. The pain, the loneliness, the secrecy, the shame: Cheever, an imposter in his own life, turned self-loathing into an art form. His image as the poet of suburbia – the Ovid of Ossining, Time  magazine called him  – was thus dealt a possibly mortal blow, the moments of darkness in his stories now taking on new menace; the moments of grace, a sudden emptiness. Was ever a man's outward appearance so at odds with his inward condition? His friend John Updike thought not, and shook his head sadly at this psychic chasm, hoping against hope that Cheever's fiction, with its startling glimmers of optimism, its sense always of moving towards the light, would somehow prevail.  "Now, ne...

in between dating, haunting, bouts of insomnia, meeting friends over coffee or wine,  nursing a hang over with massage and two glasses of bloody mary at staunton, watching movies at ifc and pacific place, dvd hunting, updating my wardrobe and cruising in the river styx, i still find time to read books, i mean novels. chos! a lot.  i have never read this much for as long as i can remember. ah the price of being luvless..but i am not complaining. this goddess needs to feed her peanut-sized brain once in a while..hahaha. so far i have finished these (oh please, no bragging rights intended): (mr. hollinghurst never disappoints. his prose is poetry in disguise -- elegant just lyk most of his characters, lush, rich and delicious. it's lyk watching a merchant ivory film or a bbc classic on teevee. now i want to read again his previous books.) (i can totally relate to mr. orwell. my version would be, down and out in makati and malate.) (my third time to ...

give it to young filipinos to be the life of the party -- even the spontaneous one. last saturday nyt, a number of teen filipinos turned lkf into an instant street party when they, what else, showed their dancing prowess to the delight of pedestrians who were hopping from one bar to another. others joined the craze and danced the nyt away, while some took pictures and videos. i am sure there are already videos of the said street party on youtube. i wanted to join, but i was already quite drunk. i was afraid i might trip and embarrass myself. also, there were a lot of paparazzi around, so i controlled myself. but the iphone generation is relentless, unselfconscious and totally lacks inhibitions. they danced, shouted, laughed and urged others to join them. i luv! sum of the pictures i took. the cute kid in blue blazer with nice hair style in the last pic is antoine. i met him in another bar after i left the street party. he and his friend were totally drunk. we danced,...

for this summer, here are the books that i am going to bring along with me to the beach or some far away hideaway where no one can reach me..not even my beluved. chos! actually, i have already started reading the sense of an ending and so far, i luv what i am reading. i luv julian barnes's style...economical in words but his prose is powerful. it's better than watching a movie in three d..the feelings and characters are more real. (i have read this book for the nth time, but i am in luv with franny and zooey, so i am re-reading it again. possibly along with jd salinger's other classics..such as catcher in the rye and raise high..) and last but not the least...the classic: